The Thai navy has ordered two AgustaWestland Super Lynx 300 maritime helicopters in a deal worth £25 million ($35 million) including logistics and other services. CAE has received a 15-year contract, worth over C$30 million ($19.6 million), to train Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter crews for the Royal Netherlands Air Force at the company's Medium Support Helicopter Aircrew Training Facility at RAF Benson in the UK. Training will begin in 2003. Aurora Flight Sciences has been funded by the US Army to continue work on a clandestine unmanned air vehicle (CUAV) for precision deployment of communication and sensor packages, and has flown a proof-of-concept model of the high-altitude unmanned aircraft, called GoldenEye. The Phase II contract runs to March 2003. Ultra Electronics' subsidiary Hermes Electronics has been awarded contracts worth C$3.5 million ($2.3 million) from Germany and Norway for DIFAR sonobuoys. The same company's Flightline Electronics subsidiary has been awarded a $1.9 million contract from Spain's SAES to provide 16 ARR-502 sonobuoy receivers to upgrade Spanish air force Lockheed Martin P-3BOrions. Meanwhile, Ultra Electronics has won a $3.1 million US Navy contract for its Prop-Power propeller-hub integrated power switching system, which transfers electrical power to the propeller and hub. The system will be retrofitted to P-3Cs and Lockheed Martin C-130Hercules. Toronto-based Atlantis Systems has been selected by Boeing to develop the integrated maintenance training system (IMTS) for Australian and Canadian F/A-18 Hornet upgrade programmes, under a contract potentially worth over $15 million. The trainer combines a high-fidelity cockpit with virtual systems panels. Lockheed Martin has won a $21 million US Air Force contract to build the XSS-11 experimental microsatellite, a 100kg spacecraft capable of autonomous rendezvous and proximity operations.
Source: Flight International
