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UNITED KINGDOM AND NATO
29 Sep 25. GMB Union has described the Chancellor’s ‘buy British’ plan as ‘incredible news for UK shipyards. Rachel Reeves announced plans to change the law so sectors such as steel and shipbuilding will be classed as critical national infrastructure and can favour British companies [1].
Gary Smith, GMB General Secretary, said: “This is incredible news for the UK’s proud shipbuilding sector. For generations, our fantastic yards have kept the country safe; from the ships that beat the Armada to those that sunk the Bismarck.
26 Sep 25. Britain prepared to let Germany join next-gen fighter jet programme. In what would be coup for UK, Berlin could switch to its project after bust-up with France. Britain is prepared to let Germany join the Tempest next-generation fighter aircraft project amid a bust-up with France over a rival European effort, industry sources say. The Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) currently involves the UK, Japan and Italy – but there is speculation now that Germany could join as well. Defence industry sources said a decision would ultimately fall to the governments involved, adding that the scope for a German role in development was narrow because project was at an advanced stage. However, they did not rule out Berlin joining GCAP as a buyer and having an input into certain aspects of the aircraft, including the drone platforms that are expected to accompany it. Getting Germany on board with GCAP would be a coup for Britain and its partners and would further improve the economics of the programme. For now, Berlin has said its current preference is to remain part of the rival scheme known as Systeme de Combat Aerien du Futur (SCAF), which it has pursued jointly with France and Spain. However, significant tensions are bubbling under the surface with German officials and Airbus, which represents German industry in the project, reportedly exasperated with French defence giant Dassault Aviation over its demands for a contract renegotiation. Dassault, which makes the hugely successful Rafale fighter jet, is said to be demanding more control over the programme and a bigger share of the work because of its aviation expertise. Airbus has insisted it will not reopen the deal. Behind the scenes, Berlin has begun examining alternative options including potential partnerships with Britain or Sweden, according to the news website Politico. Last week, French executives dared Berlin to walk away. “The Germans can complain, but here we know how to do this,” Eric Trappier, the boss of Dassault, said on Tuesday. “If they want to act on their own, let them do so.” Industry sources said the main concern with German involvement in GCAP would be the risk of delays. At the moment, the three partner countries are racing to sign final contracts this year after concluding tough negotiations to hash out the division of work between themselves. Reopening those talks is not seen as attractive and could put the project’s already-tight timelines at risk. Tokyo in particular is seeking a tarmac-ready aircraft that can be deployed from 2035. The three countries are also working towards a demonstrator jet in 2027. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence would not be drawn on potential German participation but reiterated the UK’s commitment to GCAP and the scheme’s focus on “interoperability” with allies. The programme, originally conceived as Tempest in Britain, brings together the next-generation fighter programmes of the UK, Italy and Japan and aims to create a stealthy, supersonic jet that will act as a “platform of platforms” coordinating drones, missiles, battlefield communications and intelligence-gathering. Together, the three partner countries have set up Edgewing – a joint venture of Britain’s BAE Systems, Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co and Italy’s Leonardo – to pilot a rapid development process, which will involve coordinating a large group of industrial businesses that includes Rolls-Royce in the UK. A spokesman for Edgewing said: “All three GCAP nations have highlighted their openness to working with other nations through this programme, based on shared consideration of what is best for the programme and of mutual benefit.
“Any decisions on wider partnering will be made trilaterally by the national governments.
“Edgewing has been created to lead the design and development of the aircraft and, as such, it is completely focused on maintaining critical momentum on the programme and mobilisation of its business operations in three nations.”
Francis Tusa, an independent defence analyst, predicted that the difficulty of unpicking the arrangements reached so far would significantly limit any potential role Germany can play.
He said: “It was made really clear at [London trade show] Defence and Security Equipment International that Germany could join as a production partner, just not as a development partner.
“So they are saying: ‘Yes, if Germany wants to buy them of course they can have some production lines, but we are not going to stop the programme to open everything up for negotiation again.’”
