A Chinese surveillance balloon flies above in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the United States on 4 February 2023. The incursion prompted the US Department of Defense to include USD90 million in last-minute ISR investments in its FY 2024 budget proposal. (Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)  The fallout from the detection and eventual shoot-down of a Chinese high-altitude intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) balloon operating in US airspace prompted several last-minute changes in the US Department of Defense (DoD) budg...

A US Space Force radome receives data from satellites at Kaena Point Space Force Station, Hawaii, on 14 September 2022. (US Space Force)  The US Space Force (USSF) is poised to award several contracts to commercial satellite communications (satcom) companies, who will provide proliferated low Earth orbit (LEO) satcom capabilities to US armed forces and allies, the head of the service's commercial satcom office said.  Officials from the USSF's Commercial Satellite Communications Office (CSCO) are in the midst of wrapping up the source selectio...

A forward observer with C Company, 1-508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division (Air Assault) uses AN/PRC 148 2-channel Leader Radio to transmit position location obtained from the Android Tactical Assault Kit during a live-fire exercise at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, in January 2019. (US Army )  The US Department of Defense (DoD) has called for a funding increase for the two-channel Leader Radio (LR) and the Manpackable (MP) variant of the Single-Channel Data Radio (SCDR), however, largely left coffers funding tactical network te...

U.S. Air Force Airmen monitor computers in support of the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) Onramp 2, Sept 2, 2020 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. (Department of Defense)  The US Department of Defense (DoD) is seeking a USD1.7 billion increase in proposed funding for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) accounts for fiscal year (FY) 2024.  The USD14.5 billion requested for C4ISR coffers in FY 2024, compared to the department's USD12.8 billion proposal for those same accou...

A conceptual image that Grene Robotics says shows the layers of protection Indrajaal can offer to defend critical infrastructure from low RCS threats. (Grene Robotics)  Hyderabad-based Grene Robotics has developed a command-and-control (C2) system that it says leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to co-ordinate with military systems, supporting faster decision-making on the battlefield.  Several versions of the C2 system have been delivered to the Indian military, and have been used to support the development of a counter-unmanned aircraft...

The IAF has developed a low-cost C-UAS that can jam and spoof hostile UAVs. The C-UAS was unveiled at Aero India 2023 in Bangalore in February. (Janes/Oishee Majumdar)  The proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and the ways in which these platforms are leveraged by India's adversaries, has pushed the country to prioritise the development of counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UASs).  On the one hand, India is concerned about China and Pakistan's growing arsenal of military UAVs, which are often operated in an intelligence, surve...

HNLMS De Ruyter (F 804), 10.2013 (Michael Nitz - Naval Press Service)    The Royal Netherlands Navy's (RNLN's) third De Zeven Provinciën-class air defence and command frigate (luchtverdedigings en commandofregatten - LCF) HNLMS   De Ruyter  (F 804) is preparing to start its sea-acceptance tests (SATs) in late March, following the completion of a major maintenance and capability upgrade.     Under current timelines,   De Ruyter  is planned to be fully operational in the fourth quarter of 2023, a DMO spokespe...

Thales UK DSA offering on display at the 2023 Future Soldier Technology Conference. Synaps (left), AN/PRC-148E Spear (middle), and SquadNet radio (right). (Janes/Olivia Savage)  Thales intends to pitch its tactical radios for the UK Dismounted Situational Awareness (DSA) Tactical Radio Sub-Lot competition.  Depending on the UK Ministry of Defence's (MoD) requirements, the company will present its SquadNet, Javelin, AN/PRC-148E Spear, or Synaps handheld radio for the Tactical Radio Sub-Lot competition, Ciaran McCloskey, product line manager fo...

The 341st Missile Security Operations Squadron carry out security drills at a launch facility, near Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana. (US Air Force)  The US Air Force (USAF) has contracted US information technology company Persistent Systems to provide mobile ad hoc networking (MANET) capability to the service's security forces, tasked with protecting major intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) fields and installations in the continental United States (CONUS).  Officials from Air Force Global Strike Command inked a USD75.5 million deal...

A screenshot from footage released by BYPOL shows the UAV parked on the radome of the A-50 during a pre-strike reconnaissance sortie, according to the group. (BYPOL)  The loss of the airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) capability provided by the Beriev A-50 ‘Mainstay' is hampering joint Russian and Belarusian air activity, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has determined.  In its latest intelligence update posted on 9 March, the MoD said that the A-50U that was previously reported as attacked by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at Masch...

