The US Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman a $13.3bn engineering and manufacturing development contract for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system.

According to the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, this work will continue for 8.5 years. Activities will involve design, qualification, testing and evaluation and nuclear certification of the weapons system.

The team includes Aerojet Rocketdyne, Bechtel, Clark Construction, Collins Aerospace, General Dynamics, HDT Global, Honeywell, Kratos Defense and Security Solutions, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Textron Systems and a number of SMEs.

Hungary has become the first NATO and EU member state to order the Rheinmetall Lynx Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) in a deal worth €2bn for 218 vehicles.

The vehicles will be built in Germany and Hungary, with all of the first 46 to be built in Germany and delivered by the start of 2023. The remaining 172 vehicles will all be built in Hungary.

Under the agreement, Rheinmetall will establish a joint venture to produce the IFV in Hungary which is to be financed by a sovereign company.

The country’s order also covers nine Buffalo armoured recovery vehicles as well as services including simulators, training, and the initial supply of spare parts and maintenance capabilities.

BAE Systems has won a contract to provide additional electronic warfare (EW) systems for F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter aircraft.

Awarded by Lockheed Martin, the contract covers EW systems for Lot 15, Lot 16 long lead, sustainment spares and retrofit kits for the aircraft.

This is expected to provide higher situational awareness and threat response capabilities, which will aid critical missions in disputed airspace.

As a main system partner in the F-35 programme, BAE Systems assists with various stages of the aircraft’s lifecycle.

The company is working to design and develop new functions to boost the system’s offensive and defensive capabilities and to maintain its combat readiness. It has delivered over 500 EW systems for the F-35.

Swedish defence company Saab has received a Skr1.7bn order to provide RBS15 anti-ship missile for the German Navy's Braunschweig-class corvettes.  

The order was placed by Saab’s German partner Diehl Defence as part of a framework agreement between the two companies.  

The framework agreement offers the possibility for additional orders to be placed until the end of 2024, where Saab’s share is up to around Skr1.5bn.  

Deliveries of the missiles are scheduled to take place between 2022 and 2026 and the order includes related equipment and services.  

L3Harris Technologies will spearhead a team to update aircraft training simulators used by the US Air Force (USAF).

The team includes CAE USA, CymSTAR, Dell Technologies and Leidos, which will assist the USAF in developing common standards for the design and operation of training simulators.

It will be part of the USAF’s Simulators Common Architecture Requirements and Standards programme.

Delivering training updates becomes difficult as simulators are constructed by different providers using a unique interface, according to L3Harris.

Naval Group has selected iXblue navigation systems for the French Navy’s four future tankers.

As part of the Flotte Logistique project led by the European Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation, iXblue will provide Phins navigation systems and Netans navigation data distribution and computation systems.

iXblue’s navigation systems feature fibre-optic gyroscope technology and are used on over 650 surface ships and underwater platforms in the navies and coast guards of 40 nations.

L3Harris Technologies has been contracted for the next production of the electronic warfare (EW) system for the US Navy’s F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet aircraft.

The $104m follow-on contract will see the company build and supply Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures jammer systems for the F/A-18C, D, E and F variants.

The L3Harris ALQ-214A (V) 4/5 is an important onboard jammer for the programme. It is advanced self-protection jammer system designed to protect the aircraft against electronic threats.

Kraken Robotics has signed a $36m contract with the Danish Ministry of Defence, Acquisition and Logistics Organization (DALO) for mine-hunting sonar equipment.

As per the contract, the company will provide its KATFISH towed Synthetic Aperture Sonar, Tentacle Winch and Autonomous Launch and Recovery System (ALARS).

The minehunting system will be integrated on the optionally unmanned surface vessels of the Royal Danish Navy.

Elbit Systems of America’s subsidiary Kollsman has been chosen by the US Marine Corps (USMC) for the Integrated Clip-on Advanced Targeting Sight (ICATS) solution. 

Kollsman’s solution is for multi-spectrum clip-on weapon night sight to carry out day and night operations at great distances. 

Selected under Phase II ICATS programme, the company will design and test two ICATS prototypes over the next year.