Professor Justin Bronk, an aviation expert at the Royal United Services Institute, added that because of this, it wasn’t obvious how GCAP can “offer things at this stage that would make it noticeably better than what they currently have with France – albeit that is very unsatisfactory for them at the moment”.
However, he said: “If they end up with no alternative, becoming a customer of GCAP – maybe with some local assembly – is potentially an option that I can see being plausible.”
Mr Tusa said the row with France had left Germany in an awkward position because the country lacks the capabilities to develop a fighter aircraft on its own. Another potential alternative could be to work with Sweden on a future fighter programme.
He added: “For all intents and purposes, SCAF is dead – and frankly, Germany is up a creek.” (Source: Daily Telegraph)
26 Sep 25. Harland And Wolff Works With Navantia. Shipbuilders at Navantia UK yards, including Harland & Wolff Belfast and Appledore in Devon, Chief Executive Donato Martínez’s promise of 600,000 additional UK build hours. The company has assured workers in talks with trade unions that work reshuffled to Spain on Ship 1 will be offset by increased UK content on Ships 2 and 3. Navantia have been criticised for the programme changes this week, but workers acknowledge that with the much welcome and long overdue infrastructure investments into their yards, some facilities would simply not be fully ready in time for the original schedule. Trade unions campaigned for and welcomed Navantia UK’s takeover of Harland & Wolff, which preserved all yards and jobs whilst securing the £1.6 bn contract for naval support ships in the UK. The company is also investing £115 m in infrastructure across its sites, something trade unions have long called for.
Matt Roberts, GMB National Officer, said: “It’s obviously a shame that there is a need to adjust the programme, but unions have been assured that this will be a reshuffle only, and not an overall slide of work away from the UK. Our representatives and members are working with the new ownership and will be closely monitoring and supporting the situation.”
26 Sep 25. Dutch Ship Betrayal. UK shipbuilders have declared they are ready to step in and fulfil a £200 m deal to build 24 vessels that was shamefully handed to the Dutch firm Damen instead of UK yards. Outsourcing giant Serco has an £850 m public contract over ten years to provide support services – including 24 new small support craft – at the UK’s naval bases. Instead of getting UK yards to build the vessels in line with the UK National Shipbuilding Strategy, Serco chose a Dutch company despite the firm facing prosecution in the Netherlands for allegedly breaching Russian sanctions.
Matt Roberts, GMB National Officer, said: “Our shipbuilding members all around the UK are telling us they are angry that Serco dished out this work to foreign shores when this could have been a real boost for several of our shipyards at home. Our members are saying loud and clear in multiple yards they stand ready to step in if our government can repatriate this UK work. It is not good enough for the MOD to say they will look at this if Damen are found guilty in their court case – that misses the point that this work should always have been done at home by our skilled UK shipbuilders. With the investment that has gone into UK shipbuilding, this debacle raises serious questions on how the government allowed this to happen with a public contract.”
EUROPE
02 Oct 25. Europe Should Forget the Sixth-Gen Warplane—and Upgrade the Eurofighter Instead. The Eurofighter Typhoon is one of the few enduring, positive legacies of what the founders of the European project had hoped for: a technologically advanced, adaptable, and lethal fourth-generation warplane as iconic as anything that the United States or Russians have produced.
Sadly, not much of the European project is going well today in the face of a resurgent Russia and an increasingly ambivalent United States. Still, the Eurofighter remains in service as a testament to both what once was and what continues to be the hope for the ongoing European project.
As part of the enduring nature of this high-value warplane, European defense officials are overseeing an ongoing overhaul and modernization of the platform to ensure it remains relevant for decades to come. The Eurofighter Typhoon’s Long Term Evolution (LTE) program, also occasionally referred to as the “mid-life upgrade” (MLU), is a comprehensive modernization effort focused on enhancing the plane’s avionics architecture, its computing power, and overall weapons capabilities.
