Articles by Richard Mumford, European Editor

NEC Corp. and its 3G partner Siemens Communications are assisting Hutchison 3G Ireland (trading as 3 Ireland) in deploying its W-CDMA/UMTS 3G network. As the supplier of 3 Ireland’s W-CDMA/UMTS radio access network (UTRAN), the contract includes the delivery of a full complement of Node-B radio base stations and...

QinetiQ and the Verhaert Group of Belgium have announced the acquisition by QinetiQ of a 90 percent share of Verhaert Design and Development NV (VDD), the leading Belgian space systems integrator, with the option to purchase the remaining 10 percent of shares at a later date. The company will...

Defence industry leaders EADS, Indra and Northrop Grumman Corp. have formed an international team to pursue a systems engineering and integration contract that is a key part of the new NATO active-layered theatre ballistic-missile defence programme. This programme will be the first to link the assets of member nations...

Representing an opportunity for growth, Alcatel and Finmeccanica have announced the successful creation of two new joint ventures — Alcatel Alenia Space and Telespazio Holding. Their common objectives will be to consolidate leadership in telecommunication satellite systems and services, to acquire a strong position in the most important European...

The IEE, the largest professional engineering society in Europe, is driving to win members and provide services to Chinese engineers, spearheaded by the opening of a new office in Beijing. As manufacturing booms in China, there is increasing demand among engineers for access to knowledge and internationally recognised professional...

The European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI) has approved the Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) standards for the delivery of multimedia content and services on the move, paving the way for a new era in broadcasting and telecommunications. As the strong synergies between mobile and broadcast technologies develop, the telecom and...

SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems has secured an £850 M order to manufacture the EuroDASS Electronic Warfare suite for the second production batch of the Eurofighter Typhoon programme – Tranche 2. The company leads the EuroDASS consortium, which also comprises Elettronica of Italy, Indra of Spain and EADS of...

The Galileo Joint Undertaking, the company created to develop the Galileo satellite system, has awarded Indra the contract to develop stations for receiving and processing emergency signals for search and rescue services. The Spanish company will work in conjunction with an international consortium of seven European companies. It will...

A new era in global meteorological forecasting has begun with the launch of the first of five EADS Astrium state-of-the-art microwave humidity sounder (MHS) instruments on board the US polar orbiting satellite NOAA-N. The contract was awarded by EUMETSAT and the microwave sounders will form part of the instrument...

A new contract valued at $4.4 M has been awarded to Harris Corp. to supply TRuepoint microwave digital radios to Vmobile Nigeria. The contract represents an expansion of an existing long-term relationship between the two companies, through which Harris provides a ‘super-highway’ microwave radio backbone covering more than 1,500...