The quantum accelerometer has been developed by Imperial College London. (Imperial College London)

A prototype quantum sensor device developed by Imperial College London completed the first period of at-sea testing onboard the UK Royal Navy (RN) trials and experimentation vessel XV Patrick Blackett .

The experiment is seen as a potential first step in understanding the application and exploitation of quantum-enabled navigation, which could provide significant navigational advantages when operating in environments where global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), such as Global Positioning System (GPS), are degraded or denied.

The quantum sensor developed by Imperial College London is a type of accelerometer. While conventional accelerometers are used in many different devices such as mobile phones and laptops, these sensors cannot maintain precise accuracy over long periods of time without an external reference to correct ‘drift'.

A computer-generated rendering of the Arrowhead 140 design, which is the basis for Indonesia's ‘Red White' frigate programme. (Babcock)

Turkey's Havelsan will equip the Indonesian Navy's new Arrowhead 140 frigates with its Advent combat management system (CMS), the company told Janes at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) Exhibition 2023 in Malaysia.

The frigates are being constructed by state-owned Indonesian shipbuilder PT PAL, with steel cutting of the first ship in December 2022.

The Arrowhead 140 is the third different class of Indonesian warships planned to be equipped with the Advent CMS. Other classes include 90 m offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) under construction at PT Daya Radar Utama and KCR-60M missile craft built by PT Tesco Indomaritim.

UK defence group Babcock signed a design licence agreement with PT PAL in September 2021, which supported the build of two Arrowhead 140 frigates at the Indonesian shipbuilder's facilities in Surabaya. The Arrowhead 140 is based on the Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate design previously developed for the Royal Danish Navy. The project has been locally branded as the ‘Red White' frigate programme.

Inflatech displayed an inflatable Leopard 2A4 tank decoy system at IDET 2023. (Janes/Nicholas Fiorenza)

Inflatable Leopard 2A4 tank decoys are being supplied to Ukraine, Janes learnt at the International Defence and Security Technology Fair (IDET) 2023 held in Brno, Czech Republic, from 24 to 26 May. At the show, Czech-based company Inflatech displayed Leopard 2A4 and Czech STARKOM communication jammer inflatable decoys.

The decoys are designed to deceive and mislead an enemy by simulating objects and for use in electronic warfare training. The Leopard 2A4 decoy weighs 44 kg and the STARKOM decoy 35.2 kg. Their optical granularity is 0.2 m, thermal granularity is 0.6 m, and electronic granularity is 4 m, according to Inflatech. The company claims that they appear to an RQ-20 unmanned aerial vehicle as a real object from approximately 1,500 m.

The decoys can be inflated by a 150 ccm four-stroke petrol or diesel engine and take two people 10 minutes to deploy or pack. It is stable in winds up to 15 m/s, according to Inflatech.