Jane's Defense News

Russian defence company KBM officially unveiled its new-generation 9K333 Verba (Willow) manportable air defence system (MANPADS) during the Army-2015 international forum and declared for the first time that it has been cleared for export sales. "The export of Verbas is permitted and we have

Israeli unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) house, Aeronautics, unveiled its initial offering for the loitering weapon systems market - the Orbiter 1K (Kingfisher) - at the 2015 Paris Air Show. Currently in the final stages of development, Orbiter 1K (Kingfisher) is derived from Aeronautics'

EVENT The US and Lithuanian governments signed an agreement on 17 June, setting the terms of the proposed stationing of US forces and weapons on Lithuanian soil to facilitate the United States-funded upgrade of the Lithuanian military infrastructure (specifically, the Siauliai airbase, Rukla

A US Army-sponsored Degraded Visual Environment (DVE) test event held at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona in February yielded positive results for Telephonics, the company announced in a 16 June press statement. DVEs include smoke, fog, rain, darkness, and brownout, and are a leading contributor to

Key Points Colombian Navy commissions second locally designed and built landing craft utility vessel Development is part of the navy's force development plan for recapitalising its fleet The Colombian Navy has commissioned a new landing craft utility (LCU) vessel, ARC Golfo de Urabá (pennant

China has signed a preliminary contract with an African country for the first sale of its low-cost Chengdu/Guizhou FTC-2000 supersonic trainer. First revealed as a private initiative by Guizhou Aircraft Industries Corporation at the 2001 Zhuhai Airshow, the FTC-2000 combines the engine, empennage,

Airborne troops will be used to form the backbone of new Russian rapid reaction forces in the coming years, according to Russian airborne forces (VDV) commander Colonel General Vladimir Shamanov. "There is a plan to create Russian rapid reaction forces based on the VDV. The new forces are

Key Points The USAF's Air Education and Training Command released its official accident report on a 2014 F-35 engine fire Total mishap damage is estimated to be in excess of USD50 million, the report said The US Air Force (USAF) on 5 June said an engine failure that led to a fleetwide grounding

Russia has grounded its fleet of Tupolev Tu-95 'Bear' strategic bomber aircraft following a runway excursion and engine fire on take-off that occurred on 8 June, state media has reported. The suspension of flight activities covers all 71 Tu-95MS6/16 bombers currently in service with the Russian Air

Key Points The first flight of a P-8A Poseidon configured with the AN/APS-154 Advanced Airborne Sensor was completed on 20 May The APS-154 AAS radar will replace the capability provided by the APS-149 Littoral Surveillance Radar System carried on a number of modified P-3C Orions The US Navy (USN)

China has recently established a committee to oversee defence industrial development and push forward reforms, although such an initiative is unlikely to be wholly effective without significant restructuring of the country's systems for defence development and production. The National Defence

Cobham has completed its sale of Weinschel and Inmet, the company announced on 9 June. The two groups were sold to US company API Technologies for USD80 million. Weinschel and Inmet, both previously part of Cobham subsidiary Aeroflex, specialise in electronics subsystems and will be added to API's

The Czech Ministry of Defence (MoD) has officially denied that it has selected a CZK5.9 billion (USD241 million) 3-D mobile air defence radar (MADR) solution from Israeli firm Elta Systems via a direct government to government contract. The Czech business daily E15 claimed it had obtained copies of

Brazilian company Embraer will be offering notes valued at a total of USD1 billion as part of an effort to raise capital for investment and paying down outstanding debt, the company announced on 8 June. The notes are intended to increase in value only marginally, being offered at just shy of 100%

Key Points MBDA's RM programme is exploring ways to augment warhead capabilities, increasing lethality with a more targeted effect A TRL 5 prototype RM warhead is expected to be fired in 2017 MBDA is invested in a three-year, company-wide IRAD (Internal Research & Development) funded

EVENT Leaders of four political parties signed an agreement on 8 June on a new Nepalese constitution. The move ends disagreement since 2008 when the first Constituent Assembly (CA) formed following the end of the civil war in 2006, tasked with replacing the interim constitution. The agreement was

Key Points An SM-3 Block IIA interceptor missile, jointly developed by the United States and Japan, first flew on 6 June The weapon is to have great ranger and capabilities than legacy SM-3s The United States and Japan conducted the first flight test of a next-generation Standard Missile-3

Pakistan has announced a 2015-16 defence budget of PKR781 billion (USD7.6 billion): an 8.5% increase over the revised budget for 2014-15. The new allocation for Defence Affairs and Services represents a 11.6% climb against the initial 2014-15 budget of PKR700 billion, which budgetary documents show

The Philippines has introduced additional procurement reforms to promote accelerated acquisitions across all government agencies - including the Department of National Defense (DND) - and encourage more efficient public spending. An announcement made on 9 June calls on government departments to

The Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reportedly re-established the 1st Tank Army with its headquarters at Bakovka, southwest of Moscow. The army withdrew from Germany in 1992 and disbanded in 1999. The Moscow-based Centre for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies reported this