Defense

WASHINGTON – Germany’s incoming government has affirmed its commitment to NATO’s nuclear deterrent, including the role accorded to Berlin in the strategy, according to a coalition agreement unveiled Nov. 24 by Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP). The much-anticipated pact offers a flavor of what the new government, to be led by the SPD’s Olaf Scholz, finance minister in the outgoing government, aims to do in the fields of defense and foreign policy. European Union and NATO watchers will find themselves reassured, as the document hits all the right notes on fostering cooperation through those channels […]

BEIRUT — The Moroccan military has purchased the Israeli counter-drone system Skylock Dome, according to a Nov. 21 post on the armed forces’ official Facebook page. “Some systems were delivered already, but there is no information about the value of the deal or the number of systems that have been acquired,” Moroccan military expert Abdel Hamid Harfi told Defense News. “The contract does not include technology transfer for local manufacturing in Morocco.” He added that these systems disrupt the connection between the flying threat and its path, taking the target out of service. “The system is equipped with optical and thermal […]

LONDON – Britain’s Air Force chief has outlined a future where synthetic aircraft fuel could be produced on forward air bases and warships, in a speech on the service’s ambitions to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. Adopting eco-friendly jet fuel is the key element in the Royal Air Force achieving its green targets, but Air Marshal Sir Mike Wigston also pointed to potentially significant operational gains from development of the technology in a Nov. 24 speech to the Freeman Air and Space Institute here. “Renewable power generation, like solar or small hydrogen power units, removes the requirement for a massive fuel […]

U.S. Agency for International Development employees proved the most proactive in fulfilling vaccination requirements, according to numbers released by the Office of Management and Budget. (Tech. Sgt. Chris Hibben/Air Force) Federal employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development were the most proactive of any large agency in complying with President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, according to numbers released Nov. 24 by the Office of Management and Budget. A total of 97.8% of the agency’s more than 4,000-person workforce received at least one vaccine dose by Nov. 23, meaning that only around 90 employees were unvaccinated. Compliance through either vaccination […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army will work with radar satellite imagery provider ICEYE to understand how that technology can be integrated into current and future Army missions and technologies. Based in Finland, ICEYE operates the world’s largest fleet of commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites. Unlike the traditional electro-optical sensors military and intelligence agencies use to scan the Earth from space, SAR uses radar to create high-resolution imagery of the Earth’s surface. Because SAR isn’t dependent on visibility, it can be used to produce imagery any time of day or night. It also has the distinct advantage of being able to […]

A fight is brewing within the Democratic party over whether to permit the sale of defensive air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia. The Biden administration’s State Department approved the sale of 280 AIM-120C missiles to Riyadh, but a far-left group of members in the House of Representatives, led by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., introduced legislation on Nov. 12 to block the sale. Refusing to provide even defensive missiles to Saudi Arabia will not only damage U.S. relations with a valuable security partner, make it harder for the kingdom to defend itself against drone attacks by Iranian-supported Houthi terrorists, and incentivize Riyadh to […]

WASHINGTON — As the Pentagon looks to develop new capabilities more reliant on artificial intelligence and races to bring new weapons like hypersonic missiles online, Raytheon Technologies’ chief technology officer is tapping into teams across his enterprise to find ways to help. Mark Russell was named CTO when Raytheon and United Technologies merged in the spring of 2020, bringing under one umbrella companies like Collins Aerospace (formerly Rockwell Collins) and engine maker Pratt & Whitney. Since the merger, Russell is finding the new additions to the company are bringing with them valuable technology that can be used in novel ways. Russell […]

On Dec. 25, 1991, the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin and replaced with the new flag of Russia. The world breathed a collective sigh of relief. Behind us were the days of the “duck and cover” drills — the exercise in anxiety that Americans conducted for decades. The bipolar world of competing nuclear titans gave way to the unipolar world we enjoy today. Though Russia inherited the massive arsenal once wielded by the Soviet Union, several of the rungs in the escalation ladder were removed. There was no conceivable situation in which post-Soviet Russia would escalate past the brink […]

Jüri Luik, Estonia’s permanent representative to NATO since early October, has been a potential presidential candidate, foreign minister, defense minister, its ambassador to the U.S. and later its ambassador to Russia. He spoke with Defense News twice for this interview, which was edited: First on Oct. 21, at NATO headquarters in Brussels after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited the Black Sea region and then by phone on Nov. 23, as tensions between Russia and the West were hitting new peaks. Luik shared his perspectives on the tensions, the Biden administration’s deliberations on nuclear policy, allied perceptions of the U.S. withdrawal […]

WASHINGTON — The Defense Innovation Unit has published new directives for how it plans to use the Pentagon’s recently adopted “Responsible AI Guidelines” in its commercial prototyping and acquisition efforts. “DIU’s RAI Guidelines provide a step-by-step framework for AI [artificial intelligence] companies, DoD [Department of Defense] stakeholders, and program managers that can help to ensure that AI programs align with the DoD’s Ethical Principles for AI and that fairness, accountability and transparency are considered at each step in the development cycle of an AI system,” Jared Dunnmon, technical director of the AI and machine learning portfolio at DIU, said in a […]

WASHINGTON — More than a year and a half after the COVID-19 pandemic began to rock supply chains around the world, the defense industry is still wrestling with its fallout — and figuring out how to move forward amid the turmoil. From massive deliveries of steel and aluminum needed to build the military’s newest ships and aircraft to landing gear brakes to items as small as semiconductors, supply chain shortages or delays have upended the plans of defense firms of all sizes. Much of the nation’s broader attention on supply chains has focused on the rising costs of feeding a family […]

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly meets next week in Washington to discuss the alliance’s redraft of its 2010 Strategic Concept, and the agenda is loaded with relatively new missions. Protecting against cyber attacks, hybrid warfare, the Chinese challenge, terrorism, and global warming indeed all need to be part of NATO’s expanding mission. But traditional collective defense remains the top priority, and that needs to be reflected in the new Strategic Concept, which will be drafted next year. The need to prioritize that core task has been highlighted by Russian President Putin’s recent provocations all along NATO’s eastern border, including a massive military […]

