Serbian Armed Forces (SAF) capabilities and equipment were presented to Bahrain Royal Guard commander Major General Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa at Batajnica airbase near Belgrade on 6 April.  During the dynamic display, an SAF H145M helicopter arme...

Lockheed Martin UK (LMUK) has announced this will cut up to 158 jobs at its Ampthill facility: a move it attributed to the United Kingdom’s decision to cancel the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme (WCSP).  The eliminations from the 900-stron...

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has finalised development, and is in production of, the Barak ER (Extended Range) variant surface-to-air interceptor, ahead of planned initial deliveries to an undisclosed customer in the third quarter of this year.  Optimised as an enhanced theatre ballistic missile (TBM) interceptor, the 150 km-range Barak ER will complement the 70 km-range Barak LRAD, and 35 km-range Barak MRAD interceptors in service with IAI’s Barak MX land and naval integrated air and missile defence system.  Developed with company int...

India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has invited responses by 9 June from domestic and foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to its request for information (RFI) regarding the supply of an unspecified number of 155 mm/52 calibre “mounted gun...

The Department of the Navy is seeking prototype proposals for a non-GPS-based position, navigation, and timing (PNT) system, that will eventually be integrated into the sea service’s future arsenal of hypersonic weapons and platforms.  The solicitation, issued by the navy via a Request for Solutions (RFS) notice by the Strategic & Spectrum Missions Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems (S2MARTS) other transactional authority (OTA), has yet to be formally released to industry for response. But programme officials noted in the presolicitation not...

The Biden administration has notified Congress that it will request USD715 billion in discretionary funds for the Department of Defense (DoD) next year, an increase over this year’s enacted topline budget.  On 9 April the White House’s Office Management and Budget (OMB) announced that it will request USD753 billion in national defence funding for fiscal year (FY) 2022, with the bulk of which is for the DoD. The Pentagon’s coffer would get a 1.6% increase over the FY 2021 enacted funding level of USD704 billion. However, with roughly a 1.7% 12...

South Korea defence company Hanwha Defense’s Multi-Purpose Unmanned Ground Vehicle (MPUGV) is set to be evaluated by the Republic of Korea Army (RoKA) in the second half of this year.  The RoKA has notified the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) of its intention to put the ”intelligent multipurpose UGV”, which is currently being developed by the company, through further testing. An improved prototype of the MPUGV is expected to be unveiled in July.  Hanwha Defense is developing an improved version of its MPUGV for further trial...

French company Soframe has released details of its offering for the French Army’s new Véhicule Blindé d’Aide à l’Engagement (VBAE) light reconnaissance and support vehicle requirement.  Although France has begun to receive the first examples of upgraded models of its Arquus (originally Panhard) Véhicule Blindé Léger (VBL) 4×4 light scout vehicle, called Ultima, its longer-term plans are to field VBAE as part of the SCORPION Phase 3 Networked Enabled Capability (NEC).  An artistic rendering of the MOSAIC 4×4 reconnaissance vehicle with va...

France’s CNIM Systèmes Industriels has developed a new family of air-transportable modular motorised floating bridge systems: the PFM NG (Pont Flottant Motorisé Nouvelle Génération).  Two versions are available: the PFM LG (Long) and PFM XP (Expeditionary), Xavier Montazel, director of the company’s Defense & Maritime Business Unit, told Janes on 29 March. The first series of the PFM XP is scheduled to be finalised in June or July, whilea PFM LG is to be built this year.  The PFM XP in the ferry version shown here can lift the M1A2 SEPv3 Ab...

General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) is continuing to develop its Tracked Robot 10-Ton (TRX) by testing it out for the US Army at different events in preparation for the service’s 2022 robotic combat vehicle (RCV) soldier experiment.  In the latter half of 2020 the company unveiled the TRX and billed it as a potential competitor for an army RCV-Medium (RCV-M) competition. In the intervening time, GDLS has continued developing the tracked, flattop unmanned ground vehicle, and in February and March demonstrated it at the Army Expeditionary Warr...

