Orbit Fab, an in-orbit spacecraft refueling services provider, has received a $1.67 million grant from the UK Space Agency to develop a high-pressure variant of the Rapidly Attachable Fuel Transfer Interface refueling port. RAFTI, which has a Technology Readiness Level 8 rating, replaces the existing fill and drain valve to minimize additional complexity and mass....
Author: Kristen Smith (Kristen Smith)
Airbus CEO: New UK Government Will Enable EU Defense Cooperation Opportunities
Airbus expects the new British government to bring defense cooperation opportunities with European countries, particularly those involved in two major projects on future combat aircraft. The Labour Party won the U.K. national elections on July 4, ending 14 years of a Conservative-led government. According to the ruling party, London will seek a new security treaty...
Germany Places Order for Rheinmetall Practice Rockets
The German Armed Forces has ordered unguided 70 mm practice rockets from Rheinmetall under a potential $109.42 million framework contract. An initial order worth a mid-double-digit million euro was placed in the second quarter, with deliveries expected to be completed in the coming months and serial production to commence between 2025 and 2029. The practice...
UK’s New Government Announces Strategic Defense Review to Boost Armed Forces
The United Kingdom’s new government led by the Labour Party has launched a Strategic Defence Review to identify the resources and capabilities needed to boost all British military domains in response to existing international threats, including the Russian military aggression against Ukraine and Chinese activities in the Indo-Pacific region. The review was announced after the...
Australia Selects Quantum-Systems, Sypaq to Provide New Drones to ADF
The Australian Defence Force will see its drone assets expand with the Albanese government’s procurement of new lethal and nonlethal small uncrewed aerial systems worth over $67.79 million from Quantum-Systems and Sypaq Systems. Quantum-Systems was awarded two contracts to deliver Vector fixed-wing electric vertical takeoff and landing drones and provide training, maintenance, engineering, supply and...
Lockheed Awarded $300M Navy Contract Modification to Support Australia Surface Combatant Program
Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Lockheed Martin’s rotary and mission systems business a contract modification worth $300.94 million to provide software engineering and on-site support for the Australia Surface Combatant program. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, and Adelaide, Australia, through September 2031. The ASC initiative involves the modernization of three Hobart-class...
Leonardo to Support Ammunition Production for Italian Armed Forces
The Defence Industries Agency, a component of the Italian Ministry of Defence that supplies military equipment to the Italian Armed Forces, has partnered with Leonardo to develop conventional 155 mm artillery ammunition over 18 months. Leonardo said the collaboration, with options to extend further, aims to improve the operational capabilities of the Italian Armed Forces...
US Forms ICE Pact With Canada, Finland on Polar Icebreaker Production
The United States, Canada and Finland have announced a new partnership focused on producing polar icebreakers and workforce development in the shipbuilding industry. The Icebreaker Collaboration Effort Pact, unveiled on the sidelines of a three-day NATO summit in Washington D.C., comes as the U.S. Coast Guard builds new heavy icebreakers to ensure access to the...
Saudi Arabia to Expand MRTT Fleet With New Airbus Order
Airbus has received an order from Saudi Arabia for four additional A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport aircraft. According to Jean-Brice Dumont, head of air power at Airbus Defence and Space, the new contract is the third the country has awarded on A330 MRTT units for the Royal Saudi Arabia Air Force, which is now set...
Lithuanian MOD Orders Air Defense Systems From Saab
The Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence has placed an order for Saab’s mobile short-range air defense missile system under a framework agreement with the company and the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration. Lithuania signed the agreement in 2023 for the procurement of the RBS 70 NG air defense solution, Defence Industry Europe reported. Saab received the...