Shown here is an image of Northrop Grumman participating in DARPA's OFFSET programme. Both Northrop Grumman and Raytheon BBN will attempt to have a single operator control 200-plus ground and aerial drones during a November demo. (Northrop Grumman)  The US Department of Defense (DoD) may be focused on finding technologies to down aerial drones, however, its Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is also working with Northrop Grumman and Raytheon BBN on ways a single operator can control hundreds of ground and aerial drones at once....

Vehicles of the British Army's Royal Lancers divisional reconnaissance regiment deployed from the UK to Germany for Exercise ‘Somme Lancer', which took place in the first half of October. (Crown copyright)  Approximately 180 vehicles and 650 soldiers from the British Army's Royal Lancers divisional reconnaissance regiment deployed over 1,100 km by road to Germany in the last week of September from their home garrison in Catterick, North Yorkshire, for Exercise ‘Somme Lancer'.  The regiment reported on social media that it then carried out a 7...

US-based Mirion Technologies, which makes radiation detection and measurement equipment for several sectors, including defence, plans to become a publicly traded company to fuel its growth.  Mirion intends to change its ownership status by merging...

The China North Industries Group Corporation (Norinco) and the China South Industries Group have unveiled a family of unmanned ground vehicles based on the CS/VP16B Lynx 6×6 all-terrain vehicle in a 15 October video released on the official Norinco...

The Lithuanian Army's most important projects include equipping units declared to NATO and the army's rapid reaction force with IFVs. Seen here is a Lithuanian Boxer armoured vehicle. (Lithuanian MND/ARTEC)  The Lithuanian government presented a draft state budget for 2022, increasing national defence spending to EUR1.176 billion (USD1.367 billion), the Ministry of National Defence (MND) announced on its website on 12 October.  Finance Minister Gintarė Skaistė told a press conference the day before that this would raise defence spending from...

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni inspects a Chui armoured vehicle. (Uganda People's Defence Forces)  The Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) have a new type of infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) called the Chui, Lieutenant General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, commander of its land forces, announced on 19 October.  He released photographs of his father, President Yoweri Museveni, with the 4×4 armoured vehicle, which he said “was fully designed and manufactured in Uganda”.  The Chui appeared to be identical to the Nyati mine-resistant, ambush protected...

Yugoimport's new Lazanski 8×8 ACV was unveiled at Partner 2021. (Igor Bozinovski)  Serbia will buy two C295 transport aircraft and a larger number of H145M helicopters from Airbus, Minister of Defence Nebojša Stefanović announced on the first day of the Partner 2021 international defence exhibition held in Belgrade from 11 to 14 October.  Partner 2021 unveiled new locally developed military equipment. This included Yugoimport's Lazanski 8×8 armoured combat vehicle (ACV), shown alongside two new versions of the Lazar III 8×8 ACV: the Lazar III...

Paramount Group has announced a new armour add-on for the Mbombe 4 MRAP. (Paramount Group)    South Africa's Paramount Group has created a new add-on armour package for the Mbombe 4 mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) 4×4 vehicle,   Janes  has learnt.   The new package has, according to the company, bolstered the armour protection of the vehicle to full NATO STANAG 4569 Level 3 for ballistic protection, with certification being provided by South Africa's Armscor.  According to Paramount Group, the new add-on system is...

The new Lynx Combat Support Vehicle unveiled by Rheinmetall Defence Australia on 18 October at its facilities in Redbank, Queensland. (Rheinmetall Defence Australia)  Rheinmetall Defence Australia unveiled a new privately developed tracked combat support vehicle (CSV) variant of the Lynx KF41 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) in a ceremony held on 18 October at its Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence (MILVEHCOE) in Redbank, Queensland.  Described by the company's managing director Gary Stewart as the most sophisticated and capable armoured ve...

DAPA announced on 18 October that it awarded Hanwha Systems a contract to series-produce the PRS-20K: a new mine detection system that is also capable of finding non-metallic mines. The system will be deployed with the RoK Armed Forces from the second half of 2022. (DAPA)  South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced on 18 October that it has awarded Hanwha Systems a contract to series-produce a new man-portable, mine-detection system that is capable of finding both metallic and non-metallic mines.  The agency sai...

