Americas
The MQ-9 in service with the US Air Force has carried out an Automatic Takeoff and Landing Capability (ATLC) test and the drone is now cleared for Agile Combat Employment operations. A specialized launch and recovery crew is no longer required when the MQ-9 land and the unmanned air vehicle can now be diverted to a foreign field where it has never been before. The test was carried out by the 556th Test and Evaluation Squadron on July 8. On the first day, the drone was flown from Creech to Cannon air force base using satellite control.
Kitty Hawk’s Heaviside aircraft has obtained airworthiness approval by the US Air Force, allowing the aircraft to enter its next phase of flight testing under Air Force direction. These flight tests aim to explore the unique attributes of the eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) Heaviside aircraft and its potential utility for both military and commercial use cases under the supervision of AFRL engineers and other military stakeholders.
Middle East & Africa
The Turkish defense company Aselsan has delivered a new electronic countermeasure system, nicknamed SANCAK, to the Turkish military, Defense News reports. “We have delivered the Next Generation Electronic Attack System SANCAK to the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF), which will provide a significant advantage in the field by neutralizing strategic communication systems,” Ismail Demir announced on Twitter. Sancak is the nickname of Aselsan’s MILKAR-4A2 high-frequency jamming system. It has been developed for electronic attack operations against high-frequency band (the part of the electromagnetic spectrum between frequencies 3 and 30 MHz) communication systems located on different platforms in the field. Aselsan claims the system can effectively jam targets “communicating through the ground wave, skywave and near vertical incidence skywave, or NVIS, in the HF communication band,” Defence News said.
Europe
The Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) and its national industrial partners have jointly agreed to fund development of the European Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) Remotely Piloted Air System (RPAS), also known as Eurodrone. The OCCAR-Executive Administration (EA) Director and senior representatives from prime contractor Airbus Defense and Space from Germany and Spain signed an agreement on July 15 to allow European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) funding from the European Union to partially finance the project, which also includes Leonardo from Italy and Dassault from France.
According to the UK Defence Journal. BAE Systems has been awarded a £3 million ($4.1m) contract to provide technology for Kongsberg’s Joint Strike Missile system for the F-35. The new contract will see BAE Systems provide expertise of radar absorbing material and sensor development and technology integration to the highly capable Joint Strike Missile system which is currently being adopted by Norway and Japan.
Asia-Pacific
The Australian-designed and manufactured Hawkei Protected Mobility Vehicle – Light has achieved initial operational capability under the Project Land 121 Phase 4, the Department of Defense in Canberra announced on July 11. Minister for Defense Peter Dutton said the $1.49 billion project will see the new fleet of 1,100 Hawkei vehicles – and 1,058 companion trailers – rolled out to Australian army and air force units, adding that this capability will provide “a high level of protection for soldiers” from blast and ballistic threats, with significantly improved mobility enabling it to operate in high threat environments”.
Today’s Video
Watch: Army’s new Australian-designed Hawkei protected vehicle
