The NG7 ULMG has been developed based on customer feedback that sought a lighter machine gun with full rifle calibre. (IWI Ltd)
Israel Weapon Industries' (IWI's) new Negev 7 Ultra Light Machine Gun (NG7 ULMG) has been developed based on customer feedback that called for a lighter-weight, full rifle calibre machine gun, Janes has learnt.
Speaking to Janes, Ronen Hamudot, executive vice-president of SK Group – owner of IWI – said the design puts greater emphasis on portability and mobility. The weapon has already been supplied to an unnamed E...
The Australian DoD has ordered an additional batch of an unknown number of Saab's Carl-Gustaf M4 recoilless rifles with FCD 558 fire-control systems. (Saab)
Saab has received an order worth AUD56 million (USD37.2 million) from the Australian Department of Defence (DoD) to supply additional Carl-Gustaf M4 84 mm recoilless rifles, the Swedish company said on 4 July.
Without disclosing the number of M4s to be delivered, Saab said the additional batch of rifles will be equipped with FCD 558 fire-control systems (FCSs). Deliveries are scheduled...
USS Charleston conducted the first set of overseas mine-countermeasures operations. (US Navy)
The littoral combat ship (LCS) USS Charleston (LCS 18) recently completed the first set of overseas mine-countermeasures (MCM) training missions during a 26-month forward deployment in the Western Pacific, US Navy (USN) officials confirmed.
“The emphasis was showing we have the mission package capable of doing MCM not just inside US waters, but doing it outside US waters in conjunction with other units,” Commander...
Taiwan's CM-34 IFV, fitted with its 30 mm gun, is pictured at the Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition in 2019. (Janes/Kelvin Wong)
The United States Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has announced potential deals with Taiwan worth USD440.2 million to supply the island with 30 mm ammunition as well as spare parts for military vehicles and weapons.
The DSCA said on 29 June that the Foreign Military Sale (FMS) deals have been approved by the State Department. The proposed sales must be approved by the US Congress before b...
Artist impression of ASW frigates. (Damen Naval)
The Dutch Materiel and IT Command (COMMIT) signed a contract with Damen for the design, build, and delivery of four anti-submarine warfare (ASW) frigates for the Netherlands and Belgian navies on 29 June.
At the same time, COMMIT signed a separate contract with Thales to equip the ships with its Above Water Warfare System (AWWS) fire control cluster and sensor suite.
Under their joint ASW Frigate (ASWF) programme, the Belgian and Dutch navies are procuring two ships each to replace their res...
Nammo MAC displays its .50-calibre polymer-cased ammunition at Modern Day Marine 2023 in Washington, DC. (Janes/Marc Selinger)
US-based ammunition provider Nammo MAC plans to double its production capacity “over the next couple of years” to meet growing demand, according to a company official.
MAC will implement the expansion by adding machines and staffing at its factory in Bay St Louis, Mississippi, which is about 60 miles (97 km) northeast of New Orleans, Louisiana, said Joe Gibbons, MAC's manager of government programmes. Founde...
The F-35 demonstrating its ability to carry four SDB II bombs (plus an AIM-120 AMRAAM) in each of its two internal weapons bays. (Raytheon)
A Norwegian request for the additional purchase of Raytheon GBU-53/B Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) IIs (now known more commonly as StormBreaker) for its fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters has been approved by the US State Department.
The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced the approval on 28 June, saying that a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) of up to 580 SDBs...
UK CGS General Patrick Sanders told the RUSI Land Warfare Conference 2023 on 26 June that the upgrade of more than 60 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems would contribute to making the British Army more lethal. (Crown copyright)
At the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Land Warfare Conference 2023 on 26 June, United Kingdom Chief of the General Staff (CGS) General Patrick Sanders outlined plans to make the British Army better prepared to fight in Europe. “We must have the confidence to structure ourselves to meet our core purpose – to fight...
The DGA on 26 June launched a test rocket carrying the VMaX hypersonic glide vehicle demonstrator. (DGA)
France test-fired its hypersonic demonstrator vehicle for the first time on 26 June, the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) announced.
The VMaX hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) demonstrator was launched from a ground-based rocket at the Biscarosse test facility on the southern French Atlantic coast.
“This first demonstrator contained many onboard technological innovations. Its flight test, on a very demanding long-range trajectory, wa...
Rheinmetall will supply Ukraine with two Skynex air-defence systems at the beginning of 2024, Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper reported on 9 December 2022. (Rheinmetall)
Ukraine will receive two Skynex short- and very-short-range air-defence systems by the end of 2023, Rheinmetall announced. The company included the system in a list of equipment it said it was supplying to Kyiv at the end of a press release published on 27 June announcing that the Netherlands has ordered 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks that it and Denm...
