Teledyne FLIR Defense launched new UAS biological detector payload at Eurosatory 2022. (Teledyne FLIR Defense)  Teledyne FLIR Defense has launched its MUVE B330 – a biological detector designed for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and unmanned platforms – at Eurosatory 2022 defence exhibition in Paris.    Speaking to   Janes  , Craig Crume, director of product management for detection at Teledyne FLIR Defense, said that the MUVE B330, fitted onto a Skyranger R70 or a R80D SkyRaider, can detect, collect samples, and determine th...

If approved by the US Congress, a plan to transfer Hellfire-armed Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft to Ukraine would substantially enhance Kyiv's combat capabilities. (GA-ASI)  The US government intends to supply Ukraine with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-1C Gray Eagle medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) armed with air-to-surface missiles.  Reuters announced the plan on 1 June, saying that the Biden administration will provide four Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft equipped with Lockheed Martin A...

The appearance of a pair of Sukhoi Su-35S in Taiwan's ADIZ on 30 May 2022 suggests that China is trying to increase the complexity of its training flights in an operational environment. Pictured above is a Russian Su-35S fighter taking off during tests in Russia. (Sukhoi)  Sukhoi Su-35S Flanker-E fighters operated by China's People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) have flown into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) for the first time since Taipei started to publicly disclose such flights.  According to information from Taiwan's...

A Tu-95 bomber of the Russian Air Force flies over the Sea of Japan on 24 May 2022. (Japan Ministry of Defense)  Japan and South Korea scrambled its fighters to intercept a “provocative” joint exercise by four Chinese and two Russian strategic bombers in the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea on 24 May.  The exercise appears to be a show of force by Beijing and Moscow pointed at the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad), which was taking place in Tokyo on that same day. The meeting was attended by the leaders of Australia, India, Japan,...

The Czech Republic has a number of Mi-24/35 attack helicopters that it has now donated to Ukraine. (Janes/Patrick Allen)  The Czech Republic has donated attack helicopters to Ukraine, the US government disclosed on 23 May.  In wider comments on international aid to Kyiv, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said that Prague had made a donation of attack helicopters as part of a larger military package.  “I'd also like to thank the Czech Republic for its substantial support, including a recent donation of attack helicopters, tanks, and...

The US Navy cites the potential for hybrid power like that employed by the amphibious assault ship USS   Makin Island. (US Navy)  The US Navy (USN) is working with industry to develop other potential sources of fuel as well as possible alternative modes of power, according to Meredith Berger, acting assistant secretary of the navy for energy, installations, and environment.  “We are working with industry on what other types of low-emissions fuel-energy types are out there,” Berger said on 23 May during a media roundtable discu...

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...

An RGM-84L Harpoon missile on display at the Farnborough International Event and Conference Centre, in the UK. (Duncan Lennox)  Denmark is to supply a Harpoon anti-ship launcher and an undisclosed number of missiles to Ukraine to help defend its coast, the US Secretary of Defence Lloyd J Austin III announced on 23 May.  The announcement was made following the second meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, which was attended virtually by more than 40 ministers and chiefs of defence, including the Ukrainian minister of defence Oleksii Rez...

UK MoD Defence BattleLab opens at Dorset Innovation Park. (Janes)  The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has officially opened the Defence BattleLab, based in Dorset Innovation Park, which is designed to foster innovation between the UK armed forces, industry, and academia in a collaborative space.    UK Minister for Defence Procurement Jeremy Quin informed   Janes  that the lab has 100 rentable desks, conference rooms, an engineering workshop, and three 5G network testbeds that will enable secure testing in a closed network....

Alrosa   pictured before its overhaul and upgrade, which commenced in 2014.  (Russian MoD)  The Russian Navy Kilo-class Project 877V diesel-electric submarine (SSK) Alrosa (ex-B 871) is set to start sea trials following the completion of its overhaul and modernisation programme.  In comments to Russian news agency TASS on 16 May, a representative from Sevastopol's military and security authorities confirmed that Alrosa had docked at the Black Sea Fleet's naval base in Sevastopol, Crimea, after departing the service's 13th Ship Re...

