European Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Royal Netherlands Air Force second F-35 squadron takes shape​

While Royal Netherlands Air Force at the end of December, new F-35s are still arriving. The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) announced on 12 January that, with the last of 24 F-35As now delivered to 322 Squadron at Leeuwarden Air Base, the first aircraft for 313 Squadron have now begun arriving at Volkel Air Base also.


F-023 and F-024 (Picture source: RNLAF)

Netherlands ordered a total of 46 F-35 fighters to replace the F-16s with which the Air Force has been flying since 1979.

The Netherlands was the second international partner to receive the F-35, and continues to serve as a key contributor to the production and sustainment of the F-35 Lightning II advanced fighter. The Dutch are making plans to add to their F-35 fleet to increase the nation’s capability and capacity to engage in allied operations.

More than 25 suppliers from across Dutch industry are participating in critical technology development and strategic structural design ventures integral to the F-35 program, along with high-volume production, which includes composites, bonded assemblies, and aircraft wiring. This high-technology work leverages the Netherlands’ past performance experience and expertise on the F-16 program to maintain high-quality program execution.

Every F-35 contains components manufactured by Dutch companies. With the introduction of advanced technologies, Dutch industries are strategically positioned to participate in the production of more than 3,000 F-35 aircraft over the life of the program.


F-023 and F-024 (Picture source: RNLAF)

Poland gets first US-made M1 Abrams tanks​

Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak on Tuesday said that the first Abrams main battle tanks arrived at the Land Forces Training Center at Biedrusko.

“The first of 28 Abrams tanks arrived at the Land Forces Training Center. Soon the soldiers of the Iron Division will begin training,” he said.

The batch includes seven tanks and two support vehicles on which Polish tank crews will be trained, said Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak.


The tanks, in their older version, will be used for training which will start in August, before a contracted 250 new M1A2 Abrams SEPv3 tanks arrive in Poland, which is expected in early 2023.

Polish defense officials have said the acquisition will enable the country’s military to counter Russia’s flagship T-14 Armata tank. The procurement will allow Warsaw to replace its outdated Soviet-designed T-72 and PT-91 tanks with a new tracked vehicle platform. The Polish land forces also operate Leopard 2A4 and Leopard 2A5 tanks acquired from Germany.

The M1 Abrams tanks are combat proven and currently serves as the main battle tank of the U.S. Army. For Poland, the tanks are expected to significantly enhance regional security and coalition capability.

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Estonia to purchase six US-made M142 HIMARS rocket launcher systems​

According to information published by the United States Department of Defense (DoD), on July 15, 2022, the U.S. State Department made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Estonia of (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) and related equipment for an estimated cost of up to $500 million.

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M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) vehicles with the 1st Battalion, 623rd Field Artillery Regiment, Kentucky Army National Guard participating in Saber Strike 18 execute a fire mission at Bemoko Piskie, Poland, June 14, 2018. (Picture source U.S. DoD)

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The Government of Estonia has requested to purchase up to six (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) Launchers as well as up to thirty-six (36) M30A2 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) Alternative Warhead (AW) Missile Pods with Insensitive Munitions Propulsion System (IMPS) and Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave – Directional Doppler Ranging (FMCW-DDR) Proximity Height-of-Burst (HOB) Sensor Capability.

Estonia has also requested up to thirty-six (36) M31A2 GMLRS Unitary High Explosive (HE) Missile Pods with IMPS and FMCW-DDR Proximity HOB Sensor Capability; up to thirty-six (36) XM403 Extended Range GMLRS (ER GMLRS) Alternative Warhead (AW) Missile Pods with IMPS and Side Mounted Proximity Sensor (SMPS) HOB Capability; up to thirty-six (36) XM404 Extended Range GMLRS (ER GMLRS) Unitary Pods with IMPS and SMPS HOB Capability; and up to eighteen (18) M57 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) Missile Pods.

The M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) is a multiple rocket launcher system was developed by the American company Lockheed Martin Missiles. The rocket launcher system is mounted to a 6x6 FMTV truck chassis.

