Northrop Grumman has delivered the first Airborne Laser Mine Detection System pod to South Korea under the Korean Mine Countermeasures Helicopter program, supporting mine detection and classification in coastal waters. The system, already in service with the U.S. and Japanese navies, uses laser-based sensors to locate floating and near-surface mines and will be integrated into the Republic of Korea Navy’s mine countermeasure fleet.
Turkey signed separate agreements at the International Defence Industry Fair in Istanbul last week, with plans to purchase 40 Eurofighter aircraft from the United Kingdom and sell 48 of its indigenous Kaan fighter aircraft to Indonesia.
Sweden’s Saab announced the selection of its Gripen E/F fighters by the Royal Thai Air Force, which already operates the older Gripen C/D variants, beating out the U.S. Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 aircraft.
Europe appears to have accepted the prospect of acting independently of the United States, with a new rearmament program proposed by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, last week.
As NATO races to supply Ukraine before Trump takes office, Europe is struggling to touch two percent of its GDP on defence expenditure while Russia plans to spend more than 32 percent of its national budget on its military.
The Republic of Korea has selected the Brazilian Embraer C-390 for its transport aircraft requirement for an order estimated to be approximately worth USD 540 million. The C-390 was competing against the Lockheed Martin C-130J and the Airbus A400M, in a contest similar to the ongoing airlifter requirement of the Indian Air Force.
Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar: ‘A replacement (for the MiG-21) could be the LCA Tejas or another – I’ll not call it low end – but a single engine lighter aircraft. Tejas is a good aircraft but it has its limitations.’
Air Marshal M Matheshwaran analyzes exactly why the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft will never fully meet the ASR and cannot become the IAF ‘s frontline fighter in the Lo segment.
Air Marshal M Matheswaran (retired) goes back in history to examine the reasons why the Light Combat Aircraft project has failed to meet expectations.
The agreement to enable Canada sell its uranium to India came into force in end-September after Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid met Canadian Minister of Natural Resources, Joe Oliver. Both New Delhi and Ottawa are keen to begin supplies at the earliest.
The latest batch of 36 officers is the largest in the history of the Indian Foreign Service, adding to the nearly 900 odd IFS officers which comprise the Indian diplomatic corps.
This meeting is significant as Karim is the first envoy of a Muslim majority country to meet Modi and is also a sign of growing international recognition of the Gujarat chief minister’s influence on national issues in New Delhi, in this case the Land Boundary Agreement.
South Korea has indicated an interest in joining the Escort Convoy Coordination exercise run by the navies of India, China and Japan to protect merchant shipping in the Gulf of Aden against piracy. The original tri-nation coordination began last January and in the first two instances, the Chinese, and then the Indian navies provided their…
Artillery shells fired from North Korea Wednesday landed near the disputed sea border with South Korea. In response, South Korea’s military also fired artillery shells towards the North, Yonhap news agency reported.
The navy and the defense ministry have identified South Korea’s Kangnam Corporation to be L1 [Lowest bidding and technically qualified] for the procurement of eight such vessels.
