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September26, 2005 - News from Army-Guide.com >> |
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Thales UK SWARM remote weapon system selected for US Marine Corps Gladiator Programme The Thales UK SWARM Remote Weapon System has been selected for the United States Marine Corps Gladiator Programme following a rigorous competition conducted by General Dynamics Armament & Technical Products (GDATP), based at Burlington, Vermont, USA. The Gladiator Tactical Unmanned Ground Vehicle (TUGV) is a remotely operated combat vehicle capable of carrying out search-and-discovery missions in potentially hostile areas. It is able to warn dismounted troops of potential dangers ahead such as minefields, craters, trenches and hidden enemy positions, as well as alerting them to the presence of chemical, biological and nuclear hazards. The SWARM weapon system, fitted with a 7.62mm M240 machine gun and day/night sensors, will provide a potent offensive capability. A team headed by Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, including BAE Land Systems (York, Pennsylvania) and GDATP won the $26.4M contract in February to design, develop and deliver six prototype Gladiator vehicles to the Marine Corps, the production quantity is expected to be in the order of 200 units. SWARM is a fully armoured remotely operated weapons system capable of taking a variety of different calibre weapons and sensor options. It is unique in that it is the only RWS that is fully qualified to tracked vehicle specification. Commenting on this success Karen Oddey, Managing Director of Thales UK's land & joint systems business, said, "SWARM is a truly versatile system and this win reflects the significant investment by Thales UK to design and qualify a very reliable, adaptable and low cost armoured remote weapon system" The SWARM systems will be manufactured at the Thales UK facility in Glasgow where production is about to begin on 35 systems for the British Army's Trojan Engineering Tank. Source: Thales UK Thales UK launches THOR weapon system Thales UK has unveiled THOR, the first weapon systems of its type. Produced by Thales UK's air systems facility in Belfast, THOR is a new vehicle mounted Multi Mission System, and is the only weapon system to combine surface-to-air and surface-to-surface capabilities within one lightweight launcher. Defence and security forces across the globe are faced with an increasing variety of conventional and asymmetric threats. Following consultation with many military users Thales UK has developed THOR as a multi-role force protection system, which can be deployed rapidly and operated with ease in warfare or against terrorist threats. The THOR system comprises a four-missile turret with an integral stabilised sighting system, high performance TV camera and thermal camera to provide a 24-hour capability. These latest generation sensors have been designed to detect small signature targets and they are integrated with an Automatic Target Tracker to ensure a fully automated target engagement and tracking process. The launcher features a modular design and weighs less 500kg, as such it can be integrated onto a range of wheeled or tracked vehicles. Highlighting THOR's versatility, Millar Crawford, managing director of Thales UK's air systems business, commented: "When it comes to effect and flexibility, THOR offers more than any other system. It can be mounted on a variety of vehicles, utilise a number of weapon systems and counter an array of different threats. For multi-role force protection, THOR breaks the mould." Thor's fully open systems architecture means that a variety of surface to air and anti-armour missiles can be integrated into the system. The primary missile is Starstreak - a unique multi-role laser guided missile, with a speed in excess of Mach 3 and a range greater than 6 kilometres. While the prime role of Starstreak is in anti-aircraft missions, the system has successfully demonstrated capability against both ground armoured targets and structures. THOR interfaces with the overall force network for operation in a command and control structure or, if required, can be operated in autonomous mode. With the ability to plug and fight, THOR can be linked with radar systems such as Page, or passive sensors such as ADAD. In addition THOR has can be provided with a new on-board UHF Alerter, which Thales is designing, to provide a low cost early warning capability. Source: Thales UK Thales UK launches latest Catherine camera Thales UK has staked its claim as the world leader in advanced cooled thermal imaging technology, with the launch of the latest variant of its successful range of Catherine cameras. The new Catherine MP (MegaPixel) deploys third generation detector technology, exclusively developed by Thales, to produce an image in excess of one million pixels. The Thales UK Catherine MP will deliver high levels of long-range performance approaching that of the groundbreaking STAIRS C camera but at substantially lower cost - ensuring affordability within many defence budgets throughout the world. During the camera's launch at the DSEi show this week, vice president of Defence Optronics, Chris Gane, explained where the camera fitted into Thales UK's product range: "This product, together with our ongoing development of cooled cameras, using Quantum Well technology, reflects our strategy of lowering the costs of procurement and ownership of cooled thermal imaging. Cooled TI will always out-perform uncooled TI but we realise that performance in itself is not always enough for the cost conscious customer." The UK MoD strongly endorsed this low-cost approach to high performance thermal vision and has supported the development to reduce risks on its future programmes Mr Gane went on to emphasise the general market potential of the camera stating that he expected there to be major requirements for cooled TI in the coming years. He also identified the UK FRES programme as an excellent opportunity to offer affordable high performance cooled solutions for more demanding requirements such as recce and guided weapon variants. Thales' is widely acknowledged for its ability to identify and answer the market needs for high-performance long-range vision capabilities. Both military and emerging Homeland Security customers are expected to benefit from this new focus on affordability. Source: Thales UK |
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September26, 2005 - News from Army-Guide.com >> |
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