The can fire the standard MLRS round, but also the entire MLRS family of munitions, including the extended-range rocket, the reduced-range practice rocket, and all future variants. It can also fire the extended range guided rocket GMLRS, with a range of more than 70 km. It is also capable to fire the TACMS Tactical Missile with a maximum range of 300 km. It can fire all munitions in the currently planned suite of the MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) Family of Munitions (MFOM), including army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles and Guided MLRS (GMLRS) rockets.

This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security of a NATO Ally that continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress in Europe. This sale is consistent with U.S. initiatives to provide key allies in the region with modern systems that will enhance interoperability with U.S. forces and increase security.

This sale will contribute to Estonia’s military goals of updating capability while further enhancing interoperability with the United States and other allies. Estonia intends to use these defense articles and services to modernize its armed forces and expand its capability to strengthen its homeland defense and deter regional threats. Estonia will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.

Implementation of this proposed sale may require the assignment of approximately fifteen (15) U.S. Government representatives and up to fifteen (15) contractor representatives to Estonia at any given time, during the delivery, training, integration, and testing of the HIMARS capability.

Greece receives new batch of M1117 armored security vehicles​

Photo by U.S. Embassy Athens

The Hellenic Armed Forces have received a new batch of 90 M117 Guardian Armored Safety Vehicles from the U.S. under our Excess Defense Articles program, according to the U.S. Embassy Athens.

“Great to welcome 90 more M1117 Armored Security Vehicles to Thessaloniki,” the Embassy said in a Twitter post-Monday.
The details were given in a 25 July post, to announce the U.S. plans to provide 1,200 armored vehicles by the end of 2022.


The vehicles are Excess Defense Articles, or EDA, and the Army uses FMS to facilitate divesture, while simultaneously building partner capacity. Vehicles declared EDA are no longer part of the Army’s inventory. The U.S. Army Security Assistance Command (USASAC) executes Army FMS.

Greece received an initial 44 M117 Guardian Armored Safety Vehicles in 2021. The M1117 vehicles will complement existing weapons systems, providing new capabilities to the Greek Army.

The M117 ASV is a lightly armored, all wheel drive vehicle that provides ballistic protection for the military police crew members against various small arms and fragment threats. The 30,000 lb. vehicle contains V-shaped armor, a turret system and is capable of seating up to four individuals with all of their combat gear.


Photo by U.S. Embassy Athens

Germany studies the possibility to purchase US or Israeli air defense missile system​

According to information published by the "Alarabiya News" on June 30, 2022, Germany is studying the possibility to purchase a new air defense missile system from Israel or the United States which will be able to counter the Russian tactical missile.

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Germany looks to buy Israeli Arrow 3 or US THAAD air defense missile system

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Israel and the United States have developed air defense missile systems especially designed to counter modern missile threats including Russian missile. Inded, the United States has developed the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense manufactured by Lockheed Martin while Israel has the built by Israel Aerospace Industries.

Citing information from German military source, currently the German armed forces have no air defense system capable of intercepting the Russian Iskander missile and providing effective protection of European airspace.

The Iskander-M is the latest generation of tactical missile in the Iskander family fully designed and manufactured in Russia. It is a truck-mounted missile system based on an MZKT-7930 8x8 truck chassis. The Iskander-M missile can reach a land target at a distance of up to 400 km.

The or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense is a transportable air defense missile system which is able to intercept ballistic missiles during their final, or terminal, phase of flight. It incorporates an X-band radar, the AN/TPY-2, and a single-stage, hit-to-kill interceptor to defeat ballistic missiles inside or outside of the atmosphere.

The THAAD system can destroy air targets at ranges from 150 to 200 km.10 Unlike other missile defense systems, THAAD can intercept targets within (endoatmospheric) and outside (exoatmospheric) the atmosphere.

The is an exoatmospheric hypersonic anti-ballistic missile, jointly funded, developed, and produced by Israel and the United States.

The missile launcher unit of Arrow 3 long-range anti-ballistic missile system consists of six erector-launchers tubes and ready-to-fire missiles, mounted at the rear of two-axle trailer. The arrow 3 missile is able to intercept ballistic missiles, especially those carrying weapons of mass destruction, at altitudes of over 100 km, and with a reported range of up to 2,400 km.

