Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert van Defensie heeft vandaag een brief naar Tweede Kamer gestuurd over de invoering van het Total Force Concept. In Nederland ‘de Adaptieve Krijgsmacht’ genoemd. Hierin presenteert de bewindsvrouw hoe zij de krijgsmacht nog flexibeler en duurzamer wil laten samenwerken met bedrijven en organisaties. De krijgsmacht heeft bijvoorbeeld niet meer alles zelf op Read more about NL MoD plans for flexible defence[…]

In one of the largest successful demonstrations of swarming micro-drones, over 100 Perdix UAVs screamed over the US Naval Air Systems Command’s testing grounds at China Lake, California last October. Source: Secretive DOD office reveals swarming Perdix UAVs

Royal Navy warships will be left without anti-ship missiles and be forced to rely on naval guns because of cost-cutting, the Ministry of Defence has admitted. The Navy’s Harpoon missiles will retire from the fleet’s frigates and destroyers in 2018 without a replacement, while there will also be a two year gap without helicopter-launched anti-shipping Read more about Royal Navy to lose missiles and be left only with guns[…]

Britain will have to send its supersonic F-35 fighter jets to Italy for heavy overhauls, the UK Ministry of Defence has confirmed to The Register. BAE Systems will maintain an airframe maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade (MRO&U) capability at RAF Marham in Norfolk, according to a US announcement earlier this week. However, that will only Read more about Britain must send its F-35s to Italy for heavy overhauls, decrees US, engines overhauled in Turkey[…]

The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) has placed a £2.5 million order for UK-designed and built miniature decoys which will help to protect combat jets from missiles. BriteCloud, which is similar in size and appearance to a beverage can, can be fired from an aircraft’s flare dispenser without the need for modification to the aircraft. Read more about MOD orders UK-designed mini missile decoy for RAF[…]

The 64-page report details a range of issues. It identifies 76 “capability deficiencies,” of which the Department of Defence (DoD) deems 60 to be “critical.” […] On average, only 3.5 aircraft in the operational fleet of 16 helicopters were available on “any given day in 2015,” says ANAO. This is below targeted readiness of 12 Read more about ​Australian government auditor slams Tiger attack helicopter[…]

The current service is provided by Cobham Aviation with its Dassault Falcon 20s and Fleet Air Arm-operated BAE Systems Hawk T1s flown by 736 NAS from RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall and RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset. The unit’s Hawks will be retired in 2020. A phased plan of introducing other capabilities will continue throughout the next Read more about UK To Outsource RAF aggressor training[…]

with more than 5,000 personnel from the two countries coming together for Exercise Griffin Strike. The exercise, which involves a joint French/UK headquarters planning and executing military activity for the first time, will see the CJEF demonstrate ‘full validation of concept’. That means it will be available for bilateral, NATO, EU, UN or coalition operations. Read more about Combined UK and French Joint Expeditionary Force is now reality[…]

The all-weather Drone Dome has 360° circular coverage, and uses an electro-optical/infrared sensor and radar to detect a threat. The data is then combined and correlated and alerts the operator of the hostile UAV. The system initiates either an automatic interference operation – as per pre-defined rules – or it is carried out manually by Read more about Rafael unveils “Drone Dome” anti-UAV system[…]

nodegoat is a web-based data management, analysis & visualisation environment. Source: Battles | Public Interface | nodegoat

Old sad dickless USMC leadership who can’t handle working with equally competent gay men or women are trying to get rid of mr Mabus who has not only insisted on using them in combat roles if they meet the standards but also (shock! horror!) insisted on exploring alternative fuels. One is the integration of women Read more about USMC leadership shows how stuck in the mud they are when they try to fling some at Secretary of the Navy[…]

The Air Force has hired civilian defense contractors to fly MQ-9 Reaper drones to help track suspected militants and other targets in global hot spots, a previously undisclosed expansion in the privatization of once-exclusively military functions. Source: Air Force hires civilian drone pilots for combat patrols; critics question legality

