Rheinmetall Defence Electronics and Teledyne Brown alliance targets U.S. unmanned aerial vehicles market
12/01/2004
Rheinmetall Defence Electronics GmbH and Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, have formed a groundbreaking alliance to market a family of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to the U.S. government.
Teledyne Brown will adapt Rheinmetall's proven UAV system to provide the U.S. with reliable, superior and flexible UAV systems designed for real-time reconnaissance and surveillance as well as armed reconnaissance.
Under the lead of Teledyne Brown, Prospector is the premier system being developed for the American market on the basis of the German UAV system KZO. It is a multipurpose reconnaissance system that requires no runway for launch, allows for changeable payloads in the field and provides high precision navigation and targeting.
A second system, Thunder, bases on the UCAV system Taifun of Rheinmetall Defence Electronics and provides the ability to oversee the battlefield, identify targets and engage targets with weapons on board.
"For us, as the main supplier of UAV systems for the German Forces, the alliance between Teledyne Brown, with a long history in UAV systems, and Rheinmetall Defence Electronics is an important milestone which forms the basis to establish joint activities for new market opportunities and to combine the expertise from both companies to the benefit of the customer", said Georg Morawitz, member of the management board of Rheinmetall Defence Electronics. "With this cooperation we are taking an important step forward to the US market and to increasing US-German industry relations."
"This alliance positions Teledyne Brown as an available domestic manufacturing source for the U.S. government," said Jim Link, president, Teledyne Brown Engineering. "We are taking an established UAV product line by Rheinmetall and adapting it to deliver UAVs that our government can use now in current engagements and in the future to protect our soldiers and defend our land. We see our participation in the American UAV market as a continuation of the long Teledyne heritage in UAV systems."
Teledyne Brown's UAVs are fully ground and C-130 transportable and integrate with existing and projected command-and-control components. Since these UAVs use either a catapult or rocket-assisted launch, an improved surface is not required.
The UAVs will be produced at Teledyne Brown manufacturing facilities in Huntsville, AL. The first US made system is anticipated being available in 2005.
About Teledyne Brown Engineering
Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc., headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, is a full-service technology solutions company with core capabilities in technology development, systems engineering, design, prototype development, testing, manufacturing, logistics, and operations and maintenance. These capabilities are applied across a wide range of programs in aerospace, defence, information technology, and environmental engineering. More information about Teledyne Brown Engineering may be found at www.tbe.com.
About Rheinmetall Defence Electronics
Rheinmetall Defence Electronics GmbH, which represents the Defence Electronics division within the Rheinmetall DeTec Group, is one of the world's leading names for defence electronics. At locations in Germany and Greece, the company develops and manufactures highly advanced products comprising land systems and airborne systems, simulation and training systems, as well as technical publications and logistics engineering.
The Rheinmetall Defence Electronics' product range extends from reconnaissance, fire control systems, and command and control solutions via air defence systems for the army to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as reconnaissance and target acquisition UAVs as well as combat UAVs. Training systems and simulators for navy, army and air force constitute another core competence. Broad expertise and longstanding experience also exist in the field of technical publications and logistics engineering for military and civilian customers.
Contact
Rheinmetall AG
Corporate Sector Defence
Press and Information
Oliver Hoffmann
Rheinmetall Platz 1
40476 Düsseldorf
Germany
Phone: +49 211 473-4748
Fax: +49 211 473-4157
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