A USAF F-35A seen on 16 December. Legislation signed into law on 27 December directs the Pentagon to transfer all F-35 sustainment and acquisition activities from the F-35 JPO to the USAF and USN. (US Air Force)  US legislation signed into law on 27 December directs the Pentagon to transfer all Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lightning II sustainment and acquisition activities from the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) to the US Air Force (USAF) and US Navy (USN).  The fiscal year (FY) 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) re...

Video footage released by stated-owned China Central Television (CCTV) on 20 December shows new details on the weapon systems for the Changhe Aircraft Industry (Group) Corporation (CAIG) Zhishengji-10 (Z-10) attack helicopter that is in service wit...

Russia knows if it invades Ukraine that NATO's military options are very limited, despite the alliance's warning that such action would have “massive consequences”.  However, an invasion could lead to the exact scenario Moscow is attempting to avoi...

A US federal grand jury in Connecticut has indicted six aerospace executives for their alleged role in a conspiracy to limit the job prospects of thousands of engineers and other skilled workers, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced on 16 D...

French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly presented to the National Assembly's Defence Committee on 14 December France's plans for its six-month presidency of the European Union, which starts on 1 January 2022.  One of France's highest priorities...

North and South Korea, the United States, and China have agreed in principle to formally declare an end to the Korean War, South Korean President Moon Jae-in has announced.  Speaking in a joint press conference in Canberra on 13 December alongside...

The first FPB 98 MKI on order for Ukraine is launched at the yard French shipbuilder OCEA in Les Sables d'Olonne on 9 December. (OCEA)  French shipbuilder OCEA launched the first FPB 98 MKI patrol vessel on order for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine at its yard in Les Sables d'Olonne on 9 December.    The new vessel, BG201  ,  is the first of 20 being built under a contract awarded to OCEA by the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior in July 2020. The contract follows an initial government to government agreement between Fran...

Since late October Janes has identified a significant increase in anomalous Russian military activity across the Ukrainian border area of operations, defined as being within 250 km of the Russian side of the border.  However, what at first sight ap...

The Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) immediately objected to the financial sanctions the United States imposed on Major General Adel Kandiho, its intelligence chief, on 7 December.  “We are disappointed that such a decision could be made by a...

Israel has tightened its end-user requirements for cyber exports in the wake of the NSO Group/Pegasus spyware scandal. (Getty Images)  Israel's Defence Export Controls Agency (DECA) announced on 6 December that it was updating the end user requirements for cyber and intelligence products that require export licences from Israeli firms.  End users acquiring controlled cyber and intelligence products from Israeli companies must now agree that the products will be used for the prevention of terrorism or for the investigation of serious crimes....

M/V   Ocean Grand  passes through the Bosphorus en route to Odessa with the delivery of two ex-USCG Island-class patrol boats,   Sumy  (ex-  Ocracoke  ) and   Fastiv  (ex-  Washington  ), on board.   (Devrim Yaylalı)  Two decommissioned US Coast Guard (USCG) Island-class patrol boats, destined for the Ukrainian Navy, arrived in Odessa onboard the US-flagged cargo ship M/V Ocean Grand on 23 November.  The two vessels, renamed Sumy (ex-Ocracoke) and Fastiv (...

Israeli Minister of Defense Benny Gantz and Moroccan Minister Delegate to the Head of Government in Charge of National Defence Abdellatif Loudiyi at the signing ceremony. (Israeli MoD/Ariel Hermoni)  Morocco and Israel have signed a raft of agreements to bolster defence and security co-operation during the visit by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Benny Gantz to the north African country.    Following a meeting between Gantz and Abdellatif Loudiyi, Moroccan Minister Delegate to the Head of Government in charge of the...

US engineering firm Jacobs has completed its previously disclosed acquisition of data analytics software provider BlackLynx, expanding its footprint in the US Intelligence Community, Jacobs announced on 19 November.  Jacobs is initially paying USD2...

China and Russia have agreed on a road map to deepen co-operation on military patrols and exercises. The agreement was announced a few days after the two countries' air forces held joint patrols over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea that featured Chinese H-6K (pictured) and Russian Tu-95 bombers. (Japan Air Self-Defense Force)  China and Russia have agreed to expand military collaboration over the coming five years, Russia's Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 23 November. The move will facilitate deeper co-operation in joint patrol...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has issued harsh words against China in his statement during a summit hosted by Beijing with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries on 22 November.  The rare rebuke came in the w...

The Brazilian Army line up a series of mobile field equipment to address CBRN risks. (Victor Barreira)  The Brazilian Army has embarked on a new effort to modernise its chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) defence capabilities.  Service officials are acquiring new equipment to gradually replace hardware that is reaching the end of its life cycle in a bid to boost existing capabilities, the Commander of the 1st CBRN Defence Battalion (1º Btl DQBRN), Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Otávio Domingues Costa, told Janes.  The 1º Btl DQB...

According to Janes Defence Budgets, Japan's military expenditure is forecast to grow to about USD55 billion by the mid-2020s. (Janes Defence Budgets)    Japan's Ministry of Defense (MoD) has told   Janes   it will review the country's primary defence policies over the coming year given the Indo-Pacific's increasingly “severe” security situation.   A spokesperson from the MoD said an assessment of Japan's National Security Strategy, the National Defense Program Guidelines (NDPG), and the Medium Term Defense Program (MTDP) ha...

China has flown two H-6K strategic bombers (pictured at Airshow China 2018) in a joint patrol with Russian Tu-95 aircraft over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. (Janes/Kelvin Wong)  Chinese and Russian air forces held a joint aerial patrol over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea on 19 November, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense (MND) has said. The patrol was the third joint Sino-Russian military exercise in 2021, underscoring growing bilateral military ties.  According to the MND, the air patrols featured two Xian Aircraft...

The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) on 19 November announced the award of Other Transactional (OT) Agreements to Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon Missiles and Defense for the completion of an accelerated concept of a prototype sea-la...

RTAF Air Chief Marshal Chanon Mungthanya, after a flight in one of the T-6 aircraft Thailand has ordered from Textron Aviation Defense. (Textron Aviation Defense LLC)  Textron Defense announced on 18 November 2021 that the 12 Beechcraft T-6TH Texan II turboprop-powered trainer aircraft it is currently manufacturing for the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) are nearing completion. Textron revealed the aircraft have passed technical inspection checkpoints ahead of schedule. The RTAF made the order in September 2020 in a deal worth USD162 million, whi...