Defense`s Feeds

Americas Stratolaunch, LLC, a leading aerospace company, has announced a significant partnership with the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to support the upcoming maiden flight test of their second reusable cutting-edge Talon-A hypersonic test vehicle, TA-3. The Talon-A vehicles, when launched from “Roc,” the world’s largest flying aircraft, serve as rocket-powered, autonomous testbeds. They […]

Americas The US State Department has cleared the transfer of 24 F-16s from Denmark to Argentina. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regional Security in the State Department, Mira Resnick, delivered the letter approving the transfer to Jorge Argüello, Argentina’s ambassador to United States on October 11. Also cleared was the transfer of four P-3 maritime patrol […]

Americas Fidelity Technologies won an $18.7 million deal for the design and procurement of a UH-60M flight simulator. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Slovakia, with an estimated completion date of September 13, 2027. UH-60 Black Hawk is a multi-mission helicopter developed by Sikorsky that has been […]

Americas The US decision to step up military support for Israel after the surprise assault by Hamas will not harm Washington’s ability to keep arming Ukraine, its NATO envoy said on Tuesday. “On the question of whether or not US support for Israel could possibly come at the expense of US support for Ukraine — […]

Americas The US Marine Corps finished the first flight of its XQ-58A Valkyrie military aerial drone at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The test is part of the Penetrating Affordable Autonomous Collaborative Killer – Portfolio (PAACK-P) initiative, a program seeking an “agile, expeditionary, and lethal” drone to support the marines and the joint force in austere […]

Americas Raytheon has tested its Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) radar for the US Army in New Mexico. The trial was part of a $384-million deal signed in 2019 for six LTAMDS to replace older radars of the service’s Patriot surface-to-air missile systems.In July 2022, Raytheon received a $354-million contract to provide the army with […]

Americas The US Air Force has awarded Raytheon a $39 million contract to develop a command and control software prototype for an air base air defense system. Raytheon will develop the Battle Management Command and Control (BC3) software tested on a National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System in 2022. The prototype employs artificial intelligence and machine learning […]

The European Defence Agency (EDA)  hosted experts from the Ministries of Defence of participating Member States for in-depth discussion on the latest developments of REACH with representatives from the European Commission, the European Chemicals Agency, the European Space Agency, the Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD), as well as national defence industry associations and individual EU defence companies.

The European Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), along with other relevant EU regulations on chemicals and waste regulations, holds significant implications for the defence sector. In line with the current regulatory agenda at EU level, and given the impacts foreseen on the operational capabilities of participating Member States’ Armed Forces and the competitiveness and innovation of the EU defence industry, the main topics of discussion at this year’s plenary meeting were the REACH revision, the use of Chromium VI substances under REACH after the annulment of the CTACSub authorisation decision, and the REACH restriction proposals for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

With the participation of more than 60 experts, this annual event proved again this year to be a great opportunity for the EU defence community to build a common understanding of recent REACH developments in order to ensure that the objectives of this EU regulation are met, and to identify coordinated actions and best practices for the future. At the same time, the insights gained from this open debate will enable EDA, in its role of interfacing with EU defence stakeholders on wider EU policies, to provide the European Commission and the European Chemicals Agency with the relevant messages and proposals to mitigate the impacts for the defence sector.

Background

EDA has been addressing REACH and its defence implications since 2009. The Agency’s work in this field is currently guided by the EDA REACH Roadmap 2021-2023 which was adopted by Member States in 2021 and contains a comprehensive list of activities. In addition to REACH, this roadmap also covers activities related to other related EU chemicals and waste regulations on the basis of the outcome of 2021 EDA study.

EDA closely engages with and regularly invites key stakeholders to EDA REACH meetings, such as the European Commission, the European Chemicals Agency, the European Space Agency and EU defence industry (under the overarching comprehensive EDA approach on industry engagement), in order to facilitate closer and more transparent interaction on defence-related REACH issues, which is seen as an important success factor for EDA’s work in this field.

