by | Aug 31, 2023 | Security
LONDON — Britain’s has a new defense secretary. The surprise choice for the role, vacated by Ben Wallace, is Energy Secretary Grant Shapps. The appointment follows Wallace’s announcement earlier this summer that he would stand down after more than four years in the...
by | Aug 31, 2023 | Security
LONDON — Saab has boosted its footprint in the artificial intelligence sector with the acquisition of British specialists BlueBear Systems. The British company is a leading provider of AI-enabled autonomous swarm systems and command-and-control systems. No financial...
by | Aug 31, 2023 | Security
MELBOURNE, Australia — Japan’s Defense Ministry has requested another record defense budget, with the agenda featuring naval vessels, F-35 fighter jets, hypersonic weapons development and armored vehicles. The ministry announced Aug. 31 that it submitted a request for...
by | Aug 31, 2023 | Security
ANKARA, Turkey — The first aircraft of Turkey’s indigenous fighter program, the TF-X, sits in a hangar ahead of its maiden flight at the end of the year. But fiscal problems could stand in the way of its success, according to an analyst, even as the country’s...
by | Aug 31, 2023 | Security
MILAN — NATO’s Allied Command Transformation, in charge of developing the alliance’s digital backbone, has signed an agreement with Latvia that will allow member nations to assess new capabilities at the Baltic country’s 5G military test bed. The Latvian Ministry of...
by | Aug 30, 2023 | Security
COLOGNE, Germany — The German navy is slated to lead a multinational drill in the Baltic Sea in September meant to help defend NATO members Estonia and Latvia against an attack, presumably from neighboring Russia. The annual Northern Coasts exercise series has offered...
by | Aug 30, 2023 | Security
MELBOURNE, Australia — The U.S. State Department has approved a possible sale of stealthy air-launched standoff cruise missiles to Japan. Under the potential deal, the U.S. ally would buy 50 Lockheed Martin AGM-158B/B-2 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles with...
by | Aug 29, 2023 | Security
On Aug. 24, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an inspirational speech in Kyiv’s St. Sophia Square to mark Ukraine’s Independence Day. His message was familiar to anyone who has heard or read a Zelenskyy speech since he became a wartime president. “We...
by | Aug 29, 2023 | Security
MILAN — The Netherlands is set to receive four additional MQ-9 Reaper drones that will carry guided bombs and missiles. More than a decade after launching the process to buy MQ-9A Reapers from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, the Dutch government announced it...
by | Aug 28, 2023 | Security
WASHINGTON — The U.S. commander in the Indo-Pacific is interested in more widely experimenting with and deploying directed-energy weapons designed to zap electronics or incinerate incoming threats. Navy Adm. John Aquilino, who leads the China-focused Indo-Pacific...
