Canberra has ordered an additional 15 Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles worth $30 million from Thales Australia, specifically fitted for the command and control capabilities of the Australian Army’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. According to the government, it has already invested over $135 million in 93 Bushmasters manufactured at Thales’ facility in Bendigo, contributing to...
Author: Arthur McMiler (Arthur McMiler)
New AI Cooperation Agreement Aims to Boost US-Singapore Defense Alliance
The U.S. Department of Defense and the Singapore Ministry of Defence have established a framework for technical collaboration on data analytics and artificial intelligence under a newly released statement of intent. The SOI — signed on Monday by Radha Iyengar Plumb, DOD’s chief digital and AI officer, and Brig. Gen. Yew Chee Leung, Singapore Ministry...
Helsing Poised to Boost AI Defense R&D With $490M New Funding
Helsing, a Munich-based defense company focused on creating artificial intelligence-based military solutions and components, has secured over $490 million from a Series C financing round it initiated to raise funds for product research and development. U.S.-based venture capital firm General Catalyst led the funding round, with Elad Gil, Accel, Saab, Lightspeed, Plural and Greenoaks as...
IBM Buys SiXworks for $150M to Grow UK Public Sector Business
IBM expanded its market presence in the public sector with its acquisition of U.K. defense consultancy company SiXworks. The multinational technology firm said in a blog post on Tuesday that SiXworks’ digital, cyber and defense cloud capabilities complement its existing U.K. offerings on cybersecurity, data and artificial intelligence. IBM purchased SiXworks from London-based private equity...
Northrop Grumman, Mitsubishi Electric Extend Collaboration With Mission Solutions MOU; Kenn Todorov Quoted
Northrop Grumman and Mitsubishi Electric are planning to jointly pursue industrial co-production opportunities for various strategic mission solutions in the United States and Japan. The cooperation, provided in a memorandum of understanding that Northrop announced on Wednesday, extends to partnership in logistics and sustainment of key military capabilities such as electronic warfare, radar, underwater sensors and...
US-Led Partnership Moves to Unplug Social Media-Based Russian Disinformation Campaign
U.S. law enforcers have seized two domain names and issued search warrants on 968 accounts allegedly created on the social media platform X by Russian actors as an artificial intelligence-powered bot farm for a global disinformation campaign. According to a statement from the Department of Justice on the cases’ affidavits opened on Tuesday, the bot...
Australian Defence Force to Acquire Switchblade Loitering Munition; Pat Conroy Quoted
Australia expects to receive an order of Switchblade 300 precision loitering munitions in 2024 and deploy the weapon into service in 2025 to boost the Australian Defence Force’s drone warfighting capabilities. The acquisition of the munitions, manufactured by U.S. company AeroVironment, adds to the different drone types in the ADF arsenal that can be armed...
Sweden Unveils First Space Policy for Defense and Security; Pal Jonson Quoted
The Swedish government has set its first policy on space use for Sweden’s defense and security under which the country will undertake national projects and join international activities to achieve its goal. Noting that Sweden has grown increasingly dependent on space as a strategic operational environment, Stockholm said in a statement that the new strategy...
Thales Set for Fivefold Increase in Rocket Ammo Production in Europe; Herve Dammann Quoted
Thales has inaugurated a new assembly line at its ordnance facility in Belgium that is expected to expand its 70 mm laser-guided rocket output fivefold to 5,000 units by 2025. The factory in the Walloon Region is the sole manufacturer of the 7 mm ordnance in Europe. The ammunition is the NATO standard rocket currently...
Leonardo-Rheinmetall MOU Eyes Armored Vehicle Manufacturing for European Market; Armin Papperger Quoted
German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall and Italian defense company Leonardo are planning a 50:50 partnership in Italy to develop and commercialize armored vehicles for the European market. The plan, outlined in a memorandum of understanding that the two companies signed on Wednesday, focuses on the Italian Army’s ground systems programs on a new main battle tank...