President Joe Biden's administration has in recent months considerably increased the volume of intelligence the United States shares with the European Union, according to our sources. One of the main channels for this relationship has been established between the State Department's Bureau of
Data analysis specialist Rakia Group is stepping up its efforts to establish itself in the US market, with the Dubai-based
The KNDS defence group is considering opening a maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) centre in Abu Dhabi in the coming months.
In Never Say Never Again, James Bond, played by Sean Connery, frees Domino Vitali (Kim Bassinger) from the villain Largo's citadel
Chicago-based accounting firm Crowe has been roped into an ongoing legal fight between financial research firm Viceroy Research and US
The US firm BlackSky, a New Space veteran dedicated to geospatial intelligence (GEOINT), is due to present its next results on
Americas North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) conducted a series of intercepts involving Russian and Chinese military aircraft operating within the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on July 24. Two Russian Tu-95MS and two Chinese H-6K aircraft were detected, tracked, and intercepted by NORAD fighter jets from the United States and Canada. While operating in international airspace, their presence within the ADIZ necessitated a response from NORAD which dispatched F-16, F-35 and CF-18 fighter aircraft. Raytheon won a $325 million ceiling increase modification for the StormBreaker® Small Diameter Bomb Increment II (SDB II, GBU-53/B). The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract from $275,000,000 to $600,000,000. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2026. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity. Middle East & Africa Bell Textron has delivered five 505 Jet Ranger X (JRX) training helicopters to the Royal Jordanian Air Force, completing a contract signed in 2022. The tranche is the second half of a 10-unit deal ordered with corresponding flight training devices and a computer-based training […]
Ukrainian authorities have faced an upsurge this month in fires at rail signal boxes, electrical transformers and energy storage substations. This critical infrastructure ensures the electricity supply to the Ukrainian rail network, in a climate of severe national energy restrictions.Meanwhile,
On 19 July, with the utmost discretion, Abu Dhabi sent out an invitation to tender to a handful of carefully
Space sector lawyers in Riyadh were silent this week when asked when the Saudi government would publish a final version
Detecting information attacks on French forces in external theatres is the responsibility of the French cyber defence organisation Comcyber, according
In the opening scenes of the film Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Sean Connery's James Bond is on the hunt for
The Latvian police is investigating the circumstances around the bankruptcy of PNB Banka (formerly Norvik Banka). On the same day
GBU-53/B, aka. SDB-II (click to view full) The 250 pound GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb gives American fighters the ability to carry more high-precision GPS-guided glide bombs, without sacrificing punching power against fortified targets. The initial award to Boeing was controversial, and the Darlene Druyun corruption scandal ultimately forced a re-compete of the Increment II development program. Whereas the initial GBU-39 SDB-I offered GPS-guided accuracy in a small and streamlined package, the goal of the GBU-53 SDB-II competition was a bomb that could hit moving targets in any weather, using a combination of guidance modes. For the SDB-II competition, Boeing found itself allied with Lockheed Martin, its key opponent for the initial SDB-I contract. Its main competitor this time was Raytheon, whose SDB-II bid team found itself sharing its tri-mode seeker technology with a separate Boeing team, as they compete together for the tri-service JAGM missile award against… Lockheed Martin. So, is Raytheon’s win of the SDB-II competition also good news for its main competitor? It’s certainly good news for Raytheon, who wins a program that could be worth over $5 billion. Raytheon’s GBU-53 Small Diameter Bomb SDB-II: cutaway (click to view full) Raytheon’s GBU-53/B SDB-II is 7″ in diameter around […]
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