Handheld radios prior to a TSM waveform exercise in February 2020. (US Army)  The US Department of Defense (DoD) is launching a new development initiative geared towards improving waveform resiliency for its growing arsenal of software-defined radios (SDRs), according to a recent departmental solicitation to industry.  Led by the DoD's Joint Tactical Networking Center (JTNC) and managed by the US Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR), details of the waveform resiliency programme have largely been kept under wraps. However, detail...

A Northrop Grumman MQ-8C lands aboard USS   Jackson  (LCS 6) as part of its deployment to INDOPACOM.   (Northrop Grumman)    The US Navy deployed Northrop Grumman's MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned aerial system (UAS) on USS   Jackson   (LCS 6), its first in the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), to provide maritime intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting (ISR&T) capability, the company announced on 23 May.      Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21 (HSC-21) and HSC-23 will be the pr...

Parker Hannifin provides wheels and brakes for military aircraft, including the CH-53K King Stallion heavy-lift helicopter that Sikorsky is building for the US Marine Corps. (US Marine Corps/Cpl Yuritzy Gomez)  US-based Parker Hannifin Corporation has agreed to sell its Aircraft Wheel & Brake business to US aircraft parts maker Kaman Corporation for USD440 million to address regulatory concerns about its proposed acquisition of the United Kingdom's Meggitt.  The 23 May announcement came about a month and a half after Parker disclosed it was i...

PGZ has been awarded a contract by an unnamed East African country for Grot rifles chambered in 7.62×39 mm. (Jakub Link-Lenczowski)  Polish Armaments Group (Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa: PGZ) announced in a press release on 19 May that it had been awarded a contract by an East African country for Grot rifles chambered in 7.62×39 mm. The company would not disclose the customer‘s name and the contract value.    The firearms, manufactured by PGZ subsidiary Fabryka Broni (FB) 'Łucznik' Radom, will be delivered with under-barrel grenade launchers...

A Tub m/8502 400 mm torpedo launcher fitted inside the weapon deck of the Visby-class corvette HMS   Nyköping  . The new Tub m/20 torpedo tube will replace the m/8502.  (NAVYPIX/Richard Scott)  Sweden's Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) has contracted Saab Dynamics to supply new 400 mm diameter torpedo launcher systems for Royal Swedish Navy (RSwN) surface combatants.  Announced on 24 May by both Saab and FMV, the approximately SEK150 million (USD15.3 million) order covers the delivery of the new Tub m/20 laun...

Germany will supply Leopard 2A4 tanks to the Czech Republic. (Bundeswehr/Detmar Modes)  Germany will supply Leopard 2A4 tanks to the Czech Republic, the two countries' ministries of defence (MoDs) announced on 18 May. The German MoD, in a press release, described the donation as backfill in support of the Czech Republic supplying heavy equipment to Ukraine.  However, the Czech MoD told Janes on 23 May, “The German decision to provide 15 tanks is a sign of appreciation to all the efforts of the Czech Republic to provide as much military equipm...

BAE Robotic Technology Demonstrator at EDGE22. (BAE Systems)  BAE Systems has exhibited a Robotic Technology Demonstrator (RTD) built on the lower hull of the M113 armoured fighting vehicle as part of its bid to develop a vehicle that meets US Army requirements for the Robotic Combat Vehicle-Medium (RCV-M).  The vehicle was demonstrated on 19 May at the Experimental Demonstration Gateway Exercise 2022 (EDGE22), an exercise held in preparation for Project Convergence 2022, the US Army's yearly warfighting and integration experiment.    BA...

A French Navy Rafale M, seen here on aircraft carrier   Charles de Gaulle  . Indonesia has plans to procure up to 36 Rafale fighters, but it is unclear how the country will fund this ambition.  (Janes/Ridzwan Rahmat)  The Indonesian Ministry of National Development Planning has omitted major defence procurement programmes from the register of priority projects approved for foreign funding in 2022.  This register is commonly referred to in-country as the ‘Green Book'. Programmes included in this register will be es...

Planning and management miscues led to the October 2021 USS  Connecticut  mishap, US Navy investigators found.  (US Navy)    An investigation report released on 23 May by the US Navy (USN) cites a series of planning and management issues aboard the Seawolf-class attack submarine USS  Connecticut  (SSN 22) that led to it striking a submerged object in October 2021 in the Pacific.   The report includes recommendations for equipment reviews and changes because of concerns about their operation lead...

Naval Group has confirmed to   Janes  that it has withdrawn from India's project to procure six new diesel-electric submarines. The programme is a follow-on to the P-75 project in which the French shipbuilder is collaborating with Mazagon Dock on the construction of Kalvari (Scorpène)-class submarines for the Indian Navy (the fourth of which is pictured above).  (Indian Navy)  Naval Group has withdrawn its bid from the Indian Navy's long-deferred Project 75(I) programme to acquire six diesel-electric attack subma...