If the Pentagon wants a force that can fight jointly, it needs to abandon standards as it knows them. Since the last National Defense Strategy, senior Pentagon leaders have prioritized enhanced jointness in operations. A special focus has been data-centric digital modernization coordinated by the 150-person Cross-Functional Team for Joint All-Domain Command Control, dubbed JADC2. This CFT has focused on establishing data standards and moving toward an implementation plan. Conventional wisdom says that unless the Joint Staff establishes common standards upfront and enforces them vigorously, service weapons systems won’t be able to collaborate in operations when they finally show up in […]

A new documentary raises tough questions about the deadly 2017 Niger ambush that killed four troops, and we get a look inside a new armor and calvary museum. Source link

A new ABC documentary on Hulu called “3212 Un-Redacted” shows new images and information about the 2017 death of four Special Operations Command soldiers. Source link

ROME – An Italian Air Force F-35B has landed for the first time on the Cavour, the Italian Navy’s aircraft carrier, joining a Navy F-35B on board and signaling the long awaited start of joint activities between the two forces using the aircraft. During the exercise on Nov. 21 the two jets flew together from the Cavour to land on the nearby Queen Elizabeth – the Royal Navy carrier currently in the Mediterranean, while two U.S. Marine F-35Bs currently based on the British vessel flew to the Cavour, before U.S., Italian and British B’s flew maneuvers together. The exercise was officially […]

If you have struggled with sticking to a budget, zero-based budgeting may be the answer for you. Personal finance expert Jeanette Mack explains. Source link

A new ABC documentary on Hulu called “3212 Un-Redacted” shows new images and information about the 2017 death of four Special Operations Command soldiers. Source link

Russian military forces have massed on the border with Ukraine as well as in Russian-occupied Crimea. Tens of thousands of Russian troops, armored forces and elite ground units have taken up positions within 140 miles of the Ukrainian border, sometimes doing so at night to conceal their movements. Some experts consider a major Russian offensive increasingly probable. So concerned is Washington that, earlier this month, U.S. officials warned NATO allies that another Russian invasion of Ukraine may be imminent. The question now confronting NATO is whether and how to react. If Russia invades, the Western response should unfold along economic, diplomatic […]

The rattle and clank of historical cavalry and armor pieces from around the world can be all but heard in a new museum in Ft. Benning. Source link

It’s the Oklahoma National Guard and the state’s governor versus the Pentagon on the vaccine – can the Guard even do that? Source link

WASHINGTON — The Missile Defense Agency has chosen Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon Missiles and Defense to design the Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) for regional hypersonic missile defense, the agency announced Nov. 19. The agency awarded other transactional agreements for an “accelerated concept design” phase of the program, according to the statement. The interceptors are intended to counter a hypersonic weapon during its glide phase of flight, a challenge as the missiles can travel more than five times the speed of sound and can maneuver, making it hard to predict a missile’s trajectory. The interceptors will be designed to fit […]

Driven by rising great power competition with China and Russia, the Biden administration is conducting a global force posture review, which, as the Pentagon describes it, involves putting “the correct number of troops in the correct places.” This entails difficult trade-offs to allocate limited resources among competing objectives, especially as Washington must also deal with uncertainties about future defense spending and the value of U.S. commitments post-Afghanistan. No silver bullet solves this problem, yet Washington can kill multiple birds with one stone. As a new report from the Jewish Institute for National Security of America explains, the Eastern Mediterranean increasingly offers […]

LONDON – The British government announced new defense collaborations with Poland and the Ukraine on the back of a visit to the two Eastern European nations by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace this week. Poland announced Nov. 18 that it had selected MBDA’s Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM) and launcher as the centerpiece of its multibillion-dollar NAREW air defense system program being developed and led-by local company PGZ. During a visit to the Ukraine, meanwhile, the British said the two sides had made progress in talks over a modernization plan for the nation’s navy. The Polish government has previously described the NAREW […]

The Navy has been cannibalizing parts from a future aircraft carrier to ensure that the much-delayed and costly carrier Gerald R. Ford is ready to deploy next year, officials confirmed this week. None of the parts transferred to Ford from the under-construction John F. Kennedy are expected to impact that future carrier’s construction schedule, according to Capt. Clay Doss, a Navy spokesman. The Kennedy cannibalization includes “HMI screens for stores elevators as well as motor controllers, power supplies, small pumps, limit switches and valve actuators for various systems throughout the ship,” Doss said. “This is not unusual early in a program […]

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s armor modernization efforts are maturing amid a refocus toward archrival India and away from operations against the militant group TTP, otherwise known as Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan. With India having ordered the advanced T-90MS tank, built a large fleet of T-90A tanks and upgraded most T-72M1 tanks, Pakistan is countering with its own acquisition and upgrade programs for new types of vehicles and improved battlefield integration. Though low-level acquisition continued throughout the TTP campaign, author, analyst and former Australian defense attache to Islamabad Brian Cloughley explained that necessity demanded larger programs be cut back or frozen. “The expansion of […]

WASHINGTON — The Department of Defense Friday issued solicitations to Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft and Oracle to bid on its next major cloud initiative, the replacement for the controversial Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, contract. After a years long battle, the Pentagon scrapped the JEDI cloud contract, which would have been worth up to $10 billion over a decade. That was intended to be a single vendor effort, initially awarded to Microsoft. Amazon, which lost to Microsoft, filed suit in court alleging in part that then-President Donald Trump interfered with the decision because of his public feud with Amazon […]