The Eurofighter Typhoon’s Specifications
- Year Introduced: 2003
- Number Built: 609 (+ 7 prototypes)
- Length: 15.96 m (52 ft 4 in)
- Wingspan: 10.95 m (35 ft 11 in)
- Weight: 23,500 kg (35,274 lb) MTOW
- Engines: Two Euroject EJ200 afterburning turbofan engines, 60 kN (13,500 lbf) thrust each dry
- Top Speed: 2,495 km/h (1,550 mph), Mach 2.35
- Combat Radius: 1,389 km (863 mi)
- Service Ceiling: 16,764 m (55,000 ft)
- Loadout: One 27mm Mauser BK-27 revolver cannon; 13 hardpoints (8 under wing, 5 under-fuselage pylon stations); 9,000 kg (19,800 lb) total payload capacity
- Aircrew: 1-2, depending on variant
The Typhoon’s Development: European Cooperation at Its Finest
Launched by the Eurofighter consortium consisting of Airbus, BAE Systems, and Leonardo, the LTE program focuses on evolving the Typhoon to handle massive data volumes at higher speeds, integrate advanced sensors and weapons, and ensure interoperability with future systems like unmanned “loyal wingmen” drones and sixth-generation warplanes. Key upgrades include a redesigned cockpit with improved human-machine interface, faster mission and flight control computing, upgraded communications and data links, enhancements to the Praetorian Defensive Aids Subsystem (DASS) for electronic warfare (EW), and potential integrations of artificial intelligence-assisted data fusion and modular architectures for rapid capability additions. These changes apply to both new production aircraft and retrofits for existing fleets across the four core partner nations—Germany, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The initiative further builds on prior enhancements like the Phase 4 Enhancement (P4E) and aims to extend the Typhoon’s operational life into the 2060s as a bridge to programs like the Future Combat Air System (FCAS)—which for now appears to be mired in what Hollywood would describe as “Development Hell,” with some key Europeans members of the FCAS program looking to bail out and abandon the project entirely.
Does Europe Really Need a Sixth-Gen Fighter?
If European leaders abandon their plans for a sixth-generation warplane and pour resources into enhancing the Eurofighter with the LTE Program, they could potentially bolster the continent’s otherwise flagging military power. The Eurofighter currently accounts for over 80 percent of the partner nations’ operational airpower. Indeed, modernizing Typhoon fleets to counter emerging threats like advanced EW, AI-driven systems, and hypersonic weapons would greatly enhance European sovereignty—and reduce reliance on US-made aircraft, allowing for greater strategic autonomy in defense. This could maintain or tilt the balance toward Western European nations and NATO allies against potential adversaries like Russia, whose air forces include platforms such as the Su-57, by improving survivability, network-centric warfare capabilities, and manned-unmanned teaming. Crucially, with the delays of both the continent’s FCAS and Britain’s sixth-generation warplane program, the upgraded Typhoons will provide essential sustained combat mass and technological edge that assists in securing NATO’s increasingly threatened eastern flank.
A 4.5-Gen Fighter in 2030 Is Better than a Sixth-Gen Fighter in 2040
While exact timelines vary by nation and upgrade phase, the LTE program’s Technology Maturation Phase began with a contract signed last December, following system definition efforts completed by mid-2025. Initial capabilities, such as electronic combat enhancements for Germany’s fleet are slated for deployment by 2030. Broader LTE upgrades for new and retrofitted aircraft are projected to achieve initial operational readiness in early 2030s. Full fleet deployment across partner nations is expected by the mid-2030s—potentially five to 10 years ahead of the FCAS entry around 2040. Given that the Eurofighter can be upgraded to incorporate AI and Loyal Wingman technology at a fraction of the cost of sixth-generation warplane programs underway in Britain and Europe, one must wonder if those costly and complex sixth-generation warplane programs are even needed. Above all, the Eurofighter has a proven track record. Europe has a production line already in place that can reliably produce these birds and make upgrades to them efficiently. What’s more, Europe has access to America’ s F-35 Lightning II fifth-generation warplane, which is technically more advanced than the Eurofighter. Between that plane and the upgraded Eurofighter, with the threat of Russia apparently so pressing, why would Europe even waste its finite resources and industrial power on starting from scratch when they could just augment the already proven Eurofighter? (Source: News Now/https://nationalinterest.org)
USA
30 Sep 25. US Army reignites self-propelled howitzer competition after ATI pause. Though the Army said “the scope and organization of a soldier experiment for self-propelled artillery is still being defined,” the RFI suggests that the service is primarily looking for US-made and -manufactured solutions. After months of pauses and uncertainty, the Army released a request for proposal for its self-propelled howitzer competition, indicating that the service is prepared to launch forward with its mission to modernize its field artillery portfolio.
