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EUROPE
12 Aug 25. Delay hits Dutch Navy’s new anti-submarine warfare frigate project; No new timeline set. The design phase for the Royal Netherlands Navy’s new anti-submarine warfare (ASW) frigates is taking longer than expected. The delay was confirmed by shipbuilder Damen and the Ministry of Defense in answers to questions from Het Financieele Dagblad. The contract for the construction of two ASW frigates for the Dutch Navy was signed in 2023 between Damen and the Ministry of Defense. Damen is also producing two identical frigates for the Belgian Navy. The first Dutch vessel is scheduled for completion in 2029. The new ships will replace the Navy’s two M-class frigates, which date from the 1990s and are considered urgently due for replacement. Specialized naval news site Marineschepen.nl earlier reported that the first steel for the frigates would be cut early in 2024. That report was based on the 2024 Defense Projects Overview, which stated Damen Naval would begin construction “early 2025.” According to Damen, the initial target date for cutting the first steel was July 1, 2025, but that deadline was also allegedly missed. Neither Damen nor the Ministry of Defense has given a new target date. (Source: News Now/https://nltimes.nl/)
USA
13 Aug 25. How the unraveling of two Pentagon projects may result in a costly do-over.
- Summary
- Navy and Air Force projects, worth over $800m, poised to be axed-sources
- Trump’s actions complicate Pentagon’s contracting oversight, risking more taxpayer waste
- Air Force and Space Force seek new HR projects, risking duplication and costs
Donald Trump’s Navy and Air Force are poised to cancel two nearly complete software projects that took 12 years and well over $800 m combined to develop, work initially aimed at overhauling antiquated human resources systems. The reason for the unusual move: officials at those departments, who have so far put the existing projects on hold, want other firms, including Salesforce and bnaire Peter Thiel’s Palantir, to have a chance to win similar projects, which could amount to a costly do-over, according to seven sources familiar with the matter. (Source: Reuters)
07 Aug 25. US Army readies to launch 2026 competition for counter-drone laser weapon. The U.S. Army is counting on funding in fiscal 2026 to hold a competition to pursue a high-energy laser weapon system focused first on countering drones, according to service officials. Over the course of the last five-plus years, the Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, or RCCTO, has built a wide variety of directed energy prototypes, from 10-kilowatt palletized systems for fixed sites to 20- to 30-kilowatt lasers mounted on small tactical vehicles, to 50-kilowatt systems on the Army’s Maneuver-Short-Range Air Defense Stryker-based vehicles. The office also continues to develop a 300-kilowatt laser, as well as high-power microwave capabilities, to counter a variety of threats like drones, artillery and cruise missiles. Out of the 17 prototypes developed through the office, the Army has deployed 11 of them, including four Directed Energy M-SHORAD systems to the U.S. Central Command area of operations. Through operational experimentation, the Army has concluded there is great potential for directed-energy weapons, particularly because of their extraordinarily low cost per shot and naturally high magazine depth. But currently, the ability to sustain the systems in the rough and dirty environments of the battlefield needs work — and industry is not yet poised to manufacture them at scale. The Army decided to pursue what it is calling its Enduring High Energy Laser program to tackle those specific challenges and steer the capability from prototypes to systems that can be fielded.
“We have to continue to work harder, we have to continue to work with the soldiers. We have to continue to work with industry to develop our directed-energy platforms and focus on the areas of reliability,” Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch, the RCCTO director, said Wednesday at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium.
“We’ve got to work on maintainability because … we can’t get by with the thought of having clean rooms out in combat,” he said.
After years of prototyping, the Army’s Enduring High Energy Laser effort will also be designed to be delivered at scale “at more than onesies or twosies,” Rasch said.
The Army plans to release initial capability documents to industry within the next 60 days and is also planning to update its broad agency announcement, which was first released in the summer of 2024. The service is looking at a modular approach for components and is asking industry to design the system with line-replaceable units, meaning components that can be swapped in and out by soldiers in the field in a non-sterile environment. The experimentation in operational scenarios has led to a deep understanding of what components and parts of the laser systems have high failure rates, Col. Adam Miller, who is in charge of directed-energy programs within RCCTO, said at the symposium.