WASHINGTON — Huntington Ingalls Industries says it is not forcing out employees who refuse the coronavirus vaccine, putting a major Pentagon contractor at the forefront of a battle over the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The decision by America’s largest military shipbuilder to suspend enforcement of the mandate raises questions for scores of Pentagon vendors who have been grappling with how to both comply with the mandate and retain workers who won’t get vaccinated. Huntington Ingalls chief executive Mike Petters said in a message to his 44,000 employees this week the contractor’s major business segments are exempt because the government customer […]

JERUSALEM – Elbit Systems and Roboteam in Israel have announced “Rook,” a new unmanned ground vehicle. With six wheels, the vehicle is the latest UGV to enter the marketplace. The companies say Rook is a multi-payload military vehicle that features “unique design and built-in autonomy suite offering a combination of greater capacity, improved maneuverability and must-have on-field agility that are key for greater mission effectiveness.” The Rook UGV was developed based on the operational experience accumulated through fielding of the 4×4 Probot vehicle, the companies said. That system is already being used in France, the UK, Israel and the United States. […]

MERSIN, Turkey — Niger has become the first foreign customer of the Hurkus trainer aircraft, produced by Turkish Aerospace Industries. Turkey’s Directorate of Communications said Nov. 19 on its website that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke with his counterpart in Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, by phone about bilateral relations. “President Erdoğan stated that the TB2 drones, Hurkus aircraft, and armored vehicles that Niger would procure from Turkey would strengthen its military and security forces,” according to the directorate’s statement. Temel Kotil, the head of TAI, first made mention of the Hurkus export during a TV interview on CNN Türk on Nov. […]

ROME — NATO will not label China as an adversary in its next strategy document in part because it is too far away from the alliance’s sphere of interest, but members must still try to match its technological progress, according to the chair of NATO’s Military Committee. Adm. Rob Bauer, of the Royal Netherlands Navy, said China is a growing concern to NATO but the chances are slim the country will be categorized an an enemy in the Strategic Concept document due for release next year. Bauer serves as the conduit through which advice from NATO’s 30 defense chiefs is channeled […]

Dubai Airshow Russian company Kronshtadt presented its Orion drone with available armaments at the 2021 Dubai Airshow. (Agnes Helou/Staff) DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The first Dubai Airshow since the coronavirus pandemic began has concluded. The event, which ran Nov. 14-18, was dominated by unmanned systems, particularly combat drones. Russian company Kronshtadt presented its Orion drone with available armaments. The Emirate defense conglomerate Edge Group unveiled its QX-5 drone for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, as well as the QX-6 cargo drone and the Reach-S drone for recon and transportation. And Saudi Arabia’s Advanced Electronics Company showcased the Bariq, a vertical-takeoff-and-landing […]

MELBOURNE, Australia — Taiwan officially commissioned its upgraded Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon multi-role fighter jets into service, with a ceremony at an airbase on its west coast on Wednesday. The commissioning ceremony at Chiayi Airbase was attended by Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen, who said the F-16 upgrade project showed the firm commitment of the Taiwan-U.S. partnership. The ceremony saw the inauguration of the first fighter wing of Taiwan’s Republic of China Air Force of ROCAF that have been fully equipped with the upgraded jets, which are designated the F-16V. Chiayi is the home of the ROCAF’s 4th Tactical Fighter Wing, […]

U.S. shipbuilding, with its associated industries, is an important part of America’s defense. China already has the world’s largest standing army, navy, coast guard, maritime militia and missile force. Chinese shipyards crank out new ships at a breakneck pace, with the People’s Liberation Army Navy commissioning three new warships a day earlier this year — or “almost half as many as the US will induct in one year.” While America’s shipyards need to increase production, the last straw for an industry already confronting labor shortages is the federal vaccine mandate implemented by the Biden administration. Despite the deadline being delayed and […]

JERUSALEM — Israel Aerospace Industries and Emirati defense conglomerate Edge Group will jointly design unmanned surface vessels with a “range of military and commercial applications” under a memorandum of understanding, the companies announced Thursday. They also revealed the establishment of a maintenance center in the United Arab Emirates for the former’s electro-optics systems. The memo builds on an existing strategic agreement between IAI and Edge announced in March that foresaw the companies working on counter-drone technology. Thursday’s announcements came as Israel was participating in the Dubai Airshow for the first time, not long after diplomatic relations between Israel and the UAE […]

WASHINGTON — European Union defense ministers this week approved new collaborative projects meant to boost the bloc’s military capabilities in air, space and drone operations. The fourth wave of 14 initiatives boosts the slate of Permanent Structured Cooperation projects to 60 since late 2017. Collectively, they represent a key component of EU defense aspirations, though fielding any usable equipment as a result is still years away. A new Strategic Air Transport for Outsized Cargo project aims to field a common aircraft fleet for long-haul cargo flights, filling a perennial shortage among European NATO members. The project, which is open for “possible […]

WASHINGTON ― The Senate confirmed President Joe Biden’s pick for ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith, by a voice vote Thursday after Sen. Josh Hawley removed his objection to the nomination. Hawley, R-Mo., said he had lifted his procedural hold on Smith after she sent him a letter agreeing to seek an increase of NATO’s defense spending target. Member nations have agreed to spend a minimum of 2% of their gross domestic products on defense. “I wanted to get from her a sense that … she would really be a voice with our allies in NATO to say that part of making […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy is satisfied with the solution to its littoral combat ship combining gear woes, having accepted delivery of the first ship to receive the new system, service leaders announced. The Freedom-variant LCS, made by Lockheed Martin at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin, has suffered several propulsion-related casualties over the years. In January, the Navy announced it would not accept any new ships from Lockheed following the identification of a classwide defect: The bearings in the combining gear failed when the ship tried to operate at full power, with the system unable to withstand the pressure […]