“Over the past 8 months, the US Army has been re-evaluating its objectives for modernization and adjusting those objectives to best support the new Army Transformation Initiative (ATI) strategy. Comprehensive analysis has confirmed the importance of 155mm self-propelled artillery system-of-systems to the Army,” read the request for proposal posted Monday. “Consequently, the US Army is considering opportunities to rapidly conduct soldier experimentation.”
After scrapping development of its Extended Range Cannon Artillery platform, Army officials embarked on a world tour last year searching for existing self-propelled howitzers. After seeing the offering of five companies — BAE Systems, Elbit Systems, General Dynamics, Hanwha and Rheinmetall — the service announced it was launching a competition to pick an existing platform. The competition was planned to kick off with the release of a Phase I request for proposal in mid-February, Breaking Defense reported in January. However, it was one of the programs put on hold as a result of ATI. Monday’s RFI is the first document that the service has published in regards to the long-awaited competition since it was paused earlier this year.
The RFI, authored by the Program Executive Officer for Ground Combat Systems, called on vendors to offer solutions that will “likely involve temporarily” providing self-propelled howitzer systems to brigades participating in the Army’s Transformation in Contact (TiC) initiative — the service’s push to rapidly test new equipment with units both inside the US and abroad to understand how that technology will operate in real-world environments.
Though the Army said “the scope and organization of a soldier experiment for self-propelled artillery is still being defined,” the RFI suggests that the service is primarily looking for US-made and -manufactured solutions.
For example, the RFI directs respondents to “provide a summary of your current supply chain and current suppliers used in the USA, including a map of major supplier locations. Highlight major supplier locations outside of the USA.”
“If not currently produced in the USA, describe how you would onshore production of the proposed system to the USA, including barrel production. Identify current US manufacturing facilities and sources of supply,” it added.
The RFI goes on to ask industry how long it would take to deliver one US-produced self-propelled howitzer, and how long for the delivery of six. One industry source who has been closely following the program as a potential competitor raised his eyebrows at parts of the RFI, including its tight timeline, especially amid foreign conflicts in which the artillery could be put to real-world use.
“We are not just sitting around on platforms. … I sell those,” the source said. “Do [companies] do a demo or do [they] supply a war in Ukraine or Israel?”
The source continued that it takes about two years to produce something like a howitzer, given the long lead times on parts and forging the barrel. Out of the five companies who participated in last year’s roadshow, several do not currently produce their platforms exclusively in the US. Despite those concerns, the RFI and associated questions in it do not mean the Army will ultimately require interested companies to hand over six howitzers within the next couple of months for a demo. That number and timeframe could shift based on responses that are due back to the Army by Oct. 10.
“This RFI is for informational purposes only,” the Army document said. “The information in this notice is subject to change and is not binding on the USG.” (Source: Breaking Defense.com)
REST OF THE WORLD
03 Oct 25. New Zealand announces plans to boost local defence sector. The New Zealand government said on Friday it was changing defence procurement rules and introducing a new military technology fund in an effort to boost the local defence sector as government spending is set to increase. The New Zealand government said earlier this year it would boost defence spending by NZ$9 billion ($5 billion) over the next four years, and aim to nearly double spending to 2% as a share of gross domestic product in the next eight years due to growing concerns about strategic competition.
“When the world around us is changing at such a pace, we need to change our approach to how we equip our Defence Force, and we need to work in partnership with industry to be better together,” Defence Minister Judith Collins said in a statement about the release of the Defence Industry Strategy. “Not to do so would be irresponsible.”
The strategy laid out new government procurement rules that require multinational defence suppliers to develop and submit plans to ensure the use of local industry in delivering and sustaining defence capability. (Source: Reuters)
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