22 Sep 17. Australia okays use of China drones in non-classifed operations. The Australian government has resumed the use of Chinese-built drones in non-classifed situations, the country’s defense minister said on Thursday.
Australia’s defense forces had put on hold its deployment of China-made drones while it reviewed cybersecurity, following in the steps of the United States, Defence Minister Marise Payne said on the sidelines of an event in Washington.
The U.S. Army said in August it had ordered its members to stop using drones made by Chinese manufacturer SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd because of “cyber vulnerabilities” in the products.
“Following the decision of the U.S. Army, we reviewed our own use of those particular articles and paused our use of them for a while,” she said.
“Following that review, we were comfortable with resuming their use in an unclassified situation.”
The Australian newspaper reported that the Australia Defence Force had 40 DJI drones which were used in military exercises, though the exact role played by the drones was not specified. DJI is a market leader in civilian drones and aerial imaging technology. (Source: Reuters)
22 Sep 17. China signs agreements to boost procurement transparency. The Equipment Development Department (EDD) of China’s Central Military Commission (CMC) has signed procurement agreements with a host of national agencies as part of continuing efforts to boost transparency in military acquisitions. State-run Xinhua news service reported on 19 September that the procurement agreements were signed with 13 Chinese agencies including a trade and investment subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) and a consultancy business linked to the Dongfeng Motor Group. Xinhua said the 13 agencies were selected from more than 69 bidding applications. According to related announcements by the PLA Daily newspaper, the mouthpiece of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the procurement agreements provide accreditation to the agencies as official intermediaries between the PLA and defence suppliers. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
21 Sep 17. Rouhani: Iran does not need permission to strengthen missile programme. Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, said that Tehran did not need permission from any country to bolster its missile programme. Speaking at a march of the armed forces on Friday, Mr Rouhani said that Iran would continue supporting Syria, Palestine and Yemen and “will strengthen marine, air, ground forces and missiles”, writes Mehrnosh Khala. Mr Rouhani’s comment came a few days after US President Donald Trump accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism and described a nuclear accord with major powers as an “embarresment”. Mr Rouhani said that the US and “the Zionist regime [Israel]” were different from the voices of other countries’ who seek peace and they were against “security in the Middle East”. (Source: FT.com)
21 Sep 17. In drones, ISIS has its own tactical air force. Commercial drones, such as the $1,500 Chinese-made DJI Phantom widely used by the Islamic State group, are providing nonstate actors with their own mini-air force, according to an expert in irregular warfare, who spoke on a panel Wednesday at the Modern Day Marine expo in Quantico, Virginia.
While many observers have awed over ISIS’ use of these platforms to drop munitions — a significant change in operations and a threat to U.S. and allied forces unseen in the last 16 years — the totality of the group’s use of drones should be taken into account, said David Knoll, a research analyst at the Center for Naval Analysis.
ISIS uses these devices for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as close-air support, providing the militant group with a tactical-level air force capability that many states did not even possess 10 years ago.
“Rather than us seeing them, and them not seeing us, they can see into our bases, they know where the key headquarters are [as well as] the key [command and control]