Bulgaria has established a Cyber Defense Center with funding from the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Military Financing program. The new facility, inaugurated on Thursday, is the latest contribution of the United States to the Balkan nation. In the last five years, Washington has provided more than $238 million in security assistance to help the...
Category: Defense Security Cooperation
European Defense Agency Begins Next Phase of Hybrid Drive Train Program
The European Defense Agency has commenced the second phase of its Hybrid Drive Train Demonstrator program. The organization held a kickoff meeting with representatives from participating nations such as Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Poland. The HybriDT program aims to design wheeled and tracked demonstrators with hybrid drive trains to improve defense mobility. Phase 2...
Switzerland Hosts Industrial Security Working Group Conference in Zurich
Switzerland hosted the 2023 plenary meeting of the Multinational Industrial Security Working Group as chair of the collaborative body. The event in Zurich from Sept. 11 to 15 saw more than a hundred participants from over 30 countries. The United States attended the plenary through representatives from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency’s Industrial Security Directorate, including...
France to Reduce Military Presence in Africa, Deploy More Forces in Pacific
France plans to reduce its military footprint in Africa and deploy more security forces in the Indo-Pacific region, according to Gen. Stéphane Mille, the chief of staff of the French Air and Space Force. At a news briefing on Monday, the general said France will pull back military forces from Africa in the future. He...
EU’s Airborne Electronic Warfare Capability Buildup Enters Second Phase
The European Union’s Responsive Electronic Attack for Cooperative Tasks program will enter its second phase in the next few months, Indra Sistemas, the Spanish defense contractor heading the consortium working on the project, told Defense News. The project aims to provide a design for airborne electronic attack capabilities as well as a system to protect...
Australia Outlines Six ‘Cyber Shields’ Strategy Against Digital Threats
Australia has introduced its first national strategy to address the increasing number of cyberattacks targeting individuals and organizations across the nation. Clare O’Neil, the nation’s first cabinet minister for cybersecurity, unveiled the plan during the Australian Financial Review’s 2023 Cyber Summit on Monday. According to O’Neil, who is also the minister for home affairs, the strategy...
Germany Joins Artemis Accords for Sustainable Space Exploration
Germany has become the latest signatory country to NASA’s Artemis Accords, an international agreement to promote sustainable space exploration. Walter Pelzer, director general for the German Aerospace Center, signed the accords during a ceremony held Thursday at the Washington residence of German Ambassador Andreas Michaelis. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and U.S. National Space Council Executive Secretary Chirag...
Canada Pledges $24M to UK-Led Effort to Equip Ukraine Air Defense
Canadian Minister of National Defence Bill Blair has announced his country’s $24.4 million contribution to a United Kingdom-led partnership that aims to provide Ukraine with short and medium-range air missiles and associated equipment. “Together, Canada and the United Kingdom are standing with Ukraine as it fights to defend itself against Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable invasion,”...
UK Defense Chief Calls for Integration of Emerging Tech Into Armed Forces
The British military needs to advance the development and deployment of new technologies most useful in the modern battlefield, according to Royal Navy Adm. Tony Radakin, chief of the defense staff at the U.K. Ministry of Defence. In his keynote speech at the 2023 Defence and Security Equipment International trade show on Thursday, Radakin said...
Australia Lays Out AUKUS Investment Plans for Nuclear Submarines
Australia is investing early in American shipyards so that delivery of Virginia-class nuclear submarines to the Royal Australian Navy can be fast-tracked to the early 2030s, the service’s Vice Adm. Jonathan Mead said during an Australian Strategic Policy Institute conference in Canberra on Friday. Appointed in July as the inaugural director-general of the Australian Submarine...