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Elbit Systems has received a contract valued at $120 million to supply Hermes 900 Maritime Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and training capabilities to the Royal Thai Navy. The contract will be performed over three years.

The Iranians and Houthis have gradually extended the range of their weapons from tens to a few hundred nautical miles. Rather than employing these weapons on board ships to extend range, they can now reach beyond 200 nm, using the new ballistic anti-ship missiles, practically blocking the movements of naval vessels well beyond Yemen's coastal waters.

Rheinmetall and its partner UVision have won the first order from a major European NATO military force for HERO loitering munitions. The customer, a special forces unit, placed an initial order for Hero-30 combat and training munitions, simulator, training courses as well as integrated logistics equipment and support. This first order is worth a figure in the single-digit million-euro range with possible additional orders that might be expected. The exact number of munitions to be supplied is classified. The order was placed in July 2022, with delivery scheduled to take place by 2023.

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 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.

Today, the Middle East's International Maritime Exercise (IMX) 2022 began. It is the region’s largest maritime exercise and the world's largest unmanned exercise with more than 80 unmanned systems from ten nations participating.

Hungary will soon operate improved Gripen fighter jets similar to those used by the Swedish Air Force, following the modernization of its leased aircraft to the latest version MS20 Block 2 version. This upgrade brings several improvements in sensors, weapons, and avionics. The Swedish Air Force first introduced this upgrade in 2016.

Unlike the larger and heavier drones that operate like manned aircraft and are bound to airfields or other complex launch and retrieval systems, small UAS are optimized to work and support operators at the tactical level. Aeronautics' Orbiter family of Mini UAS (MUAS) and Small Tactical UAS (STUAS) is designed specifically for those missions.

AeroVironment announced today the receipt of a contract for its new Switchblade 600 loitering missile. The order was received from the Special Operations Command. The allocates $26 million for the delivery of weapons and their integration of the new weapon on specialized maritime platforms operated by US Special Operations Forces. Completion is expected by the end of 2022.

General Dynamics Land Systems–UK today unveiled a new variant of AJAX Family of Vehicles (FoV) based on the ARES troop-carrying reconnaissance vehicle. In the Overwatch role, Brimstone is the differentiator for high intensity, peer-on-peer warfighting under all weather conditions, excellent reach, high loadout, and salvo capability.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) today unveiled details of the comprehensive trials series of Barak-ER system, tested against a range of scenarios and threats, culminated with the intercept of a ballistic missile target by the BARAK ER (Extended Range) interceptor. BARAK-ER provides wide-area protection against a range of air, sea, and ground threats, including ballistic, ground-to-ground, and cruise missiles, UAVs, and helicopters.

Israel selects Lockheed Martin Sikorsky CH-53K Yasour helicopters as the IDF’s new heavy-lift aircraft, as part of the IDF’s “Tnufa” (Momentum), multi-year plan. These will replace the “Yassur” helicopters employed by the IAF since the late 1960s.

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. has demonstrated the SPIKE SR Short Range guided missile at the Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment (AEWE) 2021 earlier this month. The demonstration assessed SPIKE SR as a precision munition system for infantry squads, for which portability and simplicity of operation are essential.

Elbit Systems announced today that it was awarded a contract valued at approximately $172 million to supply light tanks to the Philippine Army. As the prime contractor, Elbit Systems will supply the “Sabrah” light tank solution based on the tracked ASCOD platform that is manufactured by General Dynamics European Land Systems Santa Bárbara from Spain, and on the wheeled Pandur II 8X8 platform manufactured by Excalibur Army from the Czech Republic.