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☆ Norwegian F-35s called into action after Russian aircraft spotted off Norway and over Baltic Sea
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-15 | by ( Rebecca Rommen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

AdvertisementNATO scrambled jets to respond to Russian aircraft "not adhering to international norms" this week. Italy's air force intercepted a Russian Coot-A aircraft over the Baltic Sea, NATO Air Command said. Norwegian F-35s identified multiple Russian aircraft off the coast of Norway, it added. Norwegian F-35s were called into action on Tuesday as NATO scrambled jets in response to Russian aircraft "not adhering to international norms," NATO's Air Command said in a post on X.Italy's air force intercepted a Russian Coot-A plane flying over the Baltic Sea, while the Norwegian F-35s identified multiple Russian aircraft off the coast of Norway, NATO Air Command said. In July, Russian fighter jets scrambled to intercept two US Air Force B-52H bombers approaching Russia's border, the Russian Ministry of Defense said at the time.

Persons: Henrik Omtvedt Jenssen, Jenssen, Lockheed Martin Organizations: NATO, NATO Air Command, Command, Norwegian Armed Forces, NRK, Russian, Royal Air Force, British Ministry of Defence, BBC, Typhoons, US Air Force, Russian Ministry of Defense, Lockheed, Kongsberg Defence, Aerospace Locations: Russian, Baltic, Norwegian, Norway, Russia, State, Kongsberg

☆ US approves $2B arms sale to Taiwan including air-to-air missiles and NASAMS weapon systems
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-26 | by ( Rebecca Rommen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The US has approved a $2 billion arms sale to Taiwan that includes missile and radar systems. The potential sale would include three NASAMS air-defense systems. AdvertisementThe US on Friday approved a potential arms sale package for Taiwan worth nearly $2 billion. The NASAMS is a medium-range air-defense system that can be used to defend against aircraft, drones, and cruise missiles. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in November 2022 that the NASAMS system had up to that point had a 100% success rate in intercepting Russian missiles.

Persons: —, Lloyd Austin, China's, Tom Shugart, Wellington Koo Organizations: US, Ukrainian, Service, Air Missile Systems, Air Missile, Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Raytheon, Norway's Kongsberg Defense, Aerospace, Eastern, Command, US Navy, Center, New, New American Security, Reuters, Business, Department of Defense Locations: Taiwan, Russian, Russia, Ukraine, China, Taiwan Independence, New American

☆ What are the economics of war?
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-07 | by ( Gaelle Legrand | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Last March, Thierry Breton, the EU's commissioner for internal market, advocated for a shift of the European defense industry toward a war economy. Europe is facing an "existential threat," he said, as the Commission announced a new defense strategic plan, with a minimum of €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) subsidy to boost the continent's war machine. In Germany, arms maker Rheinmetall inaugurated a new factory in February that will produce artillery ammunition, explosives and rockets. Aerospace and defense company Kongsberg also opened a new anti-ship and cruise missile manufacturing plant in Norway last June. Watch the video above to learn more about the economics of war.

Persons: Thierry Breton Organizations: Commission, Rheinmetall, Aerospace, Kongsberg, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Locations: Europe, Germany, Norway, Stockholm

☆ RIMPAC: US Air Force B-2 bomber used in exercise to sink surface ship with low-cost bomb
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-27 | by ( Brad Lendon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Earlier this month, the US and allies practiced taking out a large surface ship with long-range weapons, including, for the first time, a US Air Force B-2 bomber. It showed the US military can use one of its most survivable weapons platforms, the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, to sink a major surface ship with a low-cost guided bomb. The Air Force says its stealthy characteristics allow it to penetrate heavily defended areas and also fly with a small chance of being detected by radar at high altitudes. Mating it up with relatively cheap and demonstrably effective precision-guided bombs with warheads of up to 2,000 pounds could give the Air Force bombers the “anti-ship lethality” of a submarine-launched torpedo without the liabilities of a submarine, according to a US Air Force website. The Air Force first tested QUICKSINK in 2022, when an F-15 fighter jet released a GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) that destroyed a full-scale surface target in the Gulf of Mexico, according to an Air Force statement.

