JULY 2017 | MANE ENGINEERING | 3
he Ministry of Defence (MOD) announced that the UK has awarded £153 million (US$ 187 million) worth of contracts to equip the Falkland Islands
with a new ground-based air-defense (GBAD) system known as Sky Sabre.
This includes a contract to an Israeli company to supply a key battlefield command-and-control network to defend the South Atlantic island from potential Argentinian aggression. Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems will develop a battle management, command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (BMC4I) network.
Rafael, with help from UK partners Babcock, will supply its Modular, Integrated C4I Air & Missile Defense System and associated equipment in a development and manufacture phase likely to be completed around 2020. As part of the agreement, Rafael will serve as key systems integrator, including provision of communications links and integration with existing in-service communications infrastructure.
Britain and Argentina fought a short but bloody war over the islands in 1982, and the dispute concerning sovereignty of the territory, known in Buenos Aires as the Malvinas, continues to rumble on diplomatically. ■
Courtesy DefenseNews: http://www.defensenews.com/articles/britain-beefs-up-defenses-in-the-falkland-islands
Defence
gets a boost
in the
Falkland Islands
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