Jane's Defense News

Local media reports translated the message, originally in Kotokoli Tem, a local language, into French. The message specifically singled out the chief Imam Souleyman of Totsi mosque located in the northwest of the capital Lomé, accusing him of planning to dilute the rigorous teaching of Islam.

Key Points The government has announced a dual foreign-exchange system, a significant increase in the price of fuel - which is still among the cheapest in the world - and a revision of price controls and of the state-owned food distribution network of supermarkets. The measures are unlikely to

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) published its 2015 financial results on 18 February, reporting a 0.9% rise in revenue to USD7,033 million. Operating income generated by the US shipbuilder, meanwhile, was up by 17.4% year-on-year, at USD769 million. Within the company the larger business,

India's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has made little or no progress in the three-year-old INR119.29 billion (USD1.78 billion) programme to import and licence-build 56 Medium Transport Aircraft (MTA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF). Billed by the MoD as the flagship of its 'Make in India' initiative,

Key Points Mohammad-Reza Aref's statement comes amid the widespread disqualification of reformist candidates, by the hard-line conservative Guardian Council, from running in the 26 February parliamentary elections, effectively blocking their aspirations of regaining a meaningful representation in

Iran has developed an 'improved' variant of its Shahed-129 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which was displayed by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) for the first time during a rally in mid-February to mark the anniversary of the Islamic revolution in 1979. As seen in an image released by

A POLICE officer was killed and two others were wounded when Islamic State militants opened fire on their checkpoint in El-Badrasheen in Egypt's Giza governorate on 16 February, Al Bawaba reported. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on social media.

AT LEAST two military personnel were killed when their helicopter was brought down by Islamic State heavy machine gun fire over an area near Amiriyah Fallujah in Iraq's Anbar province on 17 February, AFP reported. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Japanese navy may seek to expand collaborative efforts with the US Navy (USN) in the electronic and cyber-warfare domains, the former's chief said on 18 February. In a move that would build on the already close relationship between the two navies, Admiral Tomohisa Takei - chief of staff of the

SAIC spin-off Leidos returned to the black during 2015 with a prior year operating loss of USD214 million turning into a profie of USD298 million. Sales, however, were broadly static at USD5.09 billion (2014: USD5.06 billion). A fall in sales in the group's National Security Solutions business

NATO and EU experts will hold their first round of technical talks about translating the two organisations' recent agreement on cyber defence co-operation into concrete action during the week of 22 February. "The idea is to get our experts talking - daily, almost," Ian West, head of cyber

Iran appears to have conducted strike missions over Syria and Iraq using its Shahed-129 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), according to footage released by national media on 2 February. A news report filed by media channel SimaNews shows at least two armed Shahed-129 UAVs being demonstrated at an

Finland has decided to purchase new missiles for its 22 Lockheed Martin M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRSs), the Finnish Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 4 February. Valued at EUR70 million (USD78.4 million) by the MoD, the sale includes both M31A1 Unitary Missiles and M30A1

The Mexican Air Force (FAM) now has a fleet of 33 Beechcraft T-6C+ Texan II trainers, a military source told IHS Jane's on 3 February. A total of 48 aircraft have been ordered by the FAM since January 2012, when an original contract for six planes was placed. A FAM officer told IHS Jane's the

Thales has test flown the new Searchmaster multirole surveillance radar for the French Navy's Dassault Atlantic (Atlantique) 2 (ATL2) maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) upgrade programme, the company announced on 4 February. Flight trials of the radar, which is also available for export, commenced on

The Kenyan police commissioned 30 Norinco VN4 light armoured vehicles on 1 February in a ceremony attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta. The Chinese-made vehicles will be used by the paramilitary General Service Unit (GSU) of Kenya's National Police Force for anti-terrorism, international

BAE Systems has signed an agreement with Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to jointly develop cyber-security technologies. The NTU said on 4 February that the arrangement, signed in the United Kingdom, would be supported by investment worth SGD2.5 million (USD1.8 million) and would

A Franco-British industry team is waiting for Paris and London to decide the way forward for a cross-channel effort to develop an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV). Martin Rowe-Willcocks, BAE Systems' head of business development for Future Combat Air Systems (FCAS), told IHS Jane's on 2

Boeing has named Brett Gerry as president of Boeing Japan, effective 1 April. The US group said Gerry, who succeeds retiring George Maffeo, will be based in Tokyo and will report to Marc Allen, president of Boeing International. Gerry, previously vice president for Boeing Commercial Airplanes,

EVENT On 4 February 2016, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that the pro-Russian separatist militants in Donetsk and Luhansk regions had shelled Ukrainian army positions 55 times in the previous 24 hours; this compared to 8-12 per day in the first weeks of January. In the previous week,