Why small guns have been critical to layered CUAS architectures
Multiple countries have been deploying small arms as the last line of drone defence due to their multiple operational and tactical advantages.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on 21 June acknowledged the ‘real’ disagreements between Europe and the US but insisted the trans-Atlantic bond on defence and security remained strong.
He said he was ‘absolutely confident’ that the US-led military alliance would be able to demonstrate its unity at a summit in July 2018, promising ‘more cash and capabilities’.
Stoltenberg said in a speech in London: ‘These disagreements are real. It is not written in stone that the transatlantic bond will survive forever. But I believe we will preserve it.’
He noted different views between European nations and US President Donald Trump on the Iran nuclear deal, the environment and trade, which exploded at an acrimonious G7 meeting earlier in June 2018.
Stoltenberg said: ‘There are many different ties that bind Europe and North America together. We may have seen the weakening of some of them lately. But our ties on defence have grown stronger.
‘Since coming to office, the Trump administration has increased funding for the US presence in Europe by 40%. The last US Main Battle Tank left Europe in 2013. But now they're back. With a whole new armoured brigade.’
He added that faced with international terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, cyberattacks on ‘a more assertive Russia’, North America and Europe must stand together.
He said: ‘It is – and has always been – in our fundamental interest to stand together.’
Multiple countries have been deploying small arms as the last line of drone defence due to their multiple operational and tactical advantages.
The Singapore-based technology company unveiled its new rifle family at this week’s airshow. Chen Chuanren spoke with the ST Engineering’s head of small arms to find out more about how the weapons have been refined.
Any potential ‘Arctic Sentry’ mission would be months in the planning, but with tensions high in the region given the US’s push for Greenland, NATO countries will need to continue to emphasise their commitment to the region, analysts have said.
Defence Minister Gen Vladimir Padrino López has declared that the Venezuelan armed forces “will continue to employ all its available capabilities for military defence”.
The UK’s defence spending commitments remain uncertain as the government’s Defence Investment Plan, which had been due by the end of 2025, is yet to be published.
Disruption of infrastructure in Europe, whether by cyberattack, physical damage to pipelines or uncrewed aerial vehicles flying over major airports, as has happened more recently, is on the rise. What is the most effective way of countering the aerial aspect of this not-so-open warfare?