Highland Integrated Surveillance Systems, Inc. (HISS Inc.) has appointed Malcolm Stanton to the position of Director Business Development, Middle East and Asian Region.

Malcolm brings over 40 years of experience that covers Customer Service, Program Management and Business Development in the Canadian and International Aerospace / Defence community. Most recently Malcolm Stanton was Director, Business Development for L-3 Communications - WESCAM, responsible for Business Development in the Asia- Pacific region.

“We are pleased to welcome Malcolm to the HISS team and wish him every success in this challenging role,” said Roger Smibert, president and CEO of HISS Inc.

The fast descent of deal values in aerospace and defence (A&D) spurred by recession and the banking crisis of 2008 continued into 2009 with the first quarter of the year seeing a near-stalling of deal value. Since that time, deal values have revived but small deals continue to dominate the sector's activity, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report 'Mission Control', an annual review of merger and acquisition activity in the global A&D industry released on February 22, 2010.

While deal activity stayed high, values plummeted:
• The average value of larger deals (US$50 million or above) fell 27% to US$379 million in 2009 from US$519 million in 2008.
• The total value of these larger deals dropped 62% from US$20.8 billion in 2008 to just US$7.9 billion in 2009.
• Total A&D deal value in 2009 fell 54% year-on-year to US$10 billion, its lowest level of the decade, and a 76% fall from the US$41.6 billion high of 2007.

Deal activity, as measured by the total number of deals, has stayed buoyant at near record levels as companies limit their acquisition budgets but continue to take advantage of opportunities to make small but strategic purchases.

The considerable moderation in deal ambition reflects continuing concern about program cost delays and overruns, lower orders for large military platforms and reduced passenger and freight travel.

Insitu Inc. has announced the availability of NanoSAR, a tactical-level, synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) payload, for its ScanEagle dual bay and Integrator unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

The NanoSAR payload module provides high-resolution imagery that can penetrate adverse weather conditions, battlefield obscurants, camouflage and light foliage, allowing radar-enabled area searches over land and sea.

"Warfighters now have an enhanced capability to identify and locate threats, which will save the lives of U.S. and allied forces," said Insitu Chief Technology Officer Charlie Guthrie. "This technology will allow mission commanders to own and control SAR assets at the tactical level."

Vector Aerospace Component Services – UK has received a 2009 Boeing Performance Excellence Award. The Boeing Company issues the award annually to recognise suppliers who have achieved superior performance. Vector Aerospace Component Service – UK maintained a Gold composite performance rating for each month of the 12-month performance period, from October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009.

U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) has awarded General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada a USD$29.2 million delivery order to supply 127 independent suspension kits for its Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle program. General Dynamics Land Systems, the Canadian company's parent corporation, is a business unit of General Dynamics.

The TAK-4 independent suspensions, produced by Oshkosh, will be installed in-theatre onto previously delivered RG-31Mk5EM vehicles to enhance their ride quality and robustness.

Royal Roads University (Victoria, BC) has joined Project Hero, a scholarship program for the children of Canadian Armed Forces personnel killed while on active military duty.

“Given Royal Roads University’s close academic and historical links to Canada’s armed forces, we are honoured to support this scholarship initiative, both as a mark of our esteem for the sacrifices made by fallen members of the armed forces and as a contribution to the formation of future generations of Canadian leaders,” says RRU Vice President, Academic and Provost, Dr Thomas Chase.

Royal Roads University will provide qualified students with a scholarship for the equivalent of two years of full-time tuition fees for its undergraduate degree completion programs (equivalent to years three and four of a baccalaureate degree). The scholarship program will be in place until Dec. 31, 2015 when it will be reviewed for potential renewal. It applies to children of members of the Canadian Forces who were killed while serving in an active mission from February 2002, the start of Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan.

On February 19, 2010 Meggitt Training Systems Canada (MTSC), located in Medicine Hat Alberta, was presented with the 2010 Alberta Export Award. The Export Award, presented by the Alberta Chamber of Commerce, is awarded to the organization that has demonstrated outstanding achievement in exporting products or services outside Canada’s borders.

The President of MTCS, Spencer Fraser accepted the award from Minister Doug Horner, Deputy Premier, Minister of Advanced Education and Technology, and Minister Liaison to the Canadian Armed Forces.

MTSC develops and supplies unmanned vehicles and target drones, such as the pop-up helicopter target, a realistic tank target vehicle called the Badger, the Hammerhead & Barracuda - sea surface vehicle targets and the Vindicator an aerial target drone. Although relatively small, MTSC has built its success by selling into niche military and law enforcement training markets around the world. It invests heavily in research and development to meets its customers’ continually changing needs.

exactEarth Ltd., the data services subsidiary of COM DEV International Ltd., has signed a $1.4 million contract with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to provide space-based Automatic Identification System (S-AIS) data. exactEarth will supply the CSA with both historical data collected previously by its AIS nanosatellite (NTS) as well as with datasets to be captured at times and locations specified by the CSA through March 31, 2010. Launched in April, 2008, originally for technology validation purposes, NTS continues to orbit the Earth and gather valuable data on global maritime traffic.

The newly collected data for this Canadian government contract represents the first use of exactEarth's new Data Processing Centre in Toronto. The multi-million dollar, high-reliability facility has been under development for several months and is now operational. exactEarth began delivering data under this contract on February 12, 2010.

U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) has awarded General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada a $227.4 million delivery order to produce 250 RG-31 Mk5E vehicles for its Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle program.

Vehicle production will occur at BAE Systems Land Systems OMC of Benoni, South Africa. Deliveries will be completed by October 2010.

This contract is in addition to the 1,402 RG-31 Mk5 vehicles already supplied by General Dynamics under the MRAP program. Separately, an additional 584 RG-31s were previously ordered by the U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command for route-clearance vehicles.

Ultra’s Precision Air Systems business, based in Gloucester, has won a contract worth over $8m from the US Navy to supply its HiPPAG airborne compressors for Canadian CF-18 aircraft. The contract is for High Pressure Pure Air Generators (HiPPAGs™) and was procured under a Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to meet a Canadian Air Force requirement to support Sidewinder missiles on CF-18 aircraft. This latest order brings the total number of HiPPAGs purchased for F-18 aircraft to over 1,900 systems.