DEFENSE

JERUSALEM — Iron Beam systems will be integrated into the network of Israeli air defense weapons within a year, the Israeli Ministry of Defense said on Monday. The announcement comes after the government signed an armament agreement with contractors Rafael and Elbit to accelerate the development of the Iron Beam directed-energy weapon, according to the […]

When surveying America’s attempts to upscale its defense ties with Indo-Pacific partners, it’s commonly assumed that the Australia-US relationship is amongst the lowest-hanging fruit. There are good reasons for that view. One is the alliance’s long and deep history, which Australians regularly refer to as the ‘bedrock’ of Canberra’s security policy. Another is the importance Australia has placed on

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israel launched airstrikes early Saturday on what it described as military targets in Iran in retaliation for a ballistic missile assault Oct. 1, officials said. There was no immediate information on damage in the Islamic Republic. Israel’s military described the attack as “precise strikes on military targets in Iran,” without

WARSAW, Poland — Polish President Andrzej Duda has ruled out the possibility of supplying newer weapons to Ukraine, including the tanks, self-propelled howitzers, missile launchers and light attack aircraft that his country has ordered from South Korean manufacturers for Poland’s military. Duda made the announcement on Oct. 25 during his official visit to South Korea

BERLIN — The Austrian military will receive 36 air defense systems for its Pandur EVO wheeled armored vehicles. The country’s minister of defense, Klaudia Tanner, announced the deal worth about half a billion Euros last week. It will make Austria the first country to use a modified version of Rheinmetall’s Skyranger 30 system. The weapons

This story was updated Feb. 26, 2024, at 1:54 p.m. EST. BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary’s parliament voted Monday to ratify Sweden’s bid to join NATO, ending more than 18 months of delays that frustrated the alliance as it sought to expand in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The vote, which passed 188-6, was the

Without U.S. aid, Ukraine cannot defend its current lines, let alone liberate more territory, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned on Sunday, shortly after Kyiv’s troops were forced to withdraw from the eastern city of Avdiivka amid a severe ammunition shortage. Yet the House Republican leadership is still refusing to consider, much less pass, further security assistance

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron left open the option of putting European troops on the ground in Ukraine, saying nothing should be ruled out to defeat Russia’s aggression against the country. Macron said the issue of sending troops to Ukraine was among topics discussed during a meeting of 27 countries in Paris, including 21

SINGAPORE — A French firm that deploys artificial intelligence to observe Chinese and Russian military activity says it is integrating video footage gathered by drones into its algorithms for detecting adversaries’ military movements. Paris-based Preligens, founded in 2016, offers two AI-based solutions, Robin, an imagery-analysis software, and Xerus, a computer system for military terrain mapping.

Britain has opened up bids for its New Medium Helicopter program as the nation’s modernization program moves into a major new phase, the Defence Ministry announced Tuesday. The U.K. expects to award a contract in 2025 to build the new helicopters, the ministry said. According to a March 2022 government document about major defense projects,

MILAN — The French government’s military-procurement agency has placed an order for thousands of Saab multispectral camouflage nets designed to conceal troops formations’ electromagnetic signature on the battlefield. The Direction Générale de l’Armement announced in a Feb. 27 release that it has ordered 3,000 multispectral Barracuda camouflage nets from the Stockholm-based defense company. “Saab’s subcontractor,

BERLIN — Germany will purchase up to 49 Skyranger 30 air defense systems from Rheinmetall for a total of almost €600 million, or $650 million, the company announced in a press release this week. The Skyranger 30 weapons stations will be mounted onto the Bundeswehr’s Boxer armored fighting vehicles. In the German setup, the system