Americas
The Royal Canadian Navy has commissioned its fourth Harry DeWolf-class Arctic and offshore patrol vessel, the HMCS William Hall, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Hall was built under Ottawa’s National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy to amplify the country’s naval forces against evolving threats in North America.
The US Army is collecting feedback from its soldiers regarding the integration of a 50-kilowatt laser weapon on the Stryker armored vehicle, and responses so far have not been positive. The service’s acquisition head Doug Bush recently told the Senate that soldiers who tested the Directed Energy Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (DE M-SHORAD) are having difficulty with the system at different power levels.
Middle East & Africa
The US has begun withdrawing its forces from Niger. The two countries announced their decision in a joint statement on Sunday, after almost a week of military talks. The deadline is September 15. America has relied on the west African country as a counter-terrorism hub for more than a decade. Until recently, more than 1,000 US personnel have operated there, most working from an airbase near Agadez, which cost more than $100 million and sits in the country’s center.
Europe
The Department of State has approved a request by the government of Ukraine to acquire equipment and services that would help sustain vehicles and weapon systems provided by the US Army. The acquisition aims to address Ukraine’s need to strengthen local sustainment capabilities and thereby maintain high operational rates and battlefield effectiveness of materiel from the US, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Thursday. The potential foreign military sale, which utilizes blanket orders, cooperative logistics supply support arrangements, the Simplified Non-Standard Acquisition Program and other logistics and program support elements, is estimated to cost $100 million.
Asia-Pacific
China’s military showed off its machine gun-equipped robot battle “dogs” Thursday at the start of its biggest-ever drills with Cambodian forces, as the United States frets about Beijing’s growing influence in the Southeast Asian country. Cambodia has long been a staunch ally of China, receiving billions of dollars in investments, and Washington is growing increasingly concerned Beijing will use a Cambodian naval base it is upgrading on the Gulf of Thailand to expand its influence in the region.
