Defence`s Feeds

The concept design for Australia’s Future Submarine project, including its dimensions, should be finalised by the end of this year, according to Rear Admiral Greg Sammut, head of the AUD50 billion (USD36 billion) programme. The first of 12 4,700-tonne Shortfin Barracuda conventionally-powered

The Indian and Pakistani armies have resumed their exchange of mortar and small arms fire across the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed northern region of Kashmir more than five months after they had agreed to uphold a ceasefire in the area. The exchange of fire intensified after three Indian

Cyprus’s 11 Mi-35P attack helicopters have been grounded, local media reported in late October. The helicopters did not fly during Cyprus Independence Day on 1 October. On 24 October, the SigmaLive news website published a statement by Cypriot National Guard Deputy Chief of Staff Brigadier

Key Points DRC’s upcoming elections, delayed from November 2016 and now scheduled for 23 December, will likely be held on time, with any (less likely) delays pushing it back no further than April 2019. The validity of the election result will likely be contested by the opposition, but

AT LEAST two police officers were wounded when unidentified gunmen conducted a grenade attack targeting a police check post in the Spin Kali area of Police District 5 in Afghanistan's capital Kabul late on 31 October, Khaama Press reported. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

A Chengdu Aircraft Industries Company J-10B multirole fighter aircraft powered by a Chinese-made thrust-vectoring WS-10 engine has been photographed in Zhuhai ahead of the AirShow China 2018 exhibition, which is set to take place in that southern Chinese city from 6–11 November. The

Italy’s planned multiyear defence programming document covering the 2018–2020 timeframe includes funding to launch new shipbuilding and guided weapon programmes for the Italian Navy. According to the document, publicly released on 2 November, the Italian Ministry of Defence (MoD) plans

Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has extended its helicopter maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) collaboration with Leonardo by opening a new transmission maintenance facility in Norway, the company announced on 31 October. The new MRO capability partnership has been agreed as part of a

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) announced on 1 November that it has been awarded a contract by the Japanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) to build the first two of four ships of a new class of multirole frigate for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). Although MHI did not disclose the value

US armoured vehicle manufacturer Oshkosh Corporation released the results of its 2018 financial year on 1 November, reporting a 65% rise in net income. At USD472 million, profits were USD186 million higher than in 2017, while annual revenue rose 13% year-on-year to USD7.7 billion. Oshkosh’s

US armoured vehicle manufacturer Oshkosh Corporation released the results of its 2018 financial year on 1 November, reporting a 65% rise in net income. At USD472 million, profits were USD186 million higher than in 2017, while annual revenue rose 13% year-on-year to USD7.7 billion. Oshkosh’s

Projekt System & Management GmbH (PSM), a joint venture company between Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall, has confirmed that it will not offer the Puma infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) as a contender to supply the Australian Army (AA) with up to 450 modern IFVs as part of Project Land 400

The Romanian government has signed an agreement with the US Army and transferred funding to the US government to purchase three more Patriot air and missile defence systems, Raytheon announced in a news release on 1 November. The additional units are being procured through the Foreign Military

Russia’s National Guard (Rosgvardiya) has received Ural-VV 6×6 mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles developed by the Ural Automotive Plant (Ural AZ), a Rosgvardiya source told Jane's . “The Ural-432009 [Ural-VV] has been adopted by Rosgvardiya, and the service has

Key Points Russia’s sole aircraft carrier was damaged on 30 October when the floating dock that was carrying it sank Russia has an acute shortage of floating docks large enough to accommodate its largest warships The 30 October sinking of the floating dock PD-50 in Roslyakovo has resulted

Key Points The Philippine Marine Corps has begun training on the Korean Amphibious Assault Vehicle ahead of an anticipated delivery Vehicles will further expand on the range of operations that can be conducted by the Philippine Navy’s strategic sealift vessels The Republic of Korea Marine

Turkey has begun work on its first long-range regional air and missile defence system, named Siper (bulwark or shield), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on 31 October. The project involves the state-owned Turkish Scientific and Technical Research Board (Tübitak) Defence

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on 1 November that Turkish and US troops had begun combined patrols around the northern Syrian city of Manbij. Meanwhile, the Turkish military shelled positions of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a US-allied force, further to the east in

I have a new article examining the impact of the Trident Juncture NATO exercise currently ongoing in Norway, published by the Kennedy School’s Russia Matters project.

This week, NATO forces are engaged in the largest military exercise the alliance has organized since the end of the Cold War and the first major Western exercise in decades to take place in the Arctic region. To be held in Norway through Nov. 23, the Trident Juncture exercise is designed to improve NATO’s ability to defend member states and to strengthen the alliance’s credibility as a deterrent force against potential aggression. While the scenario does not mention any particular adversaries, the exercise is clearly aimed at bolstering NATO defenses against Russia in the Nordic region. While the political impact will be minor by comparison to any potential permanent troop deployments, the military lessons gleaned by the exercise’s participants promise to be significant.

The exercise marks NATO’s third time holding the biennial Trident Juncture and differs from the previous two iterations in both size and focus. To begin with, it involves personnel from all 29 NATO members—a first—plus close partners Finland and Sweden. This in itself is significant: While the two Nordic states have regularly participated in NATO exercises in recent years and have invited NATO forces to take part in exercises on their soil, their participation in as large and politically prominent an Article 5 exercise as Trident Juncture highlights how far both have gone since their political decisions to enhance defense cooperation with NATO. The 2018 exercise is not only much bigger than the 2014 and 2016 iterations, which also focused on preparing NATO’s rapid reaction forces to counter Russian aggression, but differs significantly in its primary focus on field exercises instead of command post exercises.

