The overlooked ally: Canadian support for Ukraine surpasses some European partners
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Canada has committed more military assistance than France in terms of GDP.
Cubic will provide the US Marine Corps (USMC) with new weapons simulation capabilities under a new contract announced on 31 October. The contract, valued in excess of $10 million, will see the company supply weapon instrumentation that will integrate into the Instrumented-Tactical Engagement Simulation System (I-TESS II).
I-TESS II is a fully integrated ground combat training system based on the company’s latest laser-based wireless instrumentation products. The system is used in military operations in urban terrain facilities and non-live fire manoeuvre ranges located at various USMC bases and installations.
The company will work on designing and developing enhancements to the squad immersive training environment (SITE). It will also integrate the enhancements with I-TESS II, and perform test and evaluation work.
Dave Schmitz, president, Cubic Defense Systems, said: ‘This system will provide the USMC an exceptional training environment using proven components. Our enhancements address current training proficiency and readiness gaps at the squad-level and will be used to support both direct force-on-force and force-on-target tactical engagement training. We are proud to support our marines with this more sophisticated and realistic training experience.’
Engineering work for the training systems is expected to be completed by 2017.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Canada has committed more military assistance than France in terms of GDP.
The proposed enhancements could better position the French Army’s armoured infantry fighting vehicle for future export campaigns.
The US Army’s Medium Modular Equipment Transport Trailer (M-METT) programme is planned to provide a platform between Increment II of Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport and the Palletized Load System.
Technology that enables armed forces to leverage existing network infrastructure can be a game-changer in many combat scenarios.
An effort to develop a new European main battle tank has passed several milestones on the road to a Preliminary Design Review which is expected within two years.
The British Army’s Ajax armoured personnel carrier has a chequered history but hopes were high when Initial Operating Capability was declared last year. More problems saw operations suspended but the MoD reports it has identified the problems and short- and medium-term solutions.