Jane's Defense News

EU leaders unanimously decided to launch so-called permanent structured co-operation (PESCO) in defence, agreeing first to define a common list of membership criteria, binding commitments, and a list of projects to enable interested member states to quickly notify their intention to participate.

The Indian Army (IA) has for the second time rejected an indigenously designed assault rifle, and is now poised to issue a global tender to meet its long-pending requirement for 185,000 rifles. Official sources told Jane's on 22 June that the IA cited "poor quality and ineffective

Images have emerged on Chinese online forums showing what appears to be one of the first Pakistan Aeronautical Complex/Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (PAC/CAC) JF-17 Thunder/FC-1 Xiaolong multirole combat aircraft on order for the Myanmar Air Force (MAF) conducting test flights in China.

India's state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully flight-tested the indigenously developed Nag (Snake) anti-tank guided missile (ATGM). The third-generation fire-and-forget ATGM was test-fired on 13 June in the desert ranges of the northern state of

The Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) has signed a contract with Russia's military export agency, Rosoboronexport, for the purchase of five additional Mi-171Sh transport helicopters. The contract, the value of which is unknown, was signed on 12 June at the BAF's headquarters in Dhaka in a ceremony

Russia's Ministry of Defence announced on 9 June the start of construction of 40 Project 12700 glass fibre-hull mine-sweeping vessels, with delivery of the first two scheduled for 2018. Navy Deputy Commander Vice-Admiral Viktor Bursuk said Sredne-Nevskiy Shipyard in St Petersburg would build two

Turkey's Defence Industries Undersecretariat (SSM) has turned down Otokar's proposal for the initial series production of 250 third-generation main battle tanks (MBTs), mainly because of disagreements on the price. SSM will now open a tender for the series production of the MBTs. A statement posted

Czech Republic-based VOP CZ has partnered with the UAE's NIMR Automotive to modify the latter's Ajban 440A vehicle to meet NATO standards. The companies displayed an example at the IDET 2017 exhibition in Brno. The modified vehicle is the first from NIMR to meet NATO Standards. NIMR and VOP CZ

South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) has said it will issue another batch of shares to support financial and corporate restructuring. DSME said in a filing to the Korean Exchange on 13 June that it plans to sell new stocks worth KRW792.8 billion (USD703

Key Points The Janus protocol is now an approved NATO standard Janus has been extensively tested at sea in exercises involving a number of partners An underwater communications protocol developed by NATO’s Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) has become the world’s

EVENT The grand coalition of 14 parties led by the centre-right Democratic Party of Kosovo (Partia Demokratike e Kosovës: PDK) and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (Aleanca për Ardhmërinë e Kosovës: AAK) managed to secure first place in the snap election held on 11

Underwater warfare systems developer Kraken Sonar Systems announced on 13 June that it had signed a teaming agreement with Germany’s Atlas Elektronik. The teaming agreement will primarily focus on the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN’s) Remote Mine Disposal System (RMDS) requirement

Norway has revealed the roadmap for its future mine countermeasure (MCM) programme, adding details on its almost-complete concept of operations (CONOPS). Speaking at MAST Asia 2017, Morten Nakjem, from the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, confirmed that Norway “is in the late stages

The United States is looking to field a laser-armed unmanned aircraft to intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) towards the middle of the next decade, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) disclosed on 13 June. In a solicitation posted on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps)

Key Points Thailand's military government proposes 5% increase in defence expenditure Procurements, as well as operations, driving rise Thailand’s military government has proposed a defence budget of THB222.4 billion (USD6.5 billion) for 2018, representing a year-on-year increase of about

The US Air Force (USAF) is to increase the number of aircraft and additional airframe hours to be included in a planned service-life extension programme (SLEP) of its fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon combat aircraft. While the service had previously stated that up to 300 of the

The acceleration and proliferation of technology is creating the first real threat to guaranteed sea control for US naval forces in decades and is forcing the US Navy (USN) to recalculate how it views, accomplishes, and maintains such control, said Admiral John Richardson, the USN chief of naval

[Sweden’s New Lightweight Torpedo programme has set out to engineer an affordable but high-performance shallow-water ASW weapon system able to meet a taut programme schedule while accommodating upgrades. Richard Scott reports] Sweden claims an indigenous capacity in the design and manufacture

The US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) is building antennas using liquid metal to enable changes to the size, shape, and functionality of the electrical wiring. Currently, the research effort is using gallium, which is known for its use in radars (gallium arsenide and gallium nitride types) and

A remote base in the desert, close to Syria's borders with Iraq and Jordan, has become a flashpoint that could pit Western special forces and allied Syrian rebels against the Syrian army and Iranian-backed Shia militias. Jeremy Binnie and Nicholas Blandford report The US-led coalition fighting the