Defence`s Feeds

(click to view full) Northrop Grumman’s E-2C Hawkeye is a carrier-capable “mini-AWACS” aircraft, designed to give long-range warning of incoming aerial threats. Secondary roles include strike command and control, land and maritime surveillance, search and rescue, communications relay, and even civil air traffic control during emergencies. E-2C Hawkeyes began replacing previous Hawkeye versions in 1973. […]

BAE Systems Naval Ships in Glasgow is outsourcing steel work and introducing a new automated panel line as part of efforts to mitigate the impact of a steelworker...

Airbus Helicopters has flown its Rapid and Cost-Efficient Rotorcraft (RACER) concept for the first time, the company announced on 25 April.

QinetiQ has for the first time in the UK demonstrated manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) between jet aircraft.

The US government has approved the sale of the Northrop Grumman AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile – Extended Range (AARGM-ER) to the Netherlands and Poland.

Initial flight trials of the 757 airframe that is to be converted to the Excalibur Flight Test Aircraft (FTA) project to de-risk the Tempest future fighter have shown it...

The Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector (CF SEDSS), has marked the end of its third phase, running from 2019 to 2024, playing its part in the European Union’s Green Deal to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

With initiatives to improve energy efficiency in the military, as well as pilot projects to optimise energy use in buildings and efforts to electrify transport within defence facilities, Phase III generated over 30 project ideas and 15 research studies. Initiatives also included integrating hydrogen fuel technology in military vehicles and  promote military behavioural change among military personnel.

The European Defence Agency (EDA) and the Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER) organised the CF SEDSS III Dissemination Conference on 25 April 2024 under the auspices of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and hosted by the Ministry of Defence of Belgium.

The CF SEDSS is a Commission-funded initiative managed by the EDA. It is Europe’s largest defence energy community, reinforcing the defence sector's involvement in the energy transition. It will now move to Phase IV, running until 2028. The forum focuses on four interrelated areas: energy efficiency and buildings performance; renewable energy sources; protection of defence-related critical energy infrastructure; and policy, research and technology, and funding for defence energy-related projects.

“It is more crucial than ever to fully embrace a spirit of sustainability in our defence policies. Climate change also highlights the need to diversify our energy sources,” Belgium’s Minister of Defence Ludivine Dedonder told the conference. “The Member States of the European Union, through the Green Deal, have committed to achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Defence can play a crucial role by integrating the fight against climate change into its operations and by developing skills to meet the new environmental challenges.”

EDA Deputy Chief Executive André Denk said that the next phase of the Consultation Forum would be crucial. “The EU’s goal to become climate neutral by 2050 cannot be achieved without the engagement of the defence sector – defence may be responsible for up to 5.5% of the world’s total CO2 emissions. More energy sustainability in defence means also less costs, less reliance on fossil fuels, and increased resilience.” 

Paloma Aba Garrote, Director, European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), said that: “Europe’s defence and security sector is crucial to achieving the EU Green Deal targets of energy efficiency, renewables deployment and decarbonisation of the economy.”

In total, seven plenary conferences were organised during Phase III, including two onsite exhibitions, as well as workshops and ad-hoc meetings. EDA organised the first CF SEDSS table-top exercise to assess and mitigate vulnerabilities in critical energy infrastructure related to defence in the face of hybrid threats.

These efforts have collectively supported EU goals in energy and climate, highlighted by the development of the Symbiosis project, which will identify and address barriers for offshore renewable energy developments in areas used or reserved for present and future military activities and purposes.

The Forum's contributions are acknowledged in high-level EU documents such as the Progress Report of the EU Climate Change and Defence Roadmap, the Action Plan on Military Mobility and the EU Joint Communication on Climate Change.

To read more about the CF SEDSS  

• Greening Defence with Innovation: 2nd Energy Technology Solutions Conference & Exhibition (europa.eu)  

• EDA green defence forum reaches highest level of participation (europa.eu)  

• Defence and energy communities step up efforts on sustainable energy and publish new ground-breaking climate change study (europa.eu)  

• Climate change and EU defence: released new report analysing the links between climate, energy and defence (europa.eu)  

• EDA-led energy forum meets to reduce defence carbon footprint (europa.eu)  

• Fifth Consultation Forum meets in Prague to promote sustainable energy in defence (europa.eu)  

 

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced on 24 April that a reception ceremony for an early warning aircraft had been held at Al-Dhafra...

Bangalore-based GalaxEye Space is developing a satellite that can carry multiple sensors for Earth observation to support the requirements of the Indian Armed Forces.

The Australian government has released two more policy documents that outline its defence development intentions over the next few years. The two documents – National...

Hanoi has issued a diplomatic note to Putrajaya after a Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) vessel collided into a Vietnamese fishing boat in disputed waters of...

The Brazilian Army is to acquire 12 Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk utility helicopters to replace its eight HM-3 Cougar and four HM-2 Black Hawk helicopters, said Army...

Embraer Defense and Security is to carry out the mid-life upgrade (MLU) of 68 of the EMB 314 (locally designated A-29) Super Tucano training and light attack aircraft of...

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $9 million modification to a previously awarded fixed-price incentive (firm-target), cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable contract. This modification increases the contract ceiling to procure the necessary hardware and associated technical engineering, management and logistics support for fabrication, assembly, test, and delivery of eight AN/APR-39 D(V)2 Radar Warning Receiver/Electronic Warfare Management Systems, and […]

It is the most audacious operation currently being prepared by Ukraine's military intelligence service, the GUR. It wants to send its special forces to combat Russia on the African continent, according to several interviews carried out by Intelligence Online in

The Portuguese navy is currently testing the BlueWhale underwater intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) drone made by ELTA, a subsidiary

Salmon, a Philippine fintech company founded two years ago, has been gathering momentum since it took over the Laguna-based Rural

A delegation from the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) is due in London at the end of

On 8 April, Cambodian prime minister Hun Manet sacked criminal police chief Yam Sing Mao by decree, without giving any

AEGIS-BMD: CG-70 launches SM-3 (click to view full) The AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense System seamlessly integrates the SPY-1 radar, the MK 41 Vertical Launching System for missiles, the SM-3 Standard missile, and the ship’s command and control system, in order to give ships the ability to defend against enemy ballistic missiles. Like its less-capable AEGIS […]