Three Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawks of the Indian Navy in operation in February 2024. (Indian Navy)
The Indian Navy has commissioned its first Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk multirole helicopter squadron.
According to the navy, the new unit, Indian Naval Air Squadron (INAS) 334, was commissioned on 6 March at Indian Naval Station Garuda in the southwestern Indian city of Kochi.
In a video of the commissioning, the Indian Navy displayed four MH-60Rs (serial numbers IN751, IN752, IN753, and IN755). However, the unit likely had at least six MH-60Rs at the time of commissioning. Helicopter no.

A Tactical Resupply Vehicle-150 takes off from a Stern Landing Vessel to conduct a ship-to-ship experimentation as part of Project Convergence Capstone 4. (US Army 24th Theater Public Affairs Support)
The US Marine Corps’ (USMC’s) experimental Stern Landing Vessel (SLV) made an impact at one of its first joint experiments as one of three support vessels participating in the 2024 Project Convergence Capstone 4 event.

The Ground Alerter 10 mortar detection radar and alerting system in-service with the French and German armed forces is receiving an MLU. (Thales)
France and Germany’s Ground Alerter 10 (GA 10) anti-mortar radar will receive a mid-life upgrade (MLU) to bolster its capabilities and address obsolescence.
The Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) will manage the MLU, with a contract totalling EUR15 million (USD16.2 million) expected to be awarded in early 2024, the authority detailed in its 2024 business plan published on 5 March.

Savronik’s latest high-speed SDR at the DIMDEX 2024 show in Doha. The system is designed to transmit real-time ISR information from aerial platforms to a dedicated ground station. (Janes/Ajay Shankar Pandey)
Turkish defence manufacturer Savronik unveiled the latest iteration of its High-speed Software-Defined Radio (SDR) at the DIMDEX 2024 show held in Doha from 4 to 6 March.
The latest SDR supports twice the data rate of its predecessor – from 137 Mbps to 274 Mbps – as well as the latest custom waveforms and encrypted solutions, depending on user requirements.

Albania used the occasion of the opening of the Kuçovë Air Base to showcase its newly acquired Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs. (Albanian MoD)
The Kuçovë Air Base (Baza Ajrore Kuçovë) in Albania was officially inaugurated as NATO’s first tactical airbase in the western Balkans, with an opening ceremony on 4 March.
The work for transforming the Warsaw Pact-era MiG base into a modern facility to support NATO air transport, logistical support, and air policing missions across southeast Europe was first announced by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in August 2018.

A file photo of AASM Hammer guided bombs (in their imaging infrared seeker configuration) of the type Russia now claims to have intercepted over Ukraine. (Safran)
Russia has claimed to have intercepted a Safran Armement Air-Sol Modulaire (AASM) Hammer launched at its forces in Ukraine.
Russian state-controlled media reported the claim on 6 March, quoting the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation as saying that ground-based air defences had shot down a single guided bomb “in the zone of a special military operation”.

A model of the GCAP fighter displayed at DSEI Japan 2023 in Chiba. (Janes/Jon Grevatt)
Japan is considering the implementation of further reforms to support military exports. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on 6 March that the additional reforms are necessary to allow future Japan sales of the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) aircraft to international customers.

A GQM-163 Coyote target overflies a mobile ship target. (Orbital Sciences)
The US Navy (USN) is looking to expand the kinematic envelope of the GQM-163A Coyote supersonic aerial target to enable more stressing and realistic threat representations.
US Naval Air Systems Command’s (NAVAIR’s) Aerial Targets program office (PMA-208) in February issued a pre-solicitation of its intent to contract Northrop Grumman for a 12-month study to increase the target’s performance envelope. A contract award is anticipated in the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2025.

The Gaza UAV displayed at the Iranian stand at DIMDEX 2024. (Janes/Ajay Shankar Pandey)
Iran promoted its Gaza unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for export for the first time at the DIMDEX 2024 show held in Doha from 4 to 6 March.
A model of the Gaza UAV was displayed at the Iranian stand and it was detailed in a brochure alongside the M129, which is the export name of the Shahed-129, the Iranian military’s primary long-endurance UAV.

Of all the symbols of American power abroad, the U.S. special operations soldier occupies a unique place in the public’s imagination. The public appetite for tales of derring-do and gutsy ventures is limitless, and U.S. special operations provide enough of these, routinely and visibly, to propel that mystique. Such publicity obscures a less splashy type of special operations that work in a different meter. These are the special operations advisors who work quietly, persistently, and ethnographically with U.S. partners fighting their own wars.

