Defence`s Feeds

Americas

Lockheed Martin won a $128.2 million contract modification by the US Air Force for the exercise of an option for hardware spares and the partial exercise of an option for an additional 123 Lot 20 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) – Extended Range missiles with containers. According to the company, JASSM is a long-range, conventional, air-to-ground, precision standoff missile for the US and allied forces. Designed to destroy high-value, well-defended, fixed and relocatable targets, JASSM’s significant standoff range keeps aircrews well out of danger from hostile air defense systems. Work will take place in Florida and Alabama. Expected completion date is January 30, 2026.

The Space Development Agency (SDA) announced the awards of three prototype agreements worth approximately $1.8 billion to establish the foundation for Tranche 1 Transport Layer (T1TL), a mesh network of 126 optically-interconnected space vehicles (SV). The SVs will provide a resilient, low-latency, high-volume data transport communication system, and be ready for launch starting in September 2024.

Middle East & Africa

Kellogg Brown & Root Services won a $7.7 million contract modification for base operating support at several locations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The work to be performed provides for but is not limited to, all management, supervision, tools, materials, supplies, labor and transportation services necessary to perform galley services, laundry services, facility management, emergency service requests, urgent service, routing service, preventive maintenance, inspection, testing and certification, facilities investment, custodial, pest control service, integrated solid waste, grounds maintenance, wastewater, and base support vehicles, at Jebel Ali, Fujairah, Sas Al Nahkl and Al Minhad, United Arab Emirates. Work will take place in the UAE. Expected completion date is February 28, 2023.

Europe

The Italian Ministry of Defense’s Aeronautical Armaments and Airworthiness Directorate (DAAA) recently approved a contract for the technical-logistical support of the Air Force’s C-130J Super Hercules airlifter fleet. The agreement, which lasts five years and is worth a total of €380 million, was signed on January 28, 2022, between the Italian Air Force and the Temporary Business Grouping (RTI) formed by Leonardo, Avio Aero and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.

Finland will send weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Monday. This marks a shift in policy. The shipment will include 2,500 assault rifles, 150,000 bullets, 1,500 anti-tank weapons and 70,000 food packages, Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen said.

A cruise missile strike at the largest square of Europe, Freedom Square in Kharkiv leading to dozens of victims should be counted as a war crime said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “The cruise missile that struck Kharkiv, fired from the Russian city of Belgorod is terror against the city. There was no military target on the square. Just as in those residential areas of Kharkiv hit by rocket artillery. The rocket aimed at the central square is an outright, undisguised terror,” the president said in a statement posted on the Ukrainian MoD’s website.

Asia-Pacific

An anonymous defense official from India told The Hindu that Paris and New Delhi are close to concluding an agreement to develop the engine for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and French engine maker Safran will work together to develop the 125KN engine. Meanwhile, Girish S. Deodhare, Director General of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), says design configuration of the AMCA has been frozen.

Today’s Video

WATCH: Italy Signs €380M Technical Logistical Support Contact for C-130J Fleet!

Russian Losses in Ukraine

Russian Losses in Ukraine (April)

A number of major public works in Tel Aviv connected to the city's new underground service have woken up the Israeli authorities to the growing Chinese presence in Israel's economy (IO, 24/02/22). China's state-owned Changchun Railway Vehicle Co. (CRRC) and

The orbital data and risk management specialist Share My Space and its consortium are, according to our sources, in the

According to our sources, RSB Group, the company founded by former officers of Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU, and

According to information gathered by Intelligence Online, the Belarusian military intelligence agency, the GRU, informed its Russian homologue, the GU

An information report submitted to France's National Assembly on 17 February by the information mission on defence issues in the

At a French senate hearing into the launch of a media campaign by the new French anti-foreign manipulation service Viginum,

The clamping down by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev against his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev's networks following January's violent protests in the country,

I was on the Defense One Radio Podcast on Friday, together with some other guests, talking about the larger context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. You can listen or read the transcript here. Here’s a sample:

Watson: I’m wondering, what is your read on this next generation of power brokers in Russia, and their interest in Putin’s kind of, you know, revanchist tendencies here?

Gorenburg: It’s, you know, it’s really hard to tell what, how things, you know, what any of these next generation people really think. And, you know, one movie that I think is well worth watching, not just for the history, but also for just when you start thinking about how a bunch of psychopaths interact with the Supreme Leader’s, is the “Death of Stalin.” And you see that kind of cow-towing, right? But also, what the actual history of that time tells us is that the survivors, the people who stuck around in positions of power became very good at hiding their true beliefs while Stalin was around. And so, we don’t really know what a lot of these people think, because the ones that had clear positions that were contrary to what Putin wants have been sidelined.

…

Watson: What are the long-game considerations that maybe the U.S. officials in the policy community may not have been thinking about as much as perhaps they ought to? 

Gorenburg: Well, I think we’re heading into clearly a time of NATO-Russia confrontation. A lot will depend on how this goes. If this goes well and easily for Putin, then I think the appetite may increase. If it becomes complicated and painful, then there’ll be a time of reckoning, recalculation, or even just a time of trying to assimilate what’s been gained. But if it does go well, then I worry a bit about Moldova, honestly.

