Defence`s Feeds

The joint Russian-Turkish ceasefire monitoring centre that opened on 30

The arrival of Bernard Bajolet, the director of the DGSE,

The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission called on analysts

The Spanish company CounterCraft, which was recently confirmed as a

The Israeli cybersecurity company Cyber Control, co-founded by Elazar Biro

Michael Raper and Lachlan Monro, who headed Blue Hackle in

Poznan's prosecution service announced at the end of December that

French Africa specialist Anais Auvray has left last month Adrian

Lobbyist Sudafi Henry, Joe Biden's former director of legislative affairs when he was vice president, is ideally positioned to whisper

Americas

Raytheon Technologies won a $49.2 million deal, which provides for one conventional take-off and landing and two short take-off/vertical landing F135 engines to support F-35 Lightning II Block Four developmental testing program for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants. The Pratt & Whitney F135 is an afterburning turbofan developed for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. Last week Raytheon was awarded a $290 million contract, which provides material and support equipment for depot maintenance facilities, program administrative labor for non-recurring sustainment activities, mockup engines and modules for test cells, as well as supplies, services, and planning for depot activations in support of the F-35 Lightning II Program Lot 13 propulsion system for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will take place in Connecticut, Washington, California, Michigan, Florida, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Texas, Maine and New Hampshire. Expected completion is in January 2023.

Bell Boeing Joint Project Office won a $17.9 million contract modification, which exercises an option to procure 60 MV-22 and 10 CV-22 proprotor hub spring and drive link retrofit kits; and six CV-22 modification spares kits, in support of the Marine Corps MV-22 aircraft and Air Force CV-22 aircraft. Work will take place in Fort Worth, Texas. Estimated completion is in February 2023.

Middle East & Africa

Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled the WASP, a new aerial surveillance system that it said identifies and tracks moving targets in wide areas, day and night, with great precision. Utilizing state-of-the-art electro-optical and infrared sensors, artificial intelligence algorithms and adaptive rule engines, the WASP covers large areas with a high revisit rate, tracks and identifies moving targets that correlate with mission requirements and objectives, and alerts the system’s operator. Compact, lightweight and requiring low power consumption, the WASP can be used with various aerial platforms such as tactical UAVs, drones, fixed and rotary wing aircraft and tethered surveillance balloons, IAI said.

Europe

A US Air Force KC-135 aerial refueling tanker from the 100th Air Refueling Wing will fly to Finland from February 9-10 to let Finnish Hornet pilots practice aerial refueling. Between 8-14 F/A-18s will participate from their bases in Rovaniemi, Rissala and Pirkkala. The refueling training will take place over Rovaniemi, Kuusamo, Kajaani and Oulu.

The British HMS Queen Elizabeth and her crew are simulating a “global crisis” to see how the aircraft carrier and her escorts would fare in the real world. At its largest, her task group will comprise more than a dozen warships, support vessels and squadrons, including three dozen F-35B jets and helicopters – around 3,700 military personnel in all. According to the Royal Navy, the two-week-long Virtual Warrior is one of two final assessments the ship and command staff must come through before the 65,000-tonne warship leads her task force on deployment.

Asia-Pacific

The US Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force concluded a nine-day mine warfare exercise off the Japanese coast, the Navy announced. The annual event, this year named Mine Warfare Exercise 1JA 2021 and held in southwestern Japan’s Ise Bay, is designed to increase mutual proficiency in mine countermeasure operations. The nine-day exercise, which began on January 28, involved a simulated clearing of a route for ships, using unit-level mine warfare tactics for mine hunting, detection and neutralization.

Today’s Video

Watch: Know Your Aircraft: The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker

Russian Arena Active Protection System

Two Tu-160 Blackjack strategic missile carriers performed a mission over the neutral waters of the Barents, Greenland and Norwegian seas, a region where U.S. B-1 Lancer bombers are going to operate in a couple of [...]

The post Russian Tu-160 Bombers Fly Over Barents And Norwegian Seas As U.S. B-1Bs Prepare For Norwegian Deployment appeared first on The Aviationist.

The B-2 Spirit was part of the first-of-its-kind trifecta flyover during the National Anthem performance at the LV Super Bowl. As you already know by now, the Super Bowl LV, in Tampa, Florida, saw a [...]

The post Check Out These Jaw-Dropping Shots Of The B-2 Spirit Refueling From a KC-135 After The Super Bowl Flyover appeared first on The Aviationist.