Today, the U.S. Air Force faces an almost-existential crisis. During the past several years, the service has been battered by the loss of its prestigious space mission to the nascent U.S. Space Force. It has also struggled to balance the continued acquisition of stunningly expensive new manned aircraft with the rapid developments in unmanned technologies, which are making pilots increasingly superfluous. What a difference a few years makes. In 2016, we published a column entitled “The Catastrophic Success of the U.S.

Emirati defence conglomerate, EDGE Group, and Spanish defence supplier, Indra, have formed a joint venture in military radar systems.

A U.S. Air Force pilot says they saw something they couldn’t readily identify that was the “size and shape” of an “Apollo spacecraft” during a sortie from Eglin Air Force Base in Florida last year, according to recently declassified documents. Three other unidentified objects were also tracked on radar during the incident, which Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz first publicly disclosed last summer.

The first Block 70 F-16C/Ds have left Lockheed Martin’s production facility and are headed on a long delivery flight that will cross a good portion of the globe. Their final destination is Bahrain, which has bought 16 of the advanced Vipers.
The delivery mission is a massive milestone for F-16 line that was moved from its long-time home in Fort Worth, Texas to Greensboro, North Carolina some time ago.

MilitaryView

World War 2 German Air Force Badges: In Detail
World War 2 German Air Force Badges: In Detail – A comprehensive look at the badges and honors awarded to Luftwaffe members during World War II.
Introduction
Traveling back in time, we trace the World War II German Air Force Badges on a historical journey. This is a recollection of those eventful years and an in-depth analysis of the German Air Force’s honor system.

Over 80% of Texas Republican voters approved a non-binding ballot measure known as Proposition 6 during the state’s primary election on Tuesday. The measure, which has no force of law, read: “The Texas Legislature should prohibit the deployment of the Texas National Guard to a foreign conflict unless Congress first formally declares war.” (U.S. Air National Guard photo by 1st Lt. Alicia Lacy/Released).
Republican voters in Texas overwhelmingly want to stop the state’s National Guard from deploying to foreign conflicts without a formal declaration of war from Congress.

Senior leaders from the Marine Corps Recruiting Command and Manpower and Reserve Affairs visited Johns Hopkins APL, September 22, 2021. The Marines received presentations from the APL staff members on how Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence can support the Marine Corps’ force design efforts of recruiting and retaining talented Marines. (Sgt. Kenny Gomez/U.S. Marine Corps).

FILE: A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter lands on a snow-covered field at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. (Maj. Travis Mueller/U.S. Army).
A Massachusetts man who suffered life-altering injuries after running into an Army Black Hawk helicopter that had landed on a snowmobile trail is suing the federal government for $9.5 million to cover medical bills, lost wages, and other expenses.

Although Marine Aviation officially started in 1912 when Marine First Lieutenant Alfred Cunningham reported to an aviation camp in Annapolis, Maryland, it took over a century for the United States Marine Corps to officially get its own dedicated operational test squadron after decades of conducting testing in Navy-led test squadrons. That unit is Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron One (VMX-1).
Today, VMX-1 is hitting its stride with multiple aircraft types in its inventory and a big increase in manpower.

A Baltimore-based startup has recently flown an experimental drone powered by a pulsejet engine, a type of powerplant that has few moving parts, in contrast to a conventional turbine, offering the promise of low-cost jet performance. Previously, the company, Wave Engine Corp., received U.S. Air Force funding to develop a decoy powered by a pulsejet — a powerplant best known for its infamous use in World War II.

MilitaryView

Surprise landing of an F-35 in Southeast Asia
This event is part of a complex strategic game that takes place in the South China Sea, where nations like Brunei play crucial roles against regional powers like China, which is in the middle of territorial tensions with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The US military tactically deployed two of its F-35 stealth fighter jets to Brunei, marking a significant entry into Southeast Asia’s smallest country.

MilitaryView

The Russians finally destroyed a Ukrainian HIMARS.
The fate of the HIMARS crew during the attack is uncertain, as is the reason why the system was parked in the open in broad daylight. After persistent efforts for two years, Russian forces have finally managed to neutralize one of the Ukrainian High Mobility Artillery Rocket Launcher (HIMARS) systems.
A Russian unmanned aircraft detected the wheeled HIMARS and its support units in the vicinity of a forest in Nykanorivka, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, located about 40 kilometers from the battlefront.

