Russia has deployed elements of at least three units to Crimea since 12 November. They are equipped with armoured personnel carriers (APCs), self-propelled howitzers (SPHs), anti-aircraft missile systems, and main battle tanks (MBTs).  Analysing fo...

Quantum-Systems Vector tiltrotor fixed-wing eVTOL unmanned aerial vehicle by ESG at the Dubai Airshow 2021. (Janes/Akshara Parakala)  Germany's Guardion counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS), a co-operation of ESG, Diehl Defence, and Rohde & Schwarz, has integrated Quantum-Systems Vector unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for wide area surveillance operations, the company announced at the Dubai Airshow 2021, held from November 14 to 18.  ESG, the system integrator and software provider of Guardion, chose electric vertical take-off and landing (e...

The Islamic Emirate Army (IEA) – the new Afghan military under the Taliban government – has marked its inauguration by displaying a large number of mostly US-made assets that were seized during the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in August.  Duri...

BAE Systems plans to expand its simulation training portfolio by acquiring Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim), the UK-based buyer announced on 11 November.  BAE said it will gain “high-fidelity, cost-effective” tools that are based on the late...

Russia has conducted a direct ascent anti-satellite (DA-ASAT) missile test against the retired Cosmos 1408 electronic intelligence (ELINT) low Earth orbit satellite, according to the UK-based satellite tracking company Seradata.    “The missil...

Russian firms are beginning to adapt to the restrictions created by the US government's Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) as well as wider sanctions, Rostec Director for International Cooperation and Regional Policy De...

A Dutch serviceman demonstrates a shoulder-held C-UAS solution during NATO's recent TIE21 exercise. (Netherlands Ministry of Defence)  NATO is to analyse the results of its first fully-fledged technical exercise to locate, identify, and counter hostile unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) – particularly from swarm attacks.  The data will then be farmed out to industry, researchers, and other trusted stakeholders in early 2022 to address gaps in capability and command-and-control (C2) reactivity. Looking ahead, NATO also aims to nudge the allies t...

Russia has deployed at least 60 tanks, supported by infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), and self-propelled howitzers (SPHs) from the Moscow area to Maslovka railway station south of the city of Voronezh and less than 250 km from the Ukrainian border...

The US State Department has urged the Chinese government to join a dialogue on nuclear arms control following the publication of a Pentagon report stating that China is rapidly expanding its nuclear weapon capabilities and intends to have “at least...

Employees of US federal government contractors, including defence companies, will receive almost an additional month to comply with a mandate that they be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the Biden administration announced on 4 November.  Instead...

US President Joe Biden addresses the COP26 climate change conference on 2 November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland. In addition to appointing a dedicated climate change adviser, Biden has called on the intelligence community to work on the issue. (Jeff J Mitchell/Pool/Getty Images)  Tricia Geddes, Deputy Director for Policy at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), told the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies symposium on 3 November that the agency foresaw a role for itself in tackling the impacts of climate chang...

The collective presence of NATO naval forces deployed across the Euro-Atlantic theatre is currently giving the alliance a ‘two-to-one' numerical advantage at sea over its competitors, according to the head of Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM).  “Tod...

Several road-mobile DF-41 ICBM systems on display during a military parade held at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on 1 October 2019. According to the Pentagon's ‘2021 China Military Report', Beijing is rapidly increasing its nuclear arsenal and also considering additional launch options for the DF-41, including silos. (Zoya Rusinova/TASS via Getty Images)  China is expanding its nuclear weapon capabilities much faster than US officials had predicted a year ago, the US Department of Defense (DoD) said in its 2021 report on military and security d...

Spain's state holding company Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI) has approved EUR34 million (USD39.4 million) in loans to help troubled aerospace and defence parts supplier Airtificial.  The money is due to come from a support...

The intersection between National and Climate Security is getting closer than ever before. As the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, opens in Glasgow, Janes has pulled together the latest open-source intelligence on the ongoing threats to national security that climate issues pose...Tracking climate change through open-source data  Large wildfires have spread throughout the world in mid-2021, in part attributed to climate change and the direct and long-term risk that it poses to lives, livelihoods, and ecosystem...

The Russian Central Military District's (CMD's) 41st Combined Arms Army has begun withdrawing equipment from the Pogonovo training ground south of Voronezh city and loading it on to trains at Maslovka railway station.  Video and imagery sourced fro...

US President Joe Biden said on 21 October that the United States is committed to defending Taiwan if the island were to be attacked by China.  However, the remarks, which seemed to mark a departure from Washington's long-held policy of ‘strategic a...

A woman consults the website of the Israeli NSO Group, makers of Pegasus spyware, in Nicosia, Cyprus, on 21 July 2021. NSO Group has denied media reports that its Pegasus software is linked to the mass surveillance of journalists and human rights defenders, and insisted that all sales of its technology are approved by Israel's Ministry of Defence. (Mario Goldman/AFP via Getty Images)  A high-profile case in a UK court has drawn attention to the role of private companies in providing offensive cyber capabilities to foreign governments. A UK Hi...

Russian Airborne Forces (VDV) order of battle, 2025 (Janes/Mark Galeotti)    The ‘winged infantry' of Russia's Air Assault Troops (Vozdushno Desantniye Voyska: VDV) is an arm of service in its own right, with a strength of 45,000 paratroopers and rising, as well as a distinctive culture and  esprit de corps  . With its blue berets and blue striped telnyashka vests, the VDV is a fixture of parades and military open days, but it has long suffered from a tension in its roles.   Historically, parachute divisions were envisaged...

NATO's newly approved Concept for Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area calls for “the right forces at the right place at the right time”, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on 21 October. (NATO)  NATO defence ministers agreed on the first day of their 21–22 October meeting in Brussels to fundamentally change how they protect their collective territory against attacks, especially from Russia and terrorist groups. Their newly approved Concept for Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area lays the groundwo...