June 2020 News Global Defence & Security Industry - Military

 
 
 
 
 

According to pictures released by the China Ministry of Defense website, China has deployed the latest generation of main battle tank Type 99A for military exercise in the Tibet region. Type 99 main battle tanks attached to a brigade under the PLA 76th Group Army participated in separate exercises in mountainous plateau terrain on June 4, 2020, citing China Military Online on June 11, 2020.

The Jamaica Defense Force (JDF) has bolstered and upgraded its fleet of Thales Bushmaster Protected Vehicles. The purchase of 6 additional Bushmasters, 3 troops carrier and 3 ambulance versions, brings its fleet to 18, significantly strengthening the JDF’s ability to fight crime while simultaneously keeping its soldiers protected and comfortable. This substantial purchase confirms the Bushmaster’s outstanding performance in JDF services over the past five years.

On June 11, 2020, the Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA, French Procurement Agency) has received the eighth batch of VT4 Mk2 vehicles on the Arquus plant in Saint-Nazaire. Including this new batch, 300 VT4 vehicles have so far been delivered in 2020. As the first batch of vehicles delivered since the official restart of the production activities in Saint-Nazaire, it illustrates Arquus’ quick ramping up, as well as its determination to abide by the scheduled delivery planning.

According to information released by Barrett on June 3, 2020, Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Inc. has announced that it has partnered with Hornady Manufacturing to chamber the REC7 rifle series in the new 6mm ARC offering. The first production run of these rifles has already been delivered on time to the United States Department of Defense, fulfilling a contract that was awarded to Barrett late last year.

The U.S. Government has donated ten 4×4 Mercedes Atego troop transport trucks to the Nigerien army, AfricanMilitaryBlog reports. It has also provided a logistics warehouse as part of the donation. The donation which was delivered on May 27 will be used under the G5 Sahel Joint Force, in combating terrorism in the region.

On May 15, 2020, Arquus presented a report on the use of HUMS (Health and Usage Monitoring Systems) in an Army fleet to a group of Defense authorities. This report concludes a six-month tactical evaluation carried out on a fleet of 20 VAB (Véhicule de l’Avant Blindé) armoured vehicles at Mourmelon camp, near Châlons-en-Champagne. The first conclusions of this experiment underline the interest of data collection solutions and pave the way for predictive maintenance solutions for land equipment. The EVTA Vérité thus creates new perspectives for the transformation of Land MOC (Maintenance in Operational Condition).

According to TASS and Yonhap news agencies, North Korea has announced plans to deploy its forces to the zones that had been demilitarized under the inter-Korean agreement, the General Staff of the Korean People's Army said in a statement published by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Tuesday, June 16.

“Our strategy provides for the strengthening of key functions such as intelligence. These drones are one of its incarnations. Agile, efficient and easy to use, their arrival in our armed forces is excellent news and an additional translation of the efforts to reinvigorate our armies within the framework of the Military Programming Law. Made in France by Thales”, welcomed Florence Parly, French Minister of the Armies at the reception of SMDR by the Directorate General of Armament (DGA).

On Friday (12 June 2020), the North Atlantic Council recognised Ukraine as an Enhanced Opportunities Partner. This status is part of NATO’s Partnership Interoperability Initiative, which aims to maintain and deepen cooperation between Allies and partners that have made significant contributions to NATO-led operations and missions.

According to information released by the U.S. Department of Defense on June 10, 2020, American Company Lockheed Martin Corp., Grand Prairie, Texas, was awarded a $1,042,250,000 modification (P00001) to contract W31P4Q-20-C-0023 from U.S. Army for incidental services, hardware, facilities, equipment, and all technical, planning, management, manufacturing, and testing efforts to produce Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target Advanced Capability-3 missiles.

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