Defence`s Feeds

The Subcommittee on Security and Defence will hold a hearing with experts on the security situation in the Sahel, addressing the difficulties faced by Sahel countries from the African perspective, on 14 April. The debates will focus on the political, societal and military challenges posed to the security situation in the region, on the evolution of the mandates of CSDP missions, and on the EU's involvement in the process of redeployment of state services in the areas where the missions operate.
Draft programme
Poster
EPRS study: Peace and security in 2020: Evaluating the EU approach to tackling the Sahel conflicts - 16 September 2020
EPRS briefing: The G5 Sahel and the European Union: The challenges of security cooperation with a regional grouping - 15 September 2020
EPRS briefing: Understanding the EU Strategy for the Sahel - 7 September 2020
Live streaming
EU Fact Sheets: Security and defence
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

EDA participates this week in the Exercise ‘Locked Shields 2021’, the largest and most complex international live-fire cyber defence exercise organised from 13-16 April by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE). Taking place every spring since 2010, the exercise puts this year a special focus on the need for cyber defenders and strategic decision-makers to understand the numerous interdependencies between national IT systems.  

More than 2000 participants from 30 nations will have the possibility to test and train their entire chain of command in the event of a severe cyber incident, ranging from the strategic to the operational and tactical levels and involving both civilian and military capabilities. Reflecting real world cyber threats, the exercise deals with the protection of vital services and critical infrastructure that are fundamental for modern societies to operate, including critical information infrastructure, power and water supply and national defence systems. For the first time, the exercise also includes satellite mission control systems needed to provide real time situational awareness to facilitate military decision-making.  

Based on a fictive but realistic scenario, ‘Locked Shields’ will see a Red Team acting against 22 Blue Teams which take on the role of national cyber–Rapid Reaction Teams that are deployed to assist a fictional country in handling a large-scale cyber incident with all its implications. The exercise involves cutting-edge technologies, complex networks, and diverse attack methods with some 5000 virtualised systems being subject to more than 4000 attacks. In addition to securing complex IT systems, the participating Blue Teams must also be effective in reporting incidents, strategic decision making and solving forensic, legal, media and information operations challenges. In previous iterations of Locked Shields, the organisers of the exercise gathered in Tallinn, Estonia, with the participating Blue Teams joining remotely by secure online access from their home base. However, in 2021, the exercise differs in that the organisers will also be contributing remotely from their home nations.  
EDA support to strategic track  After 2019, EDA will support the strategic track of the Locked Shields exercise for the second time (LS20 was cancelled due to Covid pandemic) by bringing in its expertise and experience gained from its own Comprehensive Cyber Senior decision-making (CC SDM) exercise which has taken place in different EDA Member States since 2014 and where the participating countries had the opportunity to test and evaluate national crisis mechanisms and procedures. In particular, EDA will support Locked Shields’ exercise control unit’s White Team to manage the different Blue Teams during the strategic track of the exercise. In addition to that, EDA developed and provided the specific air scenario inputs as part of the overall strategic scenario. 
Background  Locked Shields 2021 is organised by the Tallin-based NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) in cooperation with NATO Communications and Information Agency, the Estonian Ministry of Defence, the Estonian Defence Forces, the European Defence Agency (EDA), Siemens, Ericsson, TalTech, CR14, Bittium, Clarified Security, Arctic Security, Cisco, Stamus Networks, SpaceIT, Sentinel, the Financial Service Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), US Defense Innovation Unit, Microsoft, Atech, Avibras, SUTD iTrust Singapore, The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, Space ISAC, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), STM, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, NATO M&S COE and PaloAlto networks. 
More information: 

• Exercise Locked Shields 21 website
• EDA Cyber Defence project page 

Americas

The US Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Test Center (AATC) is planning to modify two KC-135s to equip them with a new communications, sensors and defensive pod. While tentatively called the Gladiator Pod, it is expected to enter flight testing on a few KC-135s in 2023. AATC intends to pack communication, defensive, and sensor technologies inside the shell of a Multipoint Refueling System (MPRS) Pod. The MPRS consists of a single refueling pod mounted on each wing of a KC-135 to support probe and drogue refueling. The communication systems that will be packed inside the Gladiator Pod will allow the KC-135 to act as a data node and host on the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS). Defensive systems will protect the tanker with limited fighter support. It was also disclosed that the KC-135 was able to receive off-board data from the Kratos Unmanned Tactical Aerial Platform-22 (UTAP-22) during a recent test China Lake.