A DARPA schematic on how the MINC programme would improve on combat data management systems (DARPA)  The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has begun prototype development of a new system to automate data flow and dissemination of combat information across myriad service-centric networks, regardless of domain.  The goal of the Mission-Integrated Network Control (MINC) programme is to move US armed forces away from static or manually controlled battlefield data networks into ones that are managed according to the needs of a giv...

Aegis Ashore's four-storey deckhouse and launch tower provide a static home in Romania and Poland for the SPY-1D(V) radar, SM-3 missiles, and other systems derived from the US Navy's Aegis BMD ships. (MDA)  The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is planning for a 5 June ‘light-off' to turn on and test its long-delayed Aegis Ashore missile interceptor system in Poland, according to MDA Director Vice Admiral Jon Hill.  US Navy sailors are ‘aboard' the system in Poland and the radar arrays are up, and “full functional checks all through the system...

XMobots and MBDA are working together to add missile capability to the Nauru 1000C VTOL UAV. (XMobots)  Brazilian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) specialist XMobots Aeroespacial e Defesa and Europe's MBDA announced on 17 May that they are teaming up to develop a Brazilian-made weaponised UAV.  According to XMobots, the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in March to integrate the MBDA Enforcer Air, a precision-guided missile capability, with the XMobots Nauru 1000C UAV.  The Nauru 1000C is a fixed-wing vertical take-off and...

The MSubs S201 XLUUV, pictured at sea. The UK MoD has completed deployment testing of the XLUUV fitted with a KraitArray thin-line towed array sonar. (SEA)  The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has successfully demonstrated the capability to deploy a thin-line towed array sonar from an extra-large uncrewed undersea vehicle (XLUUV).  The trials, held off Plymouth, UK, in the second quarter of 2022, involved the MSubs 9 m S201 XLUUV and SEA's thin-line towed KraitArray sonar.  In an 18 May statement, SEA said the trials “[have] proven the ability t...

Extant Aerospace has acquired the Electromagnetic Indicator product line from Astronautics Corporation of America. The unit on the left is a horizontal situation indicator. The others are attitude director indicators. (Astronautics)  Extant Aerospace, a subsidiary of US aircraft parts maker TransDigm Group, has expanded its defence aviation portfolio by acquiring the Electromagnetic Indicator product line from Astronautics Corporation of America for about USD27 million in cash, the buyer announced on 19 May.  The line of flight instruments co...

Australia said it will acquire 10 MQ-28A Ghost Bats autonomous aerial unmanned vehicles. These “loyal wingmen” are currently undergoing rigorous testing intended to improve flight performance. (Boeing)  The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) will acquire 10 MQ-28A Ghost Bat autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles, following additional funding by the government.  The programme is set to receive an additional investment of AUD454 million (USD319.6 million), as announced by Australia's Liberal Party on 15 May. The funding will also fast-track the ind...

The US Capitol building in Washington, DC. (Janes/Marc Selinger)  The US Senate approved USD40 billion in additional funding for Ukraine-related security, humanitarian, and economic assistance on 19 May, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden for his expected signature.  The supplemental funding bill, which the US House of Representatives passed nine days earlier, “will allow us to send even more weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, replenish our own stockpile, and support US troops stationed on NATO territory”, Biden said in a statemen...

A US Air Force Special Operations Weather Technician sends intelligence to the Reconnaissance Operations Center during the Marine's Reconnaissance Team Leader Course's final exercise on 31 October 2017. SOCOM is soliciting industry proposals to improve its Global Analytics Platform to process, exploit, and disseminate battlefield intelligence. (US Department of Defense )  US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) is exploring a new edge networking concept, focused on operationalising chat and data-sharing environments patterned closely after c...

FlashHawk is designed to enable small airborne platforms to perform 3D geolocation of communications emitters. (Avantix)  French electronic warfare (EW) house Avantix has begun initial production of its FlashHawk airborne communications intelligence/communications electronic support measures (COMINT/CESM) system in anticipation of launch orders.  Intended for integration on a range of air platforms – including fixed-wing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft; helicopters; unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); and balloons...

New Zealand is forecast by Janes Defence Budgets to continue to increase its military expenditure over the coming few years. The spike in 2019 was caused by a one-off recognition of veterans' entitlements. (Janes Defence Budgets)  New Zealand has announced a defence budget of NZD6 billion (USD3.8 billion) for 2022–23. The figure represents a nominal increase of 4% over the final budget of NZD5.75 billion in 2021–22.  New Zealand's defence budget contains two appropriations: ‘Vote Defence Force', which covers salaries, training costs, capital...