The British Army is moving towards electrification of battlefield vehicles, it announced last week at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition. Electrification, the process of reducing dependency on fossil fuels, has become increasingly prevalent in civilian life, with the proliferation of smart home energy, electric cars and clean public transport. But these initiatives have yet to carry over into the military domain. As part of its Future Soldier vision, the battlefield electrification approach announced at DSEI will set out how the Army, over a 15-year period, will focus on an increase in the use of batteries, sustainable energy and hybrid electric drive technologies across its vehicle fleet. Leading the way amongst the Army’s sustainable initiatives, electrification of the battlefield will increase operational advantage and change the way land forces operate in the future. Electric vehicles will enable significant advances in stealth mode capabilities with reduced thermal and noise signatures. The move to the electrification of vehicles is underpinned by the fact that, on the battlefield of the future, military land capabilities will become increasingly ‘power hungry’ with the introduction of initiatives such as new weapons, active protection, and an increase in computer processing. The performance and effectiveness of these new capabilities will depend on the ability to power, charge and sustain them. The British Army has already invested £10million in fitting hybrid electric drives to MAN SV, Jackal and Foxhound vehicles with their performance currently being evaluated. Trials of pre-production models are due to take place, including assessments on how to fully recharge electric uncrewed, autonomous systems. The hybrid vehicles are due to be rolled out to the Field Army for use in training and on operations.  

India has officially handed over a Do 228 turboprop aircraft to the Mauritius Coast Guard, which will lease it for maritime security duties. The Indian Navy said the aircraft (MSN 4059) was handed over to the Maritime Air Squadron of the National Coast Guard on 13 September. The High Commissioner of India to Mauritius, Nandini K Singla, said the aircraft had been leased to Mauritius by the Indian Navy for free to support the current increased load of air operations, and that next year India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) would be handing over a brand new Do 228 to Mauritius (HAL manufactures the Do 228 in India). This aircraft is being purchased through a line of credit between Mauritius and India.

BAE Systems, MBDA to arm UK, Italian F-35 Jets with SPEAR, Meteor Missiles BAE Systems and MBDA secured additional funding to complete the integration of SPEAR and Meteor missiles on the UK and Italian F-35 fleets. This builds on the successful integration work that commenced in 2019 by BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and MBDA to upgrade the UK F-35 weapon systems. The award will see industry teams complete integration activities for the SPEAR precision surface attack weapon onto the UK F-35s, with the next-generation missile enhancing the UK’s future combat air capability through its network-enabled, high load-out, multi-effect capabilities with extended stand-off range. This will further enhance the UK Lightning Force’s capability to defeat challenging targets such as mobile long-range air defence systems at over-the-horizon ranges in all weathers and in highly contested environments. The funding will also see the remainder of the integration of MBDA’s Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile completed on both the F-35A and F-35B jets for the UK and Italian armed forces. Meteor’s networking and range capability is ideally suited to the F-35’s sensor suite to provide unrivalled capabilities in the battlespace.

The UK Ministry of Defence said it is investing £400 million to equip Chinook helicopters with defensive systems, and to upgrade the C-17 Globemaster fleet. UK’s C-17 fleet – which recently played a key role in the UK’s evacuation from Afghanistan – will receive a £324 million investment. This will upgrade software and hardware to improve airlift capability as part of a contract with the U.S. Air Force. Upgrades will include enhancements to the ‘Beyond Line of Sight’ satellite-enabled communication equipment, a wider field of view via the ‘Head-Up Display’ in the cockpit to help increase pilot situational awareness and widening the scope of the current free-fall parachuting capability. The UK’s fleet of Mk5 and Mk6 Chinook helicopters will be enhanced with defensive systems, as part of a £64 million contract with Boeing Defence UK (BDUK) which will make them harder for adversaries to detect. The five-year Chinook helicopter contract managed by DE&S will see the installation of Infra-Red Suppression Systems (IRSS) across some of the fleet, offering better protection from threats posed by new missile systems using the heat (infra-red) signature of the aircraft to target. IRSS technology will counter with ‘blanking plates’ on the helicopters which mask the hot components and redirect airflow to cool the exhaust gases, making it more difficult to target.

According to a press release published by Babcock on September 16, 2021, the aerospace, defence and security company has secured the first export contract for its Arrowhead 140 (AH140) frigate through a design licence agreement with PT PAL Indonesia (Persero), a state-owned enterprise that builds and maintains ships for military and commercial use from its facilities in Surabaya, Indonesia. The breakthrough deal comes two years since Babcock’s AH140 design was first announced as the preferred bidder for the UK Type 31 frigate programme at DSEI 2019, with the contract confirmed in November of the same year. The design licence will enable PAL to build two Arrowhead 140 frigates in Indonesia with bespoke design modifications for the Indonesian Navy. The baseline Arrowhead 140 design can be configured to meet a broad range of naval requirements and, with Babcock’s support PAL will now engineer the required modifications to configure the Arrowhead 140 for the Indonesian customer. The Arrowhead 140 is a global white and blue water frigate. Scaled for adaptability and capability, this fully exportable British ship design complies with all relevant naval standards and delivers the ability to rapidly re-role the ship based on arising operational needs. It’s a vessel, built to deliver and support optimized operational effects while up-skilling the UK’s maritime enterprise.