The US military’s ability to meet demands has largely degraded over the past two decades, according to a Government Accountability Office report. “GAO found that reported domain readiness did not meet readiness recovery goals identified by the military services,” it said. The report spotlighted “the effects of Hurricane Michael and its associated infrastructure limitations on the Air Force’s F-22 fighter jets; the effects of trained pilot shortages on the Army’s AH-64 attack helicopter; and the effects of limited depot repair capacity on the Marine Corps’ light attack helicopters.”

Middle East & Africa

According to media reports, Morocco has carried out its first drone strike in the Western Sahara. The Polisario Front announced that its police chief Addah al-Bendir had been killed “on the field of honor” in a separatist-controlled part of the disputed desert territory. The reported use of a drone strike to kill a senior Western Sahara independence fighter would, if confirmed, mark a turning point in the conflict, experts say. A Polisario official told AFP that Bendir had been killed by a Moroccan drone after taking part in a military operation near a sand barrier separating Moroccan and Polisario-controlled zones. Moroccan military expert Abdelhamid Harifi told AFP that “officially, Morocco doesn’t have armed drones — but it has a whole range of state-of-the-art unarmed drones.”

Europe

A US Air Force contract with British company BAE will see the firm support equipment for the fleet of F-16 aircraft in “more than 25 countries” through 2031. “From Boresighting avionics testing and vehicle management system tests to aircraft power, hydraulics, and electrical systems support, BAE Systems’ comprehensive approach is a key enabler for F-16 sustainment worldwide. The company will enhance aircraft supportability, reduce the logistics footprint, and minimize life cycle cost through the contract, which includes obsolescence management, logistics and sustainment, and on-base support and depot development”, it says in a press release.

Asia-Pacific

Korea Times quoted anonymous sources as saying the KAI FA-50 and Pakistan’s JF-17 are the finalists in Malaysia’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) competition. The report added that the JF-17 is in the lead as it “possesses a better mid-range weapons capacity.”

Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has rolled out a prototype of the multirole fighter aircraft being developed for the Republic of Korea Air Force (RoKAF) under the Korean Fighter eXperimental (KF-X) programme. The locally developed twin-engined aircraft KF-21 Boramae was officially unveiled in a ceremony held on April 9 at KAI headquarters in the South Korean city of Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, that was also attended by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto.

Today’s Video

Watch: KC-135 Stratotanker Take Off and Landing at MacDill Air Force Base, United States Air Force

The Department of the Air Force Acquisition biennial report includes a new concept art of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD). In September last year, Dr. Will Roper, the then Assistant Secretary of the Air [...]

The post New Concept Art Of The Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Featured In Air Force Report appeared first on The Aviationist.

SEDE organises a public hearing on 'The security situation in the Sahel: the African view and experience' on Wednesday, 14 April 2021 from 10.00 to 12.00hrs in room SPINELLI 3E2 and remotely, with external experts.
Draft programme
Poster
EPRS study: Peace and security in 2020: Evaluating the EU approach to tackling the Sahel conflicts - 16 September 2020
EPRS briefing: Understanding the EU Strategy for the Sahel - 7 September 2020
EPRS briefing: The G5 Sahel and the European Union: The challenges of security cooperation with a regional grouping - 6 September 2020
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

SABER technology is part of a critical upgrade of the Compass Call system that will be rehosted on the EC-37B. BAE Systems successfully flight tested its Small Adaptive Bank of Electronic Resources (SABER) technology for [...]

The post BAE Systems Tests SABER Technology For The New EC-37B Compass Call appeared first on The Aviationist.

Americas

According to the US Navy, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division has completed five weeks of integrated test evaluations of the AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) system. The Dahlgren Division, based in Virginia, performed interoperability testing with the G/ATOR system, preparing first by verifying the command’s infrastructure functionality, including power accessibility, radar data recording abilities and data analysis capabilities. The G/ATOR system, made by Northrop Grumman, is designed to detect low-observable targets with low radar cross sections such as rockets, artillery, mortars, cruise missiles and drones.

Northrop Grumman is designing a new radar instrumentation system for the B-1B bomber under a $2.3 million contract. The current radar instrumentation system is over 10 years old and faces diminishing manufacturing sources for components. Northrop will be producing new single board computers, ethernet-based protocol, high-speed data lines, and solid-state drive data collection units for installation on the two instrumented B-1Bs at Edwards Air Force Base. Work is scheduled to being later this year.

