Defence`s Feeds

Seastema presented the new platform SW MPEV, a technology conceived and developed as a response to the high-quality requirements of the Italian 'Defence Act' for the renewal plan of the Italian Navy's fleet during IDEX-NAVDEX, one of the world's most…

The Boeing Company has won a contract worth $678.68m to supply a total of 12 fighter aircraft to the US Navy through February 2019.

The Government of Canada has confirmed a new $230m contract with Seaspan's Vancouver Shipyards to help design the Royal Canadian Navy's (RCN) Joint Support Ship (JSS).

US-based architecture firm Jacobs Engineering Group has been awarded a task order by the US General Services Administration (GSA) to deliver logistics services for the US Marine Corps (USMC) Special Operations Command (MARSOC) Raiders.

The Indian Navy’s Kalvari-class (Scorpène-class) submarine has successfully conducted the first test-firing of an anti-ship guided-missile in the Arabian Sea.

Canadian GC-45 Towed Gun-Howitzer

The Swedish government has decided to reintroduce military conscription, abolished in 2010. It means that 4,000 men and women will be called up for service from 1 January 2018, selected from about 13,000 young people born in 1999, who will be asked to undergo a military assessment. The 13,000 who undergo the military tests will be a mixture of volunteers and conscripts. The Swedish recruitment system will be modelled on Norway's. In September, a Swedish garrison was restored to Gotland, a big island lying between the Swedish mainland and the three ex-Soviet Baltic states.

The return to conscription was prompted by the security change in the neighbourhood, Russian "illegal" annexation of Crimea[in 2014, the conflict in Ukraine and the increased military activity in the area. Russian menace pushes Sweden towards NATO, Swedish officials say Russian military aircraft frequently infringe Swedish airspace. 70% of the Swedish parliament is behind the decision to strengthen the military and co-operation with the countries around. The closest co-operation is with Finland, she added. Sweden and Finland are not in NATO, but co-operate closely with the alliance. Their Nordic neighbours Norway and Denmark are in NATO. Sweden has about 52,000 full-time military personnel - 20,000 of them permanent staff and most of the others Home Guard members.

Which other European countries have conscription?
Most of the 28 EU member states abolished military conscription. France and the UK - the main pillars of NATO defence in Western Europe - made their armed forces fully professional (France in 2001, the UK in 1963). Germany suspended conscription in 2011, but provision for it remains in the constitution. There is a debate now about reintroducing some form of national service.
Turkey has the second-largest armed forces in NATO, after the US military. Turkey has conscription for all men over the age of 20. They must serve between six and 15 months.
Greece has compulsory military service (9 months) for men from the age of 19. Cyprus - a longstanding source of Greek-Turkish tension - also has conscription.
Denmark, Norway and Finland have limited conscription, but their forces are overwhelmingly professional. Estonia and Lithuania - small Baltic states wary of Russian moves near their borders - have similar recruitment policies.
Switzerland operates a militia system, whereby men have to serve periods in the armed forces from 19 to 34 years of age, and keep their equipment at home.
In Russia all men aged 18-27 have to spend a year in the armed forces and Ukraine brought back conscription in 2014, when tensions with Russia escalated.

Which other East or Nord European countries, near to Russia or Ukraine, will also choice the same u-turn like Sweden?

Source : BBC.com

Tag: Military conscriptionSwedenNATO

On 9 March, SEDE will discuss, for the first time, its draft own-initiative report on private security companies (Rapporteur: Hilde Vautmans, ALDE). The report focusses on the increasingly important role played by private security companies in support of national militaries and EU activities abroad. It notes various challenges associated with their use and raises questions about regulating the activities of these quasi-transnational actors.
Further information
Draft report
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Tests confirm that FEROFORM and RAILKO marine bearings have better wear resistance than elastomeric and polyester / polyester bearing materials, thus providing ship owners with up to four times longer service life and lower operating costs.

The European Defence Agency (EDA) has just completed a project aimed at increasing the accuracy of artillery systems used by Member States’ Armed Forces.

