Pentagon budget 2023: Army banking on IVAS, cuts night vision programmes
29 March 2022
by Ashley Roque
US Army soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division use an IVAS prototype during a trench clearing exercise in October 2020 at Fort Pickett in Virginia. (US Army )
US Army leadership does not want to buy additional Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular (ENVG-B) in 2023 but does plan to acquire Microsoft's militarised HoloLens 2 augmented reality (AR) system if technical problems have been fixed, service officials told reporters on 29 March.
The army's fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget request includes USD424 million to buy “night-vision devices” next year, with USD400 million from that pot earmarked to purchase 7,272 Integrated Visual Augmentation Systems (IVASs), according to Brigadier General Michael McCurry, the director of force development, and a subsequent email to reporters.
Based on these numbers, each IVAS unit will cost the army just over USD55,000, a sharp increase over the FY 2022 per unit cost of USD25,490.
Next year’s IVAS procurement plan is significantly less than the USD854 million army leadership requested to spend on buying the heads-up display in 2022. This 2022 request was made before the service postponed fielding the devices due to software and hardware problems. Lawmakers, in turn, cut USD394 million from the IVAS procurement coffer.
UAE inaugurates GlobalEye early warning aircraft
25 April 2024
by Jeremy Binnie
The UAE's fourth Saab GlobalEye was delivered on 18 April. (Ministry of Defence of the United Arab Emirates)
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced on 24 April that a reception ceremony for an early warning aircraft had been held at Al-Dhafra Air Base.
It cited Major General Ibrahim Nasser al-Alawi, the commander of the Air Force and Air Defence (AFAD), as saying the aircraft was a “qualitative addition” that will help protect the country's strategic interests.
The MoD released a video showing a Saab GlobalEye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft without AFAD markings being escorted by F-16 and Mirage 2000-9 fighters before landing at Al-Dhafra, as well as personnel with 8th Aviation Wing badges working at a ground station.
Saab confirmed on the following day that it delivered the fourth of five GlobalEyes ordered by the UAE on 18 April.
Lockheed Martin to ramp up UK Sniper production
24 April 2024
by Gerrard Cowan
Seen being carried by a US Air Force F-16, the Sniper ATP is built in Florida in the US and Bedfordshire in the UK. Lockheed Martin is now ramping up UK component production to meet increased customer demand. (Lockheed Martin)
Lockheed Martin is building a new production line for AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP) components at its Ampthill, Bedfordshire site in the UK, seeking to meet anticipated demand from NATO allies and other customers for the system, the company has told Janes .
The UK-based work on Sniper supports the manufacturing activities at Ocala, Florida. This work has been expanded with a new production line at Ampthill that will focus on producing cabling to integrate the system into aircraft.
Stacy Kubicek, Lockheed Martin's vice-president and general manager – sensors and global sustainment, said the fresh investment is part of a wider strategy at Lockheed Martin. She placed it into the context of a shifting outlook among customers.
Germany orders simulators for Puma IFVs
19 April 2024
by Olivia Savage
The Bundeswehr has ordered 258 sets of AGDUS systems for its Puma IFVs following successful integration tests. (PSM GmbH)
The Bundeswehr is receiving new training simulators for its Puma infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs).
In total, 258 sets of Training Device, Duel Simulator (Ausbildungsgerät Duellsimulator: AGDUS) systems are being delivered for the Puma IFVs by the end of 2026, the Bundeswehr announced on 15 April.
The EUR109 million (USD116 million) contract will be financed from the EUR100 billion Bundeswehr special fund.
A Rheinmetall/Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) consortium received an order from the Bundeswehr in December 2019 valued at EUR54 million for the provision of six AGDUS systems for integration tests on the Puma. Full-scale serial production of AGDUS would then begin once testing was complete, with up to 252 Puma IFVs being equipped with the systems for EUR88 million.
A Rheinmetall spokesperson confirmed to Janes that the company, along with KMW+Nexter Defense Systems (KNDS) Germany, are supplying the new AGDUS simulators to the Bundeswehr and that full-scale production has now officially begun.
US Army leadership does not want to buy additional Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular (ENVG-B) i...
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