The proposed merger between L3Harris and Aerojet Rocketdyne has attracted significant opposition from some US Senators, some of whom have written to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to urge them to block the deal under anti-trust rules. This comes on the heels of Lockheed Martin’s abandoned attempt to purchase Aerojet Rocketdyne after opposition from the FTC. Ongoing scrutiny of defense industry consolidation has seen the number of defense primes in the US fall from 51 in the 1990s to just five in 2023 (Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Raytheon and General Dynamics).
Author: Michael
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has launched a new policy paper ‘Cloud Strategic Roadmap for Defence’, which is designed to help drive and accelerate a digital future.
The roadmap outlines the ways and means to adopt advanced Cloud platforms and realise the Digital Backbone and Data Strategy for Defence.
According to the paper, the Cloud will provide the foundation to develop and deliver the future digital capability required for defence users. It will improve user experience both within the enterprise and at the tactical edge.
Iranian Drones
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While the U.S. and Europe have joined forces in an effort to target putting sanctions on Iranian-made drones that are being shipped to Russia, Iran and Russia have agreed to establish a joint drone manufacturing facility in Russia, according to a weekend report from Wall Street Journal.
Iran has been supplying Russia with its kamikaze drones, including the Shahed-136, which Moscow has been using to launch persistent strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure.
A Beechcraft T-44C Pegasus, pictured in 2021. (US Navy)
The US Navy (USN) has selected the Textron King Air 260 to replace the Beechcraft King Air 90 (designated T-44 Pegasus) multi-engine trainer. The initial contract award announced on 25 January orders 10 T-54s for USD113 million, with options for up to 64 of the aircraft, which will be designated T-54A Multi Engine Training System (METS).
Deliveries are expected to run from 2024 through 2026. T-44 retirements will begin six months after the first T-54 delivery, the USN told
Janes
.
On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) helicopter facility in Tumakuru, Karnataka, and unveiled the light utility helicopter.
At the inauguration were also Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
The greenfield helicopter plant, situated on a 615-acre plot of land, was envisioned as a one-stop shop for all of the country’s helicopter requirements. It will initially build light-utility helicopters and is India’s largest helicopter manufacturing center (LUHs).
The LCA Navy demonstrated India’s capability to design, develop, construct, and operate indigenous aircraft carriers with home-grown fighter aircraft.
The Indian Navy on Monday achieved a significant milestone after the naval version of light combat aircraft successfully made its maiden landing on the indigenously-built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant.
Terming it a historic milestone towards the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative, the Indian Navy said that the naval pilots had landed LCA (Navy) onboard INS Vikrant.
According to Asia Times, a daily published in Hong Kong, China is one of the few countries willing to increase its business ties with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
In the middle of the year 2021, China opened its doors to a delegation of Taliban officials. As the US hinted at its impending withdrawal, the country demonstrated its willingness to recognize the Taliban. The Chinese company signed the 25-year oil extraction deal in Afghanistan in January 2023.
It is also possible that a state-owned Chinese firm may be awarded the contract to manage a copper mine there.
China’s 80-type 7.62mm general-purpose machine gun is a copy of the former Soviet Union’s PKM-style 7.62mm general-purpose machine gun. In the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, China seized the PKM general-purpose machine gun equipped by the Vietnamese army and decided to imitate it.
The imitation was successful, and the final result was the Type 80 general-purpose machine gun. The former Soviet Union developed the PKM general-purpose machine gun for battalions, companies, and platoons.
The gun uses 7.62x54mm bullets, is fed by a belt, and has a total weight of 12.6 kg.
The UK’s newly acquired future Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance ship sails into Cammell Laird shipyard, Birkenhead, Liverpool, on 19 January. (Royal Navy)
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has purchased a second-hand commercial offshore patrol vessel from P&O Maritime Logistics’ subsidiary Topaz Energy and Marinefor conversion into a specialist ship dedicated to protecting the country’s critical subsea infrastructure.
The vessel, which is currently named MV Topaz Tangaroa, arrived at Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, Merseyside, for refitting on 19 January.
Luftwaffe Patriot air-defence systems deployed close to Zamość on the Polish-Ukrainian border have reached IOC. (Bundeswehr/Lars Koch)
Luftwaffe Patriot air-defence systems deployed to Poland have reached an initial operational capability (IOC), a German Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesperson told
Janes
on 4 February. Three Patriot firing units with around 350 military personnel had been deployed close to Zamość near the Polish-Ukrainian border, the spokesperson added.