The Salvadoran Air Force (FAS), as part of a wider modernisation plan started this month, has received four MD530F helicopters donated by the United States, which are being assembled at Ilopango Air Base, an FAS source told Janes .

Three of the MD530Fs will be sent to Mali to replace the three MD500Es the FAS currently has there as part of a United Nations mission. The original plan was to receive 12 helicopters, but a deterioration in US- El Salvador relations led to the quantity reduction.

US activist investor firm Starboard Value is urging US defence electronics supplier Mercury Systems to “immediately eliminate” its new anti-takeover plan, saying the measure is “not in the best interests of the company's shareholders”.

“We are available at your convenience to discuss this matter further,” Starboard told Mercury's board of directors in a 13 January letter. “[We] believe there is a bright future for the company and its stakeholders, and we look forward to continuing to engage with you to help unlock this value.”

The US Marine Corps is equipping vehicles with Hero-120 for its OPF-M requirement, and Rheinmetall and UVision foresee integrating Hero into Lynx and Fuchs armoured vehicles. (UVision)

Rheinmetall announced in a press release on 12 January that it had signed a strategic partnership agreement with UVision on the Israeli company's Hero loitering munition aimed in the medium term at establishing a joint venture for the development and production of the munition. Romano Ricca, chief business development and sales officer of Rheinmetall Weapons and Munition subsidiary RWM Italia, said that the agreement was signed on 11 October 2021.