Australia's Satellite Utilisation Policy was released by the government this week providing certainty and strategic direction for Australian users of satellite technology.

A West Australian company has begun trials of its new airbags designed for defence force helicopters in case they crash into water.

New appointments have been made at Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles and FireEye.

RPC have been selected as a finalist in the 2013 Manufacturers' Monthly Endeavour Awards in three categories.

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The UK Royal Air Force has passed out its first set of specialist unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) pilots during a ceremony at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, it announced on April 1.

DARPA's Distributed Agile Submarine Hunting (DASH) program has tested two complementary prototype systems as part of its Phase 2 development effort.

General Dynamics Land Systems has been awarded an additional $US40 million for the procurement and production of Saudi M1A2 (M1A2S) Abrams tanks for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The US Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin a $US57 million contract to upgrade the fleet's electronic warfare defences against anti-ship missile threats.

Ricardo has received an order from prime contractor General Dynamics Land Systems-Force Protection Europe, for the assembly of 76 additional vehicles, bringing the total Foxhound fleet size ordered to date by the UK Ministry of Defence to 376.

The core Team Complex Weapons (Team CW) air defence missile development program - the Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM) for the Future Local Anti-Air Defence System (FLAADS) - has been the catalyst for the creation of a new business relationship between MBDA and Thales UK's Belfast site.

The full version of Defence Week Premium no.248 of 11 April 2013 can be downloaded here as a PDF. A separate PDF of the latest Defence tenders can also be downloaded here.

The full version of Defence Week Premium no.247 of 4 April 2013 can be downloaded here as a PDF. A separate PDF of the latest Defence tenders can also be downloaded here.

AIR 5276 has been around for a long time. It started life as the P-3C Refurbishment project which, following an initial project definition study, saw the 18-strong fleet of maritime patrol aircraft then undergo a major upgrade, including new avionics and sensor suites, emerging (somewhat tardily) as the AP-3C weapon system.

As recently reported in ADM's Defence Week, Army Chief LTGEN David Morrison, has declared in no uncertain terms that the Army is in great shape but needs a return to what he termed "appropriate funding".

ITT Exelis has been awarded a contract valued at more than $102 million to provide the Electronic Support Measures (ESM) suite for the RAN's Anzac frigates and the Canberra class LHD ships.