Defence`s Feeds

India's cumulative COVID Vaccination Coverage exceeded 36.45 crore (36,45,69,414), as per the 7 pm provisional report today

Americas

The US Air Force published a new B-21 Raider artist rendering graphic with an accompanying fact sheet on July 6. The rendering is based on the actual aircraft, and an artist’s interpretation of the B-21 design, with Edwards Air Force Base, California in the background. The aircraft will undergo testing there.

The US Defense Department canceled a $10 billion cloud computing contract that’s been the subject of ongoing legal battles, saying it “no longer meets” requirements. A Pentagon representative told reporters that instead, the department will be soliciting new proposals from cloud service providers.

Middle East & Africa

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has called on the government to sell the “Wing of Zion” Boeing 767 VVIP jet just months before it is set to enter operational service. The cost of modifying the jet has grown fifty percent from the original $115 million budget. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will decide on the fate of the aircraft later with input from President-elect Isaac Herzog.

Europe

MBDA announced it will for the first time pair a CAMM (Common Anti-Air Modular Missile) missile with an upgraded Sea Viper command and control (C2) system on board the Royal Nay’s Type 45 destroyers. CAMM offers both close-in and local-area air defence, and will complement Aster 30, strengthening the anti-air defence capability of the Royal Navy.

Details were published about how the new UK ‘National Flagship’ will operate. According to a ‘Prior Information Notice’ regarding the upcoming tendering process to design and build the vessel, the vessel will be used to host high level trade negotiations and trade shows and will sail all over the world promoting British interests. The British Prime Minister announced a new National Flagship for the UK in May.

Asia-Pacific

Royal Australian Navy Anzac Class frigate HMAS Perth returned to the water on July 1 after being lowered out of the dry dock at the Australian Marine Complex in Henderson, Western Australia. The move followed the completion of upgrades to the frigate’s radar capabilities, communications systems, and crew-habitable areas, which are a major part of the Anzac Midlife Capability Assurance Programme (AMCAP), according to a statement by the Department of Defense.

Today’s Video

Watch: UK Navy power !! Royal Navy’s Type 45 Destroyers To Get £500m Firepower Upgrade

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The Defense Department announced it's going in a new direction for enterprise cloud services to provide capabilities to warfighters across the joint force. This new effort is called the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability. The new contracts are expected to be awarded by April 2022, said the department's acting chief information officer.

Russia says it has given an Estonian diplomat 48 hours to leave after briefly detaining him for allegedly receiving classified documents in what the Baltic state called a "setup."

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Fighter jets from the United States and Turkey are taking up NATO Air Policing duties this week, guarding the skies over Iceland and over Poland.

Action must be taken now to halt alarming attacks against children and abductions - including of students - in parts of West and Central Africa, the head of the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, said in a statement on Wednesday.

As part of the ongoing deployment to the Mediterranean, INS Tabar entered the Port of Naples, Italy on 03 Jul 21.

British Stormer High Mobility Load Carrier

HOT BLADE 21 (HB21), the 15th Blade exercise organised under EDA’s Helicopter Exercise Programme (HEP) came to a close last week at Beja Airbase, Portugal. Over a period of two weeks (16-30 June) and in strict respect of all applicable COVID measures, the exercise involved a total of 21 air assets from Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Portugal as well as some 1,500 military staff.

Observers had been sent by Italy and Slovakia as well as Switzerland and Serbia (two countries which have concluded Administrative Agreements with EDA). Other capabilities involved were a multinational Joint Tactical Air Controller (JTAC) team and an Electronic Warfare (EW) emulator system from Slovenia. Additionally, a mentor team involving Helicopter Tactics Instructors (HTI) from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden supported the delivery of academic lessons and provided mentoring during the planning and execution of all Composite Air Operations (COMAO) missions.

The main objective of HB21 was the performance of eight day/night COMAO missions in a realistic, harsh and complex environment, with the participation of all countries and assets involved. Furthermore, other national and multinational training activities such as formation flights, evasion manoeuvre training, sling load, helocast, rappelling and fast roping were also trained, resulting in 208 sorties amounting to around 500 flight hours. To maximise the training sorties, two Forward Arming and Refueling Points (FARP) were placed, to allow for ‘hot refuelling’ of the helicopters.

A Distinguished Visitors Day was organized on the 24th of June, with the participation of the Portuguese State Secretary of Defense, Human Resources and Veterans, Catarina Sarmento e Castro, as well as other military and civilian authorities. 

During the closing ceremony, EDA’s Project Officer for Rotary Wing, José Pablo Romera, thanked the Portuguese Air Force, in particular the Air Command, Airbase Nº11 and the Excon team for the outstanding organisation and execution of the exercise, as well as all the participants for their proactive involvement and cooperative mindset which resulted in the achievement of the expected training objectives.

The next EDA helicopter exercise, the Fire Blade 2022, will take place from 7th to 24th of June 2022 and will be hosted by Hungary, in Papa Air Base.

Background

Since 2009, 15 ‘BLADE’ exercises were held in eight different European countries (France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Finland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Portugal). In addition to that, 10 helicopter tactics symposiums, 67 Helicopter Tactics Courses, 6 Helicopter Tactics Instructors Courses and several other training activities, as Composite Air Operations (COMAO) planning courses and the Electronic Warfare (EW) courses have been carried out under EDA management, involving a total of 15 EDA Member States. Those trainings and exercises have contributed to enhancing the level of operational interoperability and helicopter cooperation among the helicopter crews of a large number of EDA Member States. Those programmes (HEP, HTC, HTIC) are now mature enough to be transferred to the future Multinational Helicopter Training Centre (MHTC) by the end of 2023.

More information:

• Hot Blade 21 website
• HB21 Flickr
• HB21 Video 
• EDA helicopter initiatives

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