The U.S. Air force has awarded General Atomics a contract to build a third prototype of the stealthy Predator C Avenger unmanned aircraft. General Atomics has already built two such aircraft and is planning to build two more, at least one is now being funded by the U.S. Government. According to David A. Fulghum of Aviation Week, these new ‘Avenger’ versions will be more powerful and will carry more payloads than the first two prototype competed in 2009. A second Avenger flew for the first time in April 2010. The Air Force has allocated $15 million for the first aircraft but the program is expected to grow in size. General Atomics informed the Air Force it is ready to quickly ramp up production if the Air Force or other government agencies will order more planes. The procurement is overseen by the U.S. Air Force’s secretive Big Safari, a special, rapid-acquisition organization. The Air Force plans to send this aircraft to Afghanistan, where it will be used for evaluation of ‘next-generation UAS sensors, weapons and tactics, techniques and procedures’, enabling the service to accelerate fielding of these advanced capabilities to the area of operations. The tests will also help determining the requirement for plane’s radar signature (stealth) reduction. Avenger is designed to perform high-speed, long-endurance, covert, multi-mission Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and precision-strike missions over land or sea. It can carry a variety of internal weapons loads, including the 2,000 lb Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), an Electro-optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensor, and an all-weather GA-ASI Lynx Synthetic Aperture Radar/Ground Moving Target Indicator (SAR/GMTI). According to General Atomics, a recce system based on Lockheed Martin’s F-35 FLIR is currently being evaluated, as well as an in-house full-motion video sensor. To maintain the clean, stealthy underside, the Avenger would probably rely on specialized integral, conformal or retractable payloads, while maximizing long loiter ISR and weapons carriage capabilities. The Predator has been one of the most successful weapon in the Drone war the CIA has launched against international terrorist targets in Asia, the Middle east and Africa. A new and more capable Predator “C-plus”, with larger payload capacity for multiple, heavier sensors and precision guided weapons, could further enhance these capabilities, opening wider operational capabilities for operations in contested airspace. Fulghum comments that an Air Forces procurement of off the shelf drone could relieve the Pentagon of having to commit to a procurement of a new program of record for ‘MX’, “in a budget environment that is guaranteed to quash new programs.” The Predator C/Avenger has also been considered for a future U.S Navy carrier based ISR platform known as UCLAAS. The decision was made public days after the loss of another stealthy drone, the RQ-170 Sentinel over Iran. However, according to Fulghum, the new announcement is irrelevant to the current incident. The Air Force planned to award the contract in November 2011, but budget complications have kept in pending. Officials said the project was underway before the loss of a reduced signature UAV near Kashmar in northeastern Iran Dec. 4.

The Australian Defence has selected Hawkei light tactical vehicle design from Thales Australia as the preferred design for LAND 121 Phase 4.
 Subject to successful testing of the vehicles, final Government approval of the project is expected in 2015, and production work could potentially commence in Australia as early as 2016. Part of Project Overlander, the acquisition of 1,300 modern, protected light tactical vehicles represent a $1.5 billion part of the $7.5 billion project. The selection of an indigenous Australian design derails previous plans to join the U.S. Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program, which Australia has been part of in recent years. ‘Defence will continue to monitor progress of the US JLTV program’ the announcement said, but no additional funding commitments have been made at this stage.

Australia evaluated two candidates for this program – the Hawkei and Ocelot, provided by Force Protection International. The Government required the vehicle to be manufactured in Australia, and both contenders have relied on local subsidiaries and subcontractors to fulfill this requirement.
The next stage in the program will include funding for further development and testing of the Hawkei, including the manufacture of prototype vehicles. Thales designed this vehicle specifically to meet Australian specification; the Israeli armor protection expert Plasan has joined as a team member, to provide the protection suite for the vehicle.
Thales Australia is currently manufacturing the Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicles at its factory in Bendigo. This manufacturing capability, and the skills of the workforce, is an important national security capability. On current plans, manufacture of Bushmasters at Bendigois expected to be completed before the end of 2013, in time to begin serial production of the new vehicle.
In order to retain critical skills in Bendigo while the design of the Hawkei is finalized and proven, the production of additional Bushmaster vehicles is being considered. “It is very important that we keep that industrial technical development capacity in Bendigo, and as the materials indicate we’ll be in discussions with Thales so far as additional Bushmasters are concerned to ensure that we retain that industrial capacity linked to the development of the Hawkei.” said Minister for Defense & Defense Material, Stephen Smith.