Rheinmetall has developed a high-roof version of the Fuchs wheeled armoured transport vehicle for roles such as armoured ambulances (pictured) and tactical operations centres. (Rheinmetall)  Rheinmetall announced in a press release on 14 October that it has developed a high-roof version of the Fuchs (Fox) 6x6 armoured transport vehicle for roles such as armoured ambulances and tactical operations centres.  The armoured ambulance demonstrator is being presented at the convention of the Gesellschaft für Wehrmedizin und Wehrpharmazie, a German n...

A screengrab from footage released by the ISPR on 14 October showing a transporter vehicle carrying spare missiles for the HQ-9/P SAM system during a commissioning ceremony held that same day at Army Air Defence Centre Karachi. (ISPR)  The Pakistan Army's (PA's) Air Defence forces have inducted into service a variant of the Chinese-made HQ-9 surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, according to a 14 October press release issued by Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistani military.  Referred to in PA service as the H...

A US soldier attached to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division secures a helicopter landing zone in southeastern Afghanistan in 2019. (US Army)  Senior US Army leaders are in the midst of incorporating the lessons learned from data management shortfalls that plagued the US withdrawal from Afghanistan earlier this year, saying anticipated advances in the service's combat networking construct will close those gaps.  An overloaded and overworked legacy network architecture, the inability to transmit time-sensitive data between US armed...

The first S-500 air defence system has entered service in the Moscow region. (Russian MoD)  The first S-500 55R6M Prometey (Prometheus) strategic air-defence system has entered service with a unit in the Moscow region, the TASS news agency reported on 13 October, citing a source close to the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD).  The first regimental set is to be followed by a second in the first half of 2022, the source added. No official announcement has been made by the MoD, but Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told the RIA Novosti news age...

Two Majid SHORAD systems featured in the latest ‘Defenders of the Velayt Skies' exercise. (Tasnim News Agency)  New short-range air-defence (SHORAD) systems featured in Exercise ‘Defenders of the Velayet Skies 1400' , which was held by Iranian air-defence forces on 12–13 October, reflecting a growing emphasis on countering low-altitude threats.  Brigadier General Amir Qader Rahimzadeh, commander of the regular military's (Artesh's) air-defence force, announced that both the Majid and Dezful systems had been successfully fired during the exerc...

Tactical server manufacturer General Micro Systems unveiled its newest, high-powered server designed specifically to operate and support the plethora of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and applications set to flood the battlefiel...

As the Seoul International Aerospace and Defence Exhibition 2021 is staged at Seoul Airport on the outskirts of the South Korean capital from 19 to 21 October, Gareth Jennings explores the expected developments at the show…  ADEX, as the event is popularly known, is rapidly becoming one of Asia-Pacific's most influential and prestigious aviation, aerospace and defence events, along with Aero India, Avalon in Australia, the Singapore Air Show, and the China Air Show in Zhuhai in China.  For organisers, the biennial show has been fortunate to esc...

The Lazar III A1 ACV armed with the Russian-made 32V01 unmanned combat module. (Dmitry Fediushko)  Serbia's Yugoimport has integrated Russian-designed 32V01 and AU-220M remotely operated weapon stations (ROWS) on to its new Lazar III A1 family of armoured combat vehicles (ACVs). The modified platforms were unveiled at the Partner 2021 international defence show in Belgrade, Serbia, between 11 and 14 October.  The Lazar III A1 with the 32V01 ROWS carries a modification of the module with a Shipunov 2A42 30 mm automatic cannon, a Kalashnikov P...

US-based Rocket Lab has continued to expand beyond its core business of launch vehicles by acquiring Advanced Solutions Inc (ASI), which develops flight software for spacecraft, Rocket Lab announced on 12 October.  ASI will become part of Rocket La...

The delivery of the first prototype hypersonic hardware to soldiers of the 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Field Artillery Brigade is completed on October 7, 2021, with a ceremony at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington state. (US Army photo / Spc Karleshia Gater)  A US Army unit has officially received its first Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) launchers and is scheduled to begin ‘new equipment training' on 18 October, according to Lieutenant General Neil Thurgood, the army's director for hypersonics, directed energy, sp...