Australia looks towards space with force restructure, investment and training
Australia is looking to improve its presence in space with a focus on communications and creating a dedicated segment of its defence forces committed to the domain.
NATO procurement agency orders Puma 3 AE
AeroVironment received orders for Puma 3 AE under a three-year baseline contract awarded in January 2020. (Photo: AeroVironment)
NATO Support and Procurement Agency places orders for AeroVironment hand-launched surveillance and reconnaissance drones.
AeroVironment will provide its Puma 3 AE tactical UAS and initial spares packages to the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), under a batch of four orders worth a total of $11.53 million.
The orders are part of a three-year baseline contract received from NSPA in January 2020.
AeroVironment received the orders in October and December 2020, with delivery anticipated by June 2021.
‘The contract includes an option for two additional years of logistics support for Raven, Wasp and Puma tactical UAS,’ AeroVironment announced on 6 April.
It added: ‘The total potential value of the multi-year contract is $80 million, encompassing the procurement and sustainment of AeroVironment tactical UAS employed by the defence forces of several NATO countries.’
According to Shephard Defence Insight, the hand-launched Puma 3 AE is equipped with the Mantis i45 gimbalfor reconnaissance and surveillance operations.
Puma 3 AE has a wingspan of 2.8m and MTOW of 6.8kg, with endurance of 2.5h. The UAV has a range of 20km with a standard antenna and up to 60km with the AeroVironment Long-Range Tracking Antenna.
As part of our promise to deliver comprehensive coverage to our Defence Insight and Premium News subscribers, our curated defence news content provides the latest industry updates, contract awards and programme milestones.
Related Equipment in Defence Insight
You may also like
More from Digital Battlespace
-
![Australia looks towards space with force restructure, investment and training]()
-
![EID to unveil new vehicle communication system at DSEI]()
EID to unveil new vehicle communication system at DSEI
The Portuguese company’s naval communications system is in service across more than a dozen countries. It has turned to its home nation for support in developing a new vehicle based C2 system.
-
![Chess Dynamics successfully demonstrates Vision4ce AI-driven tracker]()
Chess Dynamics successfully demonstrates Vision4ce AI-driven tracker
The Vision4ce Deep Embedded Feature Tracking (DEFT) technology software is designed to process video and images by blending traditional computer vision with artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to present actionable information from complex environments.
-
![Wave Relay devices cleared for security use on commercial systems in industry trend]()
Wave Relay devices cleared for security use on commercial systems in industry trend
Persistent Systems has been cleared by National Security Agency (NSA) to transmit sensitive data on commercial networks. The devices are added to the NSA’s Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) component list which also includes other companies’ products providing the same security.
-
![UK teases cyber spending boost in Strategic Defence Review ahead of “imminent” release]()
UK teases cyber spending boost in Strategic Defence Review ahead of “imminent” release
The release of the UK’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) has been long promised as mid-year. It is possible it could be as early as 2 June although the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) continues to play its cards close to its chest.
-
![Intelsat emphasises SATCOM resilience for SOF in contested domains (video)]()
Intelsat emphasises SATCOM resilience for SOF in contested domains (video)
Intelsat outlines how its multi-orbit SATCOM architecture is enhancing connectivity and resilience for special operations forces operating in degraded and contested environments.