WASHINGTON — A new Department of Defense report on the state of America’s space industrial base finds strength in the near-term while lamenting the lack of a long-term focus. To that end, the report calls for the White House to develop a National North Star Vision to guide civil, commercial and national security space efforts. Drawn up by the Space Force, the Defense Innovation Unit and the Air Force Research Laboratory, the State of the Space Industrial Base 2021 report is the result of discussions with 232 industry experts earlier this year in New Mexico. The authors of the report find […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy hopes it can more quickly deploy hypersonic weapons on submarines by leveraging testing by the U.S. Army and onboard a Navy destroyer, as well as prioritizing funding for an underwater launch test facility, the admiral overseeing the Navy’s hypersonics work said. Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe, the head of the strategic systems programs, said Nov. 18 at the Naval Submarine League’s annual conference the Navy delayed the fielding of a sub-launched hypersonic missile capability from fiscal 2025 to 2028 in part due to funding issues related to the underwater test facility. But because of China’s increasing […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Edge Group subsidiary GAL has won an 11 billion dirham (U.S $3 billion) contract for performance-based logistics during the Dubai Airshow this week. Under the deal, the company will supply the United Arab Emirates’ Air Force and air defense units with maintenance, repair and overhaul, or MRO, services. “This agreement is testament to GAL’s continued growth and overarching goal of delivering solutions to meet complex MRO and supply chain requirements,” Khalid Al Breiki, president of Edge’s mission support division and managing director of GAL, said in a statement. The arrangement allows UAE military customers to receive […]

At the November G20 meeting, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Joe Biden met to discuss ongoing tensions and Turkey potentially purchasing the F-16. Washington should be skeptical. The Turkish government has repeatedly ignored alliance commitments and used U.S. weapons sales against both U.S. and NATO interests, such as its provocations in the Mediterranean and aggressions against the Kurds. Selling Turkey advanced fighter aircraft, which it will then use without constraint, defeats the purpose of the G20 meeting. The G20 talks focused on Washington’s partnership with Kurdish forces in Syria and Turkey’s 2019 purchase of Russian S-400 missile defense […]

WASHINGTON ― The Senate could consider the annual defense authorization bill as soon as Thursday after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., abandoned a controversial push to merge it with sweeping China-focused legislation. The Senate late Wednesday voted 84-15 to advance debate on the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets policy and budget guidelines for the military. From there, Democrats are looking to cut a deal with Republicans to vote Thursday or for quick passage after the Senate returns from its Thanksgiving recess. Schumer’s gambit to unilaterally merge the sweeping $250 billion U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, or USICA, with the […]

WASHINGTON — The Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded Utah State University a $1 billion contract to support space-related research and technology development at its Space Dynamics Laboratory. Under the contract, the Space Dynamics Laboratory will continue to provide an outside source for essential space engineering and capability development as a University Affiliated Research Center, or UARC. “This contract solidifies the long-term strategic partnership between AFRL and USU/SDL. The partnership will accelerate critical space science and technology projects, especially when we need to quickly respond to urgent and unexpected needs,” said Col. Eric Felt, director of the AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate, […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Although not as abundant as drones, countermeasures against the unmanned systems are certainly prevalent at the 2021 Dubai Airshow, which is taking place Nov. 14-18. Two counter-drone systems showcased at the event reflect the United Arab Emirates’ interest in such technology: U.S.-based Fortem Technologies displayed its SkyDome, which is already operational in the Gulf country; and Emirati company International Golden Group showed off the Israeli system Skylock, which underwent testing in the UAE. Fortem revealed at the show it had integrated a new drogue net to the SkyDome that allows the system to now neutralize UAV […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — As the aerospace industry attempts to financially recover from the pandemic, some helicopter companies are militarizing commercial variants. “As Bell, we don’t always sell commercial products to the militaries, but [in] the time of COVID, there are countries that can’t necessarily afford purpose-built military platforms,” Steven Mathias, vice president of global military sales and strategy at the American company, told Defense News at the Dubai Airshow this week. “Hence, they started turning more to commercial platforms for military uses that can be very quickly adapted because of the technologies that can be integrated into them like […]

LONDON – Britain’s Royal Air Force has taken a landmark step towards slashing carbon emissions from its aircraft, announcing Nov. 17 that the service had completed the world’s first flight using 100 percent synthetic fuel together with commercial partner Zero Petroleum. Using the company’s UL91 fuel the flight of the Ikarus C42 microlight plane from Cotswold Airport on Nov. 2 lasted 21 minutes. The successful voyage by senior RAF test pilot Group Captain Peter Hackett has been logged by Guinness World Records as a world first for an aircraft using only synthetic fuel. The initiative, part of a wider effort to […]

ROME — A plan by Italy’s Leonardo to sell off its naval and terrestrial cannon business as well as its torpedo operation has sparked a political row over the rival merits of maintaining national sovereignty and encouraging European integration. The Italian defense giant is looking at selling off cannon maker Oto Melara and torpedo maker WASS, with Franco-German joint venture KNDS reportedly keen to snap them up. In the other corner is Fincantieri — an Italian state controlled firm just like Leonardo — which would like to step in and buy up the two historic Italian brands that date back to […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force conducted a test of its Rapid Dragon palletized munition system concept Nov. 3, which could one day pave the way to launching a barrage of cruise missiles out of the back of mobility aircraft. The Air Force Research Laboratory said in a Tuesday release that it deployed a long-range cruise missile separation test vehicle — basically a cruise missile without its engine or warhead — from an MC-130J Commando II aircraft. During the flight demonstration at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the MC-130′s crew — an operational group from Air Force Special Operations […]

LONDON – A British F-35B combat jet based on the new Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth has crashed into the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the Ministry of Defence confirmed Nov. 17. The pilot ejected and has been picked up and returned safely to the carrier. The F-35B short-take-off, vertical-landing jet was one of eight British aircraft deployed on the Queen Elizabeth as it returned from a deployment in the Far East. The aircraft is one of 24 so far delivered to the British. The British are ordering 48 jets so far but have pledged to purchase 138, although that number […]