Persons: ”, Seleena Muhammad, QUICKSINK, Carl Schuster, ” Schuster, Jon Husman, Alessio Patalano, Mark Hammond, Australia’s, “, LSIS Daniel Goodman, USS Fitzgerald, John Wade, RIMPAC, John Bradford, ” Bradford, Zhongping Organizations: South Korea CNN, US Air Force, US, Air Force, Munitions, Royal Air Force, U.S . Air Force, Navy, Air Force Research, Liberation Army Navy, PLAN, US Pacific Command Joint Intelligence Center, U.S . Navy, King’s College, US Navy, Ship, 3rd Fleet, Royal Australian Navy, Naval, Australia, Royal Australian, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, US Navy destroyer, US Marine Corps, Task Force, Foreign Relations International Affairs, Times, PLA Navy, Global Times, ” Global Times Locations: Seoul, South Korea, Kauai, China, Tarawa, England, U.S, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, Taiwan, Philippines, Japan, London, Oahu, Hawaii, Norwegian, USS Dubuque, ‘, Malaysia, Netherlands, China China, Asia, Taiwan Strait, South China

☆ Crewless cargo? Autonomous shipping aims to overcome safety, trust concerns to reach mainstream
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Jonathan Keane | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The voyage was a test of an autonomous ship under AUTOSHIP, an EU-funded program to develop new technologies for navigating large vessels. The consortium brought together entities from academia and industry, including Kongsberg Maritime, the Norwegian giant that has been conducting deep research and development (R&D) on autonomous shipping. The trip marked a pivotal advancement in developing autonomous technology for shipping, which still faces many hurdles before it is ready for primetime. "Uniquely for autonomous technology, the hazards are hidden for the mariner by the sea. "Learning via mistake in a cargo ship environment can be costly, it can be dangerous," said J.C. Renshaw, head of supply chain consulting at Savills North America.

Persons: Markus Laurinen, Laurinen, Ville, SHI, Denmark's DNV, Leo McLeman, McLeman, J.C, Renshaw Organizations: Kongsberg Maritime, CNBC, Kongsberg Maritime's VP, Korea's Samsung Heavy Industry, Samsung, International Maritime Organization, Hydrographic Office, Savills Locations: Norway, EU, Norwegian, Kongsberg, America, Africa

☆ How the US Army botched a $1 billion upgrade of the Stryker armored vehicle's gun
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Fearing that its Stryker armored vehicles were outgunned by Russian and Chinese designs, the US Army had an idea for a quick fix: Develop an unmanned Stryker turret with a 30-mm autocannon. The Army obliged in 2018 with the Infantry Carrier Vehicle-Dragoon, which added a remote-controlled 30-mm gun turret — manufactured by Norwegian firm Kongsberg — to 91 flat-bottom-hull versions of the Strykers. This would be enough to upgrade Strykers in three brigades of 83 vehicles each, plus an additional 20 for testing. Instead of a Kongsberg MCT-30 turret, the vehicles would receive a Samson turret made by Israeli firm Rafael. A big red flag should have been the glitches in the turret software that degraded the 30-mm cannon's accuracy.

Persons: Germany —, Rafael, Stryker, Kevin Payne, Mona Sehgal, Sehgal, Michael Peck Organizations: Service, Stryker, US Army, Business, Army, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, General Dynamics Land Systems, VN, Infantry Carrier Vehicle, Dynamics, The Army, Systems, Oshkosh Systems, Northrop, Hull, GAO, Oshkosh, Department of Defense, Defense, Foreign Policy, Rutgers Univ, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: Europe, Asia, Germany, Russia, Norwegian, Kongsberg, Oshkosh, Forbes

☆ 2 ocean-tech companies are competing in a multimillion-dollar race to find Amelia Earhart's wreckage. One says it may be near the finish line.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Read previewThe race is on to find the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's ill-fated final flight. Tony Romeo and his company, Deep Sea Vision, discovered an object of similar size and shape to Amelia Earhart's iconic plane, deep in the Pacific Ocean. Deep Sea VisionRomeo says he may have solved the mystery with his sonar scans. The same aircraft radio receiver used by Amelia Earhart was recreated by Nauticos as they researched Earhart's final transmissions. Deep Sea Vision now leases its equipment to other ocean explorers to continue funding its mission.

