Jane's Defense News

Portugal is looking to procure a new vehicle-mounted short-range air defence system to replace its army's ageing M48 Chaparral system. A spokesperson for the service told IHS Jane's it is finalising its operational and technical requirements. The new system is expected to be mounted on a 4x4

Key Points LMAMS will enable a small tactical unit to engage targets beyond the limits of current LoS weapons Hero 30 kg is manpack-portable canister-launched tactical system with a 0.5 kg warhead Raytheon is teaming with UVision of Israel to offer the lightweight Hero 30 for the US Army's lethal

Slovakia's MSM Group has unveiled a new air-transportable 8x8 wheeled infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) prototype called the Corsac, which is based on the General Dynamics European Land System (GDELS) Steyr Pandur II armoured personnel carrier. Developed by a team lead by MSM Group with partners

The US Department of Defense (DoD) will downselect a total of three preferred bidders in the third quarter of 2016 as its Modular Handgun System (MHS) programme continues on course despite recent calls to replace the effort with a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution. In April, US Army Chief of

The US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Special Operations Forces Acquisition, Technology, & Logistics (SOF AT&L) office outlined its future intentions at the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) in Tampa, Florida, with specific emphasis on shortening the time it takes

The US Marine Corps (USMC) is looking to expand its fleet of weaponised Lockheed Martin KC-130J Hercules turboprop aircraft that are capable of extended endurance multi-sensor imagery reconnaissance and close air support (CAS) in low-threat scenarios. 10 of the USMC's planned fleet of 79 KC-130Js

CAE continues to migrate its next-generation Medallion-6000 visual system onto the Common Database (CDB) architecture of its Dynamic Mission Simulators (DMSs) at its Medium Support Helicopter Aircrew Training Facility (MSHATF) located at Royal Air Force (RAF) Benson, UK, in order to provide more

Key Points Russia's aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov is set to be refitted in 2017 The process is likely to take at least 2-3 years, leaving the Russian navy without an aircraft carrier for some time Russia's sole aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov , will undergo an extensive overhaul and

Key Points The Spanish and US navies have conducted the first escort interoperability trials involving a Spanish Aegis ship and a US Aegis BMD-capable ship The trials focused on establishing communications, testing interoperability, and conducting pierside exercises. The Spanish Navy has

The Australian government has pointed to a new contract secured by Victoria-based Marand Precision Engineering as evidence of local industry's increasing involvement in the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme. Secured earlier this month, Marand's contract calls on

The Cameroon Air Force's (CAF's) 23 Squadron is now capable of conducting night attack operations using its three Harbin Z9WE helicopters. One Z9WE crewmember told IHS Jane's that the capability was operationally tested in late January, when the three Z9WEs were involved in a live firing training

Colt Canada introduced a new family of infantry weapons at CANSEC 2016 on 25 May: the Modular Rail Rifle (MRR) that is based on the C7 assault rifle and the C8 carbine in Canadian service. The 5.56 x 45 mm MRR is available in four versions based on barrel length: 11.6, 14.5, 15.7, and 18 inches.

Key Points The live fire test demonstrated the FCLIP software update introduced into the SSDS Mk 2 system RAM Block 2 missiles successfully engaged and killed two supersonic sea-skimming targets A live fire test performed from the United States Navy (USN) Self-Defense Test Ship (SDTS) has

General Dynamics Land Systems Canada (GDLS-C) on 25 May introduced the latest variant of its LAV family at CANSEC in Ottawa. The LAV Combat Support Vehicle (LAV CSV) builds on the LAV 6.0 baseline and is said to improve the LAV family's modularity. Doug Wilson-Hodge, GDLS-C's manager of corporate

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)'s revenue in the first quarter of 2016 was 5.6% lower than in the first quarter of 2015, results released by the company on 26 May show. IAI, which is state owned, generated USD859 million in the three months to March 2016, down from USD910 million in the same

TWO civilians were killed and four others were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED), emplaced by unidentified militants, detonated in the village of al-Karaghul in al-Rashid district south of Iraq's capital Baghdad on 25 May, Iraqi News reported. No group immediately claimed

India aims to conclude a deal with France for 36 Dassault Rafale fighters for the Indian Air Force (IAF) by the end of June, 14 months after the purchase was announced, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said in New Delhi on 26 May. "There is no reason why it [the Rafale deal] should not be

Key Points With the amendment, the courts will now be able to indict People's Democratic Party (Halklarin Demokratik Partisi: HDP) MPs, based on charges of terrorism and affiliation with the Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK). To delegitimise the HDP would amount to shutting the Kurdish

EVENT On 27 May 2016, Ukraine's army said that its positions in Donetsk and Luhansk regions had been shelled by separatist militants 30 times in the previous 24 hours. The most intense fighting, as in previous weeks, was north of Donetsk, in the vicinity of Avdiivka. An industrial centre of 35,000

Key Points AQIM's possession of Grad-type rockets used in the attack on the Nigerien mine indicates the group's increasing military capability. AQIM is likely to increasingly use Grad-type rockets to attack well-protected energy and mining sites, as well as military targets, in northern Niger and