More information

EDA REACH Activities

Americas General Dynamics won a $967.2 million modification for lead yard support and development studies and design efforts related to Virginia Class submarines. Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut; McLeansville, North Carolina; Newport News, Virginia; and Newport and Quonset, Rhode Island, and is expected to be completed by October 2024. The US Navy has […]

Americas Design West won a $21 million modification to exercise options to procure launch sequencers and associated kitted material in support of the MK 41 Vertical Launching System. This modification combines purchases for the Navy; and the governments of Finland, Australia, Germany, Norway, Canada, and the Republic of Korea under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) […]

Americas The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory won a $2 billion deal for technical and engineering support necessary to maintain and sustain the Trident II Strategic Weapon System Mark 6 Guidance Subsystem and support the strategic guidance, navigation, and control research and development efforts required to enable follow-on, full-scale development of the Mark 7 Guidance Subsystem, […]

Seven EU Member States have placed orders with European industry through the European Defence Agency’s fast-track joint procurement scheme for 155mm ammunition. More orders, for instance for national replenishment purposes, could materialise in the coming weeks and months. 

High Representative Josep Borrell, who is also Head of the European Defence Agency, said: “We have put an ambitious framework in place to support joint procurement of ammunition – to replenish stocks and to support Ukraine. The European Defence Agency played a crucial role in this endeavour. Several Member States are buying 155-mm artillery ammunition together, thanks to the contracts negotiated by the EDA with the European defence industry. More are expected. We need this for Ukraine, but also for the EU. Joint procurement is the best way to spend better more efficiently and effectively together. This is a new step towards a more coordinated and capable EU defence.”  

EDA’s Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý said: “This is proof of the confidence placed in EDA and in European defence collaboration. Joint procurement is the best option to support Member States in purchasing ammunition according to their national needs or for Ukraine. It also sends a strong signal to industry, showing the EU’s commitment to the European defence technological and industrial base (EDTIB).” 

The EDA’s fast-track for 155mm ammunition covers all-up-rounds and elements thereof (fuses, projectiles, charges, primer) for four different, modern firing platforms designed and produced in Europe (France’s Caesar, Poland’s Krab, Germany’s Panzerhaubitze 2000 and Slovakia’s Zuzana) and most used by the Ukrainian armed forces.  

Nine framework contracts with industry are currently in place. The seven Member States’ orders, signed for both all-up-rounds and elements, are eligible for European Peace Facility reimbursement. EDA cannot divulge contractual details at this stage. 

The EDA fast-track procedure for joint procurement was set up in record time, allowing for the tendering process to be simplified, and contracts finalised at short notice. It has been designed to reach the whole EDTIB, including both major companies as well as subcontractors, to provide Member States with flexible options and to speed up deliveries.  

Three-track approach 

Joint procurement is the best option to achieve cost reduction through economies of scale and interoperability. The overarching EDA project arrangement has been signed by 26 Member States and Norway. Flexible and inclusive, it allows all EDA Member States to join the initiative.

EDA’s joint procurement efforts are part of a three-track approach to deliver more artillery ammunition and missiles to Ukraine, agreed by the Council of the EU in March 2023. 

Through these three tracks, the EU is supporting Member States to deliver artillery ammunition and missiles from national stockpiles, to aggregate demand and jointly procure 155mm ammunition, and to ramp up the production capacity of the European defence industry. 

EDA’s wider role

EDA supports all EU Member States in improving their defence capabilities through European cooperation. Acting as an enabler and facilitator for Ministries of Defence willing to engage in collaborative capability projects, the Agency has become the hub for European defence cooperation with expertise and networks spanning the whole spectrum of defence capabilities.

Member States use EDA as an intergovernmental expert platform where their collaborative projects are supported, facilitated, and implemented. For more details, please see here. 

The European Defence Agency has overseen the final demonstration of coordination between aerial and ground unmanned systems in the detection of explosives. 

During the demonstration, one aerial unmanned system and two ground unmanned systems, each equipped with different sensors, undertook a complete autonomous search to detect mock-ups of explosives and improvised explosive devices, including unexploded ordinance – both in rural and urban areas. The demonstration took place on 7 September 2023 in Belgium at the bomb detection centre DOVO/SEDEE.  

