Author: Michael

The Netherlands ordered three Improved Ribbon Bridge systems from GDELS – Bridge Systems on 30 June. (GDELS)

The Netherlands signed a contract for three new bridging systems with General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) – Bridge Systems on 30 June, the Dutch Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on its website the same day. A GDELS spokesperson told
Janes
on 5 July that the systems are Improved Ribbon Bridges (IRBs) and will be produced in Kaiserslautern, southwestern Germany, but he declined to give the contract value.

The new BAM-IS is intended to replace the Spanish Navy’s ageing salvage and rescue ship
Neptuno
(pictured).
(Spanish Navy)

Navantia staged a steel-cutting ceremony for the Spanish Navy’s new submarine rescue ship (Buque de Acción Marítima Intervención Subacuática: BAM-IS), to be named
Poseidon
, at its yard in Puerto Real on the south coast of the Bay of Cádiz on 3 July.

The new vessel is based on the Spanish Navy’s Meteoro-class BAM offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) but adapted for underwater rescue operations.

The White House finally made a historic decision and allocated in a new package of military aid to Ukraine, announced on July 7, 2023, in particular cluster 155-mm projectiles of the DPICM type.
At the same time, it seems that they have finally given up the concept that it is dangerous to give some kind of weapon to Ukraine, which, in particular, adds some optimism regarding the prospects for ATACMS for the Armed Forces.

There remains one glaring capability gap in the Army’s fires portfolio: a replacement for the M777 towed howitzer.
The post The US Army needs to fix its remaining ‘fires’ gap first appeared on Sandboxx.
The post The US Army needs to fix its remaining ‘fires’ gap appeared first on Sandboxx.

When the U.S. entered WWI it didn’t have enough handguns. The solution came in the form of the M1917. Today we’re lucky enough to fire it!
The post Hands-on with an S&W M1917 revolver – the weapon that armed the US in WWI first appeared on Sandboxx.
The post Hands-on with an S&W M1917 revolver – the weapon that armed the US in WWI appeared first on Sandboxx.

USAF

The Royal Australian Air Force is set to deploy one of its E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft to Germany later this year. This appears to be the first operational deployment of an Australian Wedgetail to Europe and the country’s authorities say that aircraft will be used to help keep watch over military and humanitarian supplies entering Ukraine.
The news of the E-7A’s deployment, which will begin in October, was broken today by Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Berlin following talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Twitter Screencap

Pushing along several vectors in its counteroffensive, Ukrainian forces appear to be making continued progress in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on her Telegram channel Monday that Kyiv’s forces gained about 10.2 square kilometers in the southern vectors over the last week and nearly 170 square kilometers since the counteroffensive began early last month.

The T-7 Red Hawk, the new Air Force training aircraft, completed its maiden flight last Wednesday in St. Louis, Missouri, beginning the final phase of its pre-production development.
The Rise of the T-7 Red Hawk: Substitute for the T-38 Talon
With its launch, the Red Hawk is positioned to replace the T-38 Talon, which has been in service for six decades and will serve as the primary platform for training American and other allied pilots to fly fighters and bombers.
The inaugural flight lasted one hour, taking off from Lambert International Airport in St. Louis.

In recent years, China’s rapid economic growth has made the aviation industry a key focus for the country. Despite significant investments in aero engine development, China still faces a considerable gap compared to Western countries, especially the United States.

Many of the submunitions in cluster munitions failed to explode on impact, threatening civilians decades after the war, making the weapon controversial.

The Pentagon on July 7 announced the 42nd package of military aid to Ukraine, including the Advanced Conventional Multipurpose Ammunition (DPICM), which is rated as “highly effective and reliable.” However, this decision met with a fierce reaction from American public opinion as well as some European countries due to the risk of causing too much damage during and after the war of cluster munitions.