The fact that a large delegation of Argentinian officials is quietly planning a trip to China in March is confirmation that hiding behind Buenos Aires's deal with the International Monetary Fund to restructure $44bn of its 2018 bailout lies a

According to our sources, the French private investigation firm Cristal Group, founded by former lawyer Kevin Rivaton, is poised to

At the heart of the conflict provoked by Moscow in Ukraine is the fate of the 11 Antonov cargo aircrafts

The large-scale World Defense Show (WDS), which will run from 6 to 9 March, and should put Riyadh on the

In his first move prior to military intervention, President Vladimir Putin's recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk on 21 February coincided,

Kazakhstan: Like the KNB, President Tokayev brings in allies to lead security service Continuing on from the restructuring of the

Young British-German corporate intelligence company Monarch, which is currently recruiting, presents itself as a new player in the European investigation

EDA Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý visited Hungary on 23-24 February for high level talks with Defence Policy Director Gergely Németh, Chief of Staff Major General Tibor Bozó, as well as the national capability director, Major Gen. László Sticz, the deputy national armaments director, ret. General László Tömböl, and the research and technology director, Brigadier General István Filótás. A scheduled meeting with Defence Minister Tibor Benkő had to be cancelled due to the events in Ukraine. The trip to Budapest was part of Mr Šedivý’s ‘tour des capitales’ around all EDA Member States.

The discussions with Defence Policy Director Németh mainly focused on Hungary’s involvement in EDA’s current and future activities, the need to drive defence innovation in Europe and the prospect of reinforcing EDA's role in supporting Member States in this area, the contributions the Armed Forces can make to the EU’s Green Deal policy, the state of play of the ongoing Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) cycle 2021-2022 and the follow-up on the findings and recommendations of the first CARD report presented in November 2020, the state of play in the PESCO implementation, the functioning of the European Defence Fund (EDF) as well as the preparations for the EU’s Strategic Compass to be approved in March. Hungary provided a comprehensive presentation of the results and future ambitions of the Zrínyi force modernisation programme and its commitment to cooperation in EU capability development. The Chief Executive was impressed with Hungarian progress and outlined the ways in which Hungary can build on that progress and cooperate even more efficiently at a European level.

Hungary participates in 10 EDA projects & programmes including the Agency’s helicopter trainings & exercises, the EU Multimodal Transport Hubs programme, the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear defence Surveillance as a Service (CBRN SaaS) project, the Multinational Modular Medical Unit (3MU) programme, the Joint Deployable Exploitation and Analysis Laboratory (JDEAL) or the Agency’s research project into Fuel Cells for Soldier Systems (FUSS) for which Hungary is even the lead nation. The total value of EDA programmes and projects in which Hungary participates currently stands at €37 million (Feb.2022).  

"I am particularly grateful for Hungary’s active role in the Agency’s helicopter training and exercise programme. We can count on the country’s important support in this domain since many years. In 2017, Hungary hosted one of our flagship helicopter exercises, called ‘Fire Blade’, and it will host it again later this year, in June, for a second time. Hungary’s leadership in support of our helicopter exercise programme is very much appreciated, and I can only thank the Minister for this. The country also acts as the lead country for an important collaborative defence research project managed by EDA that is looking into the development of new, enhanced soldier-sized fuel cell energy sources.  Another example of Hungary’s engagement is its participation in the CBRN Surveillance as a Service project which was the first PESCO project for which EDA’s direct support was requested and which is now run in the framework of the Agency. The project has even further developed into a Reconnaissance Surveillance System (CBRN RSS) project, supported by Hungary and four other countries, under the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP)", Mr Šedivý commented. 

Hungary’s Defence Policy Director, Dr. Németh welcomed the delegation of EDA led by the Chief Executive, Jiří Šedivý, for a two-day visit in Budapest, and delivered the apologies of the Hungarian minister of defence, who could not meet the Chief Executive due to his duties related to the sudden worsening of the crisis in and around Ukraine. "Due to the difficulties caused by the pandemic, this was Mr. Šedivý’s first official visit to Hungary since he assumed his position in 2020. The Chief Executive’s trip to Hungary was very much appreciated in this very challenging and busy period. The timing was also relevant in light of the substantial progress we are witnessing in the Common Security and Defence Policy of the EU. The discussion on the Strategic Compass is ongoing, and Hungary is contributing to this document with an initiative in the field of capability development. We believe that the Compass should define a clear level of ambition for CSDP. With EU and NATO membership as the cornerstones of Hungarian defence policy, our country is a committed contributor to Euro-Atlantic security. Hungary highly appreciates the Agency’s work on the defence initiatives, namely the Capability Development Plan (CDP), the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) and the Coordinated Annual Review (CARD). These initiatives will certainly improve collaboration among Member States and help them identify capability development opportunities. Hungary’s comprehensive Zrínyi Defence and Force Development Programme aims at modernising and revitalising the Hungarian defence forces. This wide-ranging development programme gives us the opportunity to benefit from the EU defence initiatives, and it has positively affected the entire Hungarian defence sector, giving us more room for further cooperation. The modernisation programme underpins Hungary’s efforts to become a more active player on the international stage as well, including within the framework of the Agency. As a founding member of PESCO, Hungary is committed to its successful implementation. After the 4th wave of PESCO project generation, we are now involved in 28 PESCO projects, with a special focus on the EUROSIM PESCO project led by Hungary. EUROSIM will be among those 26 PESCO projects, out of 60 projects altogether, which are foreseen to reach their full operational capability by 2025 and produce tangible results. EDA’s support to EU Member States is indisputable. The Agency, with its broad network and expertise, is an essential platform for developing and improving military capabilities through collaboration. We ensure the Agency of our continued support and cooperation We are looking forward to the next CARD cycle as well as to the Agency’s future work on defence innovation", he said.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kiev had severed diplomatic relations with Moscow over Russia's special operation to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine.