A Japanese P-3C Orion surveillance plane flies over the main island of the disputed Senkaku-Diaoyu archipelago. The uninhabited islands have become a focal point for Japan-China military flights. (PA)  Fighter aircraft of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) scrambled 1,004 times in response to foreign aircraft approaching the country's airspace in fiscal year (FY) 2021.  Data released by the Japanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) on 15 April shows that the scrambles constituted a 38% increase compared with FY 2020. The latest figures are sec...

Milrem Robotics' THeMIS (pictured) has been the front and centre of the EU's iMUGS project for a common unmanned ground system. In the follow-on stage, it is intended to move work onto a larger UGV integrating more autonomy and with comparable mobility to a tank. (Milrem Robotics)  Officials from some EU member states are concerned that the follow-on to the Integrated Modular Unmanned Ground System (iMUGS), the European Defence Fund (EDF) project to develop a common unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), is liable to be delayed by at least a year, Ja...

The Australian Cyber Security Centre, previously the Cyber Security Operations Centre, is responsible for analysing cyber threats as well as co-ordinating responses to cyber incidents of national importance. (Commonwealth of Australia)  The Australian government has established the REDSPICE (resilience, effects, defence, space, intelligence, cyber, enablers) programme under the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) to enhance the country's cyber-warfare capabilities.  According to the ASD, the REDSPICE programme will receive an investment of A...

NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels between 6 and 7 April approved the charter of DIANA with a European headquarters hosted by Imperial College London. (NATO)  NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels between 6 and 7 April approved the charter of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) with a European headquarters hosted by Imperial College London.  NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the approval during a press conference after the meeting on 7 April, stating that DIANA “will include a network...

Horiba Mira's VIKING during demonstrations on Salisbury Plain, March 2022 (Janes/Alexander Stronell)  16 Air Assault Brigade has been chosen to become the British Army's first robotic autonomous systems (RAS)-enhanced brigade, it was announced on 6 April.  Speaking at SMi Military Robotics and Autonomous Systems 2022 (SMi MRAS 2022) conference in London, Lieutenant Colonel Iain Lamont, SO1 Robotics and Autonomous Systems, British Army, confirmed that 16 Air AssaultBrigade Combat Team had been chosen for the role.  The British Army intends to...

Janes delivers persistent monitoring of Russian troop and equipment sightings that connects the unit from the ORBAT, location, source data, exercise and mission (where relevant known), equipment with associated numbers, vessel ID, tail numbers, ground  vehicle markings and estimated sighting date. Below are a series of recent analysis pieces focusing on Russian troop movements on the border with Ukraine, that leverage the data collected, structured, verified and interconnected by Janes to enable  a more detailed assessment of Russian mi...

The ASMPA – seen here on the aircraft centreline – is scheduled to remain in service until around 2035. (SirpaAir/French Air Force)  France has approved the mid-life refurbishment of its Air-Sol Moyenne Portée Amélioré (ASMPA) air-launched nuclear missile inventory after a successful second qualification firing.  ‎Announced by France's Direction générale de l'armement (DGA) on 24 March, the firing of the unarmed ASMPA missile was undertaken from a Dassault Rafale combat aircraft operating from Cazaux Air Force Base in southwest France. In its...

A file photo of   Kurobe.   The vessel has been slightly damaged after an accident on 22 March 2022.   (Hachiro Nakai)  The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's (JMSDF's) sole Kurobe-class anti-air training vessel has been slightly damaged after it struck a navigation marker while navigating in waters off Shimonoseki.  Janes  has been informed by a source close to the matter that the vessel was navigating through a stretch of the Shimonoseki Strait, known as the Kanmon Passage, on 22 March when it encountered...

Roketsan's Levent close-in-weapon system. (Roketsan)  Turkish missile manufacturer Roketsan displayed its newly developed Levent (‘Sea Soldier') close-in air defence system (CIADS) at the Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX) 2022, held in Doha, Qatar.    The 21-cell missile system is designed to launch the naval version of the Sungur short-range anti-air missile, and is also capable of firing cruise missiles and sea-skimming missiles, a company spokesperson told   Janes  .   Levent has been...

