Americas
Saab has won a $494-million contract to supply the US Army with XM919 Individual Assault Munitions (IAM). According to the US Department of Defense, the Swedish company’s proposal bested two others, but it did not reveal the names of the losing firms. Several reports indicate that General Dynamics and Norwegian-Finnish defense conglomerate Nammo also submitted bids.
Lockheed Martin won a $3 billion deal, which procures training system and simulation design, development, integration, test, production, deployment, modifications/upgrades, and sustainment in support of the F-35 Lightening II aircraft for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, non-US Department of Defense Participants, and Foreign Military Sales countries. Work is expected to be completed by September 2028. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Middle East & Africa
The Iraqi military said it downed a Turkish drone over the northern city of Kirkuk on Thursday as Ankara kept up its operations against Kurdish militants inside Iraq. Falling debris damaged a house in the city center, police and army officials told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. There were no reports of any direct casualties but the police official said a carpenter working on a nearby building site had been admitted to hospital after a fall.
Europe
According to Defense News, the Slovak government has approved the purchase six Barak MX air defense systems with related equipment for an estimated $615 million, according to the country’s deputy prime minister and defense minister, Robert Kali?ák. Slovakia and Israel are currently negotiating the final terms of the planned deal, Kali?ák was quoted by the state-run news agency TASR.
Asia-Pacific
The Taiwanese military said its US-supplied anti-tank weapons had a low success rate during a recent exercise, prompting a re-evaluation of their combat use. Seventeen BGM-71 tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided (TOW) 2A missiles were fired as part of the Sky Horse military drills earlier this week, but only seven of them successfully hit their targets. The incident raised concerns about the accuracy of the munition, but the Ministry of National Defense (MND) was quick to clarify that the exercise focused on soldier familiarization rather than the weapons’ performance.