The €1.55 million project, Artificial Intelligence for Detection of Explosive Devices, or AIDED, was granted funding through the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR) in the 2019 call. PADR is a precursor to the European Defence Fund (EDF), of which the European Commission has overall responsibility. Monitored by EDA, AIDED is managed by a consortium of four entities, including Germany’s Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, and headed by the Belgian SME Space Applications Services.  

September’s demonstration shows the maturity of the system so far, reaching a Technology Readiness Level of three-to-four. While that TRL was the goal, it also means the technology still needs to be taken further to ensure it is fool-proof. 

Powerful laser beam

Different sensors were used for the demonstration and there was a specific focus on each of them. The sensors used for detection were: 

• The EMI (EM metal detector); the Ground Penetrating Radar for  more accuracy – although it is sensitive to the movements of the carrier; the Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, using a powerful laser beam to create a small plasma of the area to be analysed by a spectrometer; and a bigger sensor used for final identification.
• Neural networks were trained for each type of sensor signal processing, based on labelled data sets acquired during the project. Labelling the detections by the different sensors was an important part of the trials, and although time consuming, it was a major step in showing the improvements made by the AI algorithms. 
• Other sensors were used for localization and mapping algorithms for robot navigation and to cope with situations such as in an environment where the Global Positioning System was denied or degraded. 

The consortium faced issues such as the sensitivity of some sensors to soil humidity and to the movements of the carrier, the sensitivity of the systems to high temperatures and the precision of the navigation. The consortium showed their 'detect and avoid' system for avoiding collision between the UAV flying at very low altitude for good detection and the UGVs. 

Next steps - 'AIDEDex'

Overall the demonstration, as part of the project’s concluding phase, showed how artificial intelligence can be used effectively in several aspects in an unmanned systems operational environment such as mission planning, self navigation, team working and last but not least explosive devices detection, tasks that have been performed autonomously with minimal human intervention.  

A follow-up project, known as AIDEDex, has been selected from the European Defence Fund 2022 call and will take further the efforts on unmanned ground and aerial systems for hidden threat detection. The project will have a duration of 48 months with six partners from five EU Member states.

EDA’s wider role

EDA supports all EU Member States in improving their defence capabilities through European cooperation. Acting as an enabler and facilitator for Ministries of Defence willing to engage in collaborative capability projects, the Agency has become the hub for European defence cooperation with expertise and networks spanning the whole spectrum of defence capabilities.

Member States use EDA as an intergovernmental expert platform where their collaborative projects are supported, facilitated, and implemented. For more details, please see here. 

The only dedicated European exercise for the C-27J Spartan military transport aircraft launches today for two weeks of intensive joint training. Now in its seventh edition, the ‘European Spartan Exercise’ will take place at 90th airlift base - Otopeni, Romania with four participating nations: Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, and Lithuania. In this edition, the European Spartan Exercise will be tailored to the Tactical air transport including air Medevac.

The European Spartan Exercise brings together three C-27J’s and around 150 personnel and will run from 2-12 October and marking the second time Romania has hosted the exercise. The core planning team composed of personnel from participating nations and the EDA already began work on 27 September for final preparations of the exercise. All planning cells include a representative of the participating nations, while medical personnel will plan dedicated missions for medical evacuation.

Tactical training

The C-27J Spartan transport aircraft is designed to perform tactical missions in peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, providing direct air transport to the theatre, day and night. The Spartan Exercise is also focused on peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, training C-27J crews to fly low level tactical navigation in different scenarios. The second week of the exercise will be dedicated to Tactical Medevac activities. Several airfields in Romania have been chosen for training with crews due to perform tactical approaches, material (CDS) and personnel airdrops, also using unprepared runway and short airfield for take-off and landing.

European C-27J community

This annual flying exercise, which is part of the EDA’s dedicated C-27J project that gathers five participating Member States that are C-27J users (the four afore-mentioned countries plus Slovakia), works to identify and develop common projects in the domains of operations, training, logistics, procurement, airworthiness and Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) to achieve a high level of interoperability and cost-efficient operating and maintenance models.

EDA’s wider role 

EDA supports all EU Member States in improving their defence capabilities through European cooperation. Acting as an enabler and facilitator for Ministries of Defence willing to engage in collaborative capability projects, the Agency has become the hub for European defence cooperation with expertise and networks spanning the whole spectrum of defence capabilities. 