Persons: —, Amelia Earhart's, Tony Romeo, Earhart, Fred Noonan, Romeo, he's, we've, there'll, it'll, Lockheed Electra, Nauticos, Jeff Morris, Amelia Earhart, Morris, I'm, David Jourdan, Tony, You'll Organizations: Service, US Air Force, Business, Smithsonian, Lockheed, Lockheed Electra, Coast Guard, Topical Press Agency, Getty Locations: South Carolina, Howland, Hawaii, Australia, Connecticut, Itasca, Howland Island, Norwegian, Kongsberg

☆ A former US Air Force officer spent $11 million searching for Amelia Earhart's long-lost plane — and may have found it
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-28 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | Rebecca Rommen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Amelia Earhart, 40, stands next to a Lockheed Electra 10E, before her last flight in 1937 from Oakland, California. Amelia Earhart took off from the airport in her £10,000 Flying Laboratory for Honolulu on the first leg of her round-the-world flight. A map of where Earhart's plane is believed to have gone missing along her presumed flight path. Romeo and his company, Deep Sea Vision, discovered an object of similar size and shape to Amelia Earhart's iconic plane, deep in the Pacific Ocean. Advertisement"It's very deep water, and the area that she could've possibly been in is huge," Tom Dettweiler, a sonar expert, told The Journal.

Persons: —, Amelia Earhart, Tony Romeo, Fred Noonan, Romeo, I've, Dorothy Cochrane, Andrew Pietruszka, he's, Amelia Earhart's, we've, there'll, it'll, Earhart's, Tom Dettweiler, Earhart, Cochrane, I'm Organizations: Service, US Air Force, Business, Lockheed, AP, Kongsberg, Street Journal, Laboratory, Smithsonian Institution's, Air and Space Museum, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Smithsonian, dateline Locations: Oakland , California, Norwegian, Tarawa, Kiribati, Honolulu, Howland, Honolulu , Hawaii

☆ NATO pushes for common standards to tackle shortfalls in artillery munitions
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Sabine Siebold | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

But the lack of common standards among the various manufacturers has hampered the flow of munitions supplies. It will take place on the sidelines of a NATO defence ministers' meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. Demand for 155mm artillery rounds has soared in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. "If national governments could bring themselves to throw national standards over board and agree on common NATO standards – in particular with regard to munitions – this would be a landslide change," the defence source said. Before that many NATO countries had already run down their stocks as governments considered wars of attrition with big artillery battles a thing of the past.

Persons: Caesar, Jens Stoltenberg, KMW, Leonardo, Northrop, Abrams, Armin Papperger, Sabine Siebold, Gwladys Fouche, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Separate Artillery Brigade, REUTERS, NATO, BAE Systems, Turkish, Dynamics, Leopard, Lockheed, Northrop Grumman, British Storm Shadow, Rheinmetall, RND, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Avdiivka, Donetsk region, BRUSSELS, Kyiv, NATO, Brussels, Kongsberg, Vilnius, Oslo

☆ Australia aims to start making guided missiles within two years
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, April 26 (Reuters) - Australia said on Wednesday it would start domestic manufacture of guided missiles by 2025, two years sooner than expected, in a wide-ranging shakeup of defence arrangements to focus on long-range strike capability. read moreThe timetable for domestic manufacture of guided weapons, originally set for 2027, will be hastened to within two years by allocating A$2.5 billion to the project, Defence Minister Richard Marles said in media interviews. The government was already in talks with missile manufacturers Raytheon (RTX.N) and Lockheed (LMT.N) about establishing production in Australia, Marles added. Discussions were also being held with Kongsberg (KOG.OL), the Norwegian manufacturer of the naval strike missile Australia had already agreed to purchase, he said. Pat Conroy, the minister for defence industry, said the review recommended acquiring Kongsberg's joint strike missile which would "allow us to look at manufacturing the Strike Missile family of missiles in Australia".

☆ Ukraine War, Global Tensions Lift European Arms Makers’ Orders, Share Prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Alistair Macdonald | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON—Europe’s defense contractors are boosting orders and enjoying surging stock market valuations, lifted by higher government spending and the expectation of more sales to come as the Ukraine war grinds on. BAE Systems PLC, Europe’s largest defense contractor, was the latest in a parade of big arms makers to post a large jump in annual orders for 2022. It joined peers such as Sweden’s Saab AB and Norway’s Kongsberg Gruppen ASA in benefiting from generally higher military spending around the world—particularly from some European countries—amid the Ukraine war.

☆ Found Norway shipwreck could be up to 700 years old
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Resting at the bottom of Mjøsa, the largest lake in Norway, a shipwreck from hundreds of years ago is in almost perfect condition, frozen in time. The lake is a source of drinking water for about 100,000 people in Norway, according to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, so the munitions posed health risks. Since the shipwreck was found in the middle of the lake, Ødegård believed the ship had gone down in bad weather. It’s most likely that the ship used square-shaped sails, he added, that proved to be difficult to navigate for seafarers caught in extremely windy conditions. The nearly 2,200-year-old shipwreck was relatively well preserved for being thousands of years old.