With MiGFlug, you can fly a real fighter jet – even if you’ve never flown a plane on your own before! One of our experienced flight instructors will be carefully preparing you for the flight, explaining about the instruments and finally taking off with you. During the jet flight, if you wish to do so, Read more about MiGFlug – Jet Fighter Flights in Supersonic Military Fighter Aircraft[…]

Lockheed Martin claims to have overcome a major obstacle to shooting high-power laser weapons from high-speed aircraft, saying it has successfully completed 60 Aero-adaptive Aero-optic Beam Control (ABC) laser turret flight tests over the past year. The turret uses a green, low-power laser to measure the system’s effectiveness at jet cruise speeds and at different Read more about Lockheed fires green lasers from business jets[…]

Top legal experts met this week in Estonia for a drafting session of the substantially expanded and updated edition of the handbook on applicability of international law to the cyber realm. […] The Tallinn Manual process is funded, hosted and facilitated by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. Source: Tallinn Manual 2.0 to Read more about Tallinn Manual 2.0 to Be Completed in 2016 | lawyers talking about hackers and calling them mercenaries with no recourse to Geneva conventions[…]

Angle limitations lead the list. The experiment tested the cloak with light hitting at a 45 degree angle, and works effectively only within a 6-degree range of angles. Kante said his team is working on ways to expand that. His study states that the math behind the effectiveness of this experiment indicates a “large range” Read more about New stealth technology uses  ceramics instead of metal with teflon – actually works against modern radars… mostly[…]

The Dutch Ministry of Defence has formalised an agreement with Pratt & Whitney to establish an organic F135 engine maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade (MRO&U) shop at the Royal Netherlands Air Force’s Woensdrecht Logistics Centre with the goal of supporting Lockheed Martin F-35 operations by 2019. Source: ​Dutch MOD, P&W sign contract to stand up Read more about ​Dutch MOD, P&W sign contract to stand up F135 maintenance site[…]

we will seek even more opportunities to exchange personnel. Already a joint UK-US battlestaff have deployed on operations. I see this type of interchange becoming the norm, particularly in headquarters roles, but we are also exploring the opportunity to mutually support niche or perishable skills. [Fourthly,] we will pursue mutual investment in the technologies that Read more about UK/US naval partnership – much more integration and interoperability[…]

A test pilot has criticised the F-35 heavily, explaining the F-35 loses out in all regimes. He couldn’t even turn his head properly, as the size of the helmet was too large for the size of the canopy! War is boring

DARPA’s Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) program, which developed a self-steering bullet to increase hit rates for difficult, long-distance shots, completed in February its most successful round of live-fire tests to date. An experienced shooter using the technology demonstration system repeatedly hit moving and evading targets. Additionally, a novice shooter using the system for the Read more about EXACTO Guided Bullet Demonstrates Repeatable Performance against Moving Targets[…]

Tough Men for Hire: Ex-Special Forces in Demand for War on Terror | Military.com. A good look at how mercenaries are now at the forefront of training armies, since the collapse of Blackwater.

As well as several other officers, they were bribed to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, allowing the company doing the bribing to overcharge for around $20 million dollars. 3 Rear Admirals Forced Out Amid Massive Navy Bribery Scandal | Military.com.

America’s $400 billion Joint Strike Fighter, or F-35, is slated to join fighter squadrons next year—but missing software will render its 25mm cannon useless. The Pentagon’s newest stealth jet, the nearly $400 billion Joint Strike Fighter, won’t be able to fire its gun during operational missions until 2019, three to four years after it becomes Read more about F-35 Can’t Fire Its Gun Until 2019 – And even then hardly[…]

How Dumb Cluster Bombs Are Becoming Heinously Smart.

Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT], in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the University of Notre Dame, has demonstrated the airworthiness of a new beam control turret being developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and AFRL to give 360-degree coverage for high-energy laser weapons operating on military aircraft. A research Read more about Lockheed Martin Conducts Flight Tests Of Aircraft Laser Turret[…]