JULY 2021 News Global Defence & Security Industry - Military |
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The U.S. Army has awarded American Rheinmetall Vehicles – a Sterling Heights, Mi, U.S. subsidiary of leading defense industry giant Rheinmetall – a develop¬mental contract for the Phase 2 Digital Design of the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) program. American Rheinmetall Vehicles will execute Phase 2 with its teammates, a group of unsurpassed defense industry companies, including Raytheon Technologies, L3Harris Technologies, Textron Systems and Allison Transmission.
According to Kelvin Chen in Taiwan News, a team of 40 members of Taiwan's army will soon test-fire Patriot PAC-3 missiles at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, Liberty Times reported on Saturday (July 24). Taiwan has spent NT$179.14 billion (US$6.38 billion) to purchase six Patriot III missile systems and upgrade three existing Patriot II systems to the current variant.
The key focus of Exercise Talisman Sabre (TS21) is moving from land to sea, as forces from Australia, the United States, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand and the United Kingdom prepare for an action-packed amphibious phase. Activities will be concentrated around the Bowen and Ingham area between 23 and 31 July and will feature air operations, beach-landings, armoured vehicles, and urban operations.
According to Liu Xuanzun reporting in Global Times, China's domestically developed HJ-12 man-portable anti-tank missile, previously known as a made-for-export weapon, is confirmed to be in service with the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), after it made its debut in a recent exercise organized by the PLA Tibet Military Command. The top-attack, fire-and-forget missile, often compared with the U.S. Javelin, can destroy any main battle tank.
According to information released on July 23, 2021, The U.S. Army has awarded BAE Systems a contract for the concept development phase of the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) program.
French armed forces continue the process for the replacement of its old FAMAS assault rifle. The DGA (French Army procurement agency) has just received 2,000 new HK416 F assault rifles for the Army, Navy and Air Forces, bringing the number of assault rifles delivered to date to 53,000 units. A total of 117,000 units will be delivered to the French armed forces by 2028, including 93,000 units by 2025.
According to information published on July 24, 2021, the Oshkosh-Hanwha team has been selected as one of the five contenders for the Concept Design Phase of the US Army's Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) program tasked to replace the M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
According to Rosoboronexport, the Russian state arms export agency, Russia will continue its military cooperation with Myanmar and will supply more military equipment including aircraft.
According to information published by the United States Africa Command on July 22, 2021, U.S. Special Operations Command Africa forces and Special forces of Côte d'Ivoire have conducted Joint Combined Exercise Training in Abidjan and Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire. The team partnered with Côte d'Ivoire Forces Speciales Ivoirennes to hone special operations skills.
According to pictures published by the United States Department of Defense on July 23, 2021, the new Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) for U.S. Army undergoes rigorous testing at Yuma Proving Ground. The AMPV will replace the M113 tracked armored personnel carrier and family of vehicles in service with the U.S. Army.
According to information released on July 23, 2021, STM, one of the leading defense industry companies in Turkey, signed an export contract with an undisclosed customer for KARGU Rotary Wing Attack Drone Systems.
According to information released by the Slovak Ministry of Defense, the armed forces of Slovakia plans to acquire 500 8x8 AFVs (Armored Fighting Vehicle) and 228 tracked AFVs by 2035.
AeroVironment, Inc., a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, announced on July 22, 2021, receipt of two firm-fixed-price orders totaling $15,940,378 from the United States Air Force. The orders received on April 19, 2021, and May 6, 2021, encompass the procurement of Puma™ 3 AE unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and spares packages, as well as Raven® UAS spares packages. The Puma 3 AE systems and spares were delivered on April 30, 2021. Delivery of the Raven spares is anticipated by November 2021.
Innovative hybrid technology that could offer multiple technical and operational enhancements to military vehicles whilst reducing reliance on fossil fuel is being tested by the British Army, as reported on its website.
During its military parade that took place for the National Day (a parade considerably scaled-down because of the dramatic consequences generated by the chaos ensuing from the deadly floods that ravaged some parts of the country from 13th to 15th of July), the Belgian army unveiled its new Soframe 8x8 armored recovery trucks.
The deliveries are based on a framework agreement between Bittium’s Estonian partner Telegrupp as and the Estonian Defence Forces, and Bittium has received the first purchase orders based on the agreement.
According to information released by the Indian Ministry of Defense on July 21, 2021, the Indian Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight-tested the New Generation Akash Missile (Akash-NG), a surface-to-air missile at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) off the coast of Odisha on July 21, 2021.
The Bundeswehr has selected Rheinmetall to supply laser light modules for the German armed forces. A corresponding framework contract has now been signed, which envisages the delivery of up to 130,000 laser light modules. To begin with, 2,460 devices worth a total of €3 million will be delivered.
According to information released on the Twitter account of SSB (Turkish Defense Association), Turkish armed forces took delivery of the new local-made Hisar-A+ air defense missile system.
According to information released by the Indian Government, the Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight-tested indigenously developed low weight, fire and forget Man Portable Antitank Guided Missile (MPATGM) on July 21, 2021.
During a military parade that was held in Libya on May 2021, to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Revolution, Libyan armed forces have unveiled two new wheeled armored vehicles that are produced in Jordan, the Al-Wahsh a 4x4 armored vehicle, and the Al-Mared, an 8x8 APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) vehicle.
According to a video released by the Russian Ministry of Defense on July 20, 2021, the Russian Army has unveiled the S-500 Prometheus, also known as 55R6M "Triumfator-M", the latest generation of Russian-made air defense missile system during a live firing test.
According to InfoDefensa echoing the delivery schedule published by the Spanish Defense Ministry, the Spanish Army expects to receive the first seven units of the 8x8 VCR Dragon Wheeled Combat Vehicle in 2022. The delivery pace will accelerate in the following years, especially in 2025 and 2026, when the reception of 90 and 94 units respectively is expected, which means more than two-thirds of the total.
During a multi-day demonstration at Fort Benning, Georgia, Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace used four different remote weapon systems to demonstrate future lethality and cutting-edge capabilities which can be leveraged by the more than 17,000 systems already fielded in the U.S. military’s current inventory. This also was the first-ever demonstration where multiple targets were engaged using multiple unmanned platforms simultaneously.
According to a tweet from Defense Technology of Bangladesh dated 6 June 2021, the Bangladesh Army contingent operating in the framework of the UN peacekeeping mission headquartered in Gao, Mali, received 31 MaxxPro MRAP vehicles from the USA last May. The Bangladeshi Army already received 50 MRAP vehicles in 2019 to support its peacekeepers in Mali. The remaining 19 MRAPs and support equipment will depart in July 2021 for Gao as well.