The national MoD started operating a new radar detection station called 80K6KS1 ‘Phoenix’. It was integrated into the Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile system. The Ukrainian MoD is moving forward with its plans to improve the country’s air defence equipment by putting into operation a new radar detection station called 80K6KS1 Phoenix, to integrate  into the Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile system. The system was manufactured by the national company Iskra Research and Production Complex.

U.S. nuclear submarine technology wasn’t an option open to Australia when the deal for French diesel-electric submarines was signed in 2016. Australia decided to invest in U.S. nuclear-powered submarines and dump its contract with France to build diesel-electric submarines because of a changed strategic environment, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday. President Joe Biden on Wednesday had announced a new U.S. security alliance with Australia and Britain that would develop an Australian nuclear-powered submarine fleet. As a result, Australia notified France that it would end its contract with state majority-owned DCNS to build 12 of the world’s largest conventional submarines. Australia has spent 2.4 billion Australian dollars ($1.8 billion) on the project since the French won the contract in 2016. Morrison said U.S. nuclear submarine technology wasn’t an option open to Australia when the AU$56 billion ($43 billion) deal was struck in 2016. The United States had until now only shared the technology with Britain. Morrison said he told French President Emanuel Macron in June that there were “very real issues about whether a conventional submarine capability” would address Australia’s strategic security needs in the Indo-Pacific. “Of course they’re disappointed,” Morrison said. “They’ve been good partners. This is about our strategic interest, our strategic capability requirements and a changed strategic environment and we’ve had to take that decision.”

U.S. Army Operated Iron-Dome Battery Could be Headed to Ukraine A certain portion of the American congress is looking to make amendments to its 2022 Defense policy bill to allow the Biden administration to sell or transfer new air and missile defense systems to Ukraine, including potentially sending an Iron Dome battery currently being operated by the U.S. Army. The present House Armed Services Committee version of the fiscal 2022 Defense policy bill requires the Pentagon to submit a report to Congress which provides options for potential sale or transfer of existing systems with low likelihood of being deployed in the near future by Ukraine. Though the bill doesn’t not specify any particular weapons systems as to be delivered to Ukraine, it calls for $275 million to be provided as military aid to Ukraine even before transfer of any missile defense system The U.S. Army’s two Iron Dome batteries are prime candidates because there are few relevant systems the Army possesses that could defeat the threat Ukraine faces from Russia, POLITICO reported, citing a congressional staffer as saying. Israel had delivered the second Iron Dome battery built by Rafael to the U.S. military. On July 31, the U.S. and Israel signed an agreement to make the THAAD missile interoperable with the Israeli Iron Dome. Since March, Washington has continued the transfer of arms and services to the Ukrainian military, including $275 million worth of equipment and support.

The twin surface-to-surface missile launches by North Korea on September 15 were made from a train, the country's media has revealed. Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the state news agency of North Korea, confirmed a day later that those missiles came from the country’s test of its new “railway-borne missile system.” The report claimed that the missiles flew 800 km (~500 miles) before striking a target in the sea off North Korea's east coast. Photographs released by state media showed an olive-green missile rising on a column of smoke and flame from the roof of a train parked on tracks in a mountainous area. Pyongyang’s neighbours, South Korea and Japan, detected the launch of the two ballistic missiles, which came less than a week after it tested a long-range cruise missile. France’s ambassador to the UN, Nicolas de Riviere, said members of the UN Security Council gathered behind closed doors for an emergency meeting to discuss North Korea’s tests.

Serbian President Alexander Vucic confirmed the procurement of Pantsir S1M anti-aircraft systems from Russia during the Serbian military exposition held Wednesday. Vucic talked about modernization efforts by the Serbian military. “We could not even dream about Mi-17 and Mi-35 helicopters, let alone MiG fighters. But when German Chancellor Angela Merkel was visiting, she was escorted by seven MiG-29 aircraft. Now, we have a total of 14 of those jets," he said, praising Russian military equipment. Vucic announced the Pantsir contract in October 2019 during the Slavic Shield-2019 joint military exercises between the two countries. Russian S-400 missile systems and Pantsir-S systems were deployed in Serbia during the drills, marking the first deployment of the systems in exercises held outside Russia. On Wednesday, Vucic also disclosed that a shipment of the new Kornet anti-tank missile launchers will arrive in Serbia in 2021, Russian government-owned TASS reported. Russia has previously delivered 30 T-72MS tanks and 30 BRDM-2MS armored personnel carriers to Serbia, which amounted to €75 million. Between 2018 and February 2020, Serbia has received 4 Mi-35M helicopters, 6 MiG-29 planes, 10 BRDM-2 armored personnel carriers, 3 Mi-17V-5 transport helicopters, along with the Pantsir-S1s.