GM Defense unveiled its armoured NGLTWV concept at IDEX 2023. This combines the Chevrolet Silverado commercial pickup truck chassis with GM’s Ultium battery technology. (Janes/Sonny Butterworth)
GM Defense displayed its vehicle electrification technology, including a ‘skateboard’ chassis and its Next Generation Light Tactical Wheeled Vehicle (NGLTWV) at IDEX 2023, held in Abu Dhabi from 20 to 24 February.
Author: Michael
Alheda missiles displayed on the launcher with an integrated Mirsad-II EODS inside the Tazawun Council’s pavilion at IDEX 2023. (Janes/Jeremy Binnie)
Tawazun Technology and Innovation (TTI) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with local company Calidus to manufacture the Alhedah missile, it was announced during the IDEX 2023 show held in Abu Dhabi from 20 to 24 February.
TTI is the research and development arm of Tawazun Council, the organisation tasked with developing the UAE’s defence industry.
The Rhino protected mobility vehicle is based on a commercial Toyota Land Cruiser 79-series chassis and can carry up to eight personnel. The version of the vehicle displayed on MIC’s stand at IDEX 2023 had minor visual differences compared with a photograph of the vehicle shown in the product’s brochure. (Janes/Sonny Butterworth)
Sudan’s Military Industry Corporation (MIC) introduced its Rhino and Rhino 2 protected mobility vehicles at IDEX 2023 held in Abu Dhabi from 20 to 24 February.
The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville transits the Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Stephen M. Votaw).
The Navy will rename the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville for Robert Smalls, a former slave-turned-sailor and statesman known for commandeering a Confederate steamer and delivering it into the hands of the Union during the Civil War, the service said in a statement.
via Twitter
Details remain limited, but three apparent improvised kamikaze drones have reportedly come down in Russia’s Belgorod region. Imagery of the drones suggests they could be a design in Ukrainian military service that has been weaponized in part through the addition of British-supplied explosive charges. Since April 2022, there have been multiple reports of Ukraine’s armed forces striking at targets in Belgorod, which lies just on the opposite side of the country’s northeastern border, primarily using drones.
Photo by DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP via Getty Images
With the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine now having passed its one-year anniversary, there are growing fears about tensions in Moldova — another former Soviet state, and neighbor of Ukraine — which finds itself trapped in a war of words between Moscow and Kyiv. Today, the Kremlin declared that it was worried about the situation in Transnistria, a separatist pro-Russian region of Moldova, sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine.
According to a government watchdog agency, the US Navy’s goal of receiving its Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines in record time may not be met.
According to a study from the Government Accountability Office that came out last month, the probable holdup is due to a lack of statistical analysis for the vessel. In addition, problems related to the submarine’s design, materials, and quality could affect its entry into service.
The impending USS Columbia will replace the 14 Ohio-class nuclear submarines nearing the end of their useful lives.
In a move to adjust to the dynamic needs of its modern operational environment, the Air Force Research Laboratory recently formed a new “one-stop shop” to coalesce all of the partnership activities previously spread across varying areas in its vast organization.
The new Strategic Partnering Directorate — or AFRL/SP — combines some elements of the lab’s current Small Business Directorate and all parts of its Plans and Programs Directorate – Partnering Division, or XPP, into one fresh unit.
U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Adam Hytrek, a scout sniper with Battalion Landing Team 1/4, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, provides overwatch for a visit, board, search, and seizure exercise on the USS Miguel Keith (ESB-5) in the Philippine Sea, Feb. 11, 2023. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Vincent Pham).
The Marine Corps is getting rid of its Scout Sniper Platoons as part of massive force structure changes, but Marine reconnaissance and special operations units will continue to have their own school-trained snipers, a Marine Corps spokesman said.
CIA Director William Burns said that U.S. intelligence suggests Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered the Chinese military to “be ready by 2027” to invade Taiwan. However, it is possible that Jinping now has doubts about his ability to invade Taiwan after Russia’s experience in its war with Ukraine.
In a Sunday television appearance, Burns underscored the importance of taking Xi’s intention to eventually govern Taiwan “extremely seriously,” even if armed war is not unavoidable.