NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced on the eve of the summit of allied leaders being held in Madrid from 28 to 30 June that the alliance would increase its high-readiness forces to over 300,000 troops. (NATO)  Allied leaders meeting in Madrid for the NATO summit being held from 28 to 30 June will agree to increase the alliance's high-readiness forces to strengthen its forward defences, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a press conference on the eve of the meeting.  He expected the summit to be “transformative”, with a...

The US Navy flew a Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft over the Taiwan Strait on 24 June 2022. (Boeing)  A US Navy Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime reconnaissance aircraft flew over the Taiwan Strait on 24 June in a potential signal to Beijing regarding its aggressive posturing towards Taiwan.  In its official statement, the US Indo-Pacific Command suggested that the flight was intended to counter assertions by China that the strait is not part of international waters.  “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with internat...

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles and his Japanese counterpart Nobuo Kishi pose for a photo before their Japan-Australia bilateral defence meeting at the Japanese Ministry of Defense in Tokyo on June 15, 2022. (Kyodo News via Getty Images)  Japan and Australia are planning to expand bilateral defence co-operation to be better equipped to respond to the common security challenges in the Asia-Pacific, the defence ministers of the two countries – Nobuo Kishi and Richard Marles – said in a joint statement on 15 June.  According to the j...

The Russian Navy tug   Spasatel Vasily Bekh  was operated by the Black Sea Fleet. It entered service in 2017.   (Yoruk Isik)    The Ukrainian Navy claims that it has struck the Russian Navy Project 22870 salvage tugboat   Spasatel Vasily Bekh (  SB 739) in a missile strike in the Black Sea.   In a statement on its official Twitter acount on 17 June, the Ukrainian Navy said the vessel was attacked while transporting personnel, weapons, and ammunition to the Zmiinyi (Snake) Island with a Tor surf...

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles and his Japanese counterpart Nobuo Kishi pose for a photo before their Japan-Australia bilateral defence meeting at the Japanese Ministry of Defense in Tokyo on June 15, 2022. (Kyodo News via Getty Images)  Japan and Australia are planning to expand bilateral defence co-operation to be better equipped to respond to the common security challenges in the Asia-Pacific, the defence ministers of the two countries – Nobuo Kishi and Richard Marles – said in a joint statement on 15 June.  According to the j...

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks with civilians assigned to USNS   Carl Brashear  (T-AKE-7) at Sembawang Naval Base in Singapore. Austin was in Singapore to participate in the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue.   (US Department of Defense)  At the final day of the Shangri-La Dialogue 2022, a representative from China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) took the opportunity to lambast the forum as a pro-Washington event. During a question-and-answer session with Singapore's Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen, Senior C...

Teledyne FLIR Defense launched new UAS biological detector payload at Eurosatory 2022. (Teledyne FLIR Defense)  Teledyne FLIR Defense has launched its MUVE B330 – a biological detector designed for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and unmanned platforms – at Eurosatory 2022 defence exhibition in Paris.    Speaking to   Janes  , Craig Crume, director of product management for detection at Teledyne FLIR Defense, said that the MUVE B330, fitted onto a Skyranger R70 or a R80D SkyRaider, can detect, collect samples, and determine th...

If approved by the US Congress, a plan to transfer Hellfire-armed Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft to Ukraine would substantially enhance Kyiv's combat capabilities. (GA-ASI)  The US government intends to supply Ukraine with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-1C Gray Eagle medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) armed with air-to-surface missiles.  Reuters announced the plan on 1 June, saying that the Biden administration will provide four Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft equipped with Lockheed Martin A...

The appearance of a pair of Sukhoi Su-35S in Taiwan's ADIZ on 30 May 2022 suggests that China is trying to increase the complexity of its training flights in an operational environment. Pictured above is a Russian Su-35S fighter taking off during tests in Russia. (Sukhoi)  Sukhoi Su-35S Flanker-E fighters operated by China's People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) have flown into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) for the first time since Taipei started to publicly disclose such flights.  According to information from Taiwan's...

A Tu-95 bomber of the Russian Air Force flies over the Sea of Japan on 24 May 2022. (Japan Ministry of Defense)  Japan and South Korea scrambled its fighters to intercept a “provocative” joint exercise by four Chinese and two Russian strategic bombers in the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea on 24 May.  The exercise appears to be a show of force by Beijing and Moscow pointed at the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad), which was taking place in Tokyo on that same day. The meeting was attended by the leaders of Australia, India, Japan,...

