MBDA unveils submarine-launched Exocet missile to strike naval vessels

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  May 7, 2019 | International, Land

  Turkish, Indonesian firms team up on medium-weight tank

  By: Burak Ege Bekdil ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish armored-vehicles manufacturer FNSS and its Indonesian partner PT Pindad have signed a contract to co-produce scores of medium-weight, new-generation battle tanks for the Indonesian army. The deal was signed during this year's IDEF defense and aerospace show in Istanbul Apr. 30-May 3. The companies will initially produce a batch of 18 Kaplan MT tanks within two years. The second stage of the contract involves mass production of the Kaplan MT. FNSS and PT Pindad have designed, developed and built two prototypes of the Kaplan MT under a 2015 deal. The prototypes have passed field tests in Turkey and Indonesia and were certified by the Indonesian military. The deal is part of a defense industry cooperation agreement between Turkey and Indonesia. The first prototype of the Kaplan MT tank was exhibited during IDEF'17. The tank was showcased in Indonesia during a military parade on National Armed Forces Day in October. The Kaplan MT is equipped with a battlefield management system, a wireless crew intercom system, a navigation system and an automatic fire extinguishing system. The tank is fitted with a CMI Cockerill 3105 turret mounting a Cockerill 105 mm high-pressure gun. The lightweight gun features an advanced autoloader to deliver rapid fire. The 105 mm gun can fire NATO-standard ammunition and can engage targets at a maximum distance of 10 km. The secondary weapon system includes a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun mounted to the left side of the main gun. The Kaplan MT is powered by a new-generation diesel engine coupled to a fully automatic electronic-controlled transmission. The fuel is supplied from two separate fuel tanks. The tank has a maximum road speed of 70 km/h and a minimum operating range of 450 km. It can negotiate a gradient and side slopes of 60 percent and 30 percent, respectively. It can climb a vertical obstacle of 90 cm and can cross a trench of two meters. https://www.defensenews.com/global/2019/05/06/turkish-indonesian-firms-team-up-on-medium-weight-tank

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  March 11, 2024 | International, Land

  Drones, tanks and ships: Takeaways from Turkey’s annual defense report

  The government listed 49 ongoing modernization and acquisition projects across the various armed forces. Here are some that stood out.

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  June 27, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR

  Will $95B for R&D make its way to the final defense appropriations bill?

  By: Joe Gould   WASHINGTON — Senate defense appropriators have advanced a proposed $675 billion Pentagon spending measure for 2019, touting its heavy investment in innovation and research to maintain America's military edge. Hewing to the bipartisan, two-year budget deal, the spending bill includes $607.1 billion in base budget funding and $67.9 billion in the war budget. It is $20.4 billion higher than the fiscal 2018-enacted level. The bill contains $95 billion for research and development, the largest R&D budget in the Pentagon's history, adjusted for inflation, according to Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Dick Durbin, D-Ill. The bill also includes $2.8 billion in added basic research funding the president's budget did not request. The bill also seems to surpass the Senate-passed policy bill's emphasis on future warfare, with $929 million for hypersonics, $564 million to develop advanced offensive and defensive space capabilities, $317 million to develop a directed-energy weapon, and $308 million for artificial intelligence, according to a summary released Tuesday. “This bill sustains U.S. force structure and improves military readiness. It also recommends investments in future technologies needed to defend our nation in an increasingly complex and competitive national security environment,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., who also leads the sub-panel. “Our military must maintain its technological superiority. I am pleased that our subcommittee has identified the resources needed to make that happen ― investing in basic research, hypersonics, directed energy, missile defense, cybersecurity, and our test and evaluation infrastructure,” he said. Aviation programs would get $42 billion, to include $1.2 billion for eight F-35 carrier variants and four short takeoff and vertical landing Joint Strike Fighters, and it includes $375 million for the Air Force's Advanced Battle Management System — as well as sustainment of the legacy fleet of JSTARS aircraft. The bill allocates $24 billion toward shipbuilding, which includes two Virginia-class summaries, three DDG-51 destroyers and two littoral combat ships. There's $250 in advance procurement funding for one more DDG-51 in 2020 and $250 million for submarine industrial-base expansion. Munitions would get $18.5 billion, with $125 million to expand procurement for the anti-ship cruise missile LRASM for the Navy, and the JASSM long-range, conventional, air-to-ground, precision-standoff missile for the Air Force and Navy, as well as $57 million for Army industrial facilities. For personnel, the bill supports a military pay raise of 2.6 percent and includes $974 million for defense medical research. The bill's end-strength boost of 6,961 falls below the president's request for 25,900 more troops. The spending bill is several steps from becoming law. The House is due to take up its version of the legislation this week, and the Senate must pass its version of the bill before the two versions are reconciled. The full Senate Appropriations Committee is set to hold its markup on Thursday. The Senate this week passed a “minibus,” which merged funding for energy and water programs, the legislative branch, military construction, and Veterans Affairs. The strategy is meant to ensure passage for domestic spending priorities that Democrats have demanded in recent years. Democrats seem to favor merging the proposed defense spending bill with the coming spending bill for labor, health and human services, education, and related agencies. Durbin said as much Tuesday: “We have a confident path to conclusion for both.” “I believe in this bill, I think its a good bill and I could easily support it, defend it,” Durbin said of the defense spending bill, calling a merger helpful to “the best ending for the appropriations process.” https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2018/06/26/pentagon-money-bill-with-heavy-rampd-accent-passes-senate-subpanel/