19 February 2024
by Richard Scott
The US Navy plans significant investments for large unmanned surface vessel programmes. (US Department of Defense)
The US Navy's (USN's) most senior uniformed officer has outlined her planned timeline to transition the surface navy to a new hybrid force structure mixing manned and unmanned vessels.
Speaking at the AFCEA International and US Naval Institute WEST 2024 conference in San Diego, California, on 13 February, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Lisa Franchetti said the navy road map was looking out across three five-year Future Years Defense Programs (FYDPs).
Having already introduced unmanned underwater vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles to service, the USN is now planning to invest significantly in a new generation of large unmanned surface vessels (LUSVs) designed to augment and complement manned surface combatants within a future hybrid fleet construct.
07 May 2024
by Akhil Kadidal
It is possible that Malaysia will acquire the latest version of the Lockheed Martin AN/AAQ-33 Sniper airborne targeting pod, with the capability improvements as detailed in this 2021 Lockheed Martin infographic. (Lockheed Martin)
The US Department of State has approved a possible sale of Lockheed Martin AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods (ATPs) for the Royal Malaysian Air Force's (RMAF's) Boeing F/A-18D fleet.
The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced on 7 May that 10 AN/AAQ-33 airborne targeting pods had been approved for sale, following a request from the Malaysian government. The proposed sale package, which includes technical data and publications, personnel training, software and training equipment, and related elements of logistics and programme support, has an estimated value of USD80 million.
“The proposed sale will improve Malaysia's capability to meet current and future threats by modernising its current F/A-18D platform with a common targeting pod,” the DSCA said.
“This proposed sale will also mitigate future obsolescence concerns and allow the [RMAF] to meet future operational requirements. Malaysia will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces,” DSCA added.
According to Janes
07 May 2024
by Carlo Munoz
An AFRL chart outlining the Battle Management of AI concept under development by the US Air Force. (US Air Force)
The US Air Force's (USAF's) main research and development (R&D) directorate is soliciting industry solutions to accelerate the air service's integration of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities into its command-and-control (C2) and battle management systems.
Officials from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) issued a broad agency announcement (BAA) in March, seeking industry input on “development and application of AI to C2, new concepts and techniques for the battle management, and orchestration of AI at pace and scale”.
AFRL officials at the organisation's Rome Research Site in Rome, New York, are seeking proposals to also explore “how the use of AI by adversaries can be considered in the C2 planning and execution process and distributed and collaborative C2 to enable C2 anywhere and anyplace”, the 24 March BAA noted.
07 May 2024
by Kapil Kajal
The PT-91M main battle tanks (MBTs) in Malaysian service will be maintained by DEFTECH (recently acquired MMC Defence), which had the contract to provide in-country support for the tanks. (Malaysian Ministry of Defence)
Malaysia's state-owned DRB-HICOM Defence Technologies (DEFTECH) has outlined the Malaysian Army's plans to upgrade its plaguing fleet of PT-91M ‘Pendekar' main battle tanks (MBTs) at the Defence Services Asia (DSA) 2024 exhibition held in Kuala Lumpur from 6 to 9 May.
Wan Mohamed Aizat bin Wan Mohamed, lead engineer for weapon system integration at FNSS, told Janes on 6 May that the Malaysian Army plans to upgrade the PT-91M tanks – delivered to the army by Poland's PHZ Bumar between 2007 and 2011 – as a part of the MBT's life extension programme.
The upgrades will include the integration of a new fire-control system (FCS), which will be supplied by Polish Armaments Group (PGZ), with the tank, Wan Mohamed said.
Other upgrades include the addition of new controllers and displays for the turret, a new autoloader system, a new day-and-night-vision camera in the tank, and a remote-controlled weapon station (RCWS), Wan Mohamed added.
The US Navy's (USN's) most senior uniformed officer has outlined her planned timeline to transition ...
Ritu Gill, Intelligence Analyst, joins Harry and Sean to discuss the practical use of OSINT to support law enforcement. Ritu discusses it’s use in supporting risk assessments and classified or closed sources of intelligence. She also discusses t...
Listen now