Indian, Indonesian navies conclude joint patrol

The 24th edition of Indian-Indonesian Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) has concluded, an official statement said Wednesday, adding the defence relations between the two countries is growing.

"The close defence relations between Indian and Indonesia have been growing steadily with regular joint activities and exchanges of personnel between the armed forces of the two countries," a statement said Wednesday.

The exercise, which started Sep 9, concluded Tuesday. CORPAT is a joint patrolling exercise held twice a year by the two countries.

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Navy chief: US needs to keep 11 aircraft carriers

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus on Wednesday said the U.S. needs to have a fleet of 11 aircraft carriers, siding with lawmakers who have sought to save the USS George Washington from budget cuts.

"We need 11 to have the constant presence that we need. We need 11 to get them into a more regular cycle of maintenance and training," he told reporters at a breakfast.

"There's a law that we got to have 11 carriers. It's like gravity — it's not just a good idea, it's the law. So that's the basis you have to go on," Mabus added.

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China And The US Are In A Race To Develop The World's First Aircraft Carrier-Borne Stealth Jets

China and the US could be on the verge of a new arms race, as both countries appear to be developing fifth-generation stealth aircraft that can launch from aircraft carriers.

David Axe, at War is Boring, notes China has placed a full-scale model of its fifth-generation J-31 stealth prototype aboard a mock-up of China's single aircraft carrier. China frequently tests new additions to its military arsenal by building these kinds of model prototypes first — although the J-31 also underwent its first test-flights this past June.

If China is actually planning on deploying its J-31 fighter aboard its Liaoning aircraft carrier, the J-31 would be a direct competitor to the US's troubled F-35C. The F-35C, which is meant to deploy to the US's carrier fleet by 2018, would be the first stealth plane that can be deployed from sea.

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Navy Board takes to sea in fleet’s smallest ships

Top brass responsible for the running of the Royal Navy squeezed into two of the smallest vessels in the fleet for a rare day at sea.

The Portsmouth-based First Patrol Boat Squadron showed off their skills while transporting the entire Navy Board to a conference on the Isle of Wight.

The voyage, from Portsmouth to Cowes, saw eight Admirals, two Commodores, a Royal Marine General, and several support staff make their journey in the two 20-metre ships.

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Navy projects blue water muscle with long range deployment in Indian Ocean region

Four Indian warships on Wednesday set sail from Mumbai on a long overseas deployment to East Africa and beyond to build "maritime bridges" with countries in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

The first port of call for the warships -- guided-missile destroyer INS Mumbai, stealth frigates INS Talwar and INS Teg, and tanker INS Deepak - will be Antisiranana in Madagascar during the 50-day deployment.

"INS Teg will then separately head for the international waters off Simon's town, the main base of the South African Navy near Cape Town, for the IBSAMAR exercise among India, Brazil and South Africa from October 20 to November 7," said an officer.

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Testing of Tien Chien II missiles on frigates on schedule: ministry

Deputy Defense Minister Kao Tien-chung told lawmakers Wednesday that test firing of the Tien Chien (Sky Sword) II missiles is on track, having been fired from Knox-class destroyers and with testing on Lafayette-class frigates moving forward.

The radar-guided missile was developed by Taiwan's military-run Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology during the 1990s for use as air-to-air missiles in the Air Force.

Kao spoke about the ship-launched variant of the Tien Chien II after Legislator Lin Yu-fang of the ruling Kuomintang raised concerns that the Chaparral missiles and radar systems of Taiwan's Lafayettes are out of date and should be phased out.

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Ingalls Shipbuilding Begins Fabrication for Aegis Destroyer Paul Ignatius (DDG 117)

Huntington Ingalls Industries' Ingalls Shipbuilding division today marked the start of fabrication for the future Aegis-guided missile destroyer Paul Ignatius (DDG 117). Paul Ignatius, the ship's namesake, and his wife, Nancy Ignatius, the ship's sponsor, visited the shipyard to see steel cut for the destroyer.

Paul Ignatius is the 31st Aegis destroyer to be built at Ingalls. The start of fabrication signifies the first 100 tons of steel cut. From this point, shipbuilders will assemble the destroyer using modular construction, where pre-fabricated units are constructed separately and later lifted in place and integrated with other units.

"The start of fabrication begins to bring the ship to life," said Ingalls' DDG 51 program manager, George Nungesser. "Having Paul and Nancy Ignatius here with us today builds a relationship between them, the ship and our shipbuilders. As we continue to cut steel and assemble this next destroyer, the Ignatius family will play a big role in watching the ship transform from these pieces of steel into the mighty warship it will become, bearing Paul Ignatius' name."

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Future USNS Trenton Launches

Austal USA launched the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) the future USNS Trenton from its shipyard Sept. 30.

Launch is a major milestone for a ship and its class, signifying that the vessel is ready to enter the final stages of construction. USNS Trenton will be the U.S. Navy's fifth Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV 5).