India's Nirbhay cruise missile, displayed above at Defexpo 2020 in Lucknow, will be equipped with small turbofan engines, enhanced radio frequency seekers, and other subsystems to transform it into the proposed Long-Range Land Attack Cruise Missile. (Janes/Rahul Udoshi )  India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) recently conducted a flight test of its Indigenous Technology Cruise Missile (ITCM) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur off the northeastern coast of Odisha.  The ITCM is a technology demonstrator pro...

Stratobus, developed by Thales Alenia Space, is a non-rigid stratospheric airship with fully autonomous electric propulsion. The concept has been optimised around a 140 m long airship that operates at altitudes of 18–20 km and has more than 1,000 m  2   of solar cells. The aim is for the system to carry 250 kg payloads.  (Thales Alenia Space)  Thales Alenia Space, along with a consortium of 21 partners, will develop high-altitude platform systems (HAPS) following investment from the European Commission.  Known as...

UK Royal Navy commandos conduct cold weather training in the Arctic. (UK Royal Navy/Crown Copyright)  The UK has set up a military base in Northern Norway that will act as a hub for Royal Marines commandos operating in the region.  The purpose-built site, called Camp Viking, is located in Øverbygd, about 40 mile south of Tromsø, and will be used to support the UK's commando-led Littoral Response Group (LRG) (North), which is designed to operate alongside NATO and UK Joint Expeditionary Force partners in the High North and Baltic Sea regions....

The French Navy's first new BRF logistic support ship,   Jacques Chevallier  (A 725), started sea acceptance trials on 25 January.  (Naval Group)    Chantiers de l'Atlantique has delivered the first of four new batiments ravitailleurs de forces (BRF) logistic support ships (LSSs),   Jacques Chevallier  (A 725), to the French Navy.   Announcing the formal handover, which took place at Chantiers de l'Atlantique's shipyard in Saint-Nazaire on 3 March, the French Navy said the ship would depart fo...

Hungary has acquired new E-LynX software-defined radios from Elbit Systems in soldier and vehicular configurations. (Elbit Systems)  The Hungarian Defence Forces (HDF) will receive new soldier and vehicular radios under the Zrínyi programme.  The new radios are being supplied by Elbit Systems, Colonel János Pölöskei, branch leader for the Command and Control Systems Development Branch at HDF Command – Force Planning Directorate, announced at SAE Media Group's 2023 Future Soldier Technology conference on 6 March.  Col Pölöskei told Janes that...

The military version of ATAK has been selected as the BMA of choice for the DSA programme. (ATAK )  The Tactical Assault Kit (TAK) has been selected as the preferred battle management application (BMA) solution for the British Army's Dismounted Situational Awareness (DSA) programme.  Speaking at SAE Media Group's 2023 Future Soldier Technology Conference on 6 March, David Dalby, TacSys Delivery Team Soldier Systems Portfolio lead for the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), said that the solution was selected because it enables integration with inte...

IAI ARC 840 SDR-NCO airborne communication system is compliant with the latest SCA 4.1 standard, set by the US Joint Tactical Networking Centre. (IAI)  Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) subsidiary Elta Systems has launched a new airborne software-defined radio (SDR).  Announced by IAI on 2 March, the ARC 840 SDR – Network Centric Operations (SDR-NCO) system is the latest in Elta's portfolio of military airborne communications that provides voice, video, and data communications.  Operating on very high frequency (VHF), ultra-high frequency (UH...

NFS U212 submarine. (OCCAR)  The Italian Navy's Type 212 Near Future Submarine (NFS) programme has successfully completed its critical design review (CDR).  In a statement issued on 21 February, the European defence procurement agency Organisation for Joint Armament Co-operation (OCCAR) said the CDR had successfully demonstrated that the design is mature and fully compliant to mission performance requirements and can proceed with the manufacturing, system installation, integration, and trial test phase.  Under the Type 212 NFS programme, the...

BAE Systems Australia unveiled its strike-capable Strix UAS at Avalon 2023. The system is predominantly aimed at the land and maritime markets. (Julian Kerr)  A new multimission unmanned aircraft system (UAS) – combining the advantages of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) and fixed-wing flight – was launched by BAE Systems Australia at the Avalon 2023 international airshow on 28 February.  Named the Strix, the tiltable body and X-wing-configured UAS – which has four hybrid engines – combines the convenience of VTOL with the range and speed...

The A-50 AEW&C aircraft is a key enabler for Russian air operations over Ukraine, and the loss of an airframe to a UAV strike in Belarus will be keenly felt by Russian forces. (United Aircraft Corporation)  A Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) Beriev A-50 ‘Mainstay' airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft has reportedly been put out of action by saboteurs in Belarus.  The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) reported the claim made by the Belarusian ‘partisan' group BYPOL that an A-50 had been critically damaged during an unmanned aerial vehi...