Middle East & Africa

Elbit won a contract by the Israeli Ministry of Defense last year to pursue a program to develop an airborne laser weapon system. A new video posted by Elbit shows the laser mounted on a Hermes 900 unmanned air vehicle. The aircraft has been modified with canards, probably due to the increase weight on the nose to house the laser turret or to improve pitch stability in order to have a stable beam.

Europe

Babcock International and BAE Systems have been awarded a five year contract extension by the Ministry of Defense to continue in-service support to the Royal Navy’s 4.5 Mk8 Medium Calibre Gun (MCG). The agreement is worth $58.9 and will see the continuation of in-service support to the 4.5 MCG across 19 Type 23 Frigates and Type 45 Destroyers as well as HMS Collingwood.

Technology to protect emerging wideband receivers from interference, enabling their use in contested and congested environments, is being developed by BAE. According to BAE Systems, the British company will design mechanisms for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that protect emerging wideband receivers from interference, enabling their use in contested and congested environments.

Asia-Pacific

The Indian Air Force has taken a new approach for its bid to acquire a fleet of aerial refueling tankers. It has now decided that it will lease those new tankers by the hour. And they will be used for training missions and free the Il-78 tankers for operational purposes.

Today’s Video

Watch: Elbit Systems / Growth Engines

The “incriminated” photo of an F-15E pilot with a “Russian Patch” was published by the RAF Lakenheath’s Facebook page in a post about the Exercise Point Blank currently in progress in the UK. The U.S. [...]

The post No, A U.S. F-15E Pilot Did Not Wear A “Russian Patch”: It’s Only A 492nd Squadron’s “Red Air” Patch appeared first on The Aviationist.

The new South Korean next generation fighter, the KF-21 “Boramae”, appears to be an F-22 look-alike. South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in unveiled the first prototype of the KF-X, the next-generation fighter developed by KAI (Korea [...]

The post South Korea Has Just Unveiled A prototype Of Its First Domestically Developed KF-21 “Boramae” appeared first on The Aviationist.

50 years after it flew for the first time (and 15 years after it was retired by the U.S. Navy), the F-14 Tomcat remains one of the most loved fighters ever. Here are its 100 [...]

The post These Posters Feature 100 Of The Most Iconic F-14 Tomcat Liveries Of All Time appeared first on The Aviationist.

Open-source intelligence specialists at Janes have identified fourteen ground troop units and several Iskander short-range ballistic missile systems at the Ukrainian border.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Russian KamAZ-4386 Taifun VDV

The name for the newest aircraft of the U.S. Air Force has been announced today during the official rollout ceremony: F-15EX “Eagle II”. Today the U.S. Air Force held an official rollout ceremony at Eglin [...]

The post The New F-15EX Has Been Officially Named “Eagle II” appeared first on The Aviationist.

An NF-5 of the Turkish Air Force aerobatic display team Turkish Stars” has crashed at Konya. An NF-5 aircraft, belonging to the Turkish Air Force demonstration team “Türk Yıldızları” (Turkish Stars) crashed on Wednesday, Apr. [...]

The post Turkish Stars NF-5 Jet Crashes During Training Flight At Konya Air Base Killing Pilot appeared first on The Aviationist.

On 15 April, SEDE Members will welcome for the first time the Director General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Fernando Arias. Since its creation, the OPCW has been instrumental in the verified destruction of 90% of the world's declared stockpile of chemical agents. However, in the past decade, the norm against the use of chemical weapons has started showing signs of erosion and the threat posed by chemical warfare is considered as one of the most pressing global security threats. Members will therefore discuss with the Ambassador Arias possible ways to contain the spread and use of chemical weapons inside and outside of the military domain, and to bring the counties violating the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention, back to full compliance.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (TRCSG) entered the South China Sea on April 4 to conduct routine operations.

Ambassador Andrew Young, deputy to the commander for civil-military engagement traveled to Niger to attend the presidential inauguration of Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum, April 2. U.S. Ambassador to Niger, Eric P. Whitaker led the delegation, which included representatives from diplomacy, defense, and development.

15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, embarked on the Makin Island Amphibious Group, concluded operations in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, March 18.

Venezuela has set up a special military unit on its border with Colombia, following incursions by armed Colombian groups that have caused Venezuelan casualties.