Member States use EDA as an intergovernmental expert platform where their collaborative projects are supported, facilitated, and implemented. For more details, please see here. 

Americas Honeywell International won a $95 million deal by the US Army for maintenance and overhaul of UH-60 Black Hawk starters. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of September 28, 2028. The US Air Force tapped Raytheon […]

The European Defence Agency (EDA) and the European Commission’s DG Environment have signed a EUR 3-million Contribution Agreement to implement work on the circular economy in defence. The EDA’s “Incubation Forum for Circular Economy in European Defence” enters its project implementation phase (“IF CEED 2”). The EDA has managed the Incubation Forum for Circular Economy in European Defence (IF CEED) over the last 2 years, which has successfully  aimed at implementing circularity principles of the EU Green Deal to contribute to the operational efficiency of the armed forces.

Project ideas were built within 9 transnational incubation groups (“Project Circles”) by 300 experts from 28 Ministries of Defence in Europe, other national or international public bodies, as well as defence-related industry, research-and-technology organisations and universities.

Project Ideas

• Mining critical raw materials (CRM) from end-of-life military devices;
• Sustainable replacement of hard chrome/chromates solutions with CRM free coatings;
• Circularity of titanium via Additive Manufacturing (AM);
• Energy-efficient polymer AM; Circular deployable AM;
• Military (smart) Textile waste recycling and valorisation;
• Recycling / re-use / recovery of high value fibres from soldier personal protective equipment;
• Development of smart modular protective clothing systems for military applications using safe-and-sustainable by design principles;
• Guidelines for Environmental evaluation in defence applications;
• EMAS Certification uptake at experimental test ranges;
• EMAS training course and monitoring;
• Green Procurement Training for Defence;
• Defence Green Procurement Knowledge Platform;
• Digital Product Passport for armour components;
• Circular management of spare parts from decommissioned assets.

Since 1 October 2023, the DG Environment of the European Commission delegates EDA with the management of the “IF CEED 2” programme, to assist and ignite the concrete implementation of the aforesaid 15 collaborative projects ideas. This initiative receives a contribution of EUR 1.8 million from the EU LIFE Programme over a period of 4 years, to be supplemented by the Agency’s own resources and possible additional revenues, for an initial minimum budget of EUR 3 million.

EDA’s work on green defence

Moreover, IF CEED 2 will remain the key European forum to develop new project ideas on circular economy in Defence, thereby enhancing the contribution of the Agency to a sustainable and resilient defence sector, as already developed under e.g. the EDA’s Capability Technology Group Energy and Environment (CapTech E&E), the Environment Social Governance Network (ESG-N), the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector (CF SEDSS), the REACH Network,  the courses on energy management in defence (DEMC) and the project Offshore Renewable Energy For Defence (Symbiosis).

For any further info: circular.economy@eda.europa.eu.

• How IF CEED works - video

Today, the European Defence Agency (EDA) hosted the final meeting of the PILUM project, which focuses on a disruptive concept for an electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) - a future complementary artillery system with the potential of significantly higher projectile velocities and long-range effect. Launched in April 2021, with funding from the European Commission (EC) under the Preparatory Action for Defence Research (PADR), today’s meeting focused on the main research topics studied within PILUM and the results obtained for each of the three components of the EMRG: the railgun, the hypersonic projectile and electric energy storage and conversion.

All seven partners from four European countries working together on this study agreed that significant advancements in the three key areas of electromagnetic artillery were made. This progress sets the stage for the future of advanced electromagnetic weaponry. The achievements in the PILUM project serve as a strong foundation for the next phase called THEMA (Technology for Electromagnetic Artillery) and launched under the EC's European Defence Fund (EDF). THEMA's goal is to prepare for the testing of an electromagnetic railgun on a firing range by 2028. 

PILUM – Progress on three key components

Across the results obtained for each of the three components of the EMRG significant findings were reported in the final meeting. The railgun launcher's critical components, exposed to extreme heat and high-speed friction, were protected with special wear-resistant materials, which significantly extended the railgun barrel's lifespan.