A Chinese PLAN intelligence collection vessel,   Haiwangxing  , pictured operating off the north-west shelf of Australia.  (Commonwealth of Australia)  A Chinese intelligence collection ship has been tracked for a week off the West Australian coast and within 50 n miles (93 km) of a sensitive naval communications base, Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton disclosed on 13 May.    Dutton said the People's Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN's) Dongdiao-class (Type 815/815A) intelligence collection ship (AGI)...

The Russian Navy operates a fleet of 17 Project 03160 Raptor fast patrol boats.   (Nikolai Novichkov)  Ukraine claims that it has sunk two Russian Navy patrol ships during an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) strike on 2 May.  Video footage released by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on its official Twitter account shows what appears to be a Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) striking two Russian Navy Project 03160 Raptor-class fast patrol boats in the Black Sea. The footage, dated 2 May, shows the successful engagement of...

Germany will supply 50 Gepard anti-aircraft systems (seen during an exercise in 2010) to Ukraine. (Bundeswehr/Marcus Rott)  Defence ministers and chiefs of defence staff of the 43 members of the Ukraine Defense Consultative Group met at Ramstein Air Base in Rhineland-Palatinate, southwestern Germany, on 26 April, to discuss how to bolster Kyiv's resistance to Russia. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told journalists after the meeting, which he hosted, that German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht had “made a huge commitment” to provide...

Current forecasts by Janes Defence Budgets show that if Japan continues to allocate about 1% of GDP to defence, the national defence expenditure will grow to USD56 billion by the end of this decade. The increase in 2021 is because of the allocation of supplementary expenditure in that year. (Janes Defence Budgets)  Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has proposed a major revision to the country's defence policies in response to its evolving security environment.  Under the plan – submitted to Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi and Prime M...

A Japanese P-3C Orion surveillance plane flies over the main island of the disputed Senkaku-Diaoyu archipelago. The uninhabited islands have become a focal point for Japan-China military flights. (PA)  Fighter aircraft of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) scrambled 1,004 times in response to foreign aircraft approaching the country's airspace in fiscal year (FY) 2021.  Data released by the Japanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) on 15 April shows that the scrambles constituted a 38% increase compared with FY 2020. The latest figures are sec...

Milrem Robotics' THeMIS (pictured) has been the front and centre of the EU's iMUGS project for a common unmanned ground system. In the follow-on stage, it is intended to move work onto a larger UGV integrating more autonomy and with comparable mobility to a tank. (Milrem Robotics)  Officials from some EU member states are concerned that the follow-on to the Integrated Modular Unmanned Ground System (iMUGS), the European Defence Fund (EDF) project to develop a common unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), is liable to be delayed by at least a year, Ja...

The Australian Cyber Security Centre, previously the Cyber Security Operations Centre, is responsible for analysing cyber threats as well as co-ordinating responses to cyber incidents of national importance. (Commonwealth of Australia)  The Australian government has established the REDSPICE (resilience, effects, defence, space, intelligence, cyber, enablers) programme under the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) to enhance the country's cyber-warfare capabilities.  According to the ASD, the REDSPICE programme will receive an investment of A...

NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels between 6 and 7 April approved the charter of DIANA with a European headquarters hosted by Imperial College London. (NATO)  NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels between 6 and 7 April approved the charter of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) with a European headquarters hosted by Imperial College London.  NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the approval during a press conference after the meeting on 7 April, stating that DIANA “will include a network...

Horiba Mira's VIKING during demonstrations on Salisbury Plain, March 2022 (Janes/Alexander Stronell)  16 Air Assault Brigade has been chosen to become the British Army's first robotic autonomous systems (RAS)-enhanced brigade, it was announced on 6 April.  Speaking at SMi Military Robotics and Autonomous Systems 2022 (SMi MRAS 2022) conference in London, Lieutenant Colonel Iain Lamont, SO1 Robotics and Autonomous Systems, British Army, confirmed that 16 Air AssaultBrigade Combat Team had been chosen for the role.  The British Army intends to...

Janes delivers persistent monitoring of Russian troop and equipment sightings that connects the unit from the ORBAT, location, source data, exercise and mission (where relevant known), equipment with associated numbers, vessel ID, tail numbers, ground  vehicle markings and estimated sighting date. Below are a series of recent analysis pieces focusing on Russian troop movements on the border with Ukraine, that leverage the data collected, structured, verified and interconnected by Janes to enable  a more detailed assessment of Russian mi...