South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has filed a countersuit against BAE Systems and Raytheon demanding that the contractors pay a combined USD61 million in penalties related to the cancelled contract to upgrade the Republic of Korea Air Force's (RoKAF's) Lockheed Martin
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Update: DAPA files countersuit demanding payment for cancelled F-16 upgrade
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Pentagon budget 2016 draws veto threats, Democratic opposition
President Barack Obama has threatened to veto defence bills that use supplemental accounts to add funding for defence while allowing domestic programmes to be capped, as Democrats continue to push for a compromise to raise overall budget limits.
ANALYSIS
A Republican-led effort in the fiscal year
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LRS-B selection nears
A contract to build the US Air Force's (USAF's) Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) could be awarded within three months, a senior official said on 9 July.
William LaPlante, the service's undersecretary for acquisition, said that the programme will be "done when it's done". He added that
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AMISOM to 'revitalise' campaign against Al-Shabaab
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has denied reports it is withdrawing from some areas in the wake of a major attack by the Al-Shabaab militant group, suggesting instead that it is preparing for a new offensive.
"We will deal them [Al-Shabaab] a final blow in the coming few
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Syrian pilot details helicopter operations
The Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) is suffering from a serious shortage of Mi-17 transport helicopters, according to Colonel Ali Aboud, a pilot who was captured by the Jabhat al-Nusra jihadist group after his helicopter crashed in March.
Jabhat al-Nusra, which is Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, allowed
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Indra to supply two Lanza air defence radars to NCI Agency
Indra has won a EUR22 million (USD24 million) contract to supply two of its Lanza 3D long-range deployable air defence radars (LTR-25s) to the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency).
Work on the order is due to take 38 months and the contract includes options on acquiring a third
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Indra launches new strategic plan, announces job cuts
Spanish IT and defence systems group Indra has announced it is looking to shed 1,850 jobs in Spain as it launches a new strategic plan aimed at growing sales by up to 4.5% annually over the next four years.
Talks with trade unions have begun on the cuts following efforts to reduce costs that
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US Army to drop BCTs, cut 17,000 civilians as it sheds end strength
The US Army has detailed its plans for reducing the active-duty end strength down to 450,000 by the end of fiscal year 2018 (FY 2018).
Notably, the drawdown, which comes as major deployment rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan have mostly concluded, includes "the reduction of 17,000 Department of
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Spanish government to sell 20% stake in Indra
Spanish Minister of Defence Pedro Morenés has said the government intends to sell off a 20% stake in IT and systems group Indra once the country's defence industry becomes more integrated.
While that would not be before the general elections at the end of this year, the sector would be
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Update: First Iraqi F-16s arrive in-country
The first of an expected 36 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcon combat aircraft for Iraq has arrived in-country, a senior US government official disclosed on 13 July.
The arrival of at least one twin-seat F-16D (serial number 1604) was tweeted by Ambassador Brett McGurk, the Deputy Special
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Think tank questions Abbott's plans for 'rolling' shipbuilding programme
The rolling production in Australia of major surface warships as foreshadowed by Prime Minister Tony Abbott will produce several contentious issues, a leading think tank has warned.
In a report released on 13 July, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) described continuous production as
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Portugal to break up state-owned EMPORDEF
The Portuguese Council of Ministers approved on July 9 the liquidation of the country's state-owned defence industrial holding, Empresa Portuguesa de Defesa (EMPORDEF).
The company was established in 1996 to manage state holdings in firms directly or indirectly involved in defence activities.
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NATO presence after 2016 to be civilian-led
NATO's next foray in Afghanistan after its Resolute Support military train-and-advise mission ends in December 2016 will be a civilian-led effort. While this will include some military personnel, the mission will have no combat role or responsibility to counter the country's resurgent poppy
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Madrid approves Spanish participation in EUNAVFOR Med
Spanish armed forces are to take part in the European Union (EU) operation EUNAVFOR Med to combat people traffickers bringing illegal immigrants into Europe from Libya, the country's cabinet decided on 10 July.
Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría said the mission's aim was to
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US mulling expanded training programme for Ukraine
US officials, in the midst of training three battalions of Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior (MoI) troops, are mulling an expanded effort that would train Ukrainian Army soldiers as they seek to deter Russian-backed separatists, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, commander of US Army Europe (USAREUR),
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UK PM calls on service chiefs to acquire 'more readily deployable counter-terrorist capabilities'
UK prime minister David Cameron has urged UK defence chiefs to spend more on "special forces and readily deployable counter-terrorist capabilities" such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), otherwise known as drones, as part of the ongoing Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR),
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Twenty-three die in barrack collapse in Western Siberia
Twenty-three soldiers were killed, 22 were hospitalised, and another 21 injured after a four-storey barrack block accommodating more than 300 airborne troops collapsed near the Russian city of Omsk on the night of 12 July.
The soldiers, aged 18-21, had just taken part in their oath-taking passing
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South Korea's DAPA launches SME support programme
South Korea's military procurement agency, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), is establishing a committee to provide technical assistance to a select group of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) seeking to expand in defence.
The DAPA said on 13 July that the committee will
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Russia's PAK DA bomber to get new communication suite
Russian United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation (UIMC) has started the development of the new onboard communication suite (CS) for the PAK DA strategic bomber, according to a source in UIMC.
The source told IHS Jane's that "the new suite will provide robust communication over operational
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JIEDDO reinvented as JIDA, placed within Pentagon acquisition office
Pentagon officials have rebranded and re-organised the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), renaming it the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Agency (JIDA) and placing it within the department's acquisition shop.
The new agency is chartered with helping to counter improvised
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