Why Europe’s FCAS projects won’t join formation in 2021

On the same subject

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  October 8, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  SpaceX awarded contract to build US military tracking satellites

  JORDAN WILLIAMS Elon Musk's SpaceX is one of two companies to be awarded a $149 million contract from the Space Development Agency to develop missile-tracking satellites for the U.S. SpaceX and defense contractor L3 Harris were chosen to build the satellites as part of the National Defense Space Architecture's Trache 0, which will include 20 transport layer satellites and 8 tracking satellites. L3 Harris received $193 million from the agency to build its satellites. The companies will build four overhead persistent infrared imaging (OPIR) satellites of their own design that must be able to track missiles and communicate directly with transport layer satellites. Those satellites are currently being developed by Lockheed Martin and York Space Systems under separate contracts. SpaceX will be developing its satellites around an infrared sensor with a wide field of view, Space Development Agency Director Derek Tournear told SpaceNews. The company plans to build the satellite based on its Starlink satellite, but will have the OIPR sensor come from another supplier. The satellites should be ready by the end of fiscal 2022. SpaceX on Tuesday launched 60 new Starlink satellites at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. https://thehill.com/policy/defense/519964-spacex-awarded-contract-to-build-us-military-tracking-satellites

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  November 28, 2018 | International, Land

  Czech Republic to boost spending on land weapons in 2019

  By: Jarosław Adamowski WARSAW, Poland — Czech Defence Minister Lubomir Metnar has announced the ministry's acquisition plans for 2019. Next year, the country aims to purchase 210 infantry fighting vehicles, multi-purpose helicopters, and mobile air defense radars (MADRs), among other systems. Metnar said that in 2018 the ministry managed to conclude deals to purchase weapons and military equipment worth more than 14.5 billion koruna (US $635 million). There is a consensus across the country's political spectrum that the country's defense spending must be further increased in the coming years, the minister said, as reported by local daily Denik. The planned acquisitions are largely focused on replacing the military's Soviet-designed gear with new equipment made by Western allies and Czech manufacturers. The region-wide trend has accelerated following Russia's military intervention in eastern Ukraine and its annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014. Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. Ales Opata, the Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces, said at a joint press conference with Metnar that the key to military modernization was the upgrade of the country's land forces. “I don't only mean [acquisitions of] tanks or infantry fighting vehicles, but also robot systems, reconnaissance and combat unmanned vehicles,” Opata said. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/11/21/czech-republic-to-boost-spending-on-land-weapons-in-2019

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  September 7, 2021 | International, Aerospace

  Italian police raid drone maker over alleged Chinese takeover

  An Italy-based defense firm that has supplied small drones to the country's special forces was quietly and illegally purchased by Chinese state companies, Italian investigators claim.