Defence`s Feeds

Eight Hungarian Air Force (HuAF) Mi-24V and Mi-24P gunships delivered to the 419th Aircraft Repair Plant (419 ARZ), a subsidiary of Rostec’s Russian Helicopters, will be overhauled, modernised, and have night vision googles (NVG) integrated, it has been announced. The work will be conducted

India is to establish an overseas military base on an island in the Seychelles archipelago to augment its naval presence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and the Seychelles’ Secretary of State, Barry Faure, signed an agreement on 27 January

The first Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) to be built outside of the United States was handed over to the Italian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 25 January, it has been announced. The short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) fighter was assembled at the Final Assembly

Japan and France have agreed to increase military technology collaboration as part of expanding defence ties, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) in Tokyo has announced. A statement issued after meetings in Tokyo on 26 January between the two countries’ defence and foreign ministers said an initial

Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera announced on 26 January that the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s (JASDF’s) first F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter has been deployed to Misawa Air Base in northern Japan. The recently deployed conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) F-35A

Key Points The KC-46A programme is not performing critical EMP testing, according to a Pentagon plan The Department of Defense instituted a new, strengthened EMP requirement after it awarded the original contract Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) testing performed in July on the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus

The Unmanned Systems Division of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions is opening new facilities in Oklahoma City to accommodate expected increased demand for high-performance, jet-powered unmanned aerial tactical and target drone systems. Kratos is initially occupying an 8,800 ft² facility

Lockheed Martin Australia has been awarded a contract from the Australian government for the design, build, and integration of combat systems for the country’s SEA 1000 Future Submarine programme. The announcement, made by defence industry minister Christopher Pyne on 25 January, added that

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has published a new military training outline aimed at transforming the Chinese military into a “world-class force”, the state-owned Xinhua news agency reported on 27 January. Approved by the country’s Central Military Commission (CMC), the

The logistics department of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) conducted in late January its first logistics support drills involving unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from two civilian companies, according to a 29 January report by the People's Liberation Army (PLA)-sponsored China

A Boeing 747-800 transport aircraft belonging to the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) crashed on 29 January in a mountainous area of southwest China’s Guizhou province. An official PLAAF statement said the aircraft “crashed during flight training”, but gave no

Key Points As part of its non-linear approach to modern warfare, Russia has integrated private military companies (PMCs) into its warfighting strategy in largely conventional and support roles. Russian PMCs have a close operational relationship with Russian special forces and intelligence

A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Boeing EA-18G Growler electronic attack (EA) aircraft caught fire and suffered serious damage during an aborted take-off from Nellis Air Force Base (AFB) in the United States on 27 January. The twin-seat Super Hornet-derivative aircraft suffered an undisclosed

The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) is to scrap 16 UK Eurofighter Typhoons as part of a project to save GBP 800 million (USD1.13 billion) on the running cost of the service's combat aircraft fleet. The plans to dismantle the aircraft and harvest spare parts for use on the remainder of the Typhoon fleet

The pilot brigade for a reorganised and more heavily equipped and qualified Spanish Army is due to begin operating under its new “war of the future” role later this year, the army chief of staff has announced. The 25 January announcement was made by army General Francisco Javier Varela

Event Four Malian soldiers were killed in a jihadist attack on their base in the northeastern town of Menaka on 28 January, the latest in a series over the past week. The previous day, 14 soldiers were killed and 18 wounded at their base in Soumpi, near the border with Niger, while 26 civilians

Chinese Shaanxi SX250 General Utility Truck

The European Defence Agency (EDA) held a workshop and networking event on 24 and 25 January to support the development of the future Multinational Medical Modular Unit (M3U) Programme, foster a platform for multinational collaboration and establish a dialogue with industry.

More than 50 representatives from Member States, industry and other institutions shared information and knowledge on present and future capability development for Medical Support to the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) followed the EDA’s revised approach towards a structured dialogue and enhanced engagement with industry based on a set of priority actions within three main medical areas:

• Advancements in pre-hospital care: solutions, including those contracted with external providers, to grant the best possible treatment to wounded soldiers (from the point of injury to the field hospital);

• Field hospitals for present and future CSDP operations: new systems to realise or provide cost-effective solutions for new generations of field hospitals, linked to the EDA M3U-Programme;

• Medical training and simulation: systems and technologies to improve training and learning in a simulated environment prior to clinical encounters such as task trainers, virtual reality simulators, virtual patients, and computerised full-body manikins, etc.

Participants discussed concrete medical solutions and services, as well as hurdles to increased EU or multinational cooperation from both industry and Member States’ perspectives. Another key topic was the potential impact of technological advancements on the future of operational environments and on the medium to long-term medical capabilities trends.

EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq met with Dutch Minister of Defence Ank Bijleveld in The Hague today. Discussions focused on EU defence initiatives as well as the Netherlands' current and potential future contributions to EDA projects and programmes.

During the meeting with the Minister of Defence, discussions included the general state of play regarding the Implementation Plan on Security and Defence including the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD), the Permanent Structured Cooperation on security and defence (PESCO) and the European Defence Fund, with focus of the discussions on EDA's role. 

Minister Bijveld and Chief Executive Domecq also exchanged views on EDA’s further development in view of the long-term review (LTR) and discussed the Netherlands' involvement in ongoing EDA projects with focus on Military Mobility where the Netherlands take a proactive role.

 

More information:

• Website Dutch Ministry of Defence 

 

 

On 25 January, Major General Pascal Chiffoleau, Commander of the European Air Transport Command (EATC), Jorge Domecq, Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency and Arturo Alfonso-Meiriño, OCCAR-EA Director signed a letter of intent on common in-service support for the A400M capability within the remit of EATC.

The cooperation in the in-service phase of the A400M mainly aims at enhancing synergies, avoiding the duplication of efforts, reducing the administrative burden and by facilitating – where possible – common action. It is thus expected to bring significant added-value, especially by increasing interoperability between the respective Member States.

“Based on the already excellent cooperation with EATC for example on air-to-air refuelling and with OCCAR-EA on the development of a European RPAS capability, I am confident that today’s agreement will be of benefit to all our Member States. Working together means that each organisation will bring in its particular strengths and expertise. This is European defence in practice”, said Jorge Domecq, Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency.

Common support for the in-service phase of the A400M aircraft will further underline the capabilities’ multinational configuration. The agreed areas of cooperation are common operation manuals for air and ground operations as well as common training requirements and syllabi, among others. The EDA, EATC and OCCAR-EA will also cooperate on airworthiness and certification aspects, air-to-air refuelling and topics arising through the Single European Sky. 

 

More information:

• Air-to-air refuelling project page
• European Air Transport Command website
• OCCAR-EA website