President Joe Biden probably knows more about nuclear policy than any commander-in-chief in recent history. He served in the Senate for 36 years and was a long-time member of the Foreign Relations Committee. As vice president, he oversaw Senate approval of the 2010 New START arms control treaty and worked with then-President Barack Obama to seek an (as yet unfulfilled) no first use policy — a common-sense pledge the United States would never start a nuclear war. Now, President Biden can set his own policy for how the United States would use the bomb. As part of his ongoing Nuclear Posture […]

MELBOURNE, Australia — Taiwan is continuing efforts to develop asymmetrical defense capabilities as it tries to offset the increasing gap between its own forces and China’s military strength, according to its newly released defense report. Taiwan accuses China of building up its capabilities to mount a multidomain offensive against the island. Taiwan’s National Defense Report for 2021, which was released last week in Chinese and English, said Beijing’s anti-access, area denial campaign to prevent outside assistance forces from reaching the island is nearly complete. The report also outlined how Taiwan will improve its reserve forces — following reports of poor training […]

MOSCOW — Russian officials on Tuesday rejected accusations that they endangered astronauts aboard the International Space Station by conducting a weapons test that created more than 1,500 pieces of space junk. U.S. officials on Monday accused Russia of destroying an old satellite with a missile in what they called a reckless and irresponsible strike. They said the debris could damage the space station, an assessment backed by NATO’s chief. Astronauts now face four times greater risk than normal from space junk, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told The Associated Press. The test clearly demonstrates that Russia, “despite its claims of opposing the […]

WASHINGTON — Legislation to make U.S. manufacturers more competitive with China could instead end up swamping the military’s annual defense authorization bill in complex congressional negotiations, the Democratic chair of the House Armed Services Committee warned Tuesday. The comments from Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., came in reply to new plans from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to merge the sweeping $250 billion U.S. Innovation and Competition Act of 2021, or USICA, with the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act defense bill when it’s introduced in the Senate on Wednesday. Smith said he was open to trying, but it would not […]

Following her meeting with President Biden at the White House last Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated on Twitter that the rising tensions on the Belarus-Poland border were not a “migration crisis” but a “hybrid attack,” a form of irregular warfare that blends military and non-military methods. She proceeded to announce that the European Union and the United States will cooperate on sanctioning third-country airlines involved in human trafficking. The unstated target of von der Leyen’s warning was the Turkish government, whose flag carrier had been delivering migrants to Belarus. When called out, Ankara reversed course, showing how […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. remains “fully committed” to a proposed sale of advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates, despite the Biden administration slowing down the deal, a senior American official overseeing arms exports said Tuesday. Mira Resnick, a deputy U.S. assistant secretary of state in the Biden administration, also told the Associated Press at the Dubai Air Show that Gulf Arab partners are not looking to purchase weapons from Russia as a hedge over American concerns about human rights in the region. A high-level Russian delegation met Tuesday with Abu Dhabi’s powerful crown prince, […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Emirati defense conglomerate Edge Group has had the biggest share of announcements at the 2021 Dubai Airshow between systems unveilings, contracts finalizations and the signing of memorandums of understand understanding. But what arguably stands out the most is the number of autonomous systems at the company’s booth, which made up about half of the offerings on display. Edge is only 2 years old, but its CEO, Faisal Al Bannai, says the business as achieved several milestones, including in autonomous technology, electronic warfare and smart weapons. But one of the most critical is its share of the […]

WASHINGTON — Satellite imagery provider Planet Federal says the National Reconnaissance Office has once again extended its contract with the company, giving the intelligence agency access to new commercial capabilities. The NRO, charged with developing and operating the nation’s fleet of spy satellites, has been a subscriber to Planet’s daily 3-5 meter resolution imagery since 2019, although financial details of the arrangement have not been made public. In July, Planet announced the contract had been extended and expanded to include limited access to the company’s video capabilities. This latest contract extension, announced Nov. 16, allows NRO to use Planet’s fleet of […]

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed how a global superpower becomes critically vulnerable when it depends on foreign nations to manufacture basic components, such as semiconductors, that are vital to the daily life of every American. A nation that once led the world in manufacturing semiconductors watched helplessly this fall as General Motors temporarily shut down production at North American auto plants because the deadly pandemic decimated the overseas factories that our country now relies on to produce the chips that power nearly every device we use with an on and off switch. The fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, advanced by the […]

STUTTGART, Germany — Three French military signals intelligence satellites are now in space after a successful launch Tuesday morning aboard an Arianespace Vega rocket from the nation’s spaceport in French Guiana. The constellation — called CapacitÉ de Renseignement Électromagnétique Spatiale, or CERES — will allow France to better collect intelligence from electromagnetic origins in space, the country’s Ministry of Defense said in a Tuesday press release. The three satellites will be positioned about 700 km from Earth in low-Earth orbit, per the ministry. This will allow France to collect data that was previously inaccessible from land, sea, or airborne sensors, and […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The European consortium of Thales and MBDA unveiled its new long-range, ground-based air defense system, SAMP/T NG, the updated variant of the SAMP/T already in service with the Italian Army and the French Air and Space Force. “The ground-based air defense system has undergone verification, qualificatio,n and launched production in 2021, and is expected to be delivered by 2025 to the first contractor: France and Italy,” Eva Bruxmeier, Eurosam’s managing director, told reporters at the Dubai Airshow, which is taking place Nov. 14-18. SAMP/T NG was designed to protect armed forces and sensitive civil or military […]

