Archive: News & Articles

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced that a fully funded plan is in place to mount the developmental DragonFire laser-directed energy weapon (LDEW) on four of the UK Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers. The plan was outlined by UK Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard on 26 March 2025 and has been facilitated by […]

Delivering her Spring Statement to the UK House of Commons on 26 March 2025, Chancellor Rachel Reeves outlined a significant immediate boost to UK defence spending and a number of measures intended to turbocharge the UK defence industry. “In February [2025] the Prime Minister set out our government’s commitment to increasing spending on defence to […]

The end of March 2025 is seeing the retirement of the UK Royal Air Force’s (RAF’s) fleet of Puma helicopters after almost 54 years of operational service. Farewell flights were mounted out of RAF Benson on 26 and 27 March by three Puma HC2 aircraft, visiting numerous US military sites of significance to the Puma’s […]

Rheinmetall is investing to accelerate the rollout of its Path Autonomous Kit to “supercharge the deployment of next-generation autonomous mobility systems”, the company announced on 27 March 2025. The Path Autonomous Kit delivers scalable, intelligent and highly adaptable autonomy across a wide range of platforms, from uncrewed ground vehicles to logistics convoys, and is capable […]

The US State Department has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to Qatar of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-9B unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and related equipment, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced on 26 March 2025. The proposed sale, which is worth an estimated USD 1.96 billion (EUR 1.82 billion), […]

The Portuguese Navy has been leading the way amongst NATO navies in developing maritime uncrewed system (MUS) technologies. Now, including at the national level, it is seeking to accelerate delivery of these systems into integrated maritime multidomain operations (MDO). The drive towards tactical integration of MUS technology is proceeding under the leadership of Portugal’s new […]

In mid-January 2025, NATO stood up ‘Baltic Sentry’, an activity designed to build surveillance presence to deter increasing threats to critical undersea infrastructure (CUI) on the Baltic seabed. This move is one of several national, multinational, and wider NATO activities that have been established and integrated to address the Baltic CUI threat. CUI vulnerability has […]

BAE Systems’ Herne extra-large autonomous underwater vehicle (XLAUV) completed initial in-water trials in late 2024, barely a year after commencing development. What was behind this fast-track effort, and how was it achieved? Recent years have seen growing interest in the utility of long endurance, large payload robotic submersibles as ‘force multipliers’. This reflects a view […]

While neither as reliable as high-end bespoke munitions, nor as overwhelming as traditional massed artillery, the growing array of affordable precision strike options offers militaries a third way forward. The tradeoff between mass and precision has often characterised discussions regarding warfare. Militaries can either achieve statistical effects (for example that a given weight of fire […]

At the Undersea Defence Technology (UDT) exhibition in Oslo, Norway, on 26 March 2025 thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (tKMS) and Norwegian shipyard Ulstein Verft signed a letter of intent (LoI) that marked a further step in the co-operation between Germany and Norway in the field of naval shipbuilding. If a contract is awarded for the next […]

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) and the Belgian Ministry of Defence have completed the first flight of a new MQ-9B SkyGuardian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that will be the first SkyGuardian delivered to Belgium as part of a four-aircraft purchase, GA-ASI announced on 25 March 2025. The flight, which took place on 20 February […]

On 15 March 2025 US Central Command (CENTCOM) initiated a large-scale operation consisting of precision strikes against Iran-backed Houthi targets across Yemen “in order to restore freedom of navigation”, but that isn’t what made the headlines. What did was the fact that US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz inadvertently copied in a US journalist, The Atlantic […]

Babcock International has secured a five-year contract extension as a strategic support partner to the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), the company announced on 26 March 2025. The total contract, worth GBP 1.6 billion (EUR 1.91 billion), includes around GBP 1 billion of revenue that will be taken into Babcock’s contract backlog and around GBP […]

Technology specialist Leidos has appointed Adam Clarke as its chief executive of Leidos UK & Europe, effective from 31 March 2025, the company announced on 26 March. Clarke, who brings more than 20 years of experience across the aerospace, defence and security sectors to lead Leidos’ European operations, replaces Eric Freeman, who is facilitating the […]

The US Department of Homeland Security’s innovation hub (HSWERX) has selected MatrixSpace Radar to provide advanced air detection in support of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations, the company announced on 25 March 2025. The technology has potential applications across a variety of mission environments, including the DHS Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency. Due to […]

Dutch shipyard Damen Naval has handed over the new Combat Support Ship (CSS) Den Helder to the Dutch Ministry of Defence’s Command Materiel and IT organisation (COMMIT). During a 24 March 2025 ceremony in Den Helder, the ship’s home port, Damen Naval Managing Director Roland Briene and COMMIT Commander Vice Admiral Jan Willem Hartman presided over […]

BAE Systems and Repkon USA have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the development and manufacture of advanced munitions, BAE Systems announced on 25 March 2025. The wide-ranging agreement will see the two companies work together to explore ways to improve the range, precision and performance of ammunition. By facilitating the sharing […]

The Compact Agile Simulation Equipment for Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (CASE JTAC) developed by defence training and mission systems specialist Inzpire is now approved for Type 1, 2 and 3 controls, making it the first accredited mixed-reality JTAC simulator in the UK, Inzpire announced on 25 March 2025. The deployable simulator has been certified by […]

The last few decades have been difficult for the Polish submarine force. Despite many plans to modernise the Polish submarine fleet, the Polish Navy currently has only one diesel-electric submarine (SSK) – the ex-Soviet Kilo class ORP Orzeł. This vessel is ageing and has not undergone extensive modernisation, meaning its combat capabilities are very limited. […]

Canada continues to invest in its submarine capability, to offset increasing underwater threats in its areas of responsibility and interest and to build more operational output, as it transitions from its current boats to a planned new fleet under the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project. The submarine remains a pre-eminent naval – and national – instrument […]

The US Department of the Air Force has awarded Boeing a contract for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) programme, the centrepiece of which is a sixth-generation fighter. The EMD contract, which is believed to be worth around USD 20 billion (EUR 18.5 billion), was announced on 21 […]