The Subcommittee on Security and Defence will go over the new EU-US agenda for global change on 27 January. It will also look into perspectives for a future bilateral dialogue in security and defence that would allow the US to participate in EU military initiates and operations. Representatives of the EEAS, the German Marshall Fund and the Penn Biden Center will participate.
Meeting agenda and documents
Live streaming
EU Fact Sheets: Security and defence
Summary: Towards a new EU-US Security and Defence Dialogue
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Americas

The US Air Force has secured funding to buy the first of six new E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communication Node aircraft. The press release from the 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs says the BACN Program Office is expected to award the contract by end of March, and the aircraft to be delivered by the end of June. The five-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity agreement also includes funds for research, development, testing and evaluation, and integration of existing and future payloads. The contract also provides support for infrastructure contained in or connected to the BACN system and associated ground stations, controls, and ancillary or support equipment for system integration laboratories.

The Chilean Government is seeking to procure Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) Block IIIA missiles through the US foreign military sale (FMS) programme. Approved by the US State Department, the potential FMS has an estimated value of $85 million. Under the proposed sale package, Chile has requested for the supply of 16 SM-2 Block IIIA rail launched missiles, two MK 89 Mod 0 guidance sections, and one target detection device kit, including shroud and MK 45 Mod 14. The principal contractor will be Raytheon Missiles and Defense, Tucson, Arizona.  There are no known offset agreements in connection with this potential sale.

Middle East & Africa

The Jerusalem Post reports that Israel’s security cabinet has approved the Defense Ministry’s proposal to buy new aircraft and helicopters from the US. This ends a three-year long dispute between the Defense and Finance ministries over how to pay for the purchase. The defense side wants to take a foreign loan to pay for the deal but finance says this will bypass a spending limit set by law. News reports say the arms deal involves four KC-46A tankers, more F-35s, purchase of the F-15EX and CH-53K. The purchase still requires final approval by the procurement ministerial committee.

Europe

HMS Talent recently fired a torpedo at itself – three times. This was part of the trial process and according to the Royal Navy, there was no risk to the submarine. “The Trafalgar-class boat – whose mission is to hunt and, if necessary, kill hostile submarines – fired the upgraded Spearfish on the ranges near the Isle of Skye to rigorously test it before it enters service. During the three-day trial, the cutting-edge Spearfish was fired at Talent three times – and was programmed to safely pass the submarine to ensure there was no risk of the boat torpedoing herself“, the service said. The trials provided valuable data in the final stages of the upgraded torpedo’s development ahead of its impending entry into service.

Kongsberg Maritime announced the next generation of its advanced HUGIN Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). The company claims HUGIN Endurance will offer up to 15 days of mission runtime and travel distances of up to 2,200 km – which it notes is equivalent to the sailing distance from New York City to Cuba – enabling shore-to-shore commercial and military inspection and survey operations without the need for an attendant mothership. However, it can still be launched and recovered on a vessel of opportunity (VOO) if desired. The AUV can also be configured with a range of sensors focused on mission capabilities and situational awareness, such as the HISAS 1032 dual-receiver synthetic aperture sonar (SAS), which is claimed to be capable of generating a 1,000 m swath at 2.5 kt with a typical resolution of 5×5 cm for SAS imagery.

Asia-Pacific

The latest edition of the annual exercises between the Indian and US armies kicked off on February 8 at the Mahajan Field Firing Ranges in Rajasthan, a western Indian state bordering Pakistan. The 16th edition of the Yudh Abhyas exercises, which will continue until February 21, will focus on counterterrorism and promote interoperability between the two forces, according to the Indian Army. Exercise Yudh Abhyas is one of the largest running military training and defense cooperation endeavors between India and US.

Today’s Video

Watch: Bombardier E-11A BACN (SN 11-9358)

The little known EC-27J JEDI (Jamming and Electronic Defense Instrumentation) aircraft is the only non-American asset flying the Electronic Support and Protection mission in support of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR). The EC-27J JEDI is a variant [...]

The post The EC-27J JEDI EW Aircraft Achieves 5,000 Flight Hours Fighting Daesh In The Electromagnetic Spectrum appeared first on The Aviationist.

EDA’s Steering Board has just approved a list of 10 topics to be assessed by the Agency in the coming months for their potential to be considered ‘Key Strategic Activities’ for the European Union in their endeavour to move towards strategic autonomy in the security and defence domain. The selected topics are all related to either the EU Capability Development Priorities or the defence research priorities jointly agreed in EDA. 

In the wake of the 2016 EU Global Strategy, which defined strategic autonomy in the field of security and defence as a long-term goal, EDA was tasked with identifying ‘Key Strategic Activities’ (KSA) - ranging from technological knowledge to industrial manufacturing skills - which Europe would need to acquire, maintain or further develop in order to be able to produce itself the defence equipment it needs. The aim of the KSA exercise is to identify, and then support, ‘must-have’ technologies and industrial abilities without which an appropriate level of strategic autonomy isn’t possible.  Once selected, the KSA have very practical implications as they will inform Member States’ defence investments and potentially draw co-financing from relevant EU funding instruments, including the European Defence Fund (EDF). 

