Loren Thompson, Forbes
The defense industry isn’t like other industries.
Author: Michael
Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell formally handing over the first batch of EU-funded military assistance to Moldova on 31 May. (European Commission)
The Armed Forces of the Republic of Moldova has received its first batch of European Union (EU)-funded military equipment as part of the European Peace Facility (EPF), the EU announced on 31 May.
Over a 36-month period, Moldova will receive EUR40 million (USD42.
Quantum-Systems Vector UAV has been ordered for a third time by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence. (Quantum-Systems)
Ukraine has ordered 300 additional reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from German-based Quantum-Systems.
An announcement by the company on 31 May stated the order would be the third placed by Ukraine for the Vector electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) UAV since August 2022.
A Quantum-Systems spokesperson confirmed to
Janes
the order was funded by the German government.
Public Domain
In June 1965 I raised my right hand in Tecumseh Court along with about 1400 other soon to be Midshipmen and took an Oath. While we may not have understood every word of the oath, we took it freely and without reservation. That Oath tied us inextricably to the Constitution of the United States and all it stands for.
Every military officer has taken that same Oath as have all members of our three branches of Government.
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) received a donation of Land Rover spares valued at over £400,000 from the UK’s Conflict, Stability, and Security Fund (CSSF), the British Ambassador to Lebanon Hamish Cowell announced at a handover ceremony on 30 May.
The donation will support the Land Border Regiments’ Land Rovers reconnoitre capability and aid the LAF in their mission to safeguard the security and stability of Lebanon and its borders. “Land Rover Defender vehicles form the backbone of the LAF’s mobility.
The Government of Canada has unveiled plans to establish a Canadian Program for Cyber Security Certification (CPCSC) to bolster cyber security measures and protect Canada’s defence industry from cyber threats.
The program, expected to introduce mandatory certification requirements for select federal defence contracts by winter 2024, aims to enhance the resilience of supply chains critical to national security and facilitate international procurement opportunities for Canadian suppliers.
Our instructors were training a Ukrainian national guard unit near the Moldovan border. When we arrived at the range, a Ukrainian unit was already on the range throwing hand grenades in an open field less than 200 meters from us, then just dropping to the ground and watching them explode without any cover. These soldiers then proceeded to conduct machine gun training, shooting from positions from the left range berm across the range (not against the backstop).
On this special edition podcast, listeners will get to hear the first 20 minutes of Mike Kofman’s members-only podcast, The Russia Contingency. Mike spoke last week with William C. Wohlforth, a faculty member in Dartmouth College’s department of government about Russia, its role in the world and American power in Europe. The 45-minute conversation explored in-depth the challenges of forecasting, analyzed Russian revisionism and explored the future of great power competition.
Military science students man the SARP weapon stations fitted to Qatar’s upgraded VAB armoured personnel carriers during Exercise ‘Lebsair’. (Qatar Ministry of Defense)
Qatar unveiled its modernised 6×6 Véhicule de l’Avant Blindé (VAB) armoured personnel carriers (APCs) on 31 May, when its Ministry of Defense released a video showing several being used in a training exercise.
The video showed students from the Military Sciences Diploma course using three VABs to simulate an assault at a coastal training facility north of Dukhan as part of Exercise ‘Lebsair’.
[Kyiv, Ukraine] The air raid siren went off in Kyiv at 2:52 the morning of May 31st, 2023. This was the 5th day of air attacks on Kyiv city. It was forecasted 2 weeks ago that Russia would attack Kyiv with rockets and Shaheeds (teHeran) drones recently received from Iran. On the 5th day of attacks on Kyiv, Russia used Iskander M and Iskander K rockets. Both types of Iskanders can carry nuclear warheads.
As you see below from the official announcement of the Air Defence Unit of Kyiv, all 10 Iskander rockets were intercepted.