The Italian government has earmarked $10.38 billion of its 2024 budget of $23.3 billion for defense procurement, up 16.8 percent from 2023. According to Defense News, the budget provides $7.8 billion to acquire 15 F-35As and 10 F-35Bs, bringing Italy’s F-35 fleet to 115 aircraft. The report said the Italian Air Force will operate the...
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Category: Defense Security Cooperation
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AUKUS Members Seeking to Expand Collaboration With Other Allies to Advance Military Capabilities
The AUKUS trilateral security partnership, which involves the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, is now in its third year and is seeking collaboration with Canada, New Zealand and South Korea under its second pillar. Pillar 2 focuses on strengthening cooperation in critical technologies, including cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and hypersonics, to...
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US, Allies Agree to Strengthen Cooperation in the Arctic to Deter Russian Military Activities
Air force leaders from the United States, Sweden and Norway have highlighted the need to boost technology innovation, domain awareness and collaboration in the Arctic amid a Russian military buildup in the polar region. In a panel discussion during the Air Force Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference on Tuesday, U.S. Air Forces in Europe...
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Kongsberg Expands Missile Production Capacity With New US Factory
Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace plans to build a U.S. missile production facility in James City County, Virginia, following the Norwegian company’s establishment of a similar factory in Australia. The Pennsylvania facility will be equipped to assemble, upgrade and repair Naval Strike Missile and Joint Strike Missile. It was established on Kongsberg’s expectation that it could...
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Report: US Defense Department Needs to Enhance Acquisition-Related International Collaborations
Mitre, a research and development innovation partner to the U.S. and international organizations, has urged the Department of Defense to boost international collaboration in defense acquisitions, noting that the program offices responsible for developing new military systems generally do so in isolation from allies who would fight alongside American forces. In a newly published paper,...
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Rhea Space Activity Subsidiary to Develop GPS-Denied Navigation Solution for Australia
Rhea Space Activity has launched an Australian subsidiary to support the trilateral security partnership AUKUS’ goal of developing an Australian variant of the Jervis Autonomy Module, which provides navigation without GPS. According to RSA US Chief Operating Officer and RSA Australia Director Cameo Lance, JAM, initially intended for deep space missions, will be adopted for...
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Canada, Japan Discuss Defense Collaboration Opportunities in Indo-Pacific Region
Canadian Minister of National Defence Bill Blair met with Japanese Minister of Defense Kihara Minoru on Friday to discuss peacekeeping, training and research opportunities in the Indo-Pacific. In the talks, Blair expressed his country’s commitment to supporting a free, open and inclusive region amid provocations from North Korea, Russia’s growing influence and territorial disputes in...
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US OKs Japan Order for KC-46A Refueling Aircraft
The U.S. Department of State has authorized the Japanese government’s request to acquire aerial refueling aircraft and related equipment under the Foreign Military Sales program. The contract, with an estimated value of $4.1 billion, will see Japan acquire several major defense equipment: up to nine KC-46A aircraft, up to 18 PW4062 turbofan engines, up to...
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US, Australia, Italy Participate in Naval Drills to Improve Collaboration, Interoperability
The United States, Australia and Italy participated in a multilateral naval exercise to improve collaboration and interoperability in command and control, tactics and anti-surface warfare. The event in the South China Sea, which took place from Sept. 8 to 11, provided soldiers with practical experience in fixed-wing air defense and combined anti-submarine warfare operations while...
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Adm. Rob Bauer: NATO, Indo-Pacific Allies to Boost Military Partnerships
The military cooperation between NATO and its Indo-Pacific partners South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand “will further intensify” to deter adversarial moves by Russia and China, Royal Netherlands Navy Adm. Rob Bauer said on Tuesday. In his keynote address at the opening of the Seoul Defense Dialogue in South Korea, Bauer, who serves as...