A Dutch Chinook (foreground) arrived at Holzdorf Air Base in mid-April to help the Luftwaffe prepare for the arrival of its own Chinooks into the station from 2027. In the background is a Luftwaffe CH-53G currently based at the location. (Bundeswehr)

The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) is helping the Luftwaffe prepare for its upcoming Chinook heavy-lift helicopter capability, dispatching one of its own helicopters to the type's future operating station in mid-April.

The Bundeswehr said on 18 April that an RNLAF CH-47F Block 1 Chinook landed for the first time at Holzdorf Air Base (also known as Schönewalde), south of Berlin, to help the Luftwaffe prepare for the arrival of the first of its CH-47F Block II Chinook Standard Range (SR) air-to-air refuelling (AAR)-capable heavy-lift helicopters from 2027 to 2032.

“With the future stationing of the CH-47, Holzdorf Air Base will become a hub for helicopter transport. The [Luftwaffe] is gaining initial experience with the Chinook transport helicopter with its Dutch allies – in flight operations, refuelling, and training,” the Bundeswehr said.

The Bundeswehr has ordered 258 sets of AGDUS systems for its Puma IFVs following successful integration tests. (PSM GmbH)

The Bundeswehr is receiving new training simulators for its Puma infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs).

In total, 258 sets of Training Device, Duel Simulator (Ausbildungsgerät Duellsimulator: AGDUS) systems are being delivered for the Puma IFVs by the end of 2026, the Bundeswehr announced on 15 April.

The EUR109 million (USD116 million) contract will be financed from the EUR100 billion Bundeswehr special fund.

A Rheinmetall/Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) consortium received an order from the Bundeswehr in December 2019 valued at EUR54 million for the provision of six AGDUS systems for integration tests on the Puma. Full-scale serial production of AGDUS would then begin once testing was complete, with up to 252 Puma IFVs being equipped with the systems for EUR88 million.

A Rheinmetall spokesperson confirmed to Janes that the company, along with KMW+Nexter Defense Systems (KNDS) Germany, are supplying the new AGDUS simulators to the Bundeswehr and that full-scale production has now officially begun.

Cherkasy, one of the Ukrainian Navy's two newly acquired ex-Royal Navy Sandown-class MCMVs, is pictured entering Portsmouth Harbour on 11 April ahead of a series of multinational naval exercises. (Crown copyright)

The Ukrainian Navy's two newly acquired ex-Royal Navy (RN) Sandown-class mine-countermeasures vessels (MCMVs) have been temporarily homeported at Portsmouth Naval Base, the RN has confirmed.

The two minehunters, Chernihiv (ex-HMS Grimsby ) and Cherkasy (ex-HMS Shoreham ), arrived at Portsmouth Naval Base on 11 April ahead of a series of multinational exercises.

Previously based in Scotland, the ships will operate from Portsmouth “for the foreseeable future”, the RN said. While stationed in Portsmouth, they will engage in exercises with the RN and the US Navy (USN) in UK waters, helping the Ukrainian Navy to adapt to NATO operations.

Chernihiv and Cherkasy, which were recommissioned into Ukrainian Navy service in July 2023, were donated by the UK to Ukraine as part of the Ukraine Naval Capabilities Enhancement Programme (UNCEP). Ahead of their transfer from the RN, they were overhauled by Babcock at its facilities in Rosyth, Scotland.