There are 50,000 total participants, including 20,000 from the ground forces, 24,000 from naval and marine infantry forces, 3,000 from air forces, 1000 logistics specialists and 1300 command personnel.  The United States has provided the largest contingent, including the Harry Truman Carrier Strike Group, the Iwo Jima Marine Expeditionary Strike Group and over 18,000 troops. Preparations, including deployment of forces to the exercise area, began in August. The active phase of the field exercise began on Oct. 25 and will continue through Nov. 7, to be followed by a command post exercise in mid-November.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Americas

South Korea is equipping three of its guided missile destroyers with a new Aegis combat system. The foreign military sales contract between Lockheed Martin and South Korea is priced at $365.7 million. Lockheed Martin will provide the Republic of Korea Navy with development and integration of the weapon system in its Baseline K2 configuration. The Aegis Combat System manages all combat essential elements on Arleigh-Burke and Ticonderoga-class ships and ensures that the missile launching element, the computer programs, the radar and the displays are fully integrated to work together. The contract covers services such as combat system installation, including staging and integrated logistics support required for the installation; program management, system engineering and computer program development; ship integration and testing; technical manuals and planned maintenance system documentation. Work will be performed at multiple national and international locations, including Moorestown, New Jersey and Ulsan, South Korea. Work on all three vessels is expected to be completed by July 2026.

Boeing is being contracted to supply multiple US foreign military sales customers with anti-ship missiles. The $244.7 million not-to-exceed, firm-fixed-price contract enables the company to procure long lead material for the Harpoon full-rate production Lot 91. The Harpoon Block II is an over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile capable of performing land-strike and anti-ship missions. The missile leverages progress on several other weapons to reduce its cost. The Harpoon’s GPS/INS guidance system is taken from Boeing’s JDAM program, and its GPS antennae and software are found on Boeing’s SLAM. The missile’s 500 pound blast warhead can deliver lethal firepower against targets like coastal missile batteries and ships in port. Work will be performed at multiple locations including – but not limited to – St. Charles, Missouri, Galena, Kansas and Elkton, Maryland.

The Air Force is upgrading the refuelling system for its C-17 Globemaster III short field, heavy-lift transport jets. Bodell Construction will construct the refueling hydrants and ramp expansion at a cost of $20.3 million. A hydrant system is a loop of pipeline located under the aircraft parking ramp that delivers fuel straight from the hydrant fuel tanks to the aircraft. A mobile pantograph allows for continuous fuel delivery to aircraft within 135 feet of a hydrant pit. With the hydrant system about 420 gallons a minute can be transferred to the C-17, which reduces the overall refueling time by half, compared to the current truck refueling method. Work will be performed in Charlotte, North Carolina and is expected to be completed by December 2020.

Middle East & Africa

Israel’s defense industry can expect a major influx of Boeing investments. The aerospace giant signed a “reciprocal procurement” agreement on Tuesday, that calls for Boeing to collaborate with Israeli industry to the value of at least 35% of all government deals exceeding $1 million. As Israel is expecting to award Boeing with contracts totalling at $10 billion over the next decade, the agreement could possibly add $3.5 billion in new business to Israel’s economy. “A reciprocal purchase agreement on such a scale is a significant achievement which will lead to the growth of many companies in the domestic market, and to expand their activities and success in international markets,” said Economy Minister Eli Cohen. Boeing is currently competing for a number of Israeli defense procurement contracts, including new F-15 fighter aircraft, aerial tankers and a squadron of transport helicopters.

Europe

The German air force will soon test a new passive radar system in the country’s southern province of Bavaria. During the week-long test German electronics specialist Hensoldt will deploy three of its newly developed TwInvis systems in the Munich area and one roughly 70 miles west, near the city of Ulm. The TwInvis system uses the signal echoes of existing third-party transmitters to detect and track aircraft. According to the company the one radar unit can monitor up to 200 aircraft in 3D within a radius of 250 kilometers. Passive radars have the advantage that they cannot be located by the enemy and are very hard to jam, however to properly function the radars are dependent on a sufficiently strong commercial broadcast activity in the targeted area. The company first unveiled the TwInvis passive radar system at the Berlin Air Show in April, where it was rumored as a technology with the potential to detect stealthy aircraft like the F-35.

Asia-Pacific

India’s Coast Guard (ICG) is upgrading its fleet of maritime reconnaissance aircraft (MRA). The upcoming mid-life upgrade of the 17 licence-built Dornier Do-228s is expected to cost about $129 million. The aircraft will help the ICG to monitor the country’s 3,370 mile long coastline and over 77,000+ square miles of India’s Exclusive Economic Zone. According to the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) the aircraft will be fitted with “state-of-the-art technology” and Pollution Surveillance Systems. Primary contractor will be India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) which acquired the production licence of Do-228s in 1986.

KBRwyle Technology Solutions is being contracted to support the US Army’s Prepositioned Stock Four (APS-4) located in South Korea. The $14.8 million contract modification covers the provision of logistics support services until November 2019. APS-4 is located in Japan and South Korea and supports the Pacific theatre with two armored battalions and one mechanized infantry battalion. The Army maintains a strategic inventory of sustainment supplies as part of Army Pre-positioned Stocks (APS). These stocks sustain forward-deployed and initial follow-on ground forces, and include major end items such as engines, repair parts, medical supplies, packaged petroleum products, barrier/construction materials, operations rations, and clothing required to sustain combat operations. The APS-4 is located at Camp Caroll near Waegwan, about 132 miles southeast of Seoul.

Today’s Video

Watch: NATO stages biggest military exercise since end of Cold War