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19 Apr 24. Update on AUKUS export reform progress. The UK warmly welcomes the significant progress made with our partners the US and Australia to advance the AUKUS trilateral partnership, working together for a free and open Indo-Pacific and thereby enhancing stability, security, and prosperity in the region.
The UK and the US are not only assisting Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines, we are working closely trilaterally to strengthen and improve interoperability and innovation in areas such as hypersonic and counter-hypersonic capabilities, electronic warfare, quantum technology, artificial intelligence and automation, cyber, and additional undersea capabilities.
In March 2023, our three Leaders met in San Diego to inaugurate the AUKUS partnership. Since then, we have been working tirelessly to advance the practical aspects. As part of this, to support and sustain our work, and to maximise the potential of technological advances, the 2024 US National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) allowed exemptions to the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) for the UK and Australia.
Yesterday, 18 April, the US Commerce Department also announced an expansion of the scope of licence-free trade to AUKUS nations under the Export Administration Regulations.
UK and Australia are on track to meet the requirements of the NDAA and benefit from the exemptions. These will significantly reduce licensing requirements for both the UK and Australia and enable the closest possible collaboration between our scientists and engineers and our defence industries as a sector.
The reforms will make it easier for our public and private sector security institutions to deliver a more integrated defence industrial base, secure jobs for our talented citizens and identify new opportunities for trilateral capability development.
As we reach the first 120-day milestone identified in the NDAA, we are pleased to say that, as the next step in this process, the US will, in the next few weeks, be consulting with defence industry to ensure that implementation of the planned AUKUS exemptions realises their full potential.
The UK will in this period also be finalising the last technical steps to benefit from the NDAA provisions. We are confident that by the next 120-day period we will have completed all the requirements for full implementation of the ITAR exemptions.
UK, Australia and the US have long been indispensable partners and allies, across the globe. With these ground-breaking reforms, our shared values and strategic outlook will be underpinned by significantly enhanced capabilities and the prospect of even greater collaboration to come. (Source: https://www.gov.uk/)
19 Apr 24. Serbia-Kosovo: Arrests of Kosovar police officers will elevate regional, bilateral tensions. On 18 April, Kosovo’s foreign ministry confirmed that the Serbian authorities released Dejan Jankovic, Kosovo’s deputy director of police, following his arrest on 17 April. In all, four individuals were initially detained at the Jarinje border crossing. Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti claims that heightened security at the border was in retaliation to a decision by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to recommend Kosovo’s membership in the council. It is possible that the detentions will lead to an increase in border checkpoints and military posturing. Additionally, the Kosovo Election Commission will decide on the dismissal of four Albanian mayors in predominantly Serbian municipalities on 21 April. With the Serb List party upholding its boycott, we assess that the Commission is unlikely to vote to remove the Albanian mayors, moderately elevating domestic unrest risks in North Kosovo. (Source: Sibylline)
18 Apr 24. Readout of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III’s Meeting With Norwegian Minister Of Defence, Bjørn Arild Gram.
Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder provided the following readout:
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III hosted Norwegian Minister of Defence Bjørn Arild Gram at the Pentagon today.
The leaders discussed the strength of the bilateral defense relationship between the United States and Norway. The Secretary thanked Minister Gram for Norway’s commitment of long-term assistance to develop Ukraine’s capabilities, and the two exchanged views on ensuring continued military assistance to Ukraine both bilaterally and through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group and NATO.
The two officials discussed the conclusion of the recent Nordic Response exercise hosted by Norway, Sweden, and Finland, which is part of NATO’s Steadfast Defender exercise. Minister Gram shared details about Norway’s recently-released Long-Term Plan, that includes an historic increase in defense spending. Secretary Austin commended the announcement that Norway will reach two percent of Gross Domestic Product spending on defense this year.
The two officials also discussed opportunities to deepen and broaden bilateral defense cooperation, in light of the amendment to the Supplemental Defense Cooperation Agreement that includes additional agreed facilities and areas for U.S. access in Norway.
Lastly, both expressed agreement on the importance of ensuring the Indo-Pacific region remains free and open.
(Source: U.S. DoD)
18 Apr 24. Austin Lauds Norway’s Increased Defense Spending. The United States commends Norway for its plan to reach NATO’s shared commitment to spend at least 2% of its gross domestic product on defense during this calendar year, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said.
Austin hosted an enhanced honor cordon and meeting today with Norwegian Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram.
“Our deterrence across the region will grow stronger because of your landmark decision,” Austin said, referring to Norway’s increase in defense spending.
“Norway has stood with the United States to support our shared security interests and democratic values,” he said.
As a founding member of NATO, Norway has long served as its “eyes and ears” in the Arctic region, the secretary said.
“The alliance must be ready to deter aggression and, if necessary, fight together in all conditions — including Arctic ones,” he said.
Exercises like Nordic Response, which Norway hosted last month with Finland and Sweden, help to strengthen collective deterrence in the Arctic region, Austin said, adding that Finland and Sweden’s membership in NATO bolsters the alliance.
Also, Norway has provided long-term assistance to Ukraine, the secretary noted.
Austin mentioned the importance of Norwegian-developed National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, better known as NASAMS, that provides air defense for Ukraine.
NASAMS defends against a range of airborne threats including aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles.
Gram said that in addition to reaching 2% GDP for military spending this year, Norway will almost double its defense budget during the next decade.
“We do this for our own security and also for our own common security,” he said.
Norway thanks the United States for supporting Ukraine, Gram said.
“Continued U.S. leadership is crucial. Norway and Europe have stepped up and have to do even more,” he said, regarding Ukraine support.
Gram also thanked the secretary for the “substantial U.S. presence in Norway and in our region.”
