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21 Aug 25. Israel to place $500m, US-funded order for Boeing aerial refuelling tankers. Israel plans to buy two Boeing-made KC-46 military aerial refuelling tankers in a $500m deal to be financed with U.S. military aid, the Israeli defence ministry said on Wednesday.
It said it would sign the contract with the U.S. government once an Israeli ministerial committee for defence procurement grants its approval. The U.S. government oversees foreign military sales and transfers to other nations.
The military already operates four Boeing-made KC-46 aerial tankers, the defence ministry said in a statement.
Ministry Director General Amir Baram said in the statement that the aircraft would strengthen the military’s long-range strategic capabilities, enabling it to operate farther afield with greater force and with increased scope. Israel used such aerial refuelling tankers during its 12-day air war against Iran in June. (Source: Reuters)
20 Aug 25. SANDF has combat vehicles but numbers and modernisation an issue – Motshekga. An Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Parliamentarian was politely but firmly shown the error of her ways when Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga replied to a Parliamentary question. Sixolisa Gcilishe sought ministerial input on what she said was an SA National Defence Force (SANDF) “still without combat vehicles” some two decades after “bns of Rand” spent.
The written Motshekga reply opens by noting “it is factually incorrect to state that the SANDF has ‘no combat vehicles’”. She further informs her questioner: “Current fleet reports confirm the continued availability and operational deployment of both wheeled and tracked combat platforms” adding for clarity “the issue under consideration is fleet sufficiency and modernisation, not total absence”.
The Gcilishe question does not stipulate any specific “combat vehicle” types but it is reasonable to infer the long awaited and much delayed Badger to replace the Ratel, now nearing its 50th anniversary of service, is what she was referring to.
Open source intelligence has it the SANDF has over 500 Ratel-20/Ratel-60/Ratel-90 vehicles in service, and about 600 in reserve. There are said to be about 170 Rooikat armoured cars in the SA Army along with just over 200 Olifant tanks on the SA Army asset register. Also on the vehicle asset register is about 60-100 Mamba armoured personnel carriers (APCs) plus 300 in reserve. Over the years since first being taken into service, Mambas have been modified to – among others – carry a light machine gun turning it into a “combat vehicle” in the narrowest sense of the description.
The Badger infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) has been on the books – as it were – for at least 18 years to replace the Ratel (its Afrikaans namesake). The Badger will be in variants including command, section, fire support, mortar, missile and an unarmed ambulance. Latest available information has it 244 will be built with no date set for delivery.
Delays in Badger production, under the Department of Defence (DoD) project Hoefyster, are ascribed largely to what is termed “State capture” by the South African government. In this regard, former and now deceased Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan once observed Denel, where Badger is to be built by its Land Systems Division, was “a prime example” of what is elsewhere known as “grand corruption”.
State defence materiel agency Armscor signed a contract with Denel Land Systems in May 2007 for Badger development, with initial deliveries due in May 2019. However, in December 2018 Denel indicated the contract could not be executed within price, specification or timescale, and asked for the contract to be reset. The following year, it was agreed that mass production would be deferred after completion of vehicle development.
Armscor earlier this year told Parliament that development of the combat variants of Project Hoefyster is scheduled for November 2027, but a decision on mass production is still to be made. The Section and Fire Support variant should be completed this year and the Command, Missile, Mortar and Logistics variants in 2027.
Armscor flagged numerous production constraints at Denel, including financial challenges, delays in completing vehicle development, reduced personnel capacity, reduced project funding, and risk with bank guarantees.
To date, Armscor has spent R7.6 bn on Project Hoefyster. Although vehicles have not been delivered to the SA Army, Denel managed to export weapon turrets designed for the Badger to foreign clients, bringing in royalties.
In June, Denel said the company has engineering capacity to complete Phase 1 vehicle development. Phase 2 (production) planning will depend on agreements between Armscor and the Department of Defence, with Phase 2’s shape and timeline under review.
Due to Badger delays, the SANDF is looking at keeping the ageing Ratel in service for longer. In July, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) issued a request for information (RFI) to service providers to examine the feasibility of extending the life of the South African Army’s Ratels.
Possible modernisation would address current challenges including component obsolescence, improve vehicle availability, and ensure operational performance. The RFI invites qualified bidders to propose suitable modernisation solutions, either through an upgrade programme and/or a life extension programme.