☆ Exclusive: U.S. weighs sending 100-mile strike weapon to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Mike Stone | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

U.S. and allied military inventories are shrinking, and Ukraine faces an increasing need for more sophisticated weapons as the war drags on. GLSDB could be delivered as early as spring 2023, according to a document reviewed by Reuters and three people familiar with the plan. It combines the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) with the M26 rocket motor, both of which are common in U.S. inventories. The invasion of Ukraine drove up demand for American-made weapons and ammunition, while U.S. allies in Eastern Europe are "putting a lot of orders," in for a range of arms as they supply Ukraine, Bush added. Any arrangement would also require at least six suppliers to expedite shipments of their parts and services to produce the weapon quickly.

☆ Ukraine is scrambling to shoot down Russian missiles and drones. Here are the weapons other countries are sending in to help.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Here are some of the air-defense systems that countries are sending Ukraine to take on that threat. The US, Britain, and several other countries are sending Ukraine a variety of air-defense systems. Here are some that are being supplied to Ukraine:NASAMSThe National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System. Norwegian Ministry of DefenseParticularly significant is that rather than custom-designed surface-to-air missiles, NASAMS fires existing air-to-air missiles that are modified to be launched from the ground. Shan Yuqi/Xinhua via Getty ImagesUkraine has already received the first of four German IRIS-T short-range anti-aircraft missile systems.

☆ The same air defense systems that shield Washington, DC 24/7 have arrived in Ukraine from the US as Russia batters cities with missiles and suicide drones
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ukraine's defense minister said Monday that National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems have arrived. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on social media that the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) arrived with Italian-made Aspide medium-range systems. NASAMS are ground-based air defense systems that provide short- to medium-range protection and can be used to defend against drones, missiles, and some aircraft. In response to these attacks,Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said air defense was the number one priority for his country, prompting the US and its NATO allies to begin rushing to deliver critical air defense systems to Ukraine. "In terms of air defense capabilities, this continues to be a priority for the US government, for the Department of Defense to work closely with the Ukrainians, with our allies and our partners to try to get them additional air defense capability," Ryder responded.

☆ America's next main battle tank may be a slimmed-down, high-tech version of the iconic Abrams
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The US military has fielded the Abrams tank for more than 40 years. General Dynamics, which builds the Abrams, recently unveiled an updated version of the M1. The diet M1General Dynamics' AbramsX tank. US soldiers do maintenance on an Abrams tank in Germany in August 2017. "If you keep the armor protection at a very minimal level, that's how we achieve the 60 tons," Reese said.

By pointing to 2027 as the moment when East Asia's power balance may tip in China's favour, Japan's government can rally support for greater defence spending, he added. At a congressional hearing last year, U.S. Indo-Pacific commander Admiral Philip Davidson said that China's threat against Taiwan could "manifest" that year. Japanese defence ministry officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In July, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida won national upper house elections with a pledge to "substantially" increase defence spending. The splurge of defence spending should also benefit U.S. suppliers such as Lockheed, Boeing Co (BA.N) and Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N).

WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The Biden administration's next security assistance package for Ukraine is expected to include munitions and vehicles but not significant new capabilities or counter-air defenses, two U.S. officials briefed on the $725 million package told Reuters on Friday. The package, that could come as soon as Friday, is the first aid package since Russia's barrage of rocket attacks on civilian population centers in Ukraine in recent days. The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the timing of the announcement of the weapons package as well as its contents and value could change until the last minute. The munitions and vehicles will be sent using Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) allowing them to be shipped to Ukraine in the coming days. The latest package would bring a total of more than $17.5 billion worth of U.S. security assistance since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

☆ 'Doomsday' glacier — which could raise sea levels by several feet if melted — is 'holding on by its fingernails' says new study
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-06 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A body of ice known as the "Doomsday Glacier" could melt faster than predicted, a new study says. The Thwaites Glacier protects the West Antarctic ice sheet, and researchers watch it closely. The melting of the Thwaites Glacier — which is around the size of Florida — could raise sea levels by up to two feet. A 3D-rendered view of the multibeam bathymetry (seafloor shape) colored by depth, collected by Rán across a seabed ridge, just in front of Thwaites Ice Shelf. Rán, a Kongsberg HUGIN autonomous underwater vehicle, amongst sea ice in front of Thwaites Glacier, after a 20-hour mission mapping the seafloor.

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