Separately, yesterday the White House issued a joint statement on U.S.-Norway cooperation for “strategic cooperation regarding critical minerals.” (Source: U.S. DoD)
18 Apr 24. Russia may be ready to attack NATO in 5-8 years, German official says. Russia could be ready militarily to attack NATO countries in five to eight years’ time if it chose to do so, Germany’s top military official said, once it has rebuilt its forces hit by the impact of the Ukraine war.
“By then, based on our analysis, Russia (will have) reconstituted its own forces to a degree that an attack against NATO soil could be possible,” Lieutenant General Carsten Breuer told reporters during a visit to Poland.
“I am not saying it will take place but that it could be possible,” he said late on Wednesday.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has triggered the deepest crisis in Moscow’s relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
But Moscow has regularly dismissed Western suggestions that it might consider an attack on NATO as complete nonsense. President Vladimir Putin reiterated last month that Russia had no designs on any NATO country, though he said it would shoot down any F-16 fighters supplied by the West to Ukraine.
Of NATO’s 32 members, six European nations share a border with Russia: Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
Russia now appears increasingly in the ascendancy in Ukraine, where the conflict is characterised by both attritional trench combat reminiscent of World War One and high-tech drone warfare.
Moscow now controls almost a fifth of Ukrainian territory including the Crimea peninsula it annexed in 2014.
“We see that Russia is producing a lot of war-fighting material and it is not putting all of this material to the frontline in Ukraine… so in 2029 we have to be ready,” Breuer, Germany’s chief of defence, said.
“What we see is a threat in five to eight years.”
Ukrainian officials have said their armed forces number around 800,000, while in December Putin ordered Russia’s forces to be increased by 170,000 troops to 1.3m. Beyond personnel, Moscow’s defence spending dwarfs that of Ukraine. In 2024 it earmarked $109bn for the sector, more than twice Ukraine’s equivalent target of $43.8bn. (Source: Reuters)
17 Apr 24. BAE Systems investigating explosion at its Welsh munitions site. Britain’s BAE Systems (BAES.L), said it was investigating the cause of an explosion at its munitions manufacturing plant in Glascoed, Wales, on Wednesday. Safety protocols were immediately enacted and emergency services attended the site, where shells are filled and packed, the company said. All personnel were accounted for and there were no injuries, it said. About 550 people work at the site, which dates back to the Second World War. (Source: Reuters)
17 Apr 24. Poland to join European Sky Shield scheme, following thaw with Berlin. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced this week that Poland will join the German-led European Sky Shield Initiative, a continent-wide effort to coordinate nations’ air defense-related purchases and procedures.
The moves amounts to a major policy shift under the new government, as the previous Cabinet of the right-wing Law and Justice party opposed partaking in the initiative due its its frosty relations with Berlin.
“We will cooperate as part of the European Sky Shield Initiative,” Tusk said at an April 16 Cabinet meeting, as quoted in a statement released by his office. “It completely does not bother me that the Germans were the main initiators of this initiative.”
Meanwhile, Polish President Andrzej Duda, who was re-elected in 2020 with the Law and Justice party’s backing, commented on those plans the same day, calling ESSI a “German business project.”
Unveiled by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in August 2022 as a reaction to Russia’s war against Ukraine, the ESSI project initially included 15 NATO members, but more have since joined. In February, Turkey and Greece announced their intention to join the project, bringing the total number of participating states to 21. To program’s objectives include improving the interoperability of air defense systems and streamlining joint procurement of capacities across the continent.
In Poland’s political system, the president is the supreme commander of the armed forces but does not have the political power to stop the government from joining an international defense program.
Prime Minister Tusk also said that Warsaw is carefully observing the Israeli experiences with air defense, as Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine has accelerated efforts by Poland to develop its capacities within this field.
The ESSI “is functioning with the use of, among others, Israeli” systems, he said. “In the case of Israel, more than 90% of rockets, drones, ballistic missiles have been struck owing to, among others, the Irone Dome. This system works.”
In line with existing investment plans, Poland’s air defense system is to rely on the Wisla mid-range air defense system, which features Patriot batteries, paired with two other layers of air defense. These include the Narew short-range air defense system, based on the Common Anti-air Modular Missiles, or CAMM, as well as iLaunchers from European consortium MBDA, and Pilica+ very-short-range air defense batteries developed by the Polish defense industry. (Source: Defense News)
16 Apr 24. Lithuania signs deal with Rheinmetall for ammunition plant. Lithuania signed a protocol of intention with Germany’s Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE), on Tuesday to build an ammunition factory in the Baltic state, the country’s government said on Tuesday.
Lithuanian Economy Minister Ausrine Armonaite said the plant would be one of the largest investments made in the Baltic country. Negotiations will now proceed for a detailed investment agreement.
“We are attracting an investment which will generate returns and will help us to ensure autonomy in purchasing the armaments,” she added.
(Source: Reuters)
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Founded in 1987, Exensor Technology is a world leading supplier of Networked Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) Systems providing tailored sensor solutions to customers all over the world. From our Headquarters in Lund Sweden, our centre of expertise in Network Communications at Communications Research Lab in Kalmar Sweden and our Production site outside of Basingstoke UK, we design, develop and produce latest state of the art rugged UGS solutions at the highest quality to meet the most stringent demands of our customers. Our systems are in operation and used in a wide number of Military as well as Homeland Security applications worldwide. The modular nature of the system ensures any external sensor can be integrated, providing the user with a fully meshed “silent” network capable of self-healing. Exensor Technology will continue to lead the field in UGS technology, provide our customers with excellent customer service and a bespoke package able to meet every need. A CNIM Group Company
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