Several local companies have already developed Ratel upgrade/modernisation solutions, such as OTT Solutions with its Ratel SLEP (Service Life Extension Programme). Jorsin – which has extensive experience with maintaining and repairing Ratels – has already begun experimenting with upgrades to the Ratel, with a particular focus on reorganising the Ratel to allow for a mid-engined configuration, similar to Jorsin’s new Tau vehicle. (Source: https://www.defenceweb.co.za/)
20 Aug 25. Reader Comment: Hi Julian, in your piece this week on Porsche family you are perpetuating a myth regarding Porsche designing turrets. The ‘Porsche’ turrets used on Tiger II weren’t designed or made by Porsche [or the Henschel by Henschel], they were Krupp turrets destined for Porsche or Henschel hulls. See https://tankmuseum.org/article/turrets
Both turrets used on the Tiger II were designed and built by the Krupp company. So why are they so often called the ‘Porsche’ and ‘Henschel’ turrets?
The answers can be found in the tank’s early design. This post is a greatly simplified account of the story.
The earliest work on a heavy tank armed with the 88mm KwK 43 gun was carried out by the Porsche company. The resulting design was known to the company as the Typ 180 and to the German Army as VK.45.02(P).
Ferdinand Porsche, the company’s chief designer, developed several versions of this design, each powered by a different engine or engines. His aim, or perhaps obsession is a better term, was to build a vehicle with the highest automotive performance possible. However his designs proved unreliable and none of his VK.45.02(P) variants entered production.
‘Porsche’ Turret – Curved Front
Rival firm Henschel began designing a KwK 43 armed tank in October 1942. Their hull design, originally known as VK.45.03, was approved for production as the Tiger II.
Krupp had been given a contract to design and build turrets for the VK.45.02(P) – the Porsche version. They completed fifty, and, as there were now no Porsche hulls to fit them to, delivered them to Henschel. These became the Tiger IIs with the curved front turret.
‘Henschel’ Turret – Flat Front
Later Tiger IIs were fitted with the simpler flat fronted turret, also designed by Krupp. Replacing one type of turret with the other could be done, but it required significant work and it’s unclear how often it actually happened.
In Conclusion
We can see that although inaccurate, there is a logic to the common names. The ‘Porsche turret’ is so named because it was intended for (but never fitted to) a tank hull designed by Porsche, and the ‘Henschel turret’ because it was fitted to a hull designed by that firm.
18 Aug 25. Australia invest $1.5bn in defence distribution network. The ADF strengthen its distribution network but this must go hand in hand with transportation infrastructure.
Australian Army soldiers and United States Navy personnel assist members from Depth Defence Logistics with loading M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams main battle tanks to a United States Naval Loading Craft Utility during Exercise Talisman Sabre at the Townsville Port, Queensland on 19 July 2025. Credit: Australia Defence Force.
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) have signed a A$1.5bn ($977m) contract with Toll Remote Logistics Proprietary Limited to deliver equipment, supplies, and support across Australia.
This comes under the Defence Theatre Logistics deal, a ten-year agreement which consolidates two existing contracts which will see the suppliers connect the delivery of warehousing, national distribution, and retail store services across the country.
This will build on previous contracts the ADF have with Linfox and Ventia. The former distributor claims to have delivered 60 m line items to the armed forces while the latter is said to have supplied up to 70 bases across the country. (Source: army-technology.com)
18 Aug 25. US Army moving out with cheaper Robotic Combat Vehicle competition, but with a new name. In a new request for information for Unmanned Ground Commercial Robotic Vehicles, the service said it is eyeing platforms that carry a price tag below $650,000.
After a second scrapped attempt at fielding Robotic Combat Vehicles (RCV), the US Army is taking another crack but with plans to cap the per unit cost at $650,000, according to a new notice to industry.
“The Army seeks UGCRV [Unmanned Ground Commercial Robotic Vehicles] prototypes to meet emerging requirements in the form of desired characteristics in support of future operations on the battlefield,” a recent request for information obtained by Breaking Defense said.
This time around, service officials are eyeing a ground robot with a price tag below $650,000 that can carry a payload of more than 2,200 pounds while traversing both on and off roads to keep up with soldiers inside Armored Brigade Combat Teams.
That presolication, published Friday by the National Advanced Mobility Consortium to its members, comes after decades of failed attempts trying to field unmanned ground vehicles including the service’s recent decision to halt a second RCV competition. After conducting a revamped competition, Breaking Defense first reported that industry sources had been notified that Textron Systems’s Ripsaw 3 had won that RCV competition, and the service was preparing to ink a deal with the victors. But around that same time, Army leaders identified RCV as a program to cut as part of the 8 percent budget drill to realign funding toward higher priorities, one service official told Breaking Defense then.
