Jane's Defense News

Key Points The Royal Australian Air Force hosted its biennial 'Pitch Black' multilateral air combat exercise from 29 July to 19 August. Up to 115 aircraft and about 2,800 personnel from 10 countries participated in this year's edition, which made it the largest yet in the exercise series since it

State-owned company Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works (KSEW) has launched a 17,000-tonne fleet tanker on order for the Pakistan Navy. The platform, said to be Pakistan's largest-ever indigenously built ship, was launched on 19 August at the company's facilities at Dockyard Road, Karachi.

The US Navy's (USN's) MQ-25A Stingray unmanned carrier-based tanker aircraft will not be a low-observable platform, the Pentagon's head of naval air forces said on 18 August. Asked about the notion of a "stealth tanker," Vice Admiral Mike Shoemaker said that "those two [concepts]

ANALYSIS Russia appears to be using Iran's Hamadan Air Base as a refuelling stop for Tupolov Tu-22M3 long-range bombers flying mission over Syria, but may have forward deployed four Sukhoi Su-34s there. The Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 16 August that Tu-22M3s and Su-34 strike

Boeing has been awarded a USD68.4 million contract to begin building long-lead items for the first two P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft (MPAs) for the UK. The contract, which was awarded by the US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) on 18 August, covers full-rate Lot 4 production, and will be

The Canadian Army has received its first tactical armoured patrol vehicle (TAPV) from Textron Systems Canada, and the service announced on 18 August that training is to commence within days. The first six TAPVs arrived at 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown on 12 August and after inspection

The Chinese military is to step up personnel training and humanitarian assistance to Syria, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, in a public display of support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime. The agreement was reached during a 14 August meeting in Damascus between Rear Admiral Guan

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is hoping to identify technologies and approaches that could provide force protection to counter the growing asymmetric threat from small unmanned air systems (SUAS). The request for information (RfI) is being managed by the agency's Tactical

Canadian frigate HMCS Vancouver will deploy to the Asia-Pacific region, the Department of National Defence (DND) announced on 18 August. Vancouver is scheduled to participate in Exercise 'KAKADU', a biennial event hosted by the Royal Australian Navy, as well as 'WESTPLOY 16'. The deployment is meant

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) reported results from the second quarter of its financial year on 18 August, revealing sales of USD877 million and operating income of USD22 million in the three months to 30 June. While sales generated by IAI, which is entirely owned by the Israeli state, were

India's Ministry of Defence (MoD) plans to reallocate a large proportion of about INR558.92 billion (USD8.46 billion) lying unspent with nine Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), to supplement defence budgets for long-delayed military modernisation. Official sources said a recent internal

A Shivalik (Project 17)-class guided-missile frigate has made an inaugural visit of an Indian Navy vessel to the Federated States of Micronesia in a demonstration of the service's increasing footprint and operational reach, the Indian Ministry of Defence announced on 18 August. The frigate, INS

The Indonesian Army (Tentara Nasional Indonesia - Angkatan Darat, or TNI-AD) has requested for funding allocation from Jakarta to acquire up to 20 units of the M109 Series of 155 mm self-propelled howitzers to augment the service's indirect-fire support capabilities. The request was disclosed in a

Indonesia's state-owned aerospace manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) plans to move its production facilities in order to position itself for an anticipated expansion in orders, the company's president, Budi Santoso, announced on 18 August. According to Santoso, a new facility, measuring up

EVENT Opposition movement the Mozambican National Resistance (Resistência Nacional Moçambicana: RENAMO) and Mozambique's government both announced on 17 August that they had reached an initial agreement during ongoing peace talks to share power in the regions. This will potentially lead

The governments of Japan and Taiwan have proposed small increases in their respective defence budgets for 2017, according to reports in both Northeast Asian countries on 19 August. Citing the government's budget directorate, Taiwan's state-run Central News Agency reported that the country's defence

Japan's Ministry of Defense is spending JPY200 million (USD2 million) this year on preliminary designs for a network of radar and optical telescopes to track foreign satellites and space debris, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported on 18 August. In fiscal year 2017, which begins on 1 April, the

EVENT On 17 August 2016 the Special Forces of the Russian security service (Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti; FSB) raided a residential building in the south of the city and killed four alleged Islamist militants from Kabardino-Balkaria in the Russian North Caucasus. The killed individuals

The Nigerian Navy provided a first look at the patrol boat it is building when it invited journalists to the Nigerian Naval Dockyard in Lagos to announce the delivery of 39 gunboats. The vessel could be seen in one of the two smaller drydocks at the facility. Satellite imagery shows that it is

North Korea has condemned a large-scale exercise conducted by South Korean artillery units close to the heavily fortified border on 18 August, with the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) describing the drills as a "mad-cap shelling provocation". Some 300 artillery units from 49