South Korea's upgraded Joint Fire Operation System (JFOS-K) provides the Republic of Korea's (RoK's) military with the ability to conduct theatre-level integrated firepower operations with air, sea, and ground forces. It is also connected to other battlefield information, asset management, and command-and-control systems of the RoK and US military forces. (DAPA/Janes)  South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has announced that the military's Joint Fire Operation System (JFOS-K) has been upgraded to support integrated,...

An RRAI Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport participates in an automated breaching experiment led by the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty, North Carolina. (US Army)  The small robots of the 264th Clearance Company will participate in a training centre rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson, Louisiana, in one of the earliest tests of the ground vehicles in army operations, a US army officer told Janes.  The Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport (S-MET) and the Expeditionary Modular Autonomous Vehicle (EMAV) – wh...

The UK has committed the Type 45 Daring-class destroyer HMS   Diamond  to Operation ‘Prosperity Guardian', which has been set up to protect merchant shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.   (UK Ministry of Defence 2020)    The UK Royal Navy (RN's) Type 45 Daring-class destroyer HMS   Diamond  (D 34) has joined the newly formed multinational security initiative international task force set up to protect merchant shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.   The new naval protection force, dubb...

Babcock has been contracted to provide sustainment and support for the two ex-Royal Navy Sandown-class minehunters recently donated by the UK to Ukraine. (UK MoD/Crown Copyright)  Babcock International has been awarded a contract covering the support and maintenance of the Ukrainian Navy's two newly acquired ex-Royal Navy (RN) Sandown-class mine-countermeasures vessels (MCMVs) – Chernihiv (ex-HMS Grimsby) and Cherkasy (ex-HMS Shoreham).  Under the MCMV contract, announced by Babcock on 15 December, the company will provide preventative mainte...

The SAMAR air-defence system – as seen at Aero India 2023 – uses Ashok Leyland vehicle mounted with refurbished R-73E missiles on rail launchers. (Janes/Rahul Udoshi)  The Indian Air Force (IAF) has inducted the Surface to Air Missile for Assured Retaliation (SAMAR) system, an IAF source told Janes on 20 December.  According to the source, the service also test-fired the system in mid-December at Air Force Station Suryalanka located in the southern coastal region of India.  The source did not elaborate on the number of systems the service has...

A steel-cutting ceremony to mark the start of construction on the Italian Navy's new oceanographic research vessel was held at Fincantieri's facilities in Riva Trigoso on 19 December. (Fincantieri)  Fincantieri held a steel-cutting ceremony for the Italian Navy's new large oceanographic ship (Nave Idro-Oceanografica Maggiore: NIOM) in Riva Trigoso on 19 December, the shipbuilder confirmed the same day.  The new vessel is being built under a design and construction contract worth EUR284 million (USD311 million) awarded to Fincantieri in Decemb...

Third-in-class   Al-Qadeer   (F 909)    was handed over by TKMS to the Egyptian Navy on 15 December.  (Michael Nitz, Naval Press Service, 2023)  German shipbuilder Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) handed over the third Al Aziz (MEKO A-200EN)-class frigate on order for the Egyptian Navy during a ceremony held in Bremerhaven, Germany on 15 December.  The vessel, named Al-Qadeer (F 909), is the third of four MEKO A-200 frigates ordered by Egypt from TKMS in 2018, and the final ship in the series to be...

The upgraded Type 12 SSM will have a range of 1,000 km. The original version (pictured above) has a range of 200 km. While the original Type 12 SSM was designed as a land-based anti-ship missile, the upgraded variant can be launched from land, aircraft, and surface combatants. (Japan Ground Self-Defense Force)  The Japan Ministry of Defense (MoD) has accelerated the deployment of the upgraded Type 12 surface-to-ship missile (SSM) by a year, the MoD said in a press release in mid-December.  According to the MoD, the missile's deployment – orig...

HMS   Somerset  seen at Haakonsvern Naval Base on 14 December after receiving its NSM outload. The NSM launcher hardware is fitted in the space forward of the bridge previously occupied by Harpoon.   (Royal Norwegian Navy)  The Type 23 frigate HMS Somerset has become the first UK Royal Navy (RN) warship to receive the Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace Naval Strike Missile (NSM) surface-to-surface missile system.  NSM is being procured from Norway under the Maritime Offensive Surface Strike programme in order to rep...

The current US shipbuilding workforce will not meet future US Navy needs. (Janes/Michael Fabey)  The US needs to significantly augment its shipbuilding workforce to meet the country's construction and maintenance demands, US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro noted on 14 December during a keynote speech at the 3rd Naval Nuclear Submarine and Aircraft Carrier Suppliers Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  “We're going to need 150,000 new qualified workers in the next 10 years – pre-apprenticeship, registered apprenticeship, and labour manage...

