“Capital follows confidence” as defence courts private money
Outside investment and the direction in which venture money flows may reveal what defence will buy years before formal programmes begin.
The first commercial service using the Embraer 190 into London City Airport has been operated by Baboo on its Geneva–London City route.
“Today is a real milestone for us,” remarked Jacques Bankir, CEO of Baboo. “From the very beginning we chose the steep approach option for our three E-190s with the express intention of operating into airports with short runways. We are especially proud to be the first to operate this aircraft, the most comfortable and popular regional jet, into this most user-friendly airport.”
After a long and stringent process, the E-190, fitted with a steep approach option has just been certified for this airport. Much of the certification work was carried out with the aid of British Airways CityFlyer which is scheduled to receive its first Embraer 190 in March. In the meantime, Baboo has taken the opportunity to build on the volume of traffic it has built since introducing the 11-flights-a-week service with the Bombardier Q400 on 25 October 2009.
Outside investment and the direction in which venture money flows may reveal what defence will buy years before formal programmes begin.
The Department of National Defence expects initial contracts to deliver thousands of uncrewed systems, but has yet to establish the quantities, capability mix or deadline behind Ottawa’s promised tenfold expansion.
The company told Shephard that Ukraine is operating modified Protector weapon stations originally supplied for armoured vehicles, with human operators authorising engagements from hundreds of kilometres away.
A report from the Council on Geostrategy argues the UK should move away from a traditional balanced force and shift investment to naval, air and space capabilities, backed by a larger fleet of attack submarines and deeper AUKUS integration.
At its technology summit in London, attended by Shephard, Thales UK examined the importance of speed to delivery, the growing focus on cross-domain capabilities and how procurement reform could be crucial for future battlefield advantage.
Are all systems ready for the next mission? Have upgrades been applied? Are all assets aligned to deploy together, on time and fully prepared? In modern defence operations, readiness is no longer measured platform by platform. It is measured by how well people, assets, data and decisions move together — across land, sea and air.