Defence`s Feeds

ONE civilian was killed when unidentified militants detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) near his vehicle in al-Jihad district in Iraq's Baghdad province on 9 December, Iraqi News reported. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

ONE person was killed and four others wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED), emplaced by unidentified militants, detonated near a market in al-Tarmiyah in Iraq's Baghdad province on 9 December, Iraqi News reported. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

THREE people were wounded when unidentified militants detonated an improvised explosive device (IED), near shops in al-Wardiya in the town of al-Mada'in in Iraq's Baghdad province on 9 December, Iraqi News reported. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Key Points Test shows army can create high-quality actionable air picture In 2018, IBCS will participate in another SCOE and Red Flag event Northrop Grumman completed three weeks of live-air testing of the Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS) in which soldiers

The Indian government will support the development of indigenous aerospace capability through public-private partnerships (PPPs) involving state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Subhash Bhamre, India’s Minister of State for Defence, has said. In line with this strategy, HAL will

Key Points On 1 December, Georgia’s State Security Service (SSSG) announced that the Chechen Islamic State militant Akhmed Chataev had blown himself up in an apartment in the capital Tbilisi during a counter-terrorism operation on 22 November. Chataev, who was formerly Imarat Kavkaz’s

Naval Group (formerly DCNS) has issued a raft of tender notices in support of efforts to identify Australian companies that can support its SEA 1000 programme to build 12 next-generation submarines for Royal Australian Navy (RAN). In request for information (RFI) documents calling for responses by

Peru’s state-run shipyard Servicios Industriales de la Marina (SIMA) has begun modernising the Peruvian Navy’s Angamos-class (U209/1200) submarines. BAP Chipana (SS 34) has been placed on the shipyard’s new syncrolift, acquired from TTS Syncrolift AS, at SIMA’s Callao

Event On 12 December 2017, Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service (Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti; FSB) said that it had foiled a terrorist attack planned for the New Year celebrations in Moscow. According to Bortnikov, on 11 December in the Moscow region the FSB

The fiscal year 2018 (FY 2018) National Defense Authorization Act has been signed into law, boosting the US military’s size, adding strategic missile defence requirements, changing rules for buying commercial off-the-shelf goods, and more. The legislation, signed on 12 December by President

Turkey’s special forces have received a first batch of loitering munitions, Jane's has learned at the Gulf Defence & Aerospace exhibition in Kuwait City. The two types of loitering munitions, both developed by the country’s STM, were delivered two months ago for training purposes.

The US Air Force (USAF) on 7 December awarded Boeing a USD46 million contract modification to upgrade the avionics in its Boeing E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, according to a Pentagon statement. The contract modification is a firm-fixed-price and

The US Army on 30 August awarded Northrop Grumman a USD750 million contract to provide contractor lifecycle services for the Army’s Special Electronic Mission Aircraft (SEMA) fleet, according to a company statement. The award is a base year contract with eight option years, extending to 2027.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

The European Defence Agency (EDA) today hosted the kick-off meeting for a new study to be carried out over the next 12 months on possible future applications of graphene in the military domain and its expected impact on the European defence industry. 

Among the materials with the highest potential for revolutionizing defence capabilities in the next decade, graphene comes high up on the list. Light and flexible and yet 200 times stronger than steel, its electrical conductivity is extraordinary (better than silicon) as is its thermal conductivity. Graphene also has remarkable properties in the so-called ‘signature management’ field, meaning it can be used to produce radar absorbent coatings making military vehicles, planes, submarines or vessels almost undetectable.  All this makes of graphene an extremely attractive material not only for civil industries but also for military applications in the land, air and maritime domains. 

To explore the latter, the EDA launched the graphene study which, following a Europe-wide call for tenders, was assigned to Fundacion Tecnalia Research and Innovation (Spain) who will collaborate with two partners, the Technical University of Cartagena (Spain) and Cambridge Nanomaterial Technology Ltd (United Kingdom). All consortium members have proven experience in graphene research and also in the defence sector.
 

Main objectives

The study has three main objectives:

• to analyse and evaluate to what extent graphene is already used in dual-use or military areas and what the prospects of future defence applications are;
• to develop an ambitious yet realistic roadmap for the development of graphene in the defence domains, backed and supported by the EDA’s ‘Materials’ CapTech;
• to demonstrate graphene’s defence-related potential through a series of practical experiments the results of which will be published in a scientific journal 

Denis Roger, the EDA’s European Synergies & Innovation (ESI) Director, commented: “The European defence research landscape certainly stands to benefit substantially from graphene and its potential future applications in the military domain. The EDA’s study launched today could open the way towards new exciting research and capability development opportunities. We are very much looking forward to its results”. 

The study findings are expected to be published in December 2018/January 2019.
 

More information: 

• CapTech Materials & Structures (EDA project page)

 

On 7 December 2017, AFET/SEDE will hold an extraordinary joint hearing on North Korea to discuss the continuing deterioration of the security situation on the Korean Peninsula. The aim of the hearing is to assess the threat posed by the DPRK's nuclear and ballistic missile build-up and possible consequences for the global non-proliferation regime. Members will also analyse different options for the EU and international community to prevent further escalation of the crisis.
Location : Altiero Spinelli 5E-2
Further information
Draft programme
Hearing documents
Speaking notes by Antoine Bondaz, Research Fellow, FRS and Associate Professor, Sciences Po, Paris
Presentation by Ramón Pacheco Pardo, Korea Foundation VUB and King's College London
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

On 14 December in Strasbourg, the Subcommittee will consider the amendments to the draft opinion establishing the European Defence Industrial Development Programme aiming at supporting the competitiveness and innovative capacity of the EU defence industry by Ioan Mircea PASCU (S&D).
Further information
Draft agenda and meeting documents
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

will take place on Thursday 14 December, 9:00-10:00 in Strasbourg and on 24-25 January 2018 in Brussels.

Organisations or interest groups who wish to apply for access to the European Parliament will find the relevant information below.

Further information
watch the meeting live
Access rights for interest group representatives
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Russian Uragan-1M Artillery Rocket System

The Executive Directors of four key European agencies dealing with cyber security and defence - the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA), Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), the EU institutions’ permanent Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-EU) and the European Defence Agency (EDA) - met today 8 December in Athens at the ENISA premises to discuss future cooperative opportunities in the field of cyber security and defence. 

The aim is to enhance synergies and avoid duplication between the four agencies as well as to discuss ways of establishing an enhanced and structured cooperation built around identified areas of cooperation. They include, among others: cyber security & defence education, training and exercises; building synergies in the area of technology development including research with dual use characteristics as well as testing of demonstrators/prototypes; common standardisation and certification; incident cooperation; or strategic and administrative matters. 
 
“Cyber threats are transnational by nature, and so has to be our response to them. EU institutions, agencies and bodies need to think cross-sectoral and join forces where appropriate in order to anticipate the security challenges and adapt to Member States’ expectations. And nowhere does this better apply than in the cyber domain”, Jorge Domecq, the EDA’s Chief Executive, stated at the meeting.

More information:

• EDA supports Operation Sophia with Cyber Awareness Seminars (webnews November 2016)
• Cyber Defence (EDA project page)
• Cyber defence factsheet