USN Secretary Carlos Del Toro touted the EW capabilities of the EA-18G Growlers. (US Navy)  Recent global conflicts highlight the increasing use of electronic warfare (EW) in military operations, US Navy (USN) Secretary Carlos Del Toro said on 12 December during a keynote speech at the Association of Old Crows' (AOC's) 60th Annual International Symposium & Convention at National Harbor, Maryland.  “For the US and our NATO allies, the conflict in Ukraine reinforces the emphasis we place on developing and maintaining a ready, interoperable comb...

The Formidable-class frigate, RSS   Steadfast  , is seen here in the Singapore Strait.  (Janes/Ridzwan Rahmat)  Singapore's ST Engineering Marine has received a contract to undertake a part of the mid-life upgrade (MLU) work that will be carried out on the country's Formidable-class frigates.  ST Engineering Marine is a subsidiary of ST Engineering. Under the contract, the company will design and engineer the class' new marine and electrical systems. These include the frigate's ship management and power generation...

The new vessels will be an improved variant of the FBG's OPV   Turva  , which was commissioned into service in 2014.  (John Pagni)  Polish shipbuilder Baltic Operator held a steel-cutting ceremony for the first of two Modified Turva-class offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) on order for the Finnish Border Guard (FBG) at Gdansk Shipyard on 12 December.  Finnish shipyard Meyer Turku was awarded a contract for the two newbuilds in June 2022. Baltic Operator has been subcontracted to build the hulls, with outfitting taking...

Amur Shipyard has received a new licence that will enable it to build Gorshkov-class frigates. (Russia's Northern Fleet Press Service)  Amur Shipyard in Komsomolsk-on-Amur has received a new licence to carry out the construction, maintenance, and sale of weapons and military equipment, Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade for the Khabarovsk Territory has announced.  According to the statement, issued on 7 December, licensed products also include warships of Project 22350 Gorshkov class.  This announcement follows on from an earlier stateme...

The Akash Air Force Launcher (pictured above) carries three Akash anti-aircraft surface-to-air missiles on a wheeled tractor-trailer combination. (DRDO)  The Indian Air Force and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have demonstrated the enhanced capability of the Akash semimobile surface-to-air (SAM) missile system to intercept four unmanned aerial targets from a single firing unit, the DRDO said in a social media post on 17 December.  According to the demonstration footage released by the DRDO, the Akash system's central...

The Bluebottle USV will be operated by the RNZN for seven months. (Tim Fish)  The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) will experiment with a new variant of the Bluebottle unmanned surface vehicle (USV) that will help inform future capabilities of uncrewed systems in the service.  The USV was delivered to RNZN's Devonport Naval Base on 8 December on HMNZS Aotearoa, which had completed a five-month international deployment with the frigate HMNZS Te Mana. In a ceremony on 13 December RNZN Maritime Component Commander Commodore Garin Golding said trial...

Queen Elizabeth  pictured in the South China Sea during its inaugural deployment to the Indo-Pacific region in 2021.  (Royal Navy)  The UK's planned carrier strike group (CSG) deployment to the Indo-Pacific region in 2025 will include a port call to Japan, UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has announced.  The 2025 naval task force, which will include an aircraft carrier, its escorts, and F-35 combat aircraft, will work alongside the Japan Self-Defense Forces and other partners to help defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacif...

The DART AE is a 3.5 m long single-use hypersonic vehicle powered by a SPARTAN scramjet engine that, according to developer Hypersonix Launch Systems, has a top speed of Mach 7 and a range of 1,000 km. (Hypersonix Launch Systems)  Australian firm H...

The maritime capability coalition will support Ukraine's two newly acquired ex-Royal Navy Sandown-class mine countermeasure vessels,   Chernihiv   (ex-HMS   Grimsby)   and   Cherkasy  (ex-HMS   Shoreham   ), which were commissioned into service in July 2023.   Cherkasy   is pictured during the flag-raising ceremony, which was held in Glasgow, Scotland.  (Armed Forces of Ukraine)  The United Kingdom and Norway have established a maritime capability coalition...

Thales has secured a contract to provide a GM400α long-range air-surveillance radar (pictured) to the Royal Malaysian Air Force. (Thales)  Thales has secured a contract from the Malaysian Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) to provide a long-range air-surveillance radar to the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF).    A spokesperson for Thales told   Janes   on 12 December that the company will provide its Ground Master 400 Alpha (GM400α) radar to the RMAF.   The radar will be installed in the coastal town of Bintulu, located in the ce...