Defence`s Feeds

Americas

• The F-35 could be getting new engines by the mid-2020s, with the potential for either an upgraded version of the Pratt & Whitney F135 design currently in use or a new engine from a competitor. Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, head of the Joint Program Office, made the announcement at last week’s Air Force Association conference. The USAF is currently in the early stages of funding their Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP) competition, with both P&W and General Electric Aviation securing contracts worth $1.01 billion to research if its possible to “demonstrate 25 percent improved fuel efficiency, 10 percent increased thrust, and significantly improved thermal management.”

• E-8C JSTARS aircraft grounded due to maintenance concerns are back flying again. Issues surrounding a radar mishap had resulted in four E-8Cs undergoing a USAF launched independent investigation following their delivery from depot maintenance at Northrop Grumman’s facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana. One aircraft experienced water damage to the Northrop APY-7 radar after the glassfibre canoe did not properly drain water.

• If you missed/managed to avoid what was a rather strange first US presidential debate, candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton sparred on national security, ISIS, supporting Gulf and Asian allies (should they pay more?), cyber warfare, and aging military hardware. Choice highlights include Trump asserting that Clinton’s website is handing out tips to ISIS, that our troops are utilizing “B-52s old enough that your father or grandfather could be flying them,” and suggesting that China should go into North Korea.

Middle East &North Africa

• US officials have hinted that Gulf allies may arm Syrian anti-government militants with more shoulder-fired weapons following the collapse of the latest ceasefire and reports of bunker busting bombs being used by Russian warplanes on civilian and aid targets. Until now, Washington has so far prevented significant numbers of man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) being supplied to the militants, instead favoring training and sending infantry weapons. The supply of MANPADS could help negate Russian and Syrian air power in cities such as Aleppo, as seen by their use by the Mujahideen against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

Africa

• Kenya and Jordan are to cooperate on counter-terrorism training with the Gulf state to help train Kenyan Air Force pilots. The announcement was made during King Abdallah II Ibn Hussein’s one-day visit to the Kenyan capital Nairobi, which focused largely on security and CT issues. Alongside the meetings, King Abdullah and Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, both dressed in military fatigues, watched joint military exercises, with the president tweeting “Our cooperation is underpinned by our common interests. Together we must fight against emerging security threats.”

Europe

• Hypersonic weapons being researched by Russia’s Tactical Missiles Corp. should be capable of hitting targets by the early 2020s. The group is collaborating with scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Advanced Research Foundation under the Military-Industrial Commission and hope to produce a missile capable of reaching Mach 5 (3,800 mph). Moscow’s hypersonic development lags behind that of the US, who are currently looking to develop and demonstrate critical technologies to enable an effective and affordable air-launched hypersonic cruise missile.

• The UK government is to prosecute ejection seat maker Martin Baker in relation to the death of a Red Arrows display team pilot in 2011. The pilot, Flt Lt Sean Cunningham, died after the MK10 ejector seat parachute failed to deploy. While the company has failed to comment on the legal action, it represents a second setback for the company following safety issues with the US-16E ejection seat it is supplying for the entire F-35 program. It was suggested during the summer that the USAF consider an alternative ejection seat supplier for the next-generation fighter.

Asia Pacific

• Following a series of protests, head shavings, and eggings, South Korean and US military officials are to announce an alternative site for the controversial deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system this week. Originally destined for the southeastern county of Seongju, three alternative sites neighboring Seongju include a golf course owned by chaebol (conglomerate) Lotte Group in Chojeon-myeon, Mt. Yeomsok in Geumsu-myeon and Mt. Kkachi in Suryun-myeon. The decision to allow THAAD on the Korean peninsula comes amid North Korea’s steaming ahead with ballistic missile and nuclear tests over the last year.

Today’s Video

Pakistan Air Force jets landing and taking off from highways near Lahore:

Kiev continues to intensify its artillery groups near the contact line with Donbass and fire territories of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).

Kiev has intensified its artillery group near Mariupol and Yasinovataya with tanks, howitzers and self-propelled guns, Deputy Commander of the Operational Command of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Eduard Basurin, said at a briefing on Tuesday.

“Our intelligence continues to reveal facts of presence of prohibited weapons of the Ukrainian Armed Forces along the contact line,” Basurin said.

According to the Deputy Commander, three self-propelled guns, two tanks and two trucks with ammunition were discovered in the village of Granitnoye near Telmanovo, half a kilometer from the front. Moving of the nine Giatsint-B field guns was spotted near Yasinovataya, on the Yasnobrodovsky landfill.

“In addition, our intelligence spotted supply of ammunition to the settlements of Novognatovka, Nikolaevka, Marinka, Zarya and Rybinskoye,” Basurin added.

According to Basurin, over the past day, the Ukrainian Armed Forces fired frontline territories of the DPR 46 times. The villages of Zaytsevo near Gorlovka, Aleksandrovka and Trudovskiye to the west of the capital, Novolaspa in the area of Telmanovskiy, the territory of Dokuchaevsk, suburbs of Yasinovataya and the Mayorsk checkpoint near Zaytsevo were under the enemy fire.

“Nineteen 82 mm and 120 mm shells were fired from prohibited weapons by the enemy. In addition, fire was opened from grenade launchers and light weapons,” Basurin pointed out.

Later on Tuesday, it was reported that Spartak village on the northern outskirts of Donetsk was fired by Ukrainian military, who used heavy mortars.

According to the DAN news agency, citing a source in power-wielding agencies of the DPR, the Ukrainian side used 82 mm and 120 mm mortars, as well as a heavy machine gun. The source also added that two hours before to start the shelling, surroundings of the industrial zone near Yasinovataya were fired with a tank by units of the Ukrainian Army.

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The US Navy’s Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 has successfully demonstrated the use of MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned air system to remote designate targets for a MH-60S Seahawk helicopter to fire an AGM-114N Hellfire missile.

The Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) first Hobart-class air warfare destroyer (AWD), Hobart, has successfully completed builder sea trials at Techport Australia in Adelaide.

Aras’ product lifecycle management (PLM) platform has been chosen by Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) to support the complex engineering processes in the development of technologically advanced warships for the US Navy and the US Coast Guard.

Defense Ministers of Russia and Armenia have signed an agreement on establishment of a joint regional air defense in the Caucasian region.

Photo: lragir.am

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Armenian counterpart Seyran Ohanyan have signed an agreement on establishment of joint regional air defense in the Caucasian region of the Collective Security, dated December 2015.

The document was signed for five years with a possibility of further extension every five years. If one of the sides would want to suspend the agreement, it must give a written notification of its intention to another side, using diplomatic ways. The notification must be sent six months before an expiration of the term of the contract.

“Approve and submit the agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia to establish a joint regional air defense in the Caucasian region of the Collective Security, signed in the city of Moscow on 23 December 2015, to the Russian President for ratification to the State Duma of the Russian Federal Assembly,” the RIA Novosti news agency quoted the statement.

Combining of the regional air defense systems will make it possible to create air defense in the whole space of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

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