NEW DELHI — India on Friday lifted a ban on the Italian firm Leonardo from doing business with the Ministry of Defence. The names of Leonardo S.p.A. and its subsidiary AgustaWestland International UK were dropped from the list of entities restricted from dealing with the ministry, an MoD official said. AgustaWestland, however, no longer exists as a separate entity, having been completely wrapped up into Leonardo. The Italian defense company can now resume business activities with the ministry on the condition that it doesn’t make monetary claims for previously signed agreements. The MoD official said the suspension was lifted on the […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia is no longer considering purchasing the Russian S-400 air defense system following the kingdom’s deal for an American alternative. Viktor Kladov, who leads Rostec’s international cooperation and regional policy department, said Saudi Arabia has moved on now that it’s set to receive the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system. The U.S. State Department cleared the THAAD sale in 2017, estimated to be worth $15 billion at the time. A department spokesperson told Defense News on Monday that U.S. and Saudi officials signed letters of offer and acceptance for the government-to-government agreement on November 26, […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Though the aerospace sector is working to recover — with the first airshow here in two years — not all companies are moving at the same pace, according to the head of the Aerospace Industries Association. Defense News caught up with Eric Fanning, whose group represents aerospace companies large and small, in the commercial market and in defense, to talk about how the recovery has gone and the path forward. This interview was edited for length and clarity. The Defense Department offered financial support to the defense industry early on in the pandemic. Is the industry […]

WASHINGTON ― A new report from a Ronald Reagan Institute task force aimed at revitalizing U.S. manufacturing to compete with China recommends reskilling workers using federal education grants, investing in sectors vital to national security and boosting tech development with allies. Released Tuesday ahead of the Reagan National Defense Forum next month, the report laments a significant technical skills gap, productivity that lags America’s peers, lagging capital investment in manufacturing, a fragile supplier ecosystem and inadequate coordination both among local government entities and the U.S. and its partners. “Our declining manufacturing competitiveness leaves America’s economic infrastructure and defense capabilities underprepared for […]

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough talks through a range of issues in an exclusive interview with Defense News Weekly. Source link

The holidays can lead to unnecessary spending and stress. Personal finance expert Jeanette Mack has strategies to help navigate the season. Source link

WASHINGTON – NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has assured Ukraine of the alliance’s backing amid what he called an “unusual concentration” of Russian forces in the area. Speaking at a press conference Nov. 15 in Brussels with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Stoltenberg said NATO members would continue to provide “significant political and practical support,” including military training, to Ukraine as the standoff continues. Ukrainian officials fear the current military context could foreshadow a repeat of Russian moves that led to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. NATO and the European Union consider that claim to be in violation of international law. […]

WASHINGTON — German powertrain specialist RENK Group has put down roots in the U.S. through its acquisition of L3Harris Technologies’ combat propulsion systems business, and it’s now making a play to partner with potential prime contractors who are designing replacements for the U.S. Army’s Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle. RENK Group acquired L3Harris’ CPS business in a $400 million cash deal in July, giving the German company a foothold in the U.S. Now called RENK America, it has opened its Muskegon, Michigan, facility where it plans to build advanced mobility systems. RENK America officially unveiled itself at the Association of the U.S. […]

WARSAW, Poland — Amid a rapidly escalating border row with Poland, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he has renewed his request with Russian President Vladimir Putin to acquire Iskander missile systems for his country’s armed forces. “I’m currently bothering your president, I need to have here missile launchers with [a range of] 500 kilometers,” Lukashenko told Russian military magazine Natsionalnaya Oborona in an interview published Nov. 13. “I need several divisions in the west, in the south, let them stand there. This is [to gain a range of] 500 kilometers, because our Polonez [missile launcher] is [enabled with a range of] […]

WASHINGTON — Russia destroyed one of its own satellites in an anti-satellite weapon test Nov. 15, according to the U.S. State Department, creating orbital debris that led astronauts on the International Space Station to take cover on several occasions. “Earlier today the Russian Federation recklessly conducted aa destructive satellite test of a direct ascent anti-satellite missile against one of its own satellites. The test has so far generated over 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and hundreds of thousands of pieces of smaller orbital debris that now threaten the interests of all nations,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a […]

Checkmate A model of the Russian Su-75 Checkmate is on display during the 2021 Dubai Airshow. (Agnes Helou/Staff) DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Rostec is holding talks with Emirati businesses about co-producing the Su-75 Checkmate, and the Russian defense giant plans to create an unmanned version of the fighter jet, a company official said Monday at the Dubai Airshow. During a press briefing, Viktor Kladov, who leads Rostec’s international cooperation and regional policy department, said the company held talks at the show with the Tawazun Economic Council, Mubadala Investment Company and Edge Group about the production of composite materials and telecommunications […]

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. — A year-old lab is cutting down the time it takes to perform risk-reducing tests on technologies headed to major military exercises. The U.S. Army’s Joint Systems Integration Laboratory, created in October 2020, is the next iteration of the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center’s efforts to perform lab-based risk reduction on communications and technical gear before it goes out to the field for training. Typically, the Army wants to ensure such systems work from a technical perspective before soldiers use them. The communications exercise risk-reduction leading up to a major Army exercise […]

DAHLGREN, Va. — Encouraged by the improvements in ship handling and combat systems operations after the U.S. Navy fielded virtual trainers, the surface community is hoping to further improve its readiness with a virtual maintenance trainer for the Aegis Combat System. The Aegis VMT is in development at the newly renamed Surface Combat Systems Training Command (SCSTC, pronounced Sea-Stick), previously known as the Center for Surface Combat Systems, with the trainer set to open in the spring to new sailors seeking to become combat systems maintainers. “Five and 10 years ago, ship handling trainers were available if you wanted to go […]

Defense News opinion pieces address the leading issues of the day. Earlier in November, the Washington Post directed its readers to a Defense News commentary by Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, about rejecting sole-purpose nuclear policy. “Declaring that the United States will never be the first to use a nuclear weapon represents the worst in potential policy,” Risch wrote. “It scares our friends, encourages our adversaries and damages the very nonproliferation goals it claims to advance.” Risch’s commentary is here; but for subscribers to the Defense Views newsletter, it appeared in their inbox […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Al Tariq has integrated a long-range precision-guided munitions kit onto a 1,000-pound high-speed, low-drag Mk 83 bomb, giving it the lonest range of its kind worldwide at 120 kilometers, the Emirate company told Defense News. “Production will be ready during the second quarter of 2022, and flight trials have already commenced in Q3 2021,” Theunis Botha, CEO of the Edge Group subsidiary, said. “The system will be produced at Al Tariq facilities in the UAE.” The ongoing trials conducted with the Emirati armed forces have so far been successful, with the munitions kit demonstrating operational capability […]

