Rafael Not Giving Up UAS Ambitions

On the same subject

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  September 14, 2020 | International, Land

  Hungary is Rheinmetall’s launch customer for the Lynx fighting vehicle

  By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — Rheinmetall announced it has found the first-ever taker for its new Lynx infantry fighting vehicle, with Hungary buying 218 copies for more than $2 billion. Company executives celebrated the order as a key deal for the company, following an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Army's Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle replacement program last year. “The Lynx's market breakthrough is a major success for us,” Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said in a statement. “And the fact that we were able to convince Hungary — an important EU and NATO partner — to choose this innovative vehicle makes this success all the greater.” Hungary has been on a military shopping spree recently, with billions of dollars spent on American missile-defense weaponry and German Leopard 2 tanks in the most modern configuration. At the same time, the government of Prime Minister Victor Orban is at odds with much of the European Union over its curbing of press freedoms and sidelining parliamentary oversight under the pretext of a state of emergency in response to the spread of COVID-19. Rheinmetall's €2 billion (U.S. $2.4 billion) contract with the Hungarian government, signed in Budapest, is for 218 Lynx KF41 vehicles, nine Buffalo armored recovery vehicles, as well as spares and simulators, the company wrote in a statement. The Lynx vehicles will be equipped with Rheinmetall's manned Lance 30mm turret. Production is slated for two phases, with the first 46 Lynx copies and the nine Buffalos to be built in Germany and delivered by early 2023. A second batch of 172 Lynx vehicles will then roll off a future production line in Hungary, for which the company established a joint venture with the Hungarian government last month. Rheinmetall's newest vehicle is also in the running in the Czech Republic as well as Australia, where the company has something of a lock on much of the land modernization program. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/09/11/hungary-is-rheinmetalls-launch-customer-for-the-lynx-fighting-vehicle

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  September 20, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  DoD releases first new cyber strategy in three years

  By: Mark Pomerleau In its first formal cyber strategy document in three years, the Department of Defense said it would focus its cyber efforts on China and Russia and use the Pentagon's cyber capabilities to collect intelligence as well as to prepare for future conflicts. According to an unclassified summary and fact sheet released Sept. 18, the documents lay out a vision for addressing cyber threats and addresses the priorities of the department's National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy, which focused on a new era of strategic great power competition. “The United States cannot afford inaction,” the summary reads. It notes that China and Russia are conducting persistent campaigns in cyberspace that pose long term risk. The documents also say that China is eroding the U.S. military's ability to overmatch opponents and that Russia is using cyber-enabled information operations to influence the U.S. population and challenge democratic processes. The DoD's strategy comes on the heels of other major movements in cyberspace from the department. These include the elevation of U.S. Cyber Command to a full unified combatant command — which affords new and exquisite authorities — the full staffing of Cyber Command's cyber teams, an update to DoD's cyber doctrine and new authorities delegating certain responsibilities from the president to DoD to conduct cyber operations abroad. The summary's lists five objectives for DoD's cyberspace strategy: - Ensuring the joint force can achieve its missions in a contested cyberspace environment; - Strengthening the joint force by conducting cyberspace operations that enhance U.S. military advantages; - Defending U.S. critical infrastructure from malicious cyber activity that alone, or as part of a campaign, could cause a significant cyber incident; - Securing DoD information and systems against malicious cyber activity, including DoD information on non-DoD-owned networks; and - Expanding DoD cyber cooperation with interagency, industry, and international partners. The strategy also describes the need to remain consistently engaged with this persistent adversary and to “defend forward” as a means of disrupting or halting malicious cyber activity at its source, including activity that falls below the level of armed conflict. While academics have criticized the U.S. response to Russian election interference, the strategy notes that the United States tends to view conflicts through the binary lens of war or peace while competitors such as Russia see themselves constantly engaged in a state of war. U.S. Cyber Command's new leader is taking a different tact. “We've got to act forward outside of our boundaries, something that we do very, very well at Cyber Command in terms of getting into our adversary's networks. That's this idea of persistent engagement, the idea that the adversary never rests, so why would we ever rest,” Gen. Paul Nakasone said during an August dinner hosted by the Intelligence and National Security Alliance. Nakasone also has described the notion of defending forward as enabling forces to act outside the boundaries of the U.S. to understand what adversaries are doing in order to better defend against them. https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/2018/09/19/department-of-defense-unveils-new-cyber-strategy

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  February 20, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) United States / Canada Joint Certification Program DD2345

  Sydney, Feb 19, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) (OTCMKTS:DRSHF) ("DroneShield" or the "Company") is pleased to advise that the United States Defense Logistics Agency, the logistics combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense, has certified DroneShield's subsidiary DroneShield LLC under the United States / Canada Joint Certification Program DD2345 (militarily critical technical data agreement). With this certification, DroneShield LLC has established eligibility to access unclassified export-controlled technical data of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and Canada's Department of National Defence (DND). - United States Defense Logistics Agency has certified DroneShield LLC under the United States / Canada Joint Certification Program DD2345 (militarily critical technical data agreement). - Establishes eligibility to access unclassified military technical data belonging to the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and Canada's Department of National Defence (DND). DroneShield LLC's certification under this program is part of its participation in the U.S. DOD and Canadian DND procurement processes. This announcement follows the recent award to the Company of a NATO Stock Number for its DroneGun MKII product. About DroneShield Ltd Based in Sydney, Australia and Virginia, USA, DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) (OTCMKTS:DRSHF) is a worldwide leader in drone security technology. The Company has developed the pre-eminent drone security solution that protects people, organisations and critical infrastructure from intrusion from drones. Its leadership brings world-class expertise in engineering and physics, combined with deep experience in defence, intelligence, and aerospace. http://www.abnnewswire.net/press/en/92055/DroneShield-Ltd-(ASX-DRO)-United-States-Canada-Joint-Certification-Program-DD2345-92055.html