Ukraine War, One of the biggest meals I have ever seen.

Leonardo, Mitsubishi to collaborate on radar technology demonstration​

By and
Jul 18, 10:36 PM


Leonardo UK's radar portfolio includes an Mk 2 Eurofighter system that is reportedly optimized for electronic warfare and traditional radar tasks. (Leonardo UK)

FARNBOROUGH, England — Leonardo UK and Mitsubishi Electric agreed to collaborate on a radar technology demonstrator concept that could inform future joint development efforts between the U.K. and Japan.

The agreement, announced July 18 at the Farnborough Airshow in England, follows the completion of joint concept and feasibility studies between the companies this year and signifies approval from their respective national defense ministries to move forward with the program, they said.

Britain and Japan have deepened their partnership on air combat technology in recent years. In December, the nations signed a Memorandum of Cooperation indicating their intent to collaborate on combat aircraft. Reuters reported last week that the countries could decide to merge their by the end of the year. Japan’s program is called F-X and Britain’s is the Future Combat Air System, or FCAS.

Leonardo UK, a radar and electronics company, is part of the Team Tempest, the industry group the U.K. assembled to begin developing its advanced fighter capabilities. In a statement, the company indicated the radar program, called Jaguar, may be the start of more combat aircraft collaboration between the countries.

“Jaguar represents the first big building block of an international radar program that meets the ambitions laid out by Japan and the UK as part of F-X/FCAS discussions,” Leonardo UK said.

Jaguar will feed into development of Tempest’s Integrated Sensing and Non-Kinetic Effects & Integrated Communications System, which is designed to bring together multiple sensor capabilities, the company said.

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The project, which could cost up to €27.3 million, is coordinated through the European Defence Fund and involves an industrial consortium of 14 partners.​

By on July 26, 2022 at 6:14 AM

Promotional art for the MBDA Akeron LP weapon. (MBDA)

PARIS: As part of an ongoing effort to become on American military capabilities, the European Union has approved €25 million ($25.6 million) towards developing a collaborative close combat architecture to enhance existing missile systems with a Beyond-Line-of-Sight (BLOS) capability.

Although in the works for several years, the announcement comes at a time when are proving vital to against Russian invaders, underlining the potential need for European-based BLOS systems in the future.

Known as MARSEUS (Modular Architecture Solutions for EU States), the 36-month long European Union project, coordinated by European missile group MBDA, will base the concepts, integration work and tests on the family of Akeron medium and long-range missile systems. These are “fully mastered by European industry, making it possible to guarantee their autonomy of use, the safety supply and scalability,” MBDA said in a statement, adding that “the growing instability of the current geostrategic context only makes it more relevant for European states to develop and control these land combat capabilities in complete autonomy.”

MARSEUS, whose overall cost is estimated to amount to €27.3 million ($27.9 million), aims to identify and test new, emerging technological solutions that could contribute to the future development of BLOS weapons systems. The additional €2.3 million will be contributed by an industrial consortium led by MBDA, with 13 major industrial partners from Belgium (Royal Military Academy, John Cockerill Defense, FN Herstal and Xenics), Cyprus (Additess and SignalGenerix), France (Novadem, Atos, Arquus and Delair) and Sweden (Saab Dynamics, BAE Hägglunds and Exensor), as well as a collection of subcontractors from other nations. MBDA will also work in close partnership with the French, Belgian, Cypriot and Swedish armed forces.

The project builds on the ongoing EDIDP (European Defence Industrial Development Programme) Lynkeus project awarded in 2020 by the EU Commission to a consortium coordinated by MBDA, whose objective was to define an initial operational concept for a 5th generation medium-range anti-tank missile, fired BLOS from a vehicle in coordination with an airborne observation drone. France, Belgium and Cyprus partnered with MBDA and 13 industrial partners and subcontractors from five countries on Lynkeus.

EDIDP was the first EU fund to be dedicated to the defense sector. It has been replaced by the , whose 2021-2027 budget is €8 billion ($8.18 billion); the €25 million EU funding will come out of the EDF.

