“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.
Flybe has announced a new four times weekly service George Best Belfast City Airport to Humberside Airport operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays to begin on 27 May.
The new route will be the first ever scheduled service to Northern Island from Humberside airport. It will be operated with Bombardier Q400s.
“We’re delighted to be adding yet another new service from Humberside and to increase the already extensive choice of affordable routes we operate from Belfast for our Northern Ireland travellers which, during Summer 2010, will now number up to 490 flights a week,” remarked Mike Rutter, Flybe’s chief commercial officer.
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.