Smart Shooter's SMASH weapon sight uses ballistically calculated coincident shot release to significantly increase the hit rate against micro and mini UASs. (Smart Shooter Ltd)
The British Army will be equipped with new weapon sights that identify and track unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) announced on 27 June.
Known as SMASH, the fire-control weapon sight developed by Smart Shooter is designed to improve a soldier's accuracy on the battlefield by integrating a track and lock-on capability. It also feature...
South Korea's Hanwha Aerospace plans to offer its Redback infantry fighting vehicle to fulfil the Indian Army's FICV requirement. (Hanwha Defense)
South Korea's Hanwha Aerospace is planning to participate in some of the Indian Army's most ambitious programmes to procure capabilities including Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicles (FICVs) and light tanks.
A Hanwha Aerospace spokesperson told Janes that the company plans to offer its Redback and K21 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) to fulfil the Indian Army's FICV requirement.
The Indian Army...
The French Army's ATLAS automated FCS, provided by Thales, is being upgraded to receive UAV intelligence and target information. (Janes/Giles Ebbutt)
Thales has been awarded a contract by the French military to integrate most of their “in-service UAVs” into the army's ATLAS (Automatisation de Tir et des Liaisons l'Artillerie Sol-sol) automated artillery fire-control system (FCS), Janes learnt at the Paris Air Show 2023, held from 19 to 25 June.
The contract was awarded this month, Jean-Michel Negret, command chain product line manager for T...
Raytheon Australia has conducted a flight test of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System at the Woomera Test Range in South Australia. The above picture shows NASAMS from a live-fire exercise in the US. (Kongsberg)
Raytheon Australia has conducted a flight test of a short-range ground-based air-defence (SRGBAD) system at the Woomera Test Range in South Australia, the company said in a press release on 20 June.
According to Raytheon, the “successful” flight test demonstrated the SRGBAD system's “accuracy and capability” to detec...
The HELMA-P LDEW prototype was housed in a containerised shelter installed on Forbin's fight deck. (DGA)
France's Direction générale de l'armement (DGA), the French Navy, and CILAS (a subsidiary of ArianeGroup) have undertaken first at-sea trials of the High-Energy Laser for Multiple Application – Power (HELMA-P) laser directed-energy weapon (LDEW) demonstrator, the DGA said on 20 June.
Testing was performed from the Horizon-class anti-air warfare frigate Forbin in the Mediterranean fr...
By Olivia Savage & William Carboni Jardim22 June 2023
Rafael unveiled its Sky Spear missile (bottom) at the Paris Air Show 2023, describing it as a sixth-generation long-range air-to-air missile. (Janes/Olivia Savage)
Rafael unveiled its Sky Spear ‘sixth-generation' air-to-air missile at the Paris Air Show 2023, held from 19 to 25 June.
Speaking to Janes, Yaniv Rotem, business development director for Rafael's air-defence systems and air-to-air directorate, said that the missile has very long-range interception capabilities and a new sophisticated radio frequency (RF) seeker that can handle ai...
South Korea approved the deployment of the THAAD system at Seongju base. The picture shows a THAAD interceptor launching from the Republic of the Marshall Islands during a flight test in 2019. (US Missile Defense Agency)
South Korea's Ministry of Environment (MoE) has completed an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the US Army's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system temporarily deployed at the US military base in Seongju – nearly 215 km southeast of Seoul.
According to a press release by South Korea's Ministry of National...
Indicative models of the NGF with the Recoverable Remote Carrier and smaller Expendable Remote Carrier were displayed at the FCAS chalet at Le Bourget. (Janes/Nigel Torp-Petersen)
MBDA is developing a new effector for the Expendable Remote Carrier (ERC) requirement of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS)/Système de Combat Aérien du Futur (SCAF) programme, the company announced during a media briefing on 21 June at the Paris Air Show 2023.
The ERC will be stealthy, weigh approximately 400 kg, and have a “play time” of one hour. MBDA said the...
The third MANSUP test launch was carried out in July 2019. (Marinha do Brasil)
The Brazilian Navy and the United Arab Emirates' (UAE's) Edge Group signed an agreement on 14 June to co-operate on the development of a “family of anti-ship missiles”, the navy announced two days later.
Brazilian Navy Chief Fleet Admiral José Augusto Vieira da Cunha de Menezes said Edge would help form a sustainable business model for the sale and production of the National Surface Anti-Ship Missile (MANSUP).
“This memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Edg...
The Franco-Italian SAMP/T medium-range air-defence system (seen here test firing an Aster 30 missile) donated to Ukraine has been deployed and is operational. (MBDA)
The SAMP/T medium-range air-defence system donated to Ukraine by France and Italy has been deployed and is operational, protecting “key installations and lives”, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on behalf of himself and ItalianPrime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, during a conference on air and anti-missile defence on the fringes of the Paris Air Show 2023 on 19 June.
When...