UK MoD awards Roke £6.7 million contract under Land ISTAR programme
Paul MacGregor, Roke managing director (L) and the MoD's Brig John Collyer. (Photo: Roke)
The UK MoD has awarded UK company Roke a £6.7 million ($9.3 million) contract for the supply of the ZODIAC system. It marks the start of an Alpha development phase to derisk delivery of the army’s Land ISTAR programme.
Land ISTAR will deliver an integrated and distributed system of sensors, applications and underlying system architecture that will enable the army to operate with greater precision and speed. ZODIAC will act as the 'central nervous system' for the programme.
According to Roke, it provides the systems required to ingest data from all battlefield sensors and from combined, joint, inter-agency, intra-governmental and multinational intelligence feeds.
‘It will need to fuse, analyse and distribute the resulting intelligence to battlefield users, integrating across land, sea, air, space and cyber and with allies', the document pointed out.
During the Alpha phase of ZODIAC, Roke will be responsible for capturing requirements, initial design, solution architecture, risk reduction and market assessment for further development.
More from Land Warfare
-
Dedicated drone munitions could unlock modular mission potential
Top attacks have proven effective against heavily armoured vehicles in Ukraine. A new family of uncrewed aerial system-delivered munitions is looking to press that advantage further.
-
Elbit bets on local content for US howitzer bid as it faces off against popular systems
The Israeli company hopes that producing its Sigma artillery system wholly in the US will help it win a key US Army contract, but it will be up against the popular CAESAR Mk II wheeled weapon and the K9 tracked.
-
Germany orders 84 Boxer howitzers as UK commits to a single demonstrator
Germany has ordered 84 RCH 155 self-propelled guns, as system incorporating Boxer 8×8 vehicles and the Artillery Gun Module, and 200 Puma Infantry Fighting Vehicles while the UK has committed to a single Early Capability Demonstrator RCH 155.
-
Companies look to tank-launched guided projectiles for non-line-of-sight effects
While integration of guided weapons on modern armoured vehicles usually takes the form of a podded launcher on the turret exterior, recent developments suggest the concept of firing missiles from a tank’s main gun could be seeing a revival.
-
Germany signs multi-billion-dollar deals for 6x6 CAVS and GDELS Eagle vehicles
The order is a further boost for the Common Armoured Vehicles System programme which has notched notable successes in the past 12 months. The first vehicle, made in Finland, will be delivered next year with local production expected to ramp up in 2027.