Latest Defence and Industry News
Moog Australia expands its defence operations in Victoria
- Details
- Written by Mirage News
- Category: Department of Defence
Moog Australia has officially opened its new defence facility in Melbourne that will boost advanced manufacturing in Victoria and create up to 70 highly skilled local jobs over the next five years, thanks to support from the Victorian Government. The $2.7 million expansion of its advanced manufacturing facility in Heatherton will accommodate Moog’s expected future growth over the next few years and boost production of advanced systems and products across the air, land, and sea domains in Australia and the Asia-Pacific Region.
archTIS wins contract to deploy NC Protect within an Australian national security agency
- Details
- Written by Tharun George, CFA
- Category: Department of Defence
archTIS Ltd (ASX:AR9) has secured a contract for the deployment of NC Protect within an Australian national security agency. The NC Protect platform is used for enhanced information protection for file access and sharing, messaging and emailing of sensitive and classified content across Microsoft 365 apps, Dropbox, Nutanix Files and Windows file shares.
Defence spending and ADF readiness need to match the risk of conflict
- Details
- Written by Peter Jennings
- Category: Defence Industry
In last week’s expansionary budget, one area that felt a bit underdone was defence. Here, the government delivered what it promised 12 months ago: $44.6 billion, an increase over last year’s budget of 4.1% in real terms. At any time in the last 25 years a defence budget growing at that level would have been welcome. But now Australia and the wider region faces the direst strategic outlook since perhaps the end of World War II.
LAND 200: Elbit BMS withdrawn from service – but the reasons remain unclear
- Details
- Written by APDR
- Category: Army
As has been very widely reported, the Battle Management System part of Army’s LAND 200 project has been withdrawn from service – and we can say with confidence that this happened on or before May 15. Unless people have been disobeying orders, that was the date on the internal instruction issued by Army to their people to stop using it.
BAE Systems to provide IFF transponders for avionics suites on military aircraft in $18.3 million deal
- Details
- Written by John Keller
- Category: BAE Systems
U.S. Navy avionics experts are asking the BAE Systems Electronic Systems segment in Greenlawn, N.Y., to provide hundreds of identification-friend-or-foe (IFF) transponders for military aircraft under terms of an $18.3 million order announced earlier this month. Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., are awarding this contract modification to BAE Systems, which involves IFF transponders for jet fighter-bombers, helicopters, trainer aircraft, and transport aircraft.
Silicon Valley reboots its relationship with the US military
- Details
- Written by Patrick McGee
- Category: IBM
IBM chief executive Arvind Krishna caused a stir last year when he told the US Congress that he would “sunset” his company’s facial recognition software — and said it had been abused by law enforcement to carry out mass surveillance. Tech groups Microsoft and Amazon have taken a similar stand on the controversial software, after pressure from employees.
Northrop Grumman to deliver additional Coyote vehicles to US Navy
- Details
- Written by Naval Technology
- Category: Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman has secured a new US Navy order to deliver 18 additional GQM-163A ‘Coyote’ supersonic sea-skimming target (SSST) vehicles. The US Navy exercised the first of three options under a previously signed contract to place the $55.4m order. The latest order brings the total number of the GQM-163A targets ordered to date to 218.
US BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO AUSTAL’S LCS
- Details
- Written by Peter Roberts
- Category: AUSTAL
The dozen Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships delivered so far to the US Navy are at the one time shipbuilder Austal’s most successful design yet at the same time the one that has not quite lived up to its promise. The Independence vessels were conceived as a breakthrough ship. It was to be high-speed, agile, warship equipped with interchangeable, modular mission packages allowing the same ship to conduct mine warfare, anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare operations.
Australia’s $1.3 billion ASIO spend signals a new kind of war with China
- Details
- Written by JamieSeidel
- Category: Australian Signals Directorate
Australia’s future is getting decidedly spooky. China is engaging in influence and interference attacks on our way of life. Now we’re investing billions of dollars into returning the favour. Tucked away in a quiet corner of the federal budget was an unexpectedly large number: $1.3 billion. Alongside were ominous names: ASIO and Signals Directorate. And the reason was vague: Technological capabilities.
RAN TO JOIN GLOBAL ALLIES IN LAND, SEA AND AIR EXERCISE OFF JAPAN
- Details
- Written by Australian Aviation
- Category: Department of Defence
The Royal Australian Navy has joined Japan, France and the US for a multi-modal exercise that will see strengthened interoperability between global allied land, maritime and air forces. Anzac Class frigate HMAS Parramatta has joined land, maritime and air forces from Japan, France and the US for Exercise ARC21 off the south coast of Japan.
The Jaguar 6x6 Combat Vehicle Just Received This Major Firepower Upgrade
- Details
- Written by ARTUR NOVICHENKO
- Category: General
Just after the news on the development of South Korea's 6x6, it became known that the Jaguar 6x6 Combat Vehicle got a cool firepower upgrade. According to the report of the French defense procurement agency (DGA), the Jaguar armored reconnaissance and combat military vehicle EBRC launched an MMP anti-tank missile. The activities took place within the framework of the qualification tests planned for the integration of the MMP to the Jaguar 6x6 Combat Vehicle used by the French army.