According to the French defense ministry website, demonstrations will take place this fall in Cyprus of key technologies studied in Lynkeus: simulators, BLOS technologies, target designation by airborne drones and ground robots, automatic drone take-off and landing from a turret demonstrator. Live firings of BLOS Akeron missiles with the target designated autonomously on the basis of one of the operational scenarios will also be undertaken. The missiles will be fired from a Sherpa vehicle equipped with an IMPACT turret whilst the target will be designated by the NX70 mini-drone made by French SME Novadem.

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“Future refueling operations with the LMXT boom offer a number of possibilities and that future is not far off,” said Ken Moss, a retired U.S. Air Force tanker pilot and Lockheed Martin’s LMXT campaign manager.

From
Doug Barrie, a defense and aerospace specialist at London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies, told Breaking Defense that “the war in Ukraine has shown the utility of these classes of weapons and this project is for the follow-on generation.” He explained that MBDA had been very successful with its Milan anti-tank weapons in the 1980s, but “pretty unsuccessful” with the follow-up Trigat and remarked that this project was a way for the pan-European group to return to the market.

“But these are not long-range systems,” he stressed, explaining that there were no hard and fast definitions for “long, medium and short-range.” Barrie said he considered anything up to 25-30 kms as short range, between 30-100 kms as medium range “and beyond that long-range.” For comparison, the RAND Corporation stated in a book published in 1991 that long-range conventional missiles are “defined as missiles capable of attacking targets with conventional (nonnuclear) munition at ranges in excess of 500 kms.”

MARSEUS is linked to the EU Beyond Line of Sight land battlefield missile systems project (EU BLOS) which aims to develop a family of human-on-the-loop medium range BLOS missile systems. The output is intended to be integrated on an extensive variety of platforms (ground-to-ground and air-to-ground) and to provide integrated and autonomous target designation capability. The project also includes joint training and formation.

Human-on-the-loop and human-in-the-loop are not the same thing. The former means a human operator has real-time supervision over a weapon that can attack without being ordered to do so in real-time by the operator who nevertheless retains the ability to override any decision made by the weapon. The latter means a human operator remotely controls a weapon that cannot attack unless it receives the command to do so in real-time from the operator.

First of the FDI frigates coming along nicely. Wouldn’t mind seeing PLAN’s Type 054B/Type 057 follow a similar direction.

Denmark to inject $5.5 billion into naval shipbuilding sector​

August 19, 2022, by Fatima Bahtić

The Danish Government plans to invest DKK 40 billion ($5.47 billion) in the naval shipbuilding sector, the country’s Ministry of Defence revealed.

The decision aims to support its maritime security amid global tensions and Russia’s war with Ukraine. Due to this, a partnership with the maritime industry was formed to support the ongoing needs of the navy.

“With Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the new security situation in Europe, it is more important than ever that Denmark is able to defend itself. Security of supply plays a decisive role here,” said Defence Minister
Morten Bødskov.

The Minister of Defense has appointed Anne H. Steffensen, managing director of Danske Rederier, as chairman of the partnership.

Steffensen emphasized that Denmark has knowledge and competencies that can and must be used when new ships are to be developed and built.

She added that in the coming years, the country must strengthen the navy as a crucial part of Denmark’s defence.

The new national partnership for the maritime area is created to ensure coordination across the state, industry, professional organizations and financial institutions. This applies, among other things, to the work to strengthen Denmark’s national shipbuilding capacity.

“It is a natural extension of the national compromise on Danish security policy, which we in the business community fully support. Stronger Danish security requires further intensified, close cooperation between defense and industry,” Lars Sandahl Sørensen, CEO of Dansk Industri, stated.

In the recent period, Denmark stepped up its effort when it comes to supporting the navy’s goals. In May this year, Denmark signed an agreement with the UK o work side-by-side to bring the UK’s next generation of into service.

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The Royal Navy’s Type 31 frigate is based on the hull of the Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate in service with the Royal Danish Navy. Under the agreement, the countries pledged to develop collaborative operational tasking involving Type 31s and Iver Huitfeldt-class vessels.