The field of contenders for JP2072 Phase 2B has slowly been whittled from four earlier this year (teams led by BAE Systems, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Boeing) to a field of only two ADM has learned.

R.M.Williams is to supply the new Army parade boot after a contract was signed in Canberra on August 8.

CAE has been awarded a contract by BAE Systems to provide three Hawk Mk127 full-mission simulators for the Royal Australian Air Force.

Chief Defence Scientist Dr Alex Zelinsky has signed a strategic alliance to explore mutual interests in defence and meteorological sciences with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

The Hammerhead Crane will be removed from the Garden Island Naval Base in Sydney.

Chief Defence Scientist Dr Alex Zelinsky has been awarded the 2013 Pearcey Medal, Australia's most prestigious Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry award.

A new e-portal that provides the ADF community with access to information anytime, anywhere, is on track for delivery later this year. ForceNet, being developed under Project Suakin, will have blogs, live forums, bulletin boards, webcasts and community events.

ADM has put together a list of reports from ASPI that might be of interest to our readers. Click here to access these articles.

A summary of the latest news and views in the defence industry, locally and overseas. Check out our webpage for daily news updates on the ADM home page and make sure you bookmark/RSS this for a regular visit.

The US Naval Directed Energy Steering Group will have its near-term roadmap ready this fall to begin informing decisions to address drone and small boat swarm threats with directed-energy weapons rather than kinetic weapons, with mid and long-term roadmaps to follow next year.

For five days in July, the ORN Research Vessel Knorr made a survey in the waters off Virginia Beach, using ScanEagle UAVs to study the effects of oceanic and atmospheric changes on radar and radio waves with the aim of producing more secure military communications and improving the ability of radar to detect hostile craft.

An at-sea test in March 2014 will demonstrate whether massive efforts by the US Navy to improve its mine hunting sonar and the unmanned vehicle that tows it were successful in helping the Littoral Combat Ship's mine countermeasures mission module reach its performance goals after reliability and accuracy problems earlier in the program, two officials told Inside the Navy last week.

The US Army announced last week that Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle program officials are expected to release a formal request for proposals in mid-September.

QinetiQ GRC'S Paramarine ship and submersible design software has been selected by Republic of Korea's Agency for Defense Development (ADD) for submarine concept design.

Despite recent US Navy demonstrations, many still think of laser weapons as being things of the future. However, previously-classified British documents prove that not only were the major powers working on laser weapons in the 1970s and 80s, but that they were already being deployed with combat units in war zones.

A record number of ships (subject to operational requirements) have confirmed their presence at Defence & Security Equipment International between September 10 and 13. The vessels will dock alongside the ExCeL arena and form a significant element of the strongest maritime proposition the event has ever offered.