Annual selection cycle

On 21 October 2020, the Agency’s Steering Board agreed on a revised KSA methodology. One of its novelties is the introduction of an annual cycle to make the KSA work-strand more structured for stakeholders. The first step of the annual cycle is the selection of topics for KSA assessment, based on agreed capability and research priority areas identified in the EU Capability Development Priorities (EU CDPs) and the Overarching Strategic Research Agenda Technology Building Blocks (OSRA TBB). In the selection, the Strategic Context Cases (SCC) and the outcome of the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) are also taken into account. Industry is also consulted.

Topics to be assessed

The 10 topics which were now selected for an in-depth industrial assessment are the following:

• Precision strike on land platform & skills
• Soldier systems
• Next Generation of Energy & Propulsion Systems for Air Platforms
• Counter-UAS (C-UAS)
• Underwater Communication Within UMS
• Underwater Detection
• 5G for defence
• Quantum Technologies (sensing, computing, communication)
• Sensors Network with ISR Sensors
• Military Application of Cloud Technologies.

Way ahead

Based on the agreed list of topics, EDA will now start the development of the ten individual KSA reports within the current annual cycle. The draft reports will be presented to the participating Member States as well as industry in June 2021, while the finalisation of the documents will take place in in September 2021.

KSA reports

EDA has developed 24 KSA reports so far in close cooperation with participating Member States and industry. As some examples, the KSA report on Cyber Defence R&T aims at both assessing and identifying the industrial activities needed to ensure the cyber resilience of information and communication systems being used within the EU members armed forces. The KSA report on Cutting Edge Technologies for Helicopters/Tiltrotors draws attention to the different technological avenues of approach that should be promoted to contribute to EU independent capabilities in the field of helicopter platforms. In addition, other reports explore the different challenges the EU should overcome to harness the full potential of strategic enablers such as Artificial intelligence and Big Data.

 

Russian Arktika Class Nuclear-Powered Armed Icebreaker

In the context of the exponential growth of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the President of the European Parliament has announced a number of measures to contain the spread of epidemic and to safeguard Parliament's core activities.

The current precautionary measures adopted by the European Parliament to contain the spread of COVID-19 do not affect work on legislative priorities. Core activities are reduced, but maintained to ensure that the institution's legislative, budgetary, scrutiny functions are maintained.

The meetings will be with remote participation for Members (being able to view and listen to proceedings, ask for the floor and intervene in the meeting). Other participants are invited to follow the meeting through webstreaming.

Following these decisions, the next meeting of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) will take place on 24 and 25 February 2021 (online).

SEDE meetings' calendar 2021
EP calendar 2021
Press release: Chair of the Security and Defence Subcommittee welcomes extension of the New START Treaty - 5 February 2021
Press release: MEPs to discuss security and defence priorities with Minister Gomes Cravinho - 28 January 2021
Press release: MEPs call for unity in Common Security and Defence Policy - 4 December 2020
Press release: MEPS to examine prospects of the EU space defence sector - 27 November 2020
Common Security and Defence Policy: Disinformation targeting EU missions and operations - 16 November 2020
Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

The OCEAN2020 research project, launched in 2018 under the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR), reached an important milestone this week during the second simulation session held under the supervision of EDA’s research team with a view to preparing a second live demonstration scheduled for later this year, under real conditions, in the Baltic Sea.

OCEAN2020 is so far the largest project financed by the PADR which is managed by EDA on behalf of the European Commission. Its main objective is to demonstrate the improvement of maritime situational awareness by the coordinated use of multiple unmanned systems in the three domains (air, surface, subsurface). A key milestone of the project was the first live demonstration in the Gulf of Taranto in November 2019 where five European warships (including four frigates), four unmanned air systems, three unmanned surface systems and two underwater unmanned systems were involved.

 
Preparing the 2nd live demonstration later this year

The aim of this week’s simulation session was to prepare and perform a dry run of the two operational scenarios foreseen for the upcoming second live demonstration in a realistic environment which is scheduled for August 2021 in the Baltic sea (the event initially scheduled for summer 2020 had to be postponed due to the COVID crisis). Under the two operational scenarios planned for the Baltic Sea demonstration, both surface and underwater threats will be dealt with in realistic environments and circumstances.

In concrete terms, the simulation session had a total of eight simulation centres belonging to universities, industries and research centres from four different countries (Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain) connected, which enabled the 18 unmanned systems planned for the Baltic demonstration to operate together. The data and videos provided by all those unmanned assets were shared in real time in the simulated Combat Management Systems used by the different ships involved. Simultaneously, the data and footage were also displayed in a simulated future European Maritime Operations Centre where their objective is to support military decision-makers by providing them with an improved recognised maritime picture.

 
Background

The OCEAN2020 team involves 43 entities from 15 countries across Europe including large enterprises, small and medium enterprises, universities, research Institutes and end users.