upgraded | Common News Update

Jan172018 by adminNo Comments

Airbus delivers first upgraded Tiger helicopter to French armed forces

Business

Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The first delivery of a combat-functional helicopter retrofit for France was announced this week by Airbus Helicopters.The aviation company said the first conversion of a Tiger helicopter from its original HAP version, with combat support capability, to HAD, or multirole combat use, has been delivered to the French military.The French Ministry of Defense has ordered 36 retrofits of its helicopters from HAP to HAD."We are pleased to have achieved this first delivery in accordance with the specifications of our customer," Alexandra Cros, head of governmental affairs France at Airbus Helicopters, said in a press release.The conversion involves more than 100 airframe modifications, and the installation of over 1,500 new parts and 250 electrical cables, the company said.The res...

SAIC contract for upgraded Marine vehicles advances

Business

Sept. 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. Marine Corps has ushered SAIC's survivability upgrade for the corps' assault amphibious vehicle into the program's production and deployment phase.The decision requires SAIC to deliver 25 vehicles to the Marines over a two-year period. It was also accompanied by a low-rate initial production option for additional survivable upgrade vehicles, the Virginia-based company said in a news release Tuesday."SAIC is pleased to be moving into the LRIP phase for the AAV SU program and to begin delivering these important survivability and mobility enhancements out into the fleet and into the hands of our Marines," said Tom Watson, SAIC senior vice president and general manager of the Navy and Marine Corps Customer Group.SAIC had already delivered 10 prototype survivability u...

AUD counter-drone system upgraded by Blighter

Business

Sept. 8 (UPI) -- The AUDS counter-drone system has been enhanced for deployment on vehicles and features new technology to defeat swarm attacks.The AUDS system was first deployed in 2015 by a consortium of British companies -- Blighter Surveillance Systems, Chess Dynamics and Enterprise Control Systems. It uses an intuitive interface to detect, track, identify and defeat a drone in about 15 seconds at a range of up to six miles."We have continued to refine our advanced RF inhibition capabilities to meet identified changes in the threat, enabling additional attributes designed to engage with some of the longer range fixed-winged drones that have appeared over the last 12 months," Colin Bullock, chief executive officer of Enterprise Control Systems, said in a press release. "Our specialist R...