The project also developed a concept for hypervelocity projectiles for speeds up to MACH 6. The performance of the projectile concept was extensively assessed at MACH 5 through wind tunnel experiments and computer simulations.

 

Additionally, the PILUM project explored various energy supply ideas, such as capacitive and inductive energy concepts. The capacitive system demonstrated a 25% increase in energy density under specific operational conditions. Another promising solution, the XRAM inductive energy concept, showed potential for storing magnetic energy efficiently, with ongoing work to address its technological challenges in the maturation phase (THEMA project).

Download the PILUM Factsheet here

Americas Brazilian Defense Minister Jose Mucio has announced plans to travel to Sweden next month to negotiate a potential sale of Embraer’s C-390 Millennium military cargo aircraft to the Nordic nation. The move comes as Brazil explores the possibility of selling three to four C-390 aircraft to Sweden, while Sweden expresses interest in increasing its […]

EDA Chief Executive, Jiří Šedivý, visited Ireland for high-level talks with Micheál Martin, Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) and Minister of Defence, and senior officials from the Irish Department of Defence.  The Chief Executive also met with members of the Irish Defence & Security Association. The trip to Dublin was part of Mr Šedivý’s ‘tour des capitales’, which sees him visiting all the EDA’s Member States.

The discussions with Minister Martin mainly focused on Ireland’s ongoing and increased involvement in EDA’s activities, new opportunities for EDA to support Irish defence efforts and the upcoming EU Capability Development Plan (CDP). Mr Šedivý also met with senior officials from the Irish Department of Defence, including; Secretary General Department of Defence, Jacqui Mc Crum, Defence Policy Director, Bernie Maguire and Capability and National Armament Director, Eamon Murtagh.  During the second day of the visit, the Chief Executive also held discussions with senior Irish Defence Forces’ personnel, Col Matt Byrne, Director of Ordnance and Lt Col Fred O Donovan, Strategic Planning Branch. 

To date, Ireland participates in a total of 11 EDA projects and programmes. These include: the European Centre for Manual Neutralisation Capabilities; the EU SatCom market; Military Search Capacity Building and MARSUR Networking. Ireland also signed EDA’s recent collaborative procurement projects for ammunition, CBRN and soldier equipment, and is awaiting acceptance into the MICNET projects, as part for a recent government decision to join four projects within the Agency.   Ireland also participates in four projects under the Permanent Structured Cooperation mechanism, PESCO, and is an observer in 21 projects.

“My visit to Dublin is particularly important as the cooperation between the Agency and Ireland has been growing. Over the past few years, Irish participation and interest in the EDA has only increased and I believe there are further opportunities ahead to deepen the Agency’s support to Ireland. The recent signature by Ireland to join EDA’s ambitious collaborative procurement projects is a testament to EDA’s tailored support on offer to all its Member States”, Jiří Šedivý said.  

“I very much welcome the Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency to Dublin.  Ireland has been a participating member of the Agency since its establishment in 2004.  We work closely with the EDA to enable the delivery of key capabilities for the Defence Forces.  Engagement in EDA Projects allows access to training, information sharing and key technologies that we simply would not be able to achieve on our own.  Ireland will continue to use all opportunities to enhance and develop Defence Forces capabilities through the EDA”, Micheál Martin, Tánaiste and Minister of Defence said. 

EDA’s wider role 

EDA supports all EU Member States in improving their defence capabilities through European cooperation. Acting as an enabler and facilitator for Ministries of Defence willing to engage in collaborative capability projects, the Agency has become the hub for European defence cooperation with expertise and networks spanning the whole spectrum of defence capabilities. 

Member States use EDA as an intergovernmental expert platform where their collaborative projects are supported, facilitated, and implemented. For more details, please see here. 

 

Americas Columbia Helicopters won a $54 million deal for maintenance and overhaul of the CH-47 Chinook rotor head. The Chinook CH-47 is a multi-mission helicopter manufactured by American aerospace and defense firm Boeing for the US Army and international defense forces. It’s used  for the transportation of troops, artillery, supplies, and equipment to the battlefield. […]