Can NATO’s CUAS marketplace turn urgent demand into deliveries?
Framework contracts and leasing options aim to shorten acquisition timelines, while manufacturing partnerships could help suppliers scale production to meet allied demand.
Meggitt Training Systems has received an $18 million contract from the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group, the company announced on 5 July.
Meggitt will manufacture, develop and install 115 SL40 40mm simulated grenade launchers and 460 EF88 Steyr assault rifle simulators. Deliveries will occur at 18 locations across Australia to support air force, navy and army training requirements. Deliveries are expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2017 and continue until May 2018.
Steyr Mannlicher’s SL40 grenade launcher is used with the EF88 rifle used by the ADF. The EF88 assault rifle was introduced in 2015.
Chris Jordan, managing director, Meggitt Training Systems, Australia, said: ‘We have supplied, operated and maintained the ADF’s Weapon Training Simulation System since 1999 and this latest weapons simulator award further validates Meggitt’s long-standing strategic partnership with the ADF.’
Framework contracts and leasing options aim to shorten acquisition timelines, while manufacturing partnerships could help suppliers scale production to meet allied demand.
The US is pursuing multiple UGV programmes, from commercial robotic platforms to new autonomy technologies. The combination of these efforts could prove key to turning ambition into operational capability.
NATO is looking to artificial intelligence to provide integration between different C2 systems to create a common operational picture, potentially offering a faster route to interoperability than the slow-moving processes of NATO standards committees.
The large-scale exercise in Latvia was the culmination of three experimentation initiatives to see how platforms, weapons and systems could fit into the alliance’s Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative. As well as forces, it brought together companies and equipment.
Canada plans to acquire at least 120 uncrewed aerial systems through two competitions with combined funding ceilings of C$32 million.
New counter-drone technologies, autonomous launchers and manufacturing modernisation initiatives highlighted emerging opportunities for defence suppliers, while the UK advanced a major military vehicle procurement programme.