MilitaryView

Inside Russia’s long-range suicide UAV production facility
Russian media published images of the Geran-2 suicide UAV production line, with a large number of aircraft waiting to be assembled and shipped.

Russian reporter Vladimir Soloviev released a 17-second video on March 5, saying these were exclusive images shot inside the Geran-2 suicide drone (UAV) factory. The recording time was not disclosed, but it is likely that the video was filmed in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in the Republic of Tatarstan.

A Ranger secures an enemy objective while participating in the third phase of Ranger training at Camp James E. Rudder, Florida. (Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo/U.S. Air Force).
The U.S. Army’s Ranger Course, better known as Ranger School, is one of the best and toughest leadership schools in the military — arguably in the world. Every military branch, including foreign allies, can send troops to Ranger School. 
The grueling course takes Ranger trainees through three phases, from the forests in and around Ft. Moore, Georgia, to the swamps of Florida.

The Barbados-flagged cargo ship True Confidence is adrift and reportedly on fire after being abandoned following a missile attack by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi militants in the Gulf of Aden. Reports say that members of the ship’s crew suffered serious injuries in the incident or are now missing.
This is the second ship to be abandoned in the region after sustaining serious damage in the past two weeks or so. The other vessel in question, the Belize-flagged Rubymar, sank in the adjacent Bab al Mandeb Strait over the weekend.

A lot happens every day. Alliances shift, leaders change, and conflicts erupt. With In Brief, we’ll help you make sense of it all. Each week, experts will dig deep on a single issue happening in the world to help you better understand it. *** After more than 18 months of delays, Sweden’s bid to join the NATO alliance was finally approved last week. Sweden and Finland were both invited to join NATO after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but while Finland became part of the alliance last year, opposition from Turkey and Hungary held up Sweden’s approval.

Internet access has become more and more of a necessity in the 21st century. The worldwide web has rapidly evolved into an integral part of everyday life. For retired Veterans, having internet access can make daily tasks like buying groceries and managing healthcare more convenient. In 2019, the Federal Communications Commission reported that 15% of Veteran households did not have an internet connection. To close this digital divide, the FCC offers two programs to help qualified retired Veterans get online.

The Defense Department’s top watchdog is conducting a comprehensive assessment to ultimately determine the impacts and “effectiveness” of the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office’s procurement, strategy and policy development, and adoption of AI since its inception, according to a recent memorandum.  
“This is a self-initiated evaluation that the DOD [Office of Inspector General] identified as part of our ongoing series of oversight projects on DOD’s implementation of artificial intelligence,” Pentagon OIG spokeswoman Mollie Halpern told DefenseScoop this week.

An extraordinary video has emerged showing some of the last moments aboard the Russian Black Sea Fleet landing ship Cesar Kunikov (also written as Tsezar Kunikov) as it was attacked by Ukrainian naval drones last month. The sinking of the Ropucha class landing ship by MAGURA V5 uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) was no secret, but the latest footage is the most dramatic to have emerged so far from the Russian perspective of the ‘drone boat war’ in the Black Sea. It also underscores just how challenging defending against such an attack, especially by multiple drone boats at once, can be.

Babcock has signed an agreement with ST Engineering to market land-based solutions, with an initial emphasis on 120mm mortar systems.

Members of the New York National Guard will deploy to the NYC subway system to patrol platforms and help check bags, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday.(Air National Guard / Staff Sergeant Christopher S Muncy).
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered the New York National Guard to begin patrolling the NYC subway system Wednesday with an emphasis on finding illegal weapons among riders. The governor cited a string of violent attacks on the NYC subway system in recent months including a Subway conductor who was slashed in the neck while working in Brooklyn in February.

An artist’s impression of the FAC 50 that the Qatar Emiri Naval Forces has ordered. (Dearsan)
Dearsan has been awarded a contract to design and build two 50 m fast attack craft (FAC) for the Qatar Emiri Naval Forces (QENF), the Turkish shipyard announced during the DIMDEX 2024 show held in Doha from 4 to 6 March.
The contract was also reported by Qatar News Agency, which said the QENF signed a contract to “implement the fast attack craft project (Halul 11)”.

