Defence will conduct a period of public consultation for the proposed removal of the Hammerhead Crane located at Fleet Base East, Garden Island in Sydney, from Monday January 21 to Monday February 18, 2013.

A 'flying V' ceremony was held in honour of Australian Major General Richard Burr, who is serving a two-year appointment as Deputy Commanding General - Operations, US Army Pacific.

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The US Army has selected five companies' engines to evaluate as possible replacements for the Shadow unmanned aircraft system's current engine, with two vendors slated to be picked for technology development later this year, a service spokesman said last week.

ITT Exelis has received a $US25 million order to provide a wide range of communications equipment to an international customer.

The US Army has awarded five companies contracts that give them the opportunity to compete to sell small unmanned aircraft systems to the service on a quarterly basis, according to the Army's product manager for small UAS.

US Defence leaders have significantly altered the course and cost of the US Army's GCV program, deciding to down-select to only one contractor in the second phase, extend the current development phase by six months, and delay a production decision until fiscal year 2019.

The US Air Force and Raytheon have successfully completed a fit check of the GBU-53/B Small Diameter Bomb II on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft.

Kazakhstan has taken delivery of the first two C295 transport aircraft that it ordered last year, marking Airbus Military's entry into the CIS regional market.

Boeing has been awarded contracts worth US$13.6 million to upgrade the USAF's Combat Survivor Evader Locator radio and the CSEL ultrahigh frequency base stations that support it.

QinetiQ reports that it is supporting the UK Ministry of Defence in testing new composite materials for the UK submarine fleet using its recently re-commissioned and refitted Hyperbaric Trials Unit.

Rolls-Royce has signed a contract to provide support for engines powering the Royal Saudi Air Force fleet of Tornado combat aircraft.

According to a recent report in the UK's Telegraph last Sunday, the BAE Systems developed Taranis unmanned combat aircraft is set to undergo flight testing later this year.

US Special Operations Command is planning a competition to acquire non-developmental, highly mobile vehicles capable of being transported inside V-22 Ospreys.

The full version of Defence Week Premium no.236 of 17 January 2013 can be downloaded here as a PDF. A separate PDF of the latest Defence tenders can also be downloaded here.

Defence Materiel Minister Jason Clare last month announced the signing of a $7.2 million five-year contract to provide Australian-based training for the operators and maintainers of the Shadow 200 Tactical Unmanned Aerial System acquired under JP 129.