Sweden is leading a joint effort by European BvS10 operators to procure a new all-terrain vehicle (ATV) based on the BvS10.  Brigadier General Mikael Frisell, Director Land Systems at the FMV, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, told Janes on 31 March that Sweden is providing the central purchasing body for the single-source procurement of at least 500 ATVs from BAE Systems Hägglunds for SEK10–12 billion (USD1.2–1.4 billion).  Sweden is leading a joint effort by European BvS10 operators to procure a new ATV based on the BvS10. (Jane...

The US Army has selected two teams to build tracked vehicle prototypes that it will test out in harsh Artic conditions with the goal of awarding one winner with a production contract in 2022.  Both BAE Systems and an Oshkosh Defense and ST Engineer...

US Army network communications and information technology experts are mulling over options on which software-defined radios (SDRs) and other intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) subsystems service leaders will need to integrate into the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) and Future Vertical Lift (FVL) platforms once both the programmes become fully operational.  Senior service leaders are weighing SDR requirements that will aid the OMFV and FVL to integrate into the mesh networks that will populate the army’s Integrate...

The Bundeswehr has ordered more Mehrrollenfähige, leichte Lenkflugkörper-Systeme (Multirole-capable Light Missile Systems, MELLS), its designation for Spike, from Rafael-Rheinmetall-Diehl joint venture Eurospike, Rheinmetall announced on 29 March. The company said the order was for 666 more missiles and 82 Integrated Command and Launch Units (ICLUs) worth about EUR88 million (USD103 million) for delivery to German infantry and panzergrenadiers (armoured infantry) in 2022–24.  The Bundeswehr has ordered 666 more Spike missiles and 82 ICLUs for...

US Army leaders are working potential options to drive cloud-computing capabilities down to deployed combat formations, as part of an overall effort by the US armed forces to push advanced computing and networking capabilities to the tactical edge.  The near-term focus of army information technology engineers on potential tactical-level cloud-computing options centres on the use of pre-programmed edge node-based networks, said US Army Brigadier General Robert Collins, the programme executive officer for the service’s Command, Control, and Co...

The United Kingdom has launched a five-year programme to upgrade the British Army’s M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS).  The British Army has announced that its MLRS will be upgraded over the next five years. (Janes/Patrick Allen)  The project, the launch of which followed an agreement with the US Department of Defence, will begin next year with the installation of improved armoured cabs on the first of 44 launcher vehicles, the British Army announced on its website on 31 March.  In addition, upgraded automotive and launch mechanism...

South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) revealed on 31 March more details about the country’s plans to acquire an additional 36 foreign-made attack helicopters for the Republic of Korea Army (RoKA).  The country’s Defense Project Promotion Committee decided that the rotorcraft, which are intended to replace the RoKA’s Bell AH-1S attack helicopters, are to be acquired under the second phase of the ‘Large Attack Helicopter Project’. This programme phase, which has been budgeted at KRW3.17 trillion (USD2.81 billion), is s...

General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) will begin delivering ‘robotic mules’ to the US Army in April for final testing, according to the company’s US director of business development Tim Reese.  After winning the service’s Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport (SMET) programme last year, the company will begin delivering vehicles to the service next month with plans to move into low-rate initial production (LRIP) sometime between June and September, Reese told Janes on 24 March. If everything goes well, the army will then equip its first unit...

The Israeli and Slovak ministries of defence (MoDs) on 25 March announced the signature of a EUR148 million (USD174.5 million) export agreement the same day for 17 Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Multi-Mission Radar (MMR) radars for the Slovak Air Force. The signing came after the deal was reached in January.  The Slovak MoD and IMoD signed an export agreement for 17 IAI radars for the Slovak Air Force on 25 March. (IAI)  The Slovak MoD said on its website that the radars would be delivered from April 2023 to 2025, with payments divided int...

Chinese state-owned media revealed on 25 March that a new type of amphibious armoured vehicle configured for medical evacuation (medevac) missions has entered service with the People’s Liberation Army Ground Force’s (PLAGF’s) Xinjiang Military Command. The vehicle appears to be an ambulance variant of the Type 09 family of 8×8 wheeled armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs).  A screengrab from CCTV footage released on 25 March showing the new amphibious medevac armoured vehicle that recently entered service with the PLAGF’s Xinjiang Military Comman...