The Global EyeLIG Nex1, a South Korean precision missile developer, displayed this week a mock-up of a low-altitude missile defense system.
The LAMD concept model was displayed at the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition 2021 at an air base in Seongnam, south of Seoul. The LAMD consists of a missile launcher, a command post and a multifunctional radar.
South Korea seeks to develop missile defense against N. Korea’s artillery barrage (defensenews.com)
A joint Chinese-Russian naval armada has sailed around Japan following a joint exercise in the Sea of Japan, sailing through a narrow international waterway between two of Japan’s main islands.
The 10-ship naval task force, split evenly between Chinese and Russian vessels, sailed through the Tsugaru Strait, which runs between the Japanese islands of Hokkaido and Honshu, during their transit from the Sea of Japan into the western Pacific on Oct.18.
Chinese-Russian task force sails around Japan (defensenews.com)
Korea Aerospace Industries, or KAI, showcased this week a concept model of an electrically powered basic trainer aircraft during the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition 2021 at an airbase in Seongnam, just south of Seoul.
Nicknamed “Black Kite,” the twin-seat concept aircraft features an electric propulsion system powering a total of four propellers mounted on the wings. It is expected to replace the KT-1 basic trainer in service with the South Korean Air Force.
One of U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s top jobs at the NATO ministerial conference this week was to keep steering the 30-member alliance’s focus to China, but some Eastern European allies say the U.S.-China rivalry must not overshadow concerns about Russia.
The two-day meeting between defense chiefs yielded new agreements on tech investments and policies, mirroring the Pentagon’s focus on technological competition with China. When asked by reporters about China, Austin made clear the U.S. sees NATO as its ace.
Russia fears complicate NATO’s new China focus (defensenews.com)
A hypersonic technology test the Defense Department hoped to carry out in Alaska Thursday went awry when a booster rocket failed in a launch attempt.
In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Gorman said the booster that failed was not part of the hypersonic program, and was not related to the common hypersonic glide body. The test took place at the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska.
NATO’s forthcoming plans to deter Russia includes “significant improvements to our air and missile defenses” as well as fifth-generation jets, alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday.
“Today, ministers endorsed a new overarching plan to defend our alliance in crisis and conflict, to make sure that we continue to have the right forces at the right place at the right time,” Stoltenberg told reporters Thursday, capping the first day of NATO’s two-day defense ministerial meeting.
NATO to boost air and missile defense investments to counter Russia (defensenews.com)
There is a risk that we overanalyze attacks on critical infrastructure and try to find a strategic intent where there is none.
Our potential adversaries could attack critical American infrastructure for other reasons than executing a national strategy. In many cases, it can be as simple as hostile totalitarian nations that do not respect international humanitarian law using critical American infrastructure as a cyber range.
Are adversaries using US critical infrastructure as a training range? (defensenews.com)
Following the release of the U.S. Army’s digital transformation strategy, the service’s chief information officer said one of his top priorities is to outline the budgeting process for the next two years to execute the new plan.
Released Oct. 20, the strategy aims to synchronizes the Army’s technology modernization efforts and better posture it for multi-domain operations. Ultimately, the new strategy is intended to help the service do business differently, enabling greater collaboration with industry, coalition partners and even intergovernmental partners to modernize its digital enterprise.
Army CIO’s top priority is budgeting for new digital transformation strategy (defensenews.com)
Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Northrop Grumman and their industry partners formally opened a test and integration center this week for the C5I systems at the heart of the U.S. Coast Guard’s new offshore patrol cutter program.
This OPC production facility is meant to reduce risk on what the Coast Guard calls its top acquisition priority. Within mockups of the bridge, the operations center and other key rooms, every piece of internal and external sensing and communications equipment will be networked together in this facility at Eastern’s Allanton yard first, tested for any integration hiccups and then sent up the road to the company’s Nelson Street yard where the OPC hulls are being constructed.
Eastern Shipbuilding opens new C5I integration facility for offshore patrol cutter (defensenews.com)