Defence`s Feeds

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The Royal Thai Army (RTA) has started operating a new factory to produce 5.56 mm ammunition, it has been announced. The RTA said the facility, in the northeastern...

EDA Member States have agreed on a new work roadmap for the coming years (2021-2023) that will guide the Agency’s efforts to mitigate the implications of the EU Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) on the defence sector.

With the previous roadmap 2018-2020 successfully accomplished (some activities are in the final stages of implementation or scheduled to be continued in the future), the participating members of EDA’s REACH project - all Member States plus Norway - have now elaborated a new comprehensive EDA Roadmap 2021–2023 for REACH and related EU Chemicals/Waste Regulations that was recently endorsed by the Agency’s Steering Board.

The new roadmap foresees two different categories of activities:

• generic activities and tasks, which are conducted in a continuous manner, including administrative tasks, interaction, and monitoring/coordinating activities with stakeholders; and
• specific activities and tasks, which have a specific scope/duration and are therefore prioritised with respect to the sequence of implementation, including activities related to the Commission REACH Revision 2022, EDA’s Codes of Conduct on REACH and Classification, Labelling, and Packaging (CLP) Defence Exemptions, the EDA Member States’ Common Position on Ammunition Classification under REACH and specific proposals stemming from the 2020 EDA Study on the Impact (other than REACH and CLP) EU Chemicals/Waste Regulations on the Defence Sector.

Since the adoption of the roadmap, EDA has disseminated it as widely as possible to relevant stakeholders and continues to work closely with Member States’ REACH experts (including the EDA REACH Task Force at the technical level), the European Commission, the European Chemicals Agency ECHA and the defence industry to advance in its practical implementation. 

More information:

• REACH (EDA project page)
• REACH implementation and impact on defence discussed (webnews, April 2021)

The Australian Department of Defence (DoD) is to start the process to assess whether the submarine construction facility it was preparing for the cancelled Attack-class...

Boeing has delivered the first of four KC-46A Pegasus aerial refuelling tanker aircraft on order for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF).

China's recent ‘hypersonic' vehicle testing is pushing the development race with the US for such a weapon into higher gear at a time when the Pentagon is seeking to...

Revenue at Airbus fell 6% to EUR10.5 billion (USD12.3 billion) in the third quarter of 2021, as fewer commercial airplane deliveries and less favourable foreign exchange...

EDA’s 7th Helicopter Tactics Instructors Course (HTIC), which ran over seven weeks at Airbase No1 in Sintra (Portugal) and Pápa Air Base in Hungary, was successfully completed last week.

The course began on 30th of August with a four-week classroom phase, which included simulator training at Airbase No1 in Sintra, followed by a tree-week deployment to the Pápa Air Base in Hungary where participants engaged in live flying exercises.  Supported by personnel from the Hungarian Defence Force and Pápa Air Base, the flying phase included a complex operational scenario employing dissimilar formation flying, evasion training against a range of airborne threats, Electronic Warfare (EW) against both ground-based and airborne systems and a variety of additional tasks such as Helicopter Assault, Convoy Escort and Mutual Support. The course was led by EDA’s HTIC chief instructor team and followed by Austrian, Czech, German, Hungarian, Portuguese and Swedish crews flying on six different types of helicopters: AW-109, EH-101, H145M, Mi-171, OH-58 and UH-60.

The staff instructors came from Austria, Germany and Sweden, together with some contracted support provided by Inzpire Ltd. Also, fixed wing support was provided by units of the Czech Alca Jets and the Hungarians Gripens, acting mainly as threats during the helicopter training. In addition, EW assets and personnel were provided by Austria and Hungary.

In total, 18 Bronze, 7 Silver and 3 Gold qualifications were awarded ensuring an important contribution to the international cadre of Helicopter Tactics Instructors (HTI).

Background

The Helicopter Tactics Instructors Course (HTIC) is an advanced helicopter training activity aimed at creating helicopter tactics instructors which are enable train nationally standardised tactics procedures to foster interoperability of the European helicopter units, their level of preparation, and to facilitate readiness for future deployments. This is done independently of the type of helicopter used. It is delivered since 2013. Since 2021, its location changed to Airbase No1 in Sintra (Portugal), where the ground and simulator of the course is executed, and to Pápa Air Base (Hungary), where the flying phase is delivered.

HTIC provides aircrew from participating nations with the skills and knowledge to teach advanced tactics to front-line aircrews from within their own national organisations and to assist in delivering the EDA’s Helicopter Exercise Programme (HEP), the Helicopter Tactics Course (HTC) and future HTIC. Successful graduates from the course are awarded a qualification recognised by other Member States.  HTIC development courses run over two years: in the first year, prospective instructors refine their own knowledge of advanced helicopter tactics to the maximum degree. In the second year, the emphasis shifts to develop the participants’ ability to teach those tactics. In turn, Instructors who have demonstrated excellent abilities in delivering the course will be individually selected to come back a third time and teach alongside the existing instructional staff to finally achieve their Gold instructor qualification to become supervising instructors for future HTIC and/or components of the HTIC Chief Instructor Team.

The three main elements of HTIC include Evasion Training, Electronic Warfare and advanced Operations.  They are initially taught as stand-alone skills before being brought together in a complex, non-permissive environment in the framework of the planning and execution of Composite Air Operations (COMAO).

More information

• Video of exercise
• EDA Helicopter initiatives

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France hosted the French Space Days UAE in Paris 26-28 October at a time when an inter-emirati influence battle is going on in the space sector. The UAE's President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan appointed Salem bin Butti Al Qubaisi

Under a contract published on 12 October, the British government has asked the Satellite Applications Catapult (SAP), part of the