Americas
The US Missile Defense Agency has successfully conducted its first flight test of the Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) at the Clear Space Force Station in Alaska, around two years after its original schedule. In the Flight Test Other-26a (FTX-26a), the LRDR and the Upgraded Early Warning Radar tracked a live intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) representative target that traveled over 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) off Alaska’s southern coast.
Saab has selected Anduril to produce solid rocket motors (SRMs) for the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), a system developed in partnership with Boeing. Anduril’s new solid rocket motor will replace the legacy M26 Multiple Launch Rocket System in the GLSDB while adding improved manufacturing and safety features. The company has started development and qualification and expects to enter full-rate production by 2026.
Middle East & Africa
Iranian lawmakers voted Wednesday in favor of suspending cooperation with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, state TV said, after a 12-day war that saw Israeli and US strikes on nuclear facilities. “The International Atomic Energy Agency, which refused to even marginally condemn the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, put its international credibility up for auction,” Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said, according to state TV.
Europe
The Netherlands has contracted Finnish satellite manufacturer ICEYE to supply a full suite of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems to boost sovereign space-based defense. ICEYE is set to provide four 25-centimeter (9.8 inches) high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites, with the first one delivered and launched into orbit aboard the Transporter-14 rideshare mission with SpaceX in June, just four months after the contract signing. This marks Amsterdam’s first operational military satellite mission.
Asia-Pacific
South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration announced the successful completion of safety separation flight tests for its indigenously developed long-range stealthy air-to-ground missile. The tests, conducted on June 23 at the Republic of Korea Air Force’s 3rd Training Wing in Sacheon, Gyeongnam Province, involved the Sky Dragon (Cheonryong) missile separating from a modified FA-50 Golden Eagle trainer aircraft. The safety separation flight test verified that the missile could separate from the aircraft without interfering with the aircraft’s structure or external attachments, and confirmed that aircraft response characteristics during separation do not impair mission performance.