When considering all elements of cyber operations, it’s smart to remember that behind all of an adversaries moves are flesh-and-blood humans: Pentagon official. Source link

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Denis McDonough, speaks with Capitol Hill Bureau Chief Leo Shane III on a range of topics. Source link

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military’s aerial refueling capability has become “brittle” and aged, placing the nation at risk of being unable to sustain combat against a major adversary, a new report from the Hudson Institute said. The report, “Resilient Aerial Refueling: Safeguarding the U.S. Military’s Global Reach,” sounds several alarm bells about the military’s tanker fleet and its possibly waning ability to help U.S. forces project power around the globe. “In 2021, the U.S. aerial refueling enterprise is losing altitude,” said the report, released Monday and written by Timothy Walton and Bryan Clark of the institute’s Center for Defense Concepts and […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Emirati conglomerate Edge Group has unveiled a series of vertical-takeoff-and-landing drones as well as a precision-guided munition system. The first day of the Dubai Airshow featured the QX-5 and QX-6 UAVs introduced at the company pavilion with Faisal Al Bannai, the CEO and managing director of Edge, and Ali Al Yafei, the CEO of the subsidiary Adasi. Al Bannai said the first prototypes of the QX drones and the Rash 2-H weapon system were launched nine months ago. The QX-5 an upgrade of the QX-4 kamikaze drone unveiled at the International Defence Exhibition and Conference held […]

WASHINGTON ― The Senate is “likely” to vote on its long-delayed annual defense policy bill this week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a Sunday letter to lawmakers. The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, a bipartisan package meant to make the U.S. economy more competitive against China and bolster U.S. supply chains, may be added to the Senate’s 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, Schumer, D-N.Y., also said in the letter. Schumer will seek a vote to repeal the 2002 Iraq war authorization. Based on a bill from Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Todd Young, R-Ind., the move would represent a […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Royal Thai Air Force has awarded a $143 million contract to Textron Aviation for eight Beechcraft AT-6 Wolverine aircraft, ground support equipment, spare parts, training and other equipment. Thailand’s deal with the American company on the first day of the Dubai Airshow makes it the first international customer of the light attack aircraft. Under the contract, work will take place at the company’s Wichita, Kansas, facility. Thomas Hammoor, president and CEO of Textron Aviation Defense, said in a statement that the Royal Thai Air Force selected the Beechcraft AT-6 to conduct a broad array of […]

Dubai Airshow | Defense News Dubai Airshow Amid a decline in aerospace sector revenues caused by the coronavirus pandemic, organizers hope the event will contribute to the industry’s recovery and shape its future. Talks over tech agreements. Debates about system integration. Concerns over cooperation with China and Russia. These are some of the pressure points involved in negotiations between the UAE and the U.S. over an F-35 deal. Source link

WASHINGTON — Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has forged a partnership with Germany-based Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Spain-based General Dynamics European Land Systems to help market the Trophy active protection system in Europe, the company announced. The new Germany-based venture, dubbed EuroTrophy, is charged with finding new takers for the defensive technology and leading any vehicle-integration efforts for future customers. The company is expected to be operational by the end of the year, pending regulatory approval. In KMW, Rafael is getting the support of one-half of Germany’s venture behind the Leopard 2, the tank of choice by several European nations. The other […]

ANKARA, Turkey —Turkish Aerospace Industries has built and integrated a directional infrared countermeasure system for the A400M multinational heavy transport aircraft, the company announced. Claiming that the “A400M is safer now,” TAI said in a Nov. 11 statement that the DIRCM was integrated to the A400M with the tail number MSN 105 — a first for the aircraft. “The new system will detect and destroy incoming missiles via a missile warning unit, and a hand-held air defense systems directed to the A400M aircraft,” TAI said. “With the integration of DIRCM system, the aircraft gained a capability that will enable 360-degree detection […]

Naval forces from Israel, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and the United States are conducting a five-day multilateral maritime security operations exercise in the Red Sea. The exercise marks the first time Manama and Abu Dhabi have participated overtly in a combined military exercise with Israel, and it is the latest indication that the actions of the Islamic Republic of Iran are incentivizing unprecedented security cooperation between the United States, Israel and key Arab countries. This week’s exercise is focused on “visit, board, search and seizure tactics” and includes at-sea training onboard the amphibious transport dock ship Portland, according to a […]

WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak has announced the country will acquire 300 second-hand Cougar mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles from the United States as part of efforts to modernize the country’s land forces. “They are proven vehicles that the U.S. Army has used for many years and on many foreign missions,” Błaszczak said in a tweet. The forthcoming procurement is the latest in a series of purchases of American military gear by the Polish ministry. Last July, Błaszczak announced that Poland will buy 250 M1A2 Abrams SEPv3 tanks from the U.S. in a bid to match the armored technical […]

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. — The Army is working with industry to help shape how it will use and buy satellite communications for forces to talk beyond line of sight. The distributed nature of operations forces will likely be engaged in in the future requires flexible, resilient and robust communications where units will be disaggregated and need to talk over greater distances. As the Army is looking at different satellite constellations to enable this, it is also trying to figure out what the best use and business cases are for owning or renting communications under a managed service model that could […]

