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...

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...

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...

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...

A variant of the Spice 250 ER munition will provide a SEAD capability for the Luftwaffe. (Rafael)  Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Diehl Defence, and Hensoldt Sensors have partnered to offer the German Luftwaffe a variant of Rafael's Spice 250 ER extended-range precision strike weapon adapted for the suppression of enemy air defence (SEAD) role.  Announcing their teaming agreement at the Paris Air Show 2023 on 20 June, the three companies said the collaboration aimed to provide a SEAD capability applicable to the Luftwaffe's planned new Eur...

Akash Prime – seen here on its flight test in September 2021 – has a maximum firing range of 30 km and can hit targets at a maximum elevation of 18 km. (Ministry of Defence, India)  India's Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has received an order worth INR39.14 billion (USD477 million) from missile manufacturer Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) to supply two improved Akash weapon systems for the Indian Army, BEL announced on 20 June.  According to BEL, the improved Akash system – also known as Akash Prime – comprises an “indigenously developed” act...

AID awarded a contract to Nexter Arrowtech, EOS Technologie, and Traak on 16 June to develop a medium-range loitering munition under its and the DGA's Larinae call for projects. (Nexter)  The Agence de l'Innovation de Défense (AID), the French defence innovation agency, awarded a contract to Nexter Arrowtech, EOS Technologie, and Traak on 16 June to develop a medium-range loitering munition under the Larinae call for projects aimed at providing the French Army with such a system armed with an anti-tank warhead, Nexter announced in a press re...

Israeli defence exports. (Israeli Ministry of Defense )  The Israeli Ministry of Defense (MoD) has announced record defence exports for 2022, saying the contracts agreed on totalled USD12.5 billion, up from USD11.4 billion in 2021, which was itself a record high.  The figures the MoD released on 14 June on the regions buying Israeli military products showed a massive increase in the ‘Abraham Accords' category, from USD853 million (7% of the total) in 2021 to USD2.962 billion (24%) in 2022, as well as a significant decrease in the Europe categ...

Introduced between 2002 and 2005, the four De Zeven Provinciën-class ships are planned to remain in commission through to 2032–35. (US Navy)  The Netherlands government has confirmed its intention to upgrade the inner-layer hard-kill defences on two of the Royal Netherlands Navy's (RNLN's) four De Zeven Provinciën-class air-defence and command frigates (Luchtverdedigings en commandofregat: LCF).  In a 15 June letter to the Dutch parliament's House of Representatives, State Secretary for Defence Christophe van der Maat said that the two LCF fr...

h  Janes   was among the first outlets to be given a demonstration of the Orchestrike concept at the Paris Air Show 2023 on 19 June.  (Janes/Gareth Jennings)  MBDA has showcased its new Orchestrike concept for collaborative combat effectors, which the European missile house said will be far more capable than any network-enabled systems in use today.  Paul Houot, product line executive for tactical strike, said at the Paris Air Show 2023 on 19 June that the concept will see remote carrier (RC) kinetic and/or electronic warfare (EW)...

The Heron medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is a success story for Israel, with 15 or more countries known to be operating the systems. (Janes/Patrick Allen)  Demand for Israeli-made defence systems has increased significantly in the past five years, with the value of government-to-government agreements amounting to USD4 billion in 2022, up from USD412 million in 2018, Brigadier General (Res) Yair Kulas, director of the Israeli Ministry of Defense International Defense Coo...