Regional News

Sig Sauer has won a 10-year contract with the U.S. Army with an initial delivery order worth $20.4 million and a ceiling value of $4.7 billion. Under this contract, the company will supply a family of weapons of up to 250,000 rifles and light machine guns. The XM5 Rifle will replace the M4/M4A1 carbine within the close combat force, and the XM250 Automatic Rifle will replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). Having won the handgun contract in 2017, that makes Sig Sauer the premier supplier of small arms providers to the Army's close combat and special operations forces.

Israel’s Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Research and Development, (MAFAT) has selected BIRD Aerosystems to demonstrate a prototype of an active defense system that will protect ground troops and high-value assets against airborne threats (including anti-tank guided missiles - ATGM). The project is currently at an advanced stage of development and is expected to demonstrate a complete active defense capability this year.

Israel’s defense exports have reached double-digit figures for the first time, reaching a 55% increase within two years, to US$11.3 Billion. G2G deals are often larger in scale than export sales signed by the individual companies and their execution is often faster than sales conducted under standard commercial terms.

General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) began the first installation of factory upgrades to a Gray Eagle-Extended Range (GE-ER) Unmanned Aircraft System to enhance its capabilities to support Multi-Domain Operations (MDO). Under the current program, the U.S. Army-funded program includes two aircraft. Flight tests and qualifications will start later this year. 

The Directorate of Defense R&D (DDR&D) in the Ministry of Defense together with the US Department of Defense Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate (IWTSD) and the Merage Institute, will hold a first-of-its-kind competition – the Mobile Standoff Autonomous Indoor Capabilities Challenge in short: the “MoSAIC”. The competition will incorporate operating commercial robots and drones in an urban setting, in the city of Yeruham, simulating the challenges on the future battlefield.

Heven Drones, a fast-growing Israeli drone technology company, has unveiled at ISDEF 2022 an integrated robotic solution combining an aerial multirotor and unmanned ground vehicle for land and air operation. The solution was jointly developed by Heven Drones and Roboteam, an Israeli tactical ground robotic systems provider. The companies began working on the project responding to a specific requirement for defense and homeland security applications raised by a customer. They are now exploring additional use cases for land and air robots to maximize efficiency in other applications.

Israel's 'Iron Beam' high-power laser air and missile defense system is moving forward, following today's IMOD decision to add hundreds of millions NIS to fund the full-scale development. More investment will be allocated for production and fielding. of the high-power laser system designed to intercept rockets, mortars, and UAVs. According to Rafael's CEO, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Yoav Har-Even, “the ‘Iron Beam’ system, is the most powerful laser system of its kind in the world."

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have added a batch of new ‘loitering torpedoes’ developed by Iran’s defense industries. The new weapons were unveiled yesterday during a ceremony at Bandar Abas naval base, a large naval base located at the straits of Hormoz. The new weapon that seems to be a hybrid of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) and a guided torpedo, enables the guards to direct covert attacks at enemy naval bases, ships, and offshore facilities.

Until now, the war in Ukraine does not reflect the latest technology as analysts would expect. Since 2014 the Ukrainian army has been equipped with many locally produced weapons familiar to the Russians. But in recent months, Ukraine has obtained many western anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons that have surprised the Russians and caused the invading forces many losses. This review summarizes our impressions from the first three weeks of this devastating conflict.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), introduced today an 'Autonomous Collaborative Platform' (ACP) called Gambit. “Gambit will usher in a new era, where UAS work collaboratively with manned aircraft to detect, identify and target adversaries at range and scale across the battlespace.” GA-ASI President David R. Alexander said.

Israel’s C-UAS expert Skylock has unveiled at the UMEX exhibition in Dubai this week a new rocket-shaped hard-kill drone inhibitor countermeasure called Sky Interceptor, that can disable hostile drones at a range of 1,100 m’. A booster-extended range version can reach up to 3 km.

Israel's Ministry of Defense, Rafael, and IAI have completed testing the C-Dome system onboard Israel's Navy Magen corvette, the lead ship of the Saar-6 Magen class. The test included the interception of targets simulating rockets, cruise missiles, and drones launched from the shore, simulating realistic threats the vessels could face at sea and on missions protecting Israel's offshore facilities in the Mediterranean Sea.

France’s Nexter company has announced the receipt of an order worth €600 million from the national armament development agency (DGA) to develop and produce a more mobile and better-protected version of its Caesar truck-mounted self-propelled howitzer to be designated Caesar 6x6 Mark 2 New generation (NG).

The following satellite images were taken yesterday (19 February 2022). These recent images show a continued build-up of forces in Crimea, despite the Russian MOD announcement of units moving out of the peninsula. The satellite images were taken by ImageSat International (ISI) and show open areas around the township of Novoozerne on the western side of the Crimea peninsula.