The Course Correction Fuze (CCF) project was initiated in 2012 within EDA’s Smart Munition Working Group (SMWG) with the objective to develop common technical knowledge on cost-effective and affordable solutions for reducing ballistic dispersion and enhancing the accuracy of Member States’ artillery rounds, by introducing a new type of fuze. Subject experts from EDA Member States (Belgium, Poland, Sweden, UK) as well as Norway (which has signed an Administrative Arrangement with the EDA) looked into the subject and came up with a Common European Requirements document for CCF which was agreed and distributed to participating Member States’ capability and armaments authorities in late 2016. Moreover, it was also recognized that there is a need to have a harmonized approach to the challenge of integrating and Test & Evaluating CCF into existing and future artillery systems in order to generate costs savings.

In this way a dedicated investigation on CCF integration with Artillery Systems in EU was developed during 2016 and successfully delivered in early 2017. This investigation was divided in three different phases:

• Phase 1 was mainly devoted to the collection of information on available CCF solutions, artillery systems and ammunition in the EU. Five of the identified CCF solutions were selected, some of which use airbrakes to reduce the down range dispersion while others use fixed or movable canards that reduce both down range and cross range dispersion;
• Phase 2 consisted of an analysis of those five CCF solutions and their integration into both the artillery systems and the ammunition used by the participating Member States. As there exist many different artillery systems in Europe, in order to be able to integrate the selected CCFs into all those systems, the artillery systems were divided into three categories: CAT I – Manual; CAT II – Semi-Auto loading & Gun laying; and CAT III – Auto Loading and Gun laying;
• Phase 3 of the project focused on developing conclusions and recommendations in view of identifying future opportunities for cooperation among participating Member States.

 

Many opportunities for cooperation

One of the main conclusions is that there are many opportunities for cooperation and pooling & sharing despite the fragmented picture of artillery systems used by European Armed Forces. Several countries use the same type of artillery system and, therefore, can easily share and follow the same CCF integration steps. But opportunities for collaboration even exist for countries using different systems for which at least some synergies can be found in terms of similar subsystem characteristics such as calibre, fire-control software or ammunition types. In a broader perspective, the joint development of ballistic calculation software and fuze setter standards and the definition of interfaces and data protocols for CCFs were also recommended to achieve an efficient integration in artillery systems. Specific work strands were identified and an action plan has been proposed.

It also became clear that the (currently ongoing) review of the Capability Development Plan (CDP) should take into account future CCF integration into artillery systems.

More information:

• Course Correction Fuze (CCF) Project_Factsheet

Yemen's rebels appear to have provided more evidence that they are getting military support from Iran after they displayed an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that looked similar to the Iranian Ababil 2. Called the Qasef 1, the UAV was unveiled on 26 February along with three other smaller unmanned

New Zealand has requested detailed cost and availability information from the US government for the Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), the country's Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed to Jane's on 2 March. The MoD sent a letter of request to the US government seeking these

The Czech Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced plans on 28 February to issue a public tender to replace about 700 light 4x4 vehicles in service with the Army of the Czech Republic (ACR), starting in 2020. The MoD is seeking to replace Russian-made UAZ and British Land Rover Defender vehicles that

NATO's cyber security unit within Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), known as the NATO Computer Incident Response Capability (NCIRC), is now trialling a new three-nation cyber threat exchange system for a year to test the feasibility of its use during coalition operations. In

Lockheed Martin rotary-wing subsidiary Sikorsky has announced a 10-year agreement with Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) relating to the production of aerostructure and the delivery of an S-70i Black Hawk helicopter to TAI stable-mate Aselsan to permit avionics integration work. The developments

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Airbus are to partner in developing an automatic capability for the air-to-air refuelling boom on the Airbus KC-30A multi-role tanker transport (MRTT). An agreement signed on 2 March at the Avalon international air show near Melbourne by chief of air force

Saab has signed a new contract with the Swedish Defence Material Administration (FMV) for the delivery of product support and maintenance to the Swedish Navy's underwater weapon systems.

Myriad Technologies has been a Microsoft Gold Partner since 2007, due to the company's commitment to helping organisations and individuals grow, compete and innovate in the technological sphere.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has selected Thales to develop several capability projects for the country's navy in the areas of electronic warfare, anti-submarine warfare (ASW), and security and surveillance.

Babcock has laid the keel for the Irish Naval Service's new Samuel Beckett-class offshore patrol vessel (OPV) at its shipbuilding yard in Devon, UK, marking the beginning of construction on the vessel.