Civil Applications News

Fincantieri said it has acquired a majority share in communications equipment supplier Support Logistic Services (SLS) as the Italian shipbuilding group continues its push to diversify and expand its product and service portfolio.Rome-based SLS, which produces, installs and maintens radar, satellite and radio communications systems for military and civil applications, will be added under Fincantieri's information technology and electronics subsidiary INSIS, part of the group's newborn Electronics, Systems & Software Division.

Joel Reid joined Cox Powertrain in April 2015. He holds an EMBA in Business from the University of Chicago, a Master’s Degree in Marine Surveying and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Reid has been instrumental in bringing Cox’s ground-breaking 300hp diesel outboard to market and has worked tirelessly over the last three years to create an enviable global distributor network. Reid is currently focuses his efforts on sales, distribution and support in the US market, which it is predicted to account for approximately 50% of Cox’s diesel outboard sales globally.

Thales is announcing a major commitment to develop future autonomous and unmanned technology across air and sea by investing in two new UK-based trials and training centers. Following Thales’s successful trials during the Royal Navy’s Unmanned Warrior exercise in 2016, Thales is now investing in two trials and training centres based in West Wales and in South-West England to test and develop autonomous systems for both military and civil activities. "Investing in these facilities enables the safe test…

The US Coast Guard has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with British diesel engine innovator, Cox Powertrain. The CRADA will evaluate and test the advantages, disadvantages, required technology enhancements, performance, costs and other issues associated with diesel outboard engine technology. There a been a big swell of interest in diesel outboards since NATO introduced its single fuel policy, with the military and naval forces of member countries keen to phase out petrol-fuelled outboards in favour of cleaner diesel alternatives.

Qatar’s Coast Guard Command has taken delivery of the first in a series of 17 composite hull boats powered and propelled by MTU high-speed engines and Rolls-Royce Kamewa waterjets. The vessels, two Ares 75 and one Ares 110 Hercules, will be the first three boats of this program to be delivered by the end of this month. Two additional boats are planned to be delivered by the end of the year; one Ares 75 and one 110 Hercules. Meanwhile, preparations for the construction of the first Ares 150 class boat have already been completed and its launch is expected towards the end of next year.

Turnover increased by 8 percent to reach 1.315 billion Euros, with net profit rising by 66 percent to reach 57.8 million Euros. The engineering and technology group SENER ended 2014 with a turnover of 1,315.7 billion Euros; an increase of 8.02 percent over the previous year. The group’s operating result came to 73.3 million Euros, representing an increase of 54.7 percent compared to 2013, and the holding company’s profit reached 57.8 million Euros (an increase of 66.1 percent). The number of people working at SENER has remained almost constant at 5,541 (a decrease of 0.52 percent).

NOAA officials announced today the World Magnetic Model (WMM), a representation of Earth’s large-scale magnetic field and an indispensable complement to GPS devices used by NATO, the United States and United Kingdom militaries, as well as civil applications ranging from mineral exploration to smartphone apps, has been updated. Changes in the Earth's outer core trigger unpredictable changes in its magnetic field, an invisible force that extends from Earth's interior to where it meets a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun.

Senator David Johnstone, Australian Minister for Defence, is inviting media and gallery TV to a briefing of the world-leading Australian Phased Array Radar technology at CEA Australia in Canberra on Thursday 27 February 2014. The developers explain that CEAFAR is an active phased array radar with a unique microwave tile-based design. The combination of the microwave tile and the Digital Beam Forming (DBF) backend provides a modular, programmable and scalable solution. The radar is configurable to meet operational, physical and cost requirements for both military and civil applications.

Unmanned Revolution: USVs Set to Conquer the Seas. According to Frost & Sullivan, replacing manned systems with USV is not a question of if but when. Unmanned surface vessels (USV) still lag far behind their aerial equivalents in terms of technical capabilities, technology and deployment. However, new threats, cost-benefit calculations, operational experiences in the past decade and new technological developments are driving rapid growth in the market. A USV may be used instead of manned vessels not only for defense but also in Homeland Security (HLS), security, and civil applications such as vessel monitoring, law enforcement (drugs, piracy) and enforcement of fishing and environmental laws.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) has been awarded a $16m contract from the U.S. Navy for production of five additional AN/UPX-24(V) interrogator sets for the U.S. Navy and the Australian Navy. The AN/UPX-24(V) is a shipboard identification-friend-or-foe (IFF) processor system that is used to identify aircraft or ships equipped with an IFF transponder. The system provides target data to the ship's command, control, communications, computer and intelligence (C4I) system and generates interrogation commands in response to requests for priority target identification. The AN/UPX-24(V) accepts interrogation and control commands and provides target reports to a shipboard weapon system, such as Aegis or the Naval Tactical Data System.

The European Union is on track to start its own satellite navigation and positioning system, Galileo, as it was earlier this year announced that the Council of Transport Ministers released the $44 million needed to develop Galileo, and at the same time adopted the regulation establishing the joint undertaking responsible for operating it. Galileo is being developed as a commercial alternative to the U.S. GPS system, and tentatively is scheduled to be up and running by 2008. While markets are varied, and much of the advantages are touted in terms of savings tot the airlines, the maritime sector, including offshore oil and gas exploration, has been targeted as a major market for the project.

The new Spanish military shipbuilder, Navantia, has been unveiled by Pedro Solbes, the Spanish government’s second vice-prime minister and economics minister, along with Enrique Martínez Robles, the Chairman of the state holding company Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), and the Chairman of the new company, Juan Pedro Gómez Jaén. The company, specializing in the design, construction and integration of military ships, is owned by SEPI and is the result of the desegregation of Izar’s military activities in line with the agreement reached in order to make publicly-owned shipyards viable. Mr. Solbes’ referred in his speech to the creation of this new company as the start of a new future for Spanish shipyards…