Vietnam’s expenditure on defence is expected to increase by 5.6% CAGR due to the escalating tensions in the South China Sea.

A model of the AW249 attack helicopter was displayed for the first time at DIMDEX 2024 in Doha. (Janes/Ajay Shankar Pandey)
Leonardo showcased its AW249 attack helicopter with a scale model displayed at the DIMDEX 2024 show held from 4 to 6 March in Doha.
The event marks the first time that the Italian manufacturer has displayed its developmental “heavy” attack helicopter to the public, and comes one-and-half years since the type made its maiden flight in August 2022.

Through the DIPS framework, QinetiQ has been awarded the responsibility of providing digital and IT services to the UK Ministry of Defence.

Indian Army soldiers wearing a combination of Newndra’s JaipurBelt and ArmMax exoskeletons while carrying ammunition and other load. (Newndra Innovations)
The Indian military has procured passive exoskeletons to support logistics and potentially combat operations, it has been confirmed to Janes.
The company that developed the exoskeletons – Newndra Innovations in Rajasthan – has provided two types of exoskeletons to the Indian Army, Indian Air Force (IAF), and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in the past few months.

The Army is moving forward with Palantir as the prime contractor for the next phase of its Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN) ground station program, which aims to provide soldiers with next-generation data fusion and deep-sensing capabilities via artificial intelligence and other tools.
Palantir’s USG subsidiary was awarded a $178.4 million other transaction agreement, which calls for the delivery of 10 prototypes, the company announced Wednesday.

DefBlog
The U.S.

Scott Murdock, Military.com
Various militaries have given the world plenty of interesting vehicles, but few reach elite status as cultural icons.

Nathan Jennings, Modern War Institute
On the evening of April 13, 2022, two Neptune antiship missiles streaked out from the northern coastline of the Black Sea to

Jared Keller, Military.com
After nearly a decade in development, the Army’s primary vehicle-mounted laser weapon is on a collision course with its most fearsome foe yet — dust.

Francis P.

The British Army successfully tested the Ajax armoured fighting vehicle in harsh sub-Arctic weather conditions in northern Sweden.

China Coast Guard vessels dousing Philippine supply boat
Unaizah May 4
with water cannons in the latter’s mission to resupply BRP
Sierra Madre
with provisions on 5 March 2024.
(Philippine Coast Guard)
A Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Parola-class patrol boat and a Philippine government-operated supply boat have been damaged after a 5 March encounter with China Coast Guard vessels in disputed waters of the South China Sea.

The Guarani APC (pictured above) is designed to carry a section of infantry dismounts across a fire zone so that they can engage a target or complete a mission. (AEL Sistemas)

The Philippine Army has received the first batch of five Guarani 6×6 wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APCs) from Elbit Systems, Lieutenant Colonel Louie Dema-ala, the Philippine Armyʼs official spokesperson, told
Janes
on 6 March.

An Arquus-upgraded VAB on display at the Milipol Qatar show held in Doha in May 2022. (Arquus)
French armoured vehicle company Arquus announced during the DIMDEX 2024 show held in Doha from 4 to 6 March that it had secured an additional contract to upgrade more of the Qatar Emiri Land Forces’ (QELF’s) Véhicule de l’Avant Blindé (VAB) armoured personnel carriers (APCs).
It said that the contract covers 54 VABs in addition to the 126 it has already modernised in France since 2018.

“Uncertainty regarding the US budget” has seen Pentagon contractors miss out on the boom in defence shares across Europe.

Amidst escalating geopolitical tensions and strategic imperatives, GlobalData predicts a substantial increase in US defence spending.

Precision timing is paramount in the military. From coordinating infantry charges across no man’s land in WWI to ensuring that a raiding special forces team gets off the X before enemy reinforcements can arrive, watches are a critical piece of kit for soldiers today and throughout history. The stories behind military timepieces and their connections with certain units can exponentially increase their value on the collector’s market. As a result, many of these rare and historically significant watches are out of the reach of most enthusiasts. However, Praesidus Watch Co.

The British Army began World War I with only two machine guns per infantry battalion. One gun was a spare, meaning the effective ratio was one per 1,000 soldiers. Historian John Ellis summarized, “For the British commanders, on the eve of the First World War, the machine gun simply did not exist.” The inability to grasp the changing technological character of ground combat cost British forces dearly early in the war.