Thanks to This New Spy Plane the U.S.'s Eyes in the Sky Just Got Sharper
- Details
- Written by Kris Osborn
- Category: USA
Many are of the view that stealth rules the day, along with small drones and unmanned systems. But when it comes to aerial surveillance, larger, fixed-wing surveillance platforms, while less stealthy, can still massively impact the speed and operational effectiveness in major power maneuver warfare. This is due to their ability to provide targeting at long stand-off distances and bring “on location” manned, real-time command and control at the point of attack.
The U.S. Army Is Testing Arming Its Light Tactical Vehicles With Drones
- Details
- Written by THOMAS NEWDICK
- Category: USA
The U.S. Army is experimenting with launching the Area-I small Agile-Launch Tactically Integrated Unmanned System drone, or ALTIUS, from an ultralight tactical vehicle. The drone has already been launched from Army MQ-1C unmanned aircraft and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, as well as from an Air Force XQ-58A Valkyrie stealthy unmanned aircraft, but this is the first time that we’ve seen it used by the U.S. military in this type of vehicle-borne capacity.
Strategic Elements expands autonomous vehicle technology into defence sector
- Details
- Written by Lorna Nicholas
- Category: DSTG
Strategic Elements (ASX: SOR) is expanding into the defence sector with its subsidiary Stealth Technologies’ autonomous vehicle and platform technologies. The Defence Science and Technology Group (DST) will conduct a feasibility and scoping study with Stealth, evaluating the technology for autonomous sensing and search of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) sources.
Triton focus shifts to sense-and-avoid
- Details
- Written by Shephard Media
- Category: RAAF
Development of sense-and-avoid capabilities will be included in the next increment of the MQ-4C Triton HALE UAV. Northrop Grumman has received a prototype and risk-reduction contract from the USN to integrate sense-and-avoid (SAA) capabilities with the MQ-4C Triton high-altitude long-endurance UAV. The value of the deal was undisclosed.
Defence Budget 2021: the detail
- Details
- Written by Katherine Ziesing
- Category: Defence Budget
As readers are aware by now, government has managed to make good on its two per cent of GDP pledge with this year locking in a 2.1 per cent spending level for Defence from this week’s Budget. This is the bare minimum if the ambitious plans outlined in the 2016 Defence White Paper and 2020 Force Structure Review and Defence Strategic Update are to be delivered.
What is Australia's space division, and why is it in the military?
- Details
- Written by Belinda Smith
- Category: Department of Defence
It's official: planning is underway for the Australian military to launch its own space division in 2022, with its chief already appointed. It was announced over the weekend that Royal Australian Air Force Air Vice-Marshal Catherine Roberts will lead the division from January. The newly created military space command, which will draw on all aspects of the Australian Defence Force, will "allow us to establish an organisation to sustain, force-generate, operate space capabilities and assign them to a joint operation command if needed", according to RAAF chief Air Marshal Mel Hupfeld.
Britain buys 14 new Chinook helos, but it’ll take a decade for full delivery
- Details
- Written by Andrew Chuter
- Category: UK
Britain has confirmed it will acquire 14 Boeing-made Chinook helicopters, but the government has prolonged the delivery schedule over the next decade years due to budget issues. The deal was made through the U.S. Defense Department’s Foreign Military Sales process and will see Britain pay £1.4 billion (U.S. $2 billion) for the helicopters and associated equipment. Deliveries are scheduled to start in 2026 and be completed in 2030.
What Is the Iron Dome? Israel's Anti-Rocket Defense System, Explained
- Details
- Written by KYLE MIZOKAMI
- Category: Middle East
The ongoing, increasingly deadly fighting between the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has produced dramatic images and videos of Israel’s Iron Dome anti-rocket air defense system shooting down incoming enemy rockets. The Iron Dome, which the United States helped finance, has apparently proven to be 85 to 90 percent effective in shooting the crude rockets that Hamas has fired at Israeli civilian population centers this week, according to the IDF.
Leidos Wins Spot on $12.6B DIA Support Contract
- Details
- Written by WashingtonExec
- Category: LEIDOS
IT, engineering and science solutions and services provider Leidos has been named an awardee for the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Solutions for the Information Technology Enterprise III, or SITE III, contract vehicle. The 10-year multiple-award contract holds a total estimated value of $12.6 billion. As an awardee, Leidos will continue supporting DIA and compete for task orders to support the overall program.
New Jaguar combat vehicle has fired MMP for the first time
- Details
- Written by Dylan Malyasov
- Category: General
The new French Jaguar armoured reconnaissance and combat vehicle (EBRC) has test-fired MMP medium-range missile, for the first time. On 14 April, the French defense procurement agency (DGA) carried out the firing at their Land Techniques Test Centre as part of the Jaguar qualification. Launched from the retractable pod on the Jaguar’s turret in a two-missile configuration, the MMP successfully hit its target.