“We need robotic combat vehicles, but we want a consortium of vendors to bring their robotics and the best software folk,” that Army source explained. “We don’t want to downselect just to one vendor and pay almost $3 m per copy.”
The release of the new robotic RFI paves a possible way forward with an Aug. 29 deadline for interested companies to respond, and provides some additional insights into a laundry list of potential requirements for a ground robot fleet.
Soldiers should be able to control them via “basic teleoperation” (i.e., remote control) but it should also have autonomy software included for waypoint navigation, leader-follower and sentry mode. At the same time, “autonomy hardware selection shall not create any operational degradation to mission execution.”
The unmanned vehicles should also be to travel at least 34 miles per hour on road and 25 mph off road for at least 140 miles, and have a 360-degree visual, thermal, and audio sensing capability.
As for the minimum 2,200-pound payload capacity, the document notes the robots might be outfitted with counter-unmanned aerial vehicles capabilities, beyond line-of-sight kinetic effects, both attack and defensive electronic warfare, and more. (Source: Breaking Defense.com)
18 Aug 25. New Army support deal for North-East firm to boost national security and growth. New agreement with Cook Defence Systems will provide vital spare parts to the British Army armoured vehicle fleet. 125 jobs are to be supported in the North East through a new agreement between the MOD and Cook Defence Systems to supply spare tracks for the British Army’s armoured fighting vehicles. The three-year deal announced today (18 August), worth up to £125m, will see the company supplying spare parts for all the Army’s principal combat vehicles including its new Challenger 3 tanks, securing investment in advanced manufacturing techniques and supporting skilled jobs at Cook’s County Durham site. The announcement supports the Government’s Plan for Change: boosting UK defence spending and our security, backing British industry, and growing the economy by creating skilled jobs in communities across the country.
The agreement comes ahead of Ukrainian Independence Day on Sunday 24 August. Cook Defence Systems have played a vital role in the UK’s enduring commitment to Ukraine, supporting donated British armoured fighting vehicles and as the main manufacturer of spare tracks for the Soviet-era vehicles used by the Ukrainian Army.
This highlights how the UK and British industry are working together to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position on the battlefield.
Minister for the Armed Forces, Luke Pollard, said: “This contract not only strengthens our Army’s warfighting capability, but helps sustain hundreds of skilled jobs in the North East. It’s a clear example of the defence dividend – this Government’s historic increase in defence spending supporting high-skilled jobs across the UK, part of the Plan for Change. This investment is a clear example of the defence dividend where higher defence spending, spent with British firms, supports good, well-paid skilled jobs nationwide. The war in Ukraine has taught us that a military is only as strong as the industry behind it. That’s why we’re investing more in our own forces and working with UK industry to scale up production, support our allies, and secure long-term national resilience.
The new agreement delivers on the recommendations of the Strategic Defence Review, published in June, and the upcoming Defence Industrial Strategy. By aligning national security and economic growth, this Government is ensuring that every pound of taxpayer money spent on defence not only makes our country safer but contributes to growing the economy.”
Director of Cook Defence Systems, William Cook said: “As the only British designer and manufacturer of track systems for fighting vehicles, Cook Defence Systems is critical to the operational independence of the British Army and allied forces.
This latest contract directly supports 125 jobs at Cook Defence Systems and underpins £5m of investment in new plant and machinery over the next twelve months. Our core relationship with the UK MOD is the foundation of our export success, with Cook Defence Systems currently supplying British allies in Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.”
This comes as part of wider defence investment, with the UK ramping up procurement of artillery ammunition, drones, and combat spares in response to lessons learned from Ukraine, whilst continuing to support them following Putin’s barbaric invasion.
The UK, together with allies, is stepping up support for Ukraine – providing £4.5bn of military support this year – more than ever before. In March this year, the Prime Minister announced a historic £1.6bn deal to provide more than five thousand air defence missiles for Ukraine.
The UK is also stepping up on the supply of drones, with £350m this year to increase the supply of drones from 10,000 in 2024 to 100,000 in 2025; and the UK has completed a delivery of 140,000 artillery munitions since the start of 2025 in a vital boost for Ukraine’s frontline troops. (Source: https://www.gov.uk/)
15 Aug 25. British Army to receive final Tranche One Jackal 3 4x4s by year-end. The programme is a minor ray of light for a British Army that is unable to field a division-sized combat force. The Jackal 3 and its variants are widely utilised by the British Army for a range of tactical logistics and reconnaissance roles. The platform has been developed by UK-based armoured vehicle designer Supacat.