"The JHSV program is benefitting from serial production," said Capt. Henry Stevens, Strategic and Theater Sealift Program Manager, Program Executive Office, Ships.

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Raytheon awarded $149 million contract by Rafael for Iron Dome interceptor components

Raytheon Company has received a contract award from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. valued at $149.3 million to provide products for the Tamir interceptor used in the defensive Iron Dome Weapon System.

Raytheon will utilize its extensive technology resources and supplier network to provide a second source of supply for essential Iron Dome interceptor components.

With more than 1,000 successful intercepts, Tamir is the only combat proven counter rocket, artillery, and mortar interceptor available for U.S. and coalition partners today.

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Thai air force to order reconnaissance-roled Avanti II

The Royal Thai Air Force’s deputy chief of air staff, Air Chief Marshal Sutthiphan Kritsanakhup and Piaggio Aero Industries’ government sales director Francescomaria Tuccillo on 29 September reached an agreement in Rome for the delivery of one P180 Avanti II in a new photographic reconnaissance configuration.

Reached in the presence of Italian air force chief of staff Gen Pasquale Preziosa, the agreement will lead to a contract signing on 30 September.

This will coincide with a Royal Thai Air Force delegation visiting Piaggio Aero’s new main facility in Villanova d’Albenga, near Savona, north-west Italy.

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Thales & Bharat Electronics form a joint venture in India

Navratna Defence Public Sector Undertaking Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Thales announce that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, has approved the incorporation of their joint venture company, BEL-THALES Systems Limited, in late August this year.

This joint venture (JV) Company will primarily focus on the design, development, marketing, supply and support of civilian and select defence radars for India and the global markets.

The first board meeting of BEL-THALES Systems Limited took place on Friday 26 September.

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Russian Army to Deploy Three More Iskander Missile Brigades by 2016

The Russian army will bring the number of brigades armed with Iskander-M theater ballistic missile systems to seven by 2016, Commander-in-Chief of the Land Force, Col.Gen. Oleg Salyukov, said Wednesday.

"There are four Iskander-M brigades in service with the army," Salyukov told reporters.

"One more brigade in the Central Military District will be equipped with Iskander systems by the end of 2014, while the Southern and Eastern military districts will each receive an Iskander brigade in 2015," the general said.

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Tejas Production Variant Makes First Flight

The Indian Air Force got a step closer to inducting a home-grown fighter jet into its squadron when the first Tejas series production (SP-1) aircraft kissed the skies on Tuesday.

Military sources confirmed to Express that during the 25-minute flight, Tejas SP-1 touched a maximum speed of 0.6 Mach, copying textbook manoeuvres befitting a maiden outing.

The sole take-away from this flight was the fact that there was no telemetry support to the pilot.

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Joint Strike Fighters: Australia's first F-35 jet takes inaugural flight in United States

The first of Australia's F-35 Joint Strike Fighters has been put through its paces in its inaugural flight in the United States.

In a statement, manufacturer Lockheed Martin said its chief test pilot took the aircraft through "a series of functional checks" in a two-hour flight check.

The first of the Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) is scheduled for delivery to the Royal Australian Air Force later this year and will be assigned to an Arizona Air Force base where it will be used for pilot training.

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U.S. Army Awards AeroVironment $27.2 Million for RQ-11B Raven and RQ-20A Puma Spare Parts

AeroVironment, Inc. today announced it received three firm fixed-price orders from the United States Army totaling $27,178,075 for RQ-11B Raven® and RQ-20A Puma AE™ unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) spare parts.

The company received two orders on August 29, 2014 and one on September 18, 2014. Delivery is anticipated within 12 months.

The latest orders increase the total value of orders for Raven and Puma AE UAS spare parts and Raven upgrades received since May 2014 to $77.6 million.

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NATO Air Forces Begin Exercises in Baltic Region

Air forces of NATO and the alliance partners will conduct exercises on Tuesday and Wednesday, practicing techniques of airspace protection in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania with the headquarters of the drills located at Amari Air Base near Tallinn, the General Staff of Estonian Defense Forces stated.

The exercise will involve fighter pilots of Portuguese, German, Canadian and Dutch Air Forces, which are now patrolling in rotation the skies over the Baltic countries and Poland. Pilots from Finland and Sweden will also participate in the drills.

Air operations will be controlled by operators from Amari on the ground and by British Royal Air Force aircrew with the AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) system on board.

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J-15 fighters conduct finger-four formation flight

Four PLA Navy J-15 fighters conducted a finger-four formation flight over a carrier-based fighter test center at Xincheng in Liaoning in northeastern China on Aug. 28, according to the state-run Global Times.

An image of these four carrier-based fighters was uploaded to a Chinese military website by an unknown internet user. The state newswire Xinhua reported previously that President Xi Jinping, who also heads the Central Military Commission, was visiting the base when the flight took place.

