Browsing: All news

The Aviationist
The first production representative MQ-25 taxied under its own power at Boeing’s facilities, following a series of rigorous ground trials over several months

Following the announcement by the United States’ largest defence producing firm Lockheed Martin that a major framework agreement had been reached to quadruple annual production of interceptors for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile system, boosting output from 96 to 400 missiles, significant questions have been raised regarding the affordability of expanded procurement rates.

Drone footage from Ukraine’s Kharkov Region has shown a Russian Iskander-M ballistic missile system launching precision strikes to destroy a launcher from a Ukrainian Army HIMARS rocket artillery system. This closely coincided with a separate missile strike launched using the same system which destroyed multiple parts of a Ukrainain Air Force S-300 air defence system, which currently forms the backbone of its anti-aircraft missile network.

Recall the image etched in memory: a bulldozer driven by fighters of the self-proclaimed Islamic State smashing through the earthen berm on the Iraq-Syria border, militants cheering atop the machine. That moment was not just a border violation. It was a bullet fired at the history of the modernizing Middle East. Western analysts lamented that the end of artificial states had arrived, while militants celebrated the end of history. They were all wrong. Today, that berm is back, standing in place as if exacting revenge. The line was not erased.

The Norwegian Defence Ministry has formally selected the South Korean K239 Chunmoo rocket artillery system as its next-generation long-range precision fires solution, the procurement of which is expected to revolutionise the Norwegian Army’s long range fire capabilities in line with NATO operational concepts. The contract is valued at approximately $922 million, and represents a central part of the Army’s broader long-range fires modernisation program which had been budgeted nearly 2 billion dollars.

The U.S. Army 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment has deployed Bradley Fighting Vehicles live fire exercise in Poland, which focused on preparing for mounted manoeuvre under harsh winter conditions. The exercises were staged at Poland’s Bemowo Piskie Training Area, located approximately 60 kilometres from Russia’s Kaliningrad region, and 90 kilometres from the Belarusian border, leading them to be interpreted by multiple analysts as a show of force.

New footage has confirmed that the new Chinese aircraft carrier Sichuan has begun testing the integration of an unmanned long range stealth fighter thought to be from the GJ-11 series. The aircraft appeared on the Sichuan’s lift, and subsequently on its deck, hours before the carrier went out to sea for its second set of sea trials. The possibility remains that what was seen was a full scale mockup used to practice flight deck management, rather than an actual aircraft.

The final 28 M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks produced for the Republic of China (RoC) Army have completed production in the United States, and are scheduled to be delivered before the end of March. The U.S. Department of State first approved the $2.2 billion sale of the tanks to the RoC in July 2019, fuelling considerable controversy due to Taipei’s lack of international recognition or of diplomatic relations with the United States. This followed the budgeting of funds by Taipei for the tank procurement in July the previous year.

British Defence Minister Luke Pollard has provided insight into the ongoing Sea Viper Evolution program intended to provide the country’s problematic Type 45 class destroyers with a limited anti-ballistic missile capability in the early 2030s.

Russian and Indian sources have recently confirmed significant progress in talks regarding the license production of the Su-57 fighter generation fighter in India, which would see production lines previously established to produce over 220 Su-30MKI ‘4+ generation’ fighters modernised to build the new aircraft.