“The optics on these systems are one of the high failure rate items and one of the challenges that we have,” he said. “So as we look to design the beam director … we wanted to insert a touch point opportunity, an integration and a learning event for those soldiers to actually repair that optic and to demonstrate that.”
The system should also be interoperable in the sense that laser providers will not be asked to be vehicle integrators, like many were tasked to do in prototyping.
“We have decoupled the vehicle from our lasers,” Miller said.
“So, if the Army wants to put it on a robot or a Stryker or a [Joint Light Tactical Vehicle],” it can be done with some modifications and size, weight and power adjustments, he said.
The service is also looking to ensure the user interface is common and open, Miller added. The program will also challenge industry to design the systems to be ready to be manufactured at scale.
“Both industry, and on the government side, fully expect directed energy to go up like a hockey stick from the demand perspective, as well as the need to build these systems rapidly,” John Garrity, vice president at BlueHalo, now an AeroVironment company, said at the symposium.
“Not a single component of material suppliers is probably situated to meet that demand today, so our focus has been on building that coalition and team … to make sure that we are ready to actually produce those systems at scale and at volume.” (Source: Defense News)
13 Aug 25. Amid shakeup, Army plans to replace Gray Eagle and Shadow drones. After the Army Transformation Initiative shook up drone plans, the service wants a replacement for older Gray Eagles in 2028 and the Shadow in 2026, according to a service official.. Soldiers inside divisions and brigades will not be left without replacements for Gray Eagle and RQ-7B Shadow drones, according to a US Army leader who says new plans to replace both are in the works. Since the service unveiled its Army Transformation Initiative (ATI) in May, questions have swirled about the path ahead for both since it halted future buys of General Atomics’ Gray Eagle drone and cancelled the Future Tactical Uncrewed Aircraft System (FTUAS) competition designed to replace the now shelved Shadow fleet. Col. Nick Ryan, director of the Army Capability Manager for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, told reporters today that plans are shaping up to acquire new drones for both echelons. The evolving plan, according to Ryan, is to keep the newer Gray Eagles, which are medium-altitude, long endurance aircraft made by General Atomics, in inventory and upgrade them, while phasing out the older variants around the fiscal 2028 timeframe. To make sure division commanders still have reconnaissance, surveillance, targeting, and acquisition drones, the Army wants to buy a new group 4 or 5 platform that doesn’t necessarily need a runway. After releasing a request for information in June 2024, Ryan now expects senior leaders to make a final requirements decision in the next two to three months so that the service can begin fielding the short takeoff and landing (STOL)/ vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft with a “target date” of FY28.
“What actually happens, what actually is approved, what actually is funded could play out differently,” Ryan said.
While Ryan did not discuss details of a forthcoming competition, in September 2024 another Army official told Breaking Defense that there were more than 10 responses to that RFI, and General Atomics spokesman C. Mark Brinkley has previously said his company at least is all in for a potential competition.
“We were excited to see the RFI, and happy to respond with details and plans for our Gray Eagle 25M and Gray Eagle STOL aircraft,” Brinkley wrote in a statement to Breaking Defense last year. “General Atomics envisions Gray Eagle 25M and Gray Eagle STOL as a true 1-2 punch for Army aviation moving into the future.”
As Army officials pave the path ahead for a new division-level drone, Ryan said the brigades are not being left out.
“ATI obviously stopped the Future Tactical UAS program, and then we’ve already been without a Shadow for a couple years now. So, brigades don’t have a capability at this time,” Ryan said. “[But], the requirement for a brigade to have that type of capability for an unmanned aircraft system is still valid and still exists.” (Source: Defense News)
REST OF THE WORLD
12 Aug 25. South Korea moves to speed up KF-21 Block 2, maritime helicopter acquisitions. South Korea has announced that it is accelerating the acquisition of the Block 2 version of the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) KF-21 ‘Boramae’ fighter aircraft for the air force, while progressing a plan to replace the navy’s legacy Westland WG13 Lynx Mk 99 helicopters with a new rotary-wing platform. The decisions were made during the 170th meeting of the Defense Acquisition Program Committee on 8 August, according to South Korea’s Defence Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). Janes has previously reported that the KF-21 Block 2 is an improved version of the KF-21 Block 1 and will have the ability to carry and launch air-to-ground weapons. The committee’s revision of the KF-21 project plan on 8 August approves additional weapon testing to rapidly develop the Block 2 variant’s air-to-ground weapon capabilities in stages, DAPA said.