JERUSALEM — Israel Aerospace Industries has unveiled its new Scorpius family of electronic warfare systems based on active electronically scanned array technology that provides the capability to detect and simultaneously confront threats over a long range. “The system is able to target a range of threats, including: UAVs, ships, missiles, communication links, low probability of interception (LPOI) radars, and more. Scorpius effectively disrupts the operation of their electromagnetic systems, including radar and electronic sensors, navigation, and data communications,” IAI said in a statement. Added Elta Systems, an IAI subsidiary that also makes the radar for the Iron Dome air defense system: […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Naval forces from the United States, Israel and two Gulf Arab states are taking part in a joint security drill in the Red Sea, a vital shipping route that feeds into the Suez Canal. The U.S. 5th Fleet said Thursday that the five-day multilateral maritime exercise with Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain began on Wednesday and includes at-sea training focused on search and seizure tactics aboard the USS Portland transport dock ship. The drill comes a little more than a year after the UAE and subsequently Bahrain normalized ties with Israel despite strong criticism […]

MADRID – European Union defense ministers are slated to consider on Nov. 16 a new proposal for beefing up the European Defence Agency’s role in breeding technology innovation for the bloc’s armed forces. EDA Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý gave a glimpse of the upcoming mission during a panel discussion at the Spanish FEINDEF defense exhibition in Madrid last week, presenting the idea as yet another initiative in the increasingly crowded field of EU and NATO defense-tech management. He was referring to NATO’s most recent push toward promoting what the alliance calls emerging and disruptive technologies, or EDTs. The plan entails a […]

WASHINGTON — The head of the Army’s new software organizations say the service won’t always be able to rely on contractors for software support, and that’s why the Army needs in-house coders. “For a very long time, the Army got comfortable operating with contractors all over the battlefield,” said Lt. Col. Vito Errico, director of the Army Software Factory, at C4ISRNET’s CyberCon event Nov. 10. “It was sort of commonplace in Iraq and Afghanistan to co-locate contractors with servicemembers to do technically oriented things. … That was the way that we were able to fight.” “But looking ahead, we might not […]

WASHINGTON — The first two KC-46 Pegasus aircraft arrived at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey on Tuesday, making it the U.S. military’s first joint base to operate the new tanker. The aircrafts’ delivery also marked the 49th and 50th KC-46 to be delivered to the Air Force, Boeing spokesman Jerry Drelling said in an email. McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst is expected to receive 15 more KC-46s in fiscal 2022, and another nine in fiscal 2023, the Air Force said in its release. The 305th and 514th Air Mobility Wings at McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst will operate and maintain the tankers, the base said in a release, […]

Ukrainian officials told Military Times that the gathering of Russian forces, tanks and short-range ballistic missile systems near the two countries’ border could offer the Russians an easy way to escalate an ongoing conflict. While U.S. military leaders remain reluctant to discuss the massing of Russian forces, Ukrainian officials were more direct. “All available information indicates that the armed forces of Russia permanently sustain a powerful offensive grouping around Ukraine,” Roman Mashovets, deputy head of Ukraine’s Office of the President, told Military Times Wednesday. During the second half of 2021, Russian forces “conducted a set of large-scale command and staff exercises […]

WASHINGTON — Still in the nascent stages, the Pentagon is working on ways to help bolster cybersecurity for allies and partners and wants to increase its engagement with industry for solutions, according to Mieke Eoyang, deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy. “As we look at allies and partners and their cybersecurity and the interest of adversaries in undermining, via cyber, our allies and partners in the context of our commitments and our alliances when we are going to fight together, it’s really important that we think about cybersecurity of our allies and partners and that we think about how […]

WASHINGTON — As the U.S. Marine Corps continues to reshape the force through the commandant’s Force Design 2030 effort and the recently released Talent Management 2030 plan, cyber and information warfare Marines in the future may be further empowered to use their digital skills to create operational advantages for kinetic forces, one official said. The Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group (MIG) formation was fielded four years ago and has already made progress in training fellow Marines on how to operate amid cyber threats as well as showing MEF commanders how to blend a range of kinetic and non-kinetic options, Col. Brian […]

WASHINGTON ― Next month, the Pentagon will formally launch a new office dedicated to accelerating the adoption of a new “zero trust” cybersecurity model, a senior DoD official said Wednesday. David McKeown, DoD’s chief information security officer, said the office will fall under DoD’s chief information officer and be led by a yet-to-be-named senior executive. The move is part of an acceleration to ongoing zero trust implementation spurred by the Russian-orchestrated SolarWinds intrusion of federal systems. “We’ve redoubled our efforts, we’ve fought for dollars internally to get after this problem faster,” McKeown said at C4ISRNET’s CyberCon event. “We’re standing up a […]

WASHINGTON — In the battle over cyberspace, adversaries to the United States are continually switching up their methods to hack U.S. systems, a senior National Security Agency official said Wednesday. That means the U.S. must in turn keep shifting the tools and techniques it uses to counter hackers from nations like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea — and team up with the private sector to do so, David Luber, deputy director for NSA’s cybersecurity directorate, said in a panel during C4ISRNET’s CyberCon. “Even as we’re on this call right now, the cyberspace domain is changing,” Luber said. “New malware is […]

WASHINGTON — U.S. Cyber Command has both created a concept of operations and established a capability management office to address issues with its focused architecture for cyber capabilities, following concerns and recommendations from Congress and government watchdogs. A November 2020 report by the Government Accountability Office raised issues with the goals and guidance for Cyber Command’s Joint Cyber Warfighting Architecture, which steers the command’s acquisition and equipping priorities. Of the six broad categories the architecture defines, each of the services are building components on behalf of the joint force, creating integration issues. Congress also expressed concern the command’s vision lacks a […]

SEATTLE — A metallurgist in Washington state pleaded guilty to fraud Monday after she spent decades faking the results of strength tests on steel that was being used to make U.S. Navy submarines. Elaine Marie Thomas, 67, of Auburn, Washington, was the director of metallurgy at a foundry in Tacoma that supplied steel castings used by Navy contractors Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding to make submarine hulls. From 1985 through 2017, Thomas falsified the results of strength and toughness tests for at least 240 productions of steel — about half the steel the foundry produced for the Navy, according to […]