Defence`s Feeds

Four more provincial capitals have fallen to the Taliban in rapid succession, meaning that 10 out of Afghanistan's 34 provincial centres have now come under the group's...

The Taliban have captured at least four more provincial capitals in Afghanistan as government forces struggle to contain the group's rapid advance and Washington and...

Americas

Northrop Grumman won a $8.4 million delivery order for support of the E2-D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft program avionics flight management computers. The E-2D provides broad area coverage resulting in broader range capabilities. With the E-2D’s enhanced ability to work in the littoral and over land, the platform provides a critical capability to protect our nation’s interests. Work will take place in California. Estimated completion date is February 5, 2025.

Great Eastern won a $9.1 modification to exercise and fund the second 12-month option on a firm-fixed-price contract with reimbursable elements for the offshore support vessel Hercules. This vessel will be utilized to support refueling and resupply of the Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX-1). The contract includes a 12-month base period, three 12-month option periods, and one 11-month option period. Work will take place in the US Pacific Command’s area of responsibility. Estimated completion date is July 15, 2024.

Middle East & Africa

Ukrainian firm Practika reportedly delivered a batch of Kozak-5 lightweight armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia this year. The Kozak-5 armored vehicle based on 4×4 truck Ford F550, chassis specially enforced (front axle strengthening, suspension and brakes enforcing, bigger wheels installing for armored vehicle building).

Europe

QinetiQ supported and hosted ‘At Sea Demonstration/ Formidable Shield’ (ASD/FS), the latest US-led NATO training exercise at MoD Hebrides, Scotland. Responsible for modernizing the base to enable the exercise to take place, QinetiQ say they worked closely with international partners within NATO and made a significant contribution to allies’ abilities to deliver against future threats.

Asia-Pacific

The Tejas Mk1A is to fly by March next year, in a new deadline set by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). HAL’s chairman R Madhavan said the critical design reviews for the mission computer, digital map generator and digital flight control systems are completed.

In its budget proposal for 2022, the Japan’s Ministry of Defense will budget $912 million to acquire 10 F-35 fighters from the US. This is nearly double of what the ministry had budget in 2021 for six aircraft. Japan’s mid-term defense plan is to acquire 27 F-35As and 18 F-35Bs.

Today’s Video

Watch: Here Comes the New Upgrade E-2D Hawkeye Cockpit (And Much More)

Just weeks before the United States was set to complete its military withdrawal from Afghanistan, military commanders surged hundreds more troops to Kabul to protect U.S. diplomats and Afghan allies, following a swift takeover of the capital by Taliban insurgents.

More than 1,200 Afghans under a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program have undergone processing at Fort Lee, Virginia, since President Joe Biden announced U.S. troops would leave Afghanistan by August 31.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has left country as the Taliban entered the outskirts of the capital, the only major city left in government hands.

The U.S. Embassy staff in Kabul are being moved to the airport amid the Taliban advance on the Afghan capital, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said, as Western states look to bring their embassy staff in Kabul to safety.

Albania has accepted a U.S request to temporarily take in Afghans who are fleeing their country in the face of the rapid Taliban advances.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has rejected comparisons between the U.S. departure from Kabul and the chaotic exit after the Vietnam War, as the Taliban surrounded the Afghan capital.

The situation in the Afghan capital, Kabul, is changing rapidly as the Taliban has moved into the city and taken over parts of it, including the Presidential Palace. This happened as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country and security forces in the city melted away.

Iran's Foreign Minister spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Iran five representative offices which used to scatter across Afghanistan are now pursuing their activities from the capital city Kabul.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Saturday that he had authorized the deployment of roughly 5,000 troops to Afghanistan to support personnel drawdown, warning the Taliban not to put U.S. personnel and mission at risk.

The spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry says the country's embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul is still active, but has reduced the number of its personnel as Taliban forces are poised to take over the capital city of the war-ravaged country.

As the UK's collapsing position in Afghanistan worsens by the hour, Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has recalled Parliament for the middle of next week to take stock of the developing disaster.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has rejected war and violence as a solution to the existing problems in the neighboring Afghanistan, reiterating Iran's support for the establishment of sustainable peace in the war-ravaged country.

The United States is reportedly removing all of its staff from the embassy in Kabul in the next 72 hours and closing the embassy as the Taliban appear to capture the seat of the central government.

Security sources informed with the matter have dismissed rumors that there have been clashes between the Taliban militants and Iranian border guards, saying there exists no problem at Iran's borders with neighboring Afghanistan.

A Taliban spokesman says the group expects a "peaceful transition of power" in the next few days after the militants entered Afghanistan's capital Kabul with little resistance amid evacuation of US diplomats from its embassy by helicopter.

The Taliban have reportedly entered the Afghan capital but the group said its militants have been ordered to wait at the city's gates and that they are not planning to capture Kabul "by force" shortly after they seized control of a strategic eastern city without any resistance.

US President Joe Biden has ordered the deployment of nearly 5,000 American troops to Afghanistan to ensure "an orderly and safe drawdown" of US and allied personnel as well as "safe evacuation of Afghans who helped our troops" in wake of the persisting Taliban advance towards Kabul.