May 22, 2024 | International, Land
US, Gulf states meet for first security forum since war in Gaza
The group will discuss better coordination on security in a time when the region is facing multiple crises.
February 21, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval
India clears $2.12 billion purchase of Hellfire-equipped naval helicopters
By: Vivek Raghuvanshi
NEW DELHI — India on Wednesday cleared the purchase of 24 Sikorsky MH-60R naval multirole helicopters through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program, according to a Ministry of Defence official.
The acquisition, which is worth about $2.12 billion, was approved by India's top defense clearance body, the Cabinet Committee on Security, which is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The MoD had approved funds for the purchase in August 2018.
The clearance comes ahead of a two-day visit to India by U.S. President Donald Trump beginning Feb. 24.
The MoD official said a formal government-to-government contract for the MH-60R helicopters will be signed once cost negotiations are finalized. No timeline has been set, but delivery will take place three years after the contract is inked, he added.
A previous attempt to buy naval multirole helos failed when the MoD canceled the planned purchase of 16 S-70B Seahawks from Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, in June 2017 following expiry of the $1 billion price tag offer.
The 2009 tender for 16 helos was sent to Sikorsky, NHIndustries, Airbus Helicopters and Russian Helicopters. The S-70B was selected over NHIndustries' NH90 helicopter in 2011; the other potential contenders did not participate.
The cost of weapons was not included in the original program, but the recently approved deal for 24 MH-60Rs does include a weapons package, according to an Indian Navy official. The helicopters are to be armed with multi-mode radar, Hellfire missiles, Mark 54 torpedoes and precision-kill rockets.
The Navy plans to use the helicopters for its front-line warships to replace its outdated British Sea King Mark 42 helicopters. They are also to be used in limited intelligence gathering roles, for surveillance missions, and in search and rescue efforts, the Navy official said, adding that the procurement of the helicopters is the top-most priority for the service. The helicopters are also expected to have the capability for conducting amphibious assault and anti-submarine warfare missions.
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July 16, 2024 | International, Land
Spain reveals delivery route for Ukraine-bound Leopard 2A4 tanks - Army Technology
Depending on which port is used, the Leopard tanks will arrive in Poland between the afternoon of 17 July and the early hours of 19 July.
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December 7, 2018 | International, C4ISR
Germany Develops Offensive Cyber Capabilities Without A Coherent Strategy of What to Do With Them
BY MATTHIAS SCHULZE Germany has traditionally prioritized defense over offense in cyberspace. That's now beginning to change. There is a reoccurring debate in German national security and foreign policy whether Germany suffers from “Strategieunfähigkeit”—an inability to develop and implement strategy. The historic trauma of two lost World Wars created a pacifist culture that always struggled with formulating national security interests and defining strategy. The so-called “culture of reluctance” regarding the use of hard power has bled into Berlin's thinking about cyber issues, especially as it rushes to develop capabilities without an overarching strategy on how to use them. Until recently, Germany has prioritized defense over offense in cyberspace. The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), Germany's cybersecurity agency, has a strictly non-military defensive mandate and is a vigilant advocate of strong encryption and full disclosure of zero-day vulnerabilities to vendors. Germany's foreign intelligence agency (BND) has historically had a relatively small cyber espionage budget. Germany's defensive posture began to shift in 2015, after the internal network of the German Bundestag was successfully compromised by Russian state-backed operators. That led the country to revise its cybersecurity strategy, issuing a more offensive-minded document in 2016. It called for the development of cyber teams in the intelligence agencies. It also might have been a contributing factor to the creation of a specialized agency, called the Central Office for Information Technology in the Security Sphere (ZITiS), to develop innovative techniques to break into encrypted devices, develop exploits and malware for real time interception and accessing data at rest, as well as identify or purchase zero-days to support offensive capabilities. As Germany rolled out its 2016 strategy, the German military (Bundeswehr) centralized its cyber capacity by consolidating around 14,000 soldiers and IT personnel into a unified cyber command (CIR), loosely modelled on U.S. Cyber Command. CIRwants to achieve full operational capacity by the early 2020s and plans to perform strategic and tactical cyber operations against enemy assets. Usage scenarios include disrupting enemy military assets, battlefield support and reconnaissance on adversary IT assets. Full article: https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2018/12/germany-develops-offensive-cyber-capabilities-without-coherent-strategy-what-do-them/153227