Col Jez Johnson, DE&S Protected Mobility Group Team Leader, said that the platform “boosts operational capability” for the British Army, in a Babcock social media post on 12 August.
The last two Jackal 3 vehicles produced under Tranche One will be delivered to the British Army by the end of 2025.
The Jackal 3 is the latest generation of Jackal vehicles that first entered service with the British Army in 2008, including improved crew protection and increased Gross Vehicle Mass for greater load carrying.
In addition, a new suspension system will improve off-road performance, with the vehicle able to be reconfigured from its current 4×4 configuration into a 6×6 variant to increase load carrying capacity.
The agreement for the provision of an initial 70 Jackal 3 HMTs for the British Army first came to light in February 2023, which also contained a provision for an eventual total provision of 240 of the type. There are around 700 Jackal variants in the British Army.
Jackal is welcome, but not enough
As previously reported, the development of a Jackal 3 is timely, as it aligns with an ongoing UK Ministry of Defence effort to reduce the 16 vehicle types currently in the British Army’s mobility fleet down to around five designs, under the Land Mobility Programme.
In-service platforms that will be part of this consolidation include the Wolfhound, Mastiff, and Ridgeback protected mobility platforms, the Panther and Foxhound 4x4s, the tracked Bulldog FV430, as well as utility platforms such as the Coyote, Jackal, Land Rover, and Pinzgauer.
The need to introduce replacement platforms shas become ever-more critical following the donation of vast quantities of British Army equipment to Ukraine in recent years, including its entire AS90 155mm artillery force. Mobility platform such as the Mastiff and Ridgeback are also understood to have been donated, leaving vast capability gaps in the British Army. (Source: army-technology.com)
14 Aug 25. GM Defense started delivering ISV Utility vehicles to the UK and are working seamlessly with trusted UK teammate NP Aerospace, who is prepping vehicles to meet UK operations standards. Built on GM’s industry-leading mid-size Chevy truck architecture, the ISV Utility shares the platform and attributes of our flagship Infantry Squad Vehicle, with the addition of a cargo bed that can accommodate mission kit, supplies, etc. Our solutions include a high percentage of commercial parts and offer commonality across variants so that our customers can move and maintain solutions quickly and easily. We’re ready to support NATO and allied operations—anytime, anywhere. (Source: joint-forces.com)
13 Aug 25. The Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence has been given the opportunity to bring forward its advance payment for Leopard 2 A8 tanks. With the new government, with the increase of the borrowing limit by EUR 800 m for defence purposes in 2025, the Ministry of National Defence was given the opportunity to bring forward advance payment for the acquisition of critical weapons platforms and equipment for strengthening the armed forces.
“Collective defence is our essential pillar, and Lithuania’s main contribution to it is a mechanised division that meets NATO standards. Tanks in this type of unit are the main platform. Their integration into the forces is the most time-consuming, so any delay is not possible,” Minister of National Defence Dovilė Šakalienė emphasises.
The decision is a step towards the implementation of the NATO Regional Defence Plans and the approval of the acquisition of the 44-strong Leopard 2 A8 tanks signed in Berlin by the Minister of National Defence Dovilė Šakalienė and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius. It aims to accelerate the production of tanks, ensure their delivery by 2030, thus bringing the National Division to the full operational capability.
“The new Leopard 2 A8 tanks stand out not only for their powerful weaponry and mobility, but also by state-of-the-art protection systems. Sensors, laser warning sensors and other modern equipment will provide maximum safety even in the most difficult situations. Taking into account the currently rapidly developing drone and anti-drone industry, the most appropriate complex electronic and film-based anti-drone protection will be applied for that period of the tanks,” says Minister of National Defence Dovilė Šakalienė.
According to the Minister, the agreement on the acquisition of 44 Leopard 2 A8 tanks is not only a vital element for the efficiency of our division and a new stage of modernisation of the Armed Forces, but also a necessary component of cooperation with the German Division, which will defend Lithuania, ensuring the smooth overall functioning of Lithuania and the allies in defending our land.
Lithuania intends to make an advance payment for the tank battalion already in the third quarter of this year. The Law on Budget Approval for 2025-2027 has been granted the Ministry of Finance to borrow for national defence purposes, including military and military mobility infrastructure, and capital investment in the defence industry being developed in Lithuania. Lithuania already spends 4% of gross domestic product on defence this year, and next year it is planned that this indicator will increase to 5.25%. (Source: joint-forces.com)
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Contact: Paul Fleming
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