On 1 April the US DoD announced a modification to a contract with Lockheed Martin for the production of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors, bringing the value of the contract to $3.8 billion, of which $1.5 billion covers foreign military sales to Saudi Arabia.
THAAD is an anti-ballistic missile defence system designed to shoot down short to intermediate range ballistic missiles in descent or re-entry at a range of 200km. It carries no warhead, destroying incoming missiles via the kinetic energy of impact, so as to minimise the risk of detonating conventional-warhead ballistic missiles. A kinetic impact also carries no chance of detonating a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile.
First proposed in 1987, the first THAAD interceptors were deployed in 2008.
Lockheed is currently pushing for funding to develop an extended-range version of the THAAD to counter hypersonic glide vehicles, such as the Chinese WU-14, which are being developed to exploit the gap between high and low altitude missile defences.
Currently, the THAAD-ER is an industry concept only, though the company remains optimistic that the Missile Defense Agency will provide funding soon to match the weapons development of potential adversaries.
However, the Pentagon has been researching technologies such as directed energy weapons and railguns as to whether they would be better solutions to missile defence, even if they are not expected to be available before the mid-2020s.
The Common Armoured Vehicle System is continuing to rack up orders as the British Army looks likely to become an operator of the vehicle, while Italy and Ireland are also contenders.
As the US Department of Defense looks to counter the growing threat of uncrewed aerial systems to improve homeland security, the DroneHunter acquisition could point to future commercial innovation.
The selection of Hanwha’s K239 Chunmoo long-range precision fires system, with a contract expected to be signed on 30 January, makes Norway the second European country to choose the system. It is expected an operational system will be in service within four years.
This year has begun with main battle tanks taking the lead while orders for large logistics and support vehicles continued from last year. Additionally, two of the British Army’s most significant contracted vehicle programmes, Ajax reconnaissance vehicle and Challenger 3 tank, continued to make news in January.
Canada is improving its Leopard main battle tank fleet but before this is fully completed, it is expected to begin looking for new vehicles.
A surge in aerial threats – from advanced missiles to low-cost drones – is reshaping the way militaries approach air defence, driving demand for flexible, multi-layered solutions.
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