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Africa : Hawk software to be upgraded |
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| Author: idrw team | 29 January 2008 | Views: 259 |
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BY : LEON ENGELBRECHT , ITWEB SENIOR WRITER
SA's growing fleet of BAE Systems Hawk 120 lead-in fighter trainers will shortly receive a key software upgrade. Midrand-based Advanced Technologies and Engineering (ATE) developed the Hawk's avionics and software in SA.
A company source says the fleet – fast approaching its contracted size of 24 aircraft – will shortly receive a critical software upgrade. “We're a week away from installing a certificated version of the software with full functionality,” the source says.
The current, developmental, software has allowed the SA Air Force (SAAF) to use the 22 Hawks on inventory for flying training and some weapons handling. The operational software will allow the aircraft to function as fully functional fighter jets – just as the SAAF starts to phase out its existing front-line fighter, the Cheetah.
The Cheetah will, in due course, be replaced at 2 Squadron by the Gripen advanced fighter, of which SA has bought nine single- and 17 twin-seat versions. 2 Squadron is located with 85 Advanced Flying School, at AFB Makhado, at Louis Trichardt, in Limpopo province.
The Hawk software project has been hailed as a major success for SA as it was the first time that BAE Systems had outsourced the development of Hawk programming and avionics, partly because aviation is a notoriously conservative and safety-conscious industry. About 900 Hawk aircraft have been built from the mid-1970s to date and all – except the SA version – have been fitted with British software.
Other projects
ATE is also bidding for Armscor tender EWIN/2007/522, issued on 8 January. Armscor is the state's arms acquisitions agency and fulfils a similar role to the State IT Agency. The tender calls for the upgrade, installation and commissioning of a Hawk 120 aircraft navigation weapon system integration bench.
Meanwhile, there is no news on who will upgrade the avionics of the Pilatus Astra II basic trainer under RFT ETEL/2006/614, issued in February last year. The aircraft is also fitted with an ATE cockpit, but the source says the SAAF is keen to award the deal to Pilatus, the original equipment manufacturer.
Complaints have been lodged about the Astra's avionics, but the company says it was contracted to develop and install the hardware, as well as associated software, but was then never awarded a maintenance contract to proactively sustain the avionics. Instead, it has been called in ad hoc to fix breakdowns. |
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End of the runway for Cheetah fighter jetsIndigenous software makes Su30-MKI more compatible during Exercise Red FlagHAL gets Rs2,400 cr IAF deal to upgrade Jaguar fighter jetsIAF to induct Hawk AJTs tomorrow Flying computer readied for takeoff |
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| | Registered: 30 August 2007 | ICQ: -- |
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ANGLOAMERICAN FRAUD
http://www.larouchepac.com/news/2008/07/24/report-how-british-invented-shore-tax-havens.html
Report: How the British Invented Off-Shore Tax Havens
Increase Decrease
July 24, 2008 (LPAC) This morning, Jack Blum, a lawyer with long experience in investigating money laundering, tax evasion, and similar financial crimes, provided a useful assessment when he told the Senate Finance Committee that offshore tax havens, such as those that are scattered about the British Commonwealth, have their origins in something called the "revenue rule," a common law rule that says that no government should help enforce the tax laws of other governments. This "revenue rule," Blum said, has its origins in English common law during the Napoleonic era, when English courts upheld contracts between private parties that were intended to evade French customs duties. Since the revenue rule has expanded to become a basic principle of common law, one result has been that the IRS cannot enforce tax judgments against individuals or corporations if the money at issue is being held in an offshore bank.
The revenue rule has spawned an entire industry dedicated to helping people evade taxes in their own countries, mostly in the infamous British Commonwealth offshore financial centers such as the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands, among others. Offshore banks actually sell services in the US and other countries to help people evade taxes they would otherwise have to pay their own governments. This is not unlike the British approach to terrorism, in that terrorists living in London are protected as long as they attack other countries.
Blum proposed a number of measures to deal with the problem, mostly having to do with requiring taxpayers to prove that their offshore companies are, indeed, real, rather than the shell companies usually set up to hide assets. However, Blum agreed with Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) when he said that without getting agreement with other countries to combat the problem, "it's just going to stay a game." Blum replied that "the revenue rule has to be taken down as an international principle."
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