The Czech Republic has a number of Mi-24/35 attack helicopters that it has now donated to Ukraine. (Janes/Patrick Allen)  The Czech Republic has donated attack helicopters to Ukraine, the US government disclosed on 23 May.  In wider comments on international aid to Kyiv, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said that Prague had made a donation of attack helicopters as part of a larger military package.  “I'd also like to thank the Czech Republic for its substantial support, including a recent donation of attack helicopters, tanks, and...

The US Navy cites the potential for hybrid power like that employed by the amphibious assault ship USS   Makin Island. (US Navy)  The US Navy (USN) is working with industry to develop other potential sources of fuel as well as possible alternative modes of power, according to Meredith Berger, acting assistant secretary of the navy for energy, installations, and environment.  “We are working with industry on what other types of low-emissions fuel-energy types are out there,” Berger said on 23 May during a media roundtable discu...

BAE Robotic Technology Demonstrator at EDGE22. (BAE Systems)  BAE Systems has exhibited a Robotic Technology Demonstrator (RTD) built on the lower hull of the M113 armoured fighting vehicle as part of its bid to develop a vehicle that meets US Army requirements for the Robotic Combat Vehicle-Medium (RCV-M).  The vehicle was demonstrated on 19 May at the Experimental Demonstration Gateway Exercise 2022 (EDGE22), an exercise held in preparation for Project Convergence 2022, the US Army's yearly warfighting and integration experiment.    BA...

An RGM-84L Harpoon missile on display at the Farnborough International Event and Conference Centre, in the UK. (Duncan Lennox)  Denmark is to supply a Harpoon anti-ship launcher and an undisclosed number of missiles to Ukraine to help defend its coast, the US Secretary of Defence Lloyd J Austin III announced on 23 May.  The announcement was made following the second meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, which was attended virtually by more than 40 ministers and chiefs of defence, including the Ukrainian minister of defence Oleksii Rez...

UK MoD Defence BattleLab opens at Dorset Innovation Park. (Janes)  The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has officially opened the Defence BattleLab, based in Dorset Innovation Park, which is designed to foster innovation between the UK armed forces, industry, and academia in a collaborative space.    UK Minister for Defence Procurement Jeremy Quin informed   Janes  that the lab has 100 rentable desks, conference rooms, an engineering workshop, and three 5G network testbeds that will enable secure testing in a closed network....

Alrosa   pictured before its overhaul and upgrade, which commenced in 2014.  (Russian MoD)  The Russian Navy Kilo-class Project 877V diesel-electric submarine (SSK) Alrosa (ex-B 871) is set to start sea trials following the completion of its overhaul and modernisation programme.  In comments to Russian news agency TASS on 16 May, a representative from Sevastopol's military and security authorities confirmed that Alrosa had docked at the Black Sea Fleet's naval base in Sevastopol, Crimea, after departing the service's 13th Ship Re...

A Chinese PLAN intelligence collection vessel,   Haiwangxing  , pictured operating off the north-west shelf of Australia.  (Commonwealth of Australia)  A Chinese intelligence collection ship has been tracked for a week off the West Australian coast and within 50 n miles (93 km) of a sensitive naval communications base, Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton disclosed on 13 May.    Dutton said the People's Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN's) Dongdiao-class (Type 815/815A) intelligence collection ship (AGI)...

The Russian Navy operates a fleet of 17 Project 03160 Raptor fast patrol boats.   (Nikolai Novichkov)  Ukraine claims that it has sunk two Russian Navy patrol ships during an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) strike on 2 May.  Video footage released by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on its official Twitter account shows what appears to be a Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) striking two Russian Navy Project 03160 Raptor-class fast patrol boats in the Black Sea. The footage, dated 2 May, shows the successful engagement of...

Germany will supply 50 Gepard anti-aircraft systems (seen during an exercise in 2010) to Ukraine. (Bundeswehr/Marcus Rott)  Defence ministers and chiefs of defence staff of the 43 members of the Ukraine Defense Consultative Group met at Ramstein Air Base in Rhineland-Palatinate, southwestern Germany, on 26 April, to discuss how to bolster Kyiv's resistance to Russia. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told journalists after the meeting, which he hosted, that German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht had “made a huge commitment” to provide...

Current forecasts by Janes Defence Budgets show that if Japan continues to allocate about 1% of GDP to defence, the national defence expenditure will grow to USD56 billion by the end of this decade. The increase in 2021 is because of the allocation of supplementary expenditure in that year. (Janes Defence Budgets)  Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has proposed a major revision to the country's defence policies in response to its evolving security environment.  Under the plan – submitted to Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi and Prime M...