Author: Defenceline Webdesk

WASHINGTON — The Marine Corps has signed off on an $11 million contract with defense tech contractor Epirus for a counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) installed on ground vehicles, the company announced today.  Under the contract — which includes training, service and sustainment support — the company will deliver a High-power Microwave Autonomous Vehicle Operational Capability (HAVOC) system that temporarily incapacitates electronic assets for counter-drone operations. The system will feature a “universal sled mount” to pair it with various manned and unmanned vehicles across the service, per Epirus’ release. “This award highlights the Marine Corps’ commitment to fielding integrated, software-defined systems…

China’s reported sale of shoulder-launched missile systems to Iran should be concerning not just to the United States but also to Australia and other major powers in the Indo-Pacific.  It demonstrates a deeper strategic partnership between Beijing and Tehran – one with destabilizing consequences for the Middle East – and shows a certain recklessness in Chinese behavior. But China is not alone in this endeavor. Russia is an active party aiding Iran in a variety of ways, even though it has its hands full with its ill-advised invasion of Ukraine. Sino-Russian assistance to Iran degrades the international security situation in…

The Strategist (ASPI) Military protection has never existed simply to keep soldiers alive or platforms intact. Its enduring purpose has always been to preserve freedom of action . …. Source link

On July 6, three maritime announcements hit almost simultaneously. Lockheed Martin announced it would spend $3.5 billion to buy undersea specialist Ultra Maritime. French company Thales announced the purchase of a 36 percent stake in the French undersea warfare and defense tech company Exail Technologies, with long term plans to purchase the firm entirely at an implied $4.5 billion enterprise valuation. And Italy’s Fincantieri announced a nearly $700 million investment in four maritime drone and undersea engineering firms. It was not just an impressive display of fiscal might by three legacy defense businesses to invest in established and revenue-generating specialist…

MQ-28 Ghost Bat. Credit: Boeing. Rheinmetall is establishing an independent system integration hub in Germany for Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat, marking a major step towards developing sovereign collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) for the German Air Force.   The move aims to accelerate the introduction of uncrewed aircraft into Germany’s force structure while retaining critical technology and intellectual property locally.  Discover B2B Marketing That Performs Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms. Find out more According to Rheinmetall, this first phase of the programme will focus on adapting the MQ-28 platform to accommodate German-developed…

A criminal court in Vienna on August 5 refused Tajikistan’s request to extradite Shavkat Muhammad, a member of the banned National Alliance of Tajikistan, along with his 77-year-old mother, Sharofat Sharifova, and his brother Bilolidin Sharifov. Tajik authorities accuse the three of extremism; the family calls the prosecution political.  No written ruling has been published, and the account of the hearing comes from opposition figures who were in the room. This is the fourth refusal to come out of a single Tajik submission. In April, the Interior Ministry sent Austria’s Justice Ministry files on 18 members of exiled opposition organizations,…

RCD Plans for conflict against a capable adversary increasingly assume that communications will be disrupted. Source link

Every year, Alabama becomes home to the missile defense community for the Space and Missile Defense Symposium. To preview this year’s event, Breaking Defense Editor-in-Chief Aaron Mehta talked with Pentagon reporter Ashley Roque to find out what she’s looking forward to hearing about at the conference. Source link

A France Air Force A330 tanker. Credit: DLeng/Shutterstock.com. A French Air and Space Force A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (Phénix) successfully refuelled US and UK RC-135 aircraft in a coordinated exercise over central France, marking the first instance of multinational air-to-air refuelling integration among the three nations within the RC-135 enterprise.  The exercise, titled Ravitaillement en Vol, involved a US Air Force (USAF) TC-135 training aircraft, a Royal Air Force (RAF) RC-135 Rivet Joint and the French A330 MRTT Phénix.   Discover B2B Marketing That Performs Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.…

At the time of their exploratory trilateral talks in February, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan had no formal defense commitment. It was unclear whether the discussions would produce much beyond political coordination. That has now changed. On August 7, the three governments signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement. Its main provision stipulates that an armed attack on one party will be regarded as an attack on all three. Yet the public account of the agreement leaves the resulting military obligations undefined. There is no disclosed procedure for deciding that an attack has triggered the pact, no announced geographical limit, and no…