The UK Ministry of Defense has awarded nine direct contracts to locally-based businesses in the Falkland Islands over the last five years including marine services, waste management, logistics and education.Harriet Baldwin, UK Under-Secretary of State for the MoD gave the statistics in response to a question in the House of Commons by Wes Streeting, MP for Ilford North, who visited the Falkland Islands last month in a delegation of four MPs.
In recognition of the time the Sea King helicopter has spent supporting both the military and the civilian population of the Falkland Islands, the UK Ministry of Defense has donated the decommissioned Sea King Search and Rescue Helicopter to the Falkland Islands Museum & National Trust.
The British Ministry of Defense (MOD) has announced that the UK has been chosen by the F-35 Program Office to be a global repair hub providing maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade services for F-35 avionic and aircraft components. Over the lifetime of the program, hundreds of European-based F-35 aircraft will be serviced and maintained in North Wales.
British MP Julian Lewis, who chairs the Commons defense committee, claimed contractors BAE Systems were ready to start work on the multi-billion pound Ministry of Defense's new Type 26 frigates, known as global combat ships. The project has already been cut from 13 to eight new ships, while a target to start cutting steel in May has been delayed indefinitely.
British International Helicopters (BIH) has begun flight operations in the Falkland Islands, working alongside Britain’s military forces in the region to provide a range of vital air support services. Following the award of a ten-year, £180 million contract last year, Britain’s largest UK-owned helicopter operator will undertake a range of assignments including around the clock, all-weather search and rescue, helicopter emergency services, rescue hoist operations, and passenger and cargo transfers.
The United Kingdom Ministry of Defense (MoD) has rubbished claims that the Falkland Islands have been left without protection, due to the absence of a British warship (frigate or destroyer) permanently based in the south Atlantic. The MoD defended itself following reports that the Falkland Islands were without the protection of a British frigate or destroyer for the first time since the conflict in 1982.
United Kingdom Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said that April first marks the beginning of a new financial year, but above all a remarkable turnaround: “a major milestone for Defense with our budget increasing for the first time in six years in real terms”.
Partnership, disaster relief, industrial cooperation and innovation are the main UK themes as UK companies exhibit a range of world beating defense capabilities at Chile's FIDAE 2016, some attending for the first time, others as a result of having exhibited at a successful FIDAE 2014.
The Falkland Islands is one of Britain’s biggest military bases and as part of the UK was, “entitled to its cut of the defense budget,” Secretary of State for Defense Michael Fallon MP said on Tuesday as he visited the Falklands for the first time.
Michael Fallon, the British Defence Secretary, has become the first Defence Secretary to visit the Falkland Islands in 14 years. The House of Commons is currently in recess this week and the Defence Secretary’s visit directly follows the visit of four other British MPs to the Falklands.