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.
An F-35A Lightning II releases a flare while inverted over Hill Air Force Base. (Photo: USAF/Capt Kip Sumner)
Chemring picked up two US defence contracts on 25 October worth a combined total of almost $120 million.
North Carolina-based Chemring Sensors and Electronic Systems is providing 165 Enhanced Maritime Biological Detection modification kits, 165 initial fielding packages and 102 external controller subsystems to modernise the Joint Biological Point Detection System, under a $99.12 million deal from US Army Contracting Command.
Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of 25 December 2027.
In the other contract, Chemring Australia received an $18.69 million contract modification (including $2.67 million in FMS funds) from Naval Air Systems Command to produce and deliver 9,728 MJU-68/B IR flare countermeasures: 7,256 for the USN and 1,152 for the USAF; 528 for Norway; 336 for Japan; 312 for the Netherlands; and 144 for Italy.
The MJU-68/B decoy flares will be installed aboard F-35 Lightning II aircraft.
Work is expected to be completed in November 2022.
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?