Americas
Boeing won a $102.7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee modification, which exercises options for the production and delivery of ten P-8A increment three retrofit A-kits and provides for three retrofit kit A-kit installs, in support of anti-submarine warfare capabilities upgrades for the Navy. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida; St. Louis, Missouri; and Mesa, Arizona, and is expected to be completed in November 2026.
Northrop Grumman has completed the live-fire test of a Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) stage two solid rocket motor in Tennessee. The activity is part of the US Department of Defense’s effort to replace Washington’s Minuteman III missiles with the LGM-35 Sentinel ground-based strategic deterrent systems.
Middle East & Africa
Abu Dhabi-based defense conglomerate Edge Group has finalized the integration of its Desert Sting guided bomb onto the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone, signaling a new wave of cooperation between Emirati and Turkish defense firms. “We have reached a significant milestone in our partnership with Baykar, with the successful integration of our advanced Desert Sting 16 precision-guided munition onto the TB2 UAV,” Edge wrote in a January 17 post published on the X platform.
Europe
NATO plans to mobilize 90,000 soldiers for a maneuver aimed at “deterring Russian aggression,” in the biggest exercise staged by the alliance since the end of the Cold War, dpa news agency reported on Thursday. The alliance announced the exercise would begin next week, and will test allies’ ability over months to engage in a conflict with an adversary as capable as Russia.
France and the United States will lead a coalition of 23 countries to provide artillery and ammunition to Ukraine, French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu said January 18. The coalition aims to boost Ukraine’s artillery capacity in the short term, and France is looking for its partners to help finance the purchase of 72 Caesar howitzers for Ukraine in 2024, according to Lecornu.
Asia-Pacific
Japan’s air and missile defense capabilities, Northrop Grumman Corporation and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation have joined forces. The two giants signed a teaming agreement on January 16, marking a renewed collaboration aimed at developing cutting-edge solutions for integrated air and missile defense. The partnership leverages the expertise of both companies: Northrop Grumman, a global leader in defense technologies, and Mitsubishi Electric, a titan in Japan’s electronics industry. Together, they will focus on creating a robust network that seamlessly integrates various defense systems, allowing for efficient sharing of critical target information.