“The actual deployment of the KF-21 Block 2 … will be faster than planned. The air-to-ground weapon capability was originally planned to be installedin bulk [into the KF-21 Block 2] by the end of 2028, but the plan has been revised to apply them in stages starting from the first half of 2027,” South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) said on 10 August. “As a result, the RoKAF [Republic of Korea Air Force] is expected to secure an ‘evolved aircraft’ within a year after the KF-21 Block 1, which has air-to-air capabilities,” the MND added. Janes has previously reported that the RoKAF will begin inducting the KF-21 Block 1 from late 2026. (Source: Janes)
11 Aug 25. Germany, Israel’s No. 2 arms dealer, halts exports over Gaza concerns. Germany will halt weapons exports to Israel until further notice in response to the Netanyahu government’s decision to militarily occupy Gaza City. The halt will prevent the granting of permissions for the export of all weapons and military goods “that may be utilized in the Gaza Strip,” Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced in Berlin on Friday. He said the step was a direct response to “the Israeli cabinet’s decision to take even tougher military action by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip,” which was announced the night before. The Israeli political decision to undertake a majorly expanded ground operation was made despite the Israeli Defense Forces’ chief of staff and other senior officers openly opposing plans for a complete takeover of the territory. The announcement by Merz represents the continuation of a remarkable shift in Berlin’s position vis-à-vis Israel. Germany has long stood as a stalwart supporter of Tel Aviv for a sense of historical responsibility rooted in the atrocities of the Holocaust. This has sometimes put the government in Berlin at odds with public opinion. During his announcement, Merz reaffirmed Israel’s “right to self-defense” and the necessity of disarming Hamas. Since the start of the conflict until mid-May, Berlin approved the delivery of €485m ($565m) in weapons and military gear to Israel, according to a government tally. Germany accounted for around 30% of Israel’s arms imports between 2019 and 2023, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, placing it second only to the United States. German weapons exports to Israel grew significantly following the start of hostilities in the fall of 2023. Previously, Chancellor Merz’s government had warned Israel that the country risked consequences if it continued its disproportionate response to Hamas’ attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. In May, Germany’s foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, called the situation in the Palestinian Gaza Strip “unbearable,” and said that a halt to arms and even sanctions were on the table if Israel continued unabated. The Gaza Health Ministry has counted over 61,000 Palestinians killed in the war. Independent studies suggest that the actual number may be significantly higher. Local health authorities reported that nearly 200 people, almost half of whom were children, have died of hunger in the conflict. The World Health Organization, an impartial UN Agency, said that about 12,000 children younger than five were suffering from acute malnutrition in July. In late July, Germany and Jordan announced a joint air lift operation to supply Gaza with food and medicine from the air. Pressure has mounted on the Israeli government in recent months as the human suffering in the Gaza Strip reached new levels as a result of indiscriminate Israeli bombing and blockading of the territory. Several Western governments traditionally supportive of Israel have shifted their stance in response. France, the UK and Canada all announced their intention to formally recognize a Palestinian state, something Germany has not yet done. Human rights organizations, including several in Israel, have called Israeli actions against the Palestinian people genocidal. Berlin’s halt of weapons deliveries does not represent a total arms embargo, and it leaves the door open for the delivery of gear that cannot be used against Gaza, such as potentially air defense systems. (Source: Defense News)
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Since 1946, Industrial Electronic Engineers, IEE, has specialized in the design, test, support and fielding of display products for use in demanding military and aerospace applications throughout the world. IEE has developed an extensive product portfolio that today includes enhanced flat panel displays, smart displays and handheld devices.
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