The Russian Black Sea Fleet's Alligator-class large landing ship   Orsk  . The Ukrainian Navy claims to have destroyed the ship while it was near the port of Russian-occupied Berdyanskof on 24 March, although this remains to be confirmed.   (Cem Devrim Yaylali)  The Ukrainian Navy claims that it has destroyed one of Russia's large landing ships near the port city of Berdyansk in the Sea of Azov.  In a 24 March post on its official Facebook social media page, the Ukrainian Navy said it had destroyed the Black Sea...

The Australian government has introduced a ban on exports of aluminium ores and alumina to Russia. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said on 20 March that the sales ban is intended to impact Russia's defence industry.  “The goods d...

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a press conference after allied defence ministers met in Brussels on 16 March that they had tasked their military commanders to develop defence and deterrence options for the land, air, sea, cyber, and space domains for approval by a summit of allied leaders at the end of June. (NATO)  NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels on 16 March, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have tasked their military commanders with developing defence and deterrence options across all domains for appr...

Japan has introduced additional restrictions on exports to Russia of technologies and goods that can be used by its defence industrial complex. The move is coupled with new sanctions Tokyo has placed on several military enterprises operated by Mosc...

FNSS has presented initial production Kaplan MT medium tanks to the Indonesian Army at a ceremony held in Turkey. A prototype of the platform, which is known in Indonesia as Harimau, is pictured here undergoing trials. (FNSS)  Turkey's FNSS has handed over the initial Kaplan MT Modern Medium Weight Tanks (MMWTs) to the Indonesian Army.  The company said in a press release on 15 March that it has now built the first batch of MMWTs in “serial production configuration”. It said these vehicles were delivered to representatives of the Indonesian A...

An image of Bharath Electronic Limited (BEL) new tethered airbase surveillance drone. (Janes/Akhil Kadidal)  Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) is developing a tethered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to thwart future infiltration attacks on air bases.  BEL officials said that the company is working on a programme to develop the tethered UAV system, which weighs 9 kg and is designed to loiter in a fixed position above airfields and army bases, providing 360-degree surveillance capability.  “The UAV is tethered by an optical fibre cable, which als...

The Norwegian Coast Guard's second Jan Mayen-class OPV,   Bjørnøya,  arrives at Vard's Langsten shipyard in Tomrefjord, Norway, on 10 March.  (VARD)  The second Jan Mayan-class offshore patrol vessel (OPV) on order for the Norwegian Coast Guard has arrived in Norway for outfitting, Vard Shipbuilding announced on 11 March.  Bjørnøya is the second of three Jan Mayan-class vessels being built by Vard under a NOK5.2 billion (USD607 million) contract awarded in June 2018. The acquisition is one of the largest defence...

The Indian government has acknowledged that the crash of a supersonic missile in Pakistan was because of a technical malfunction.  The high-speed missile – launched on 9 March – travelled a distance of about 200 km, following its launch from Sirsa,...

Pakistan has claimed that an unarmed, high-speed missile originating from India violated its airspace before crashing in its territory.  The missile landed in Pakistan on 9 March, Major General Babar Iftikhar, the director-general of the Inter-Serv...

Bharat Electronics Limited may offer its 100 Mbps HCRR (pictured) to the Indian Army. (BEL)  The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has recently issued a request for information (RFI) for high-capacity radio relay (HCRR) equipment for the Indian Army.  According to the RFI, the MoD will acquire 800 units of HCRR equipment for the Indian Army. In addition, the HCRR equipment should “meet the operational aim of engineering and setting up secure, high-bandwidth, point-to-point communication links networks in high-altitude areas, mountainous [areas...

The Philippines has taken delivery of the first two of six TAI T129B attack helicopters (examples of which are pictured above). (Turkish Aerospace Industries)  The Philippine Air Force (PAF) has received the first two of six T129B ATAK helicopters ordered from Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI).  The PAF said in a 9 March statement on its Facebook page that the units arrived at Clark Air Base in Mabalacat City, Pampanga, aboard two Airbus A400M transport aircraft from Turkey.  Lieutenant Colonel Maynard Mariano, PAF spokesperson, told the s...