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The Canadian military’s acquisition of medium altitude armed drones is being delayed to allow for more development work to enable the aircraft to operate in the Arctic region. The Remotely Piloted Aircraft System project was to deliver a fleet of drones for the Royal Canadian Air Force that would be operational by 2025. That date has now shifted and the delivery of the first aircraft is expected in 2028. Ottawa is focused on acquiring the General Atomics MQ-9B Reaper in a project budgeted with as much as $3.6 billion. It’s hoping to have a contract in place by the end of this year or early next year.
RENK Systems won a $49 million deal, which is for the design, development, fabrication, and testing of three test stands to include: one for testing the main gearbox assembly, one for testing the tail/intermediate gearbox assemblies, and one for testing the nose gearbox assemblies, as well as associated logistics, calibration, maintenance, and sustainment support; equipment and installation of equipment; end item spares; technical and operational manuals; and associated data in support of the CH-53K King Stallion helicopter for the Navy and Marine Corps. Work will be performed in Augsburg, Germany, and is expected to be completed in November 2025.

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Canada Delays Reaper Acquisition | Romania Launches Tender For Air Defense Systems | North Korea Restores Front-Line Guard Posts

Americas

L3Harris has announced that its new electronic warfare suite “Viper Shield” is nearing another major milestone ahead of planned production in 2025. Company official Anna Gragossian told Breaking Defense that the next program milestone will demonstrate the system’s ability to detect enemy radar activities, helping military pilots evade threats. The demonstration is expected to take place in December this year.

The Canadian military’s acquisition of medium altitude armed drones is being delayed to allow for more development work to enable the aircraft to operate in the Arctic region. The Remotely Piloted Aircraft System project was to deliver a fleet of drones for the Royal Canadian Air Force that would be operational by 2025. That date has now shifted and the delivery of the first aircraft is expected in 2028. Ottawa is focused on acquiring the General Atomics MQ-9B Reaper in a project budgeted with as much as $3.6 billion. It’s hoping to have a contract in place by the end of this year or early next year.

Middle East & Africa

According to Military Africa, Morocco has been facing challenges in modernizing its main battle tank fleet due to the unintended consequences of conflicts taking place in various parts of the world. Morocco’s plans to acquire Merkava MK3 tanks from Israel, M1A1 Abrams tanks from the United States, and T-72M tanks from the Czech Republic have all been hindered by the ongoing wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Europe

The Romanian government has solicited bids from defense manufacturers for short-range air defense systems at a cost of up to $2.1 billion, setting up a race between between French and Israeli suppliers with longstanding ties to the European country. Per a tender notice published by the Romanian Ministry of Defense earlier this month, the country is seeking so-called short-range air defense and very short-range air defense systems, known, respectively, by the acronyms of SHORAD and VSHORAD.

Asia-Pacific

North Korea is restoring front-line guard posts that it had dismantled during a previous period of inter-Korean rapprochement, South Korea’s military said Monday, after animosities spiked between the rivals over the North’s recent spy satellite launch. The two Koreas previously dismantled or disarmed 11 of their guard posts inside their heavily fortified border, called the Demilitarized Zone, under a 2018 deal meant to ease front-line military confrontations. But the deal is now in danger of being scrapped as both Koreas openly threaten to breach it.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Australian Defense Force (ADF) conducted a joint air patrol over the South China Sea as part of their inaugural Maritime Cooperative Activity. The operation involved a fleet of aircraft, including the Philippine Air Force’s A29B Super Tucano and N-22 Nomad, the Philippine Navy’s BNI2A aircraft, and the ADF’s P-8 Poseidon Maritime Surveillance aircraft.

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Jane's reports that Lieutenant Colonel Karlheinz Boehnke, Multi-Role Armoured Vehicle (MRAV) Boxer representative in the German Army Concept and Capabilities Development Centre, presented a Boxer jamming variant and an update on other planned versions on the second day of SAE Media Group's Future Armoured Vehicles Survivability (FAVS) 2023 conference held in London.

Italy has blocked French form Safran to buy a key Italian defense and aerospace company, with sources citing the state of conflict around the world as a reason to avoid approving such sales. Italy halted the purchase of Microtecnica, which makes components for the Eurofighter jet, by using its so-called Golden Power legislation, which grants it the right to block purchases of strategic firms by overseas buyers.

CFM International won a $47.8 million modification, which exercises options to procure three CFM56-7B27AE spare engines, two for the Navy and one for the government of Germany, in support of the P-8A Poseidon aircraft. The P-8A Poseidon is a military aircraft used for maritime patrol and reconnaissance. It's often used for tasks like searching for submarines, monitoring ship activities, and conducting surveillance over large bodies of water. The P-8A Poseidon is a versatile aircraft used by various countries for maritime security and defense purposes.
Boeing won a $36 million modification, which adds scope to provide non-recurring engineering for the preliminary design review of six sub-systems to mitigate component obsolescence in support of MQ-25 Stingray low-rate initial production for the Navy. The MQ-25 Stingray is an unmanned aircraft designed for aerial refueling. The MQ-25 Stingray is developed to support and enhance the capabilities of military aviation, allowing aircraft to operate for longer durations and cover larger distances without needing to land for refueling. Work will be performed in Endicott, New York; Saint Louis, Missouri; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Clearwater, Florida, San Diego, California; and Melbourne, Florida and is expected to be completed in April 2024.
Raytheon won a $94.1 million modification for fiscal 2023 Guided Missile Assemblies, shipping containers, and spare parts in support of the fiscal 2021-2023 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile Block 2 full rate production requirements. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona; Raufoss, Norway; Edinburgh, Australia; San Jose, California; Mississauga, Canada; Ottobrunn, Germany; Cambridge, Canada; Nashua, New Hampshire; Hengelo, Netherlands; Koropi Attica, Greece; Torrance, California; Canton, New York; Ankara, Turkey; Grenaa, Denmark; Westlake Village, California; and various other locations. Work is expected to be completed by March 2027.
Lockheed Martin won a $30.5 million modification for capability package development and fielding, system integration and fielding, and in-service sustainment in support of current configurations of the AEGIS combat system. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, and is expected to be completed by December 31, 2024. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

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Americas Raytheon won $151.5 million for AIM-9X Block II and II+ sustainment. The contract...