Xi met the pilots and commanders of the fighter unit aboard China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, after all the aircraft landed on the runway of the Xincheng test center.

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Cuts see Royal Navy turning to USA for help

Defence cuts have left the Royal Navy so short of engineers it has had to borrow some from the US Coast Guard.

From this month, American servicemen will work as engineering technicians on board Type 23 frigates based in Portsmouth.

If it is a success, there will be a total of 36 American coastguard personnel working in the positions in Portsmouth by the end of 2016.

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Germany under fire over military mishaps

The German government has been working hard to persuade a reluctant public to back a bigger role on the world stage for its military.

But – as a recent string of embarrassing equipment failures has highlighted – even when Berlin does win political backing for military interventions, it is struggling to fulfil its commitments.

In the latest setback in deploying the military in response to a global crisis, a German transport plane en route to Senegal to assist the battle against the rapidly spreading outbreak of Ebola in west Africa has been stranded on the Canary Islands, because of a technical defect.

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Rolls-Royce Fined as Workers Exposed to Radiation 32 Times Limit

A Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc (RR/) unit must pay more than 375,000 pounds ($607,000) in fines and costs after a screw-sized radioactive capsule exposed workers to radiation 32 times legal levels.

Rolls-Royce Marine Power Operations, which manufactures components for submarines, was fined yesterday for breaching safety regulations at a court in Leicester, England, the U.K.’s Health and Safety Executive said. The capsule containing Ytterbium-169 used to test welding was lost for about five hours at a Rolls-Royce plant in Derby, the HSE said.

“Gamma radiation emitted by this type of radioactive source is harmful to human health,” David Orr, the HSE’s specialist inspector of radiation, said in an e-mailed statement. “The company failed its duty of care on this occasion, losing control of the source without realizing it.”

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Babcock secures £2.6bn MoD contract

Babcock, which manages Her Majesty’s Naval Bases at Devonport and Clyde, has been awarded a multibillion-pound contract to repair and maintain the Royal Navy's warships and submarines.

The group was awarded the £2.6bn contract by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) along with BAE Systems, which manages Portsmouth Naval Base and secured a £600m contract.

The agreement has safeguarded 4,000 jobs at Devonport Naval Base, with 1,500 and 2,000 at Clyde and Portsmouth respectively.

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Naval Submarine Jangbogo III to Be Built with Homegrown Technology

It is likely the next-generation submarine for the Republic of Korea Navy will be Jangbogo III (Batch I) based on homegrown technology.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration said on September 29 that Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, the shipbuilder to assemble two 3,000-ton class conventional submarines, has sufficient capabilities to build such ships in a critical design review sessions held for five days between September 25 and 29 with 150 experts from the navy, industry, and academia.

The 3,000-ton Jangbogo III is Korea’s first submarine built with proprietary technology. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration had signed a design and assembly agreement with Daewoo Shipbuilding on December 24, 2012. Currently the detailed design stage is under way.

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Mabus: Review of women joining SEALs on track

A U.S. Special Operations Command report on integrating women into the elite Navy SEAL community was due back in July, but officials aren’t able to confirm whether it’s been completed or when leadership will be briefed. Still, the the service is on track to make a final decision about admitting women to the teams by 2016, said the service’s top civilian. And it’s an effort he supports.

“In my opinion, if people meet the qualifications, I don’t think gender should matter,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a meeting with reporters on Tuesday.

Mabus, who has made expanding womens’ opportunities across the force one of his hallmarks, said he hasn’t heard any updates on the study’s progress. A spokesman for Naval Special Warfare said he had no updates on the report, either, and representatives for SOCOM did not immediately return calls for comment.

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Taiwan to present indigenous submarine plan to U.S.

Taiwan will present a plan to build indigenous submarines at the upcoming United States-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference and reaffirm its resolution in self-defense, Defense Minister Yen Ming said Wednesday.

Responding to questions at the Legislature's committee on foreign affairs and national defense, Yen said a Taiwanese delegation to the U.S., to be led by Deputy Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng, will also touch on defense procurement from the U.S. during closed-door meetings.

Taiwan's state-owned aerospace company, Aerospace Industrial Development Corp., will attend the conference, Yen said.

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Chinese Submarine Headed to Gulf of Aden For Counter Piracy Operations

China has sent a submarine to the Gulf of Aden to help in counter piracy operations — a first for the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) submarine fleet, according to the Chinese Ministry of National Defense.

In a press briefing last week, ministry spokesman Col. Geng Yansheng confirmed a PLAN submarine was headed off the coast of Somalia to join a Chinese task force effort to piracy in the region.

News of the submarine emerged earlier this month when what appeared to be a Song-class diesel attack submarine (SSK) took on fuel and provisions in Sri Lanka from Sept. 7 to 14, raising questions if China was expanding submarine operations into the Indian Ocean.

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