The Russia-Ukraine war is having unusual effects: companies are using Ukraine as a “testing ground” for new technologies, Kiev is receiving large amounts of foreign funding from various sources in order to curb Putin’s war machine, and European countries are expanding production lines. At the same time, defense technologies continue to leap forward, with artificial intelligence-based combat aircraft looming around the corner. About all this and more in the weekly defense industries corner of Globes.
Britain restricts defense exports to Israel, but continues to receive products
The subsidiary of Elbit Systems, Elbit UK, announced the completion of the supply of Artillery Training Systems (JFST) to the British Army. The company is indeed registered in the UK, but the routine completion of supplies demonstrates that although the Labor government decided in September to suspend 30 out of 350 export licenses to Israel, the British security establishment still needs Israeli systems.
Elbit is a world leader in the field of simulators, where, among other things, the Iranian missile attacks were trained by the Air Force using the company’s products. In the same way there are the terrestrial simulators, in 2019 the British Ministry of Defense paid 38 million dollars for the JFST.
According to Elbit Britain, the simulators it has already provided enabled 12,000 hours of training, which benefited both Britain and NATO forces. Both in the air and on land, simulators represent significant savings – in armaments, fuels, and complicated logistics that are a necessity in training with live fire.
The US is testing a drone interception system in Ukraine
The war in Ukraine is the focus of global unmanned warfare, and consequently it is the best place to try developments in the field. According to a report in Newsweek, the US joined the “experimental field” with the Hitchhiker UAV defense system, which launches UAVs to intercept unmanned means in the air. The product was developed by the Ironnet companies, which specializes in artificial intelligence-based cyber defense, and Asterion, which deals in defense technologies against UAVs.
The new system is designed to intercept the Iranian Shahad series of UAVs that the Russians use on a huge scale, by launching UAVs that use electric propulsion. Using UAVs for interception, instead of defense systems like the Patriot, lowers costs significantly. The cost of the PAC-3 interceptor, the most advanced in the Patriot series, is estimated at about $6 million, and it also requires dealing with operational consequences that are much more complicated than those of the Hitchhiker.
The tiny country investing in Kyiv’s defense industry
Another significant effect of the war in Ukraine is the development of Kyiv’s defense industry at an extraordinary pace. Within the framework of all investments on the subject, the one that recently decided to transfer 80 million euros for this purpose is Luxembourg, a country with only about 680 thousand citizens. The amount will be added to the more than 200 million euros that Luxembourg has already transferred since February 2022, and includes military, humanitarian and economic aid.
The same 80 million euros are intended for the development of the Ukrainian production capabilities of UAVs, intelligence systems and electronic warfare as early as next year. The funding reflects an agreement that Luxembourg and Ukraine signed about four months ago, in which they agreed on security cooperation for a decade. Luxembourg’s Minister of Defense , Francois Bausch, noted that the new decision expresses the sentiment of our country’s assistance to Ukraine.
Poland is investing in the expansion of production lines
While countries like Luxembourg are investing in Ukraine’s defense industry with the goal of having it do the work for them, other countries are spending capital on developing independent capabilities. Poland is the extreme example of this phenomenon, when among NATO allies it invests the highest proportion of the GDP in its defense budget: 4.12%. For the sake of comparison, Spain and Luxembourg invest 1.28% and 1.29% respectively.
Therefore, it seems that one should not be surprised that the lower house of the parliament in Warsaw voted in favor of adding 3 billion zlotys (about 740 million dollars) in increasing the production capabilities of the local defense industry, especially 155 mm shells. The surge in demand for such shells following the war in Ukraine brought that their price, according to the Wall Street Journal, has quadrupled: from $2,100 per unit to 8,400 dollars.
The IDF’s investigations agreement
The defense system chose the TSG group as the sole supplier of recording and investigation systems for the next two years, as part of an agreement totaling approximately NIS 14 million. This is how Globes first learned. The recording and investigation system makes it possible to investigate any event during its occurrence. In addition to that, the system also allows for in-depth investigation after the end of the event, in order to draw conclusions.
The system collects all the sources of information available on the site, including audio, video and data in various formats, and produces a unified and immediate research image from them. The system developed by TSG is also used in civilian systems, including the light rail, for the purpose of investigating criminal, safety and security incidents.
TSG which was issued on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange last July, develops a variety of systems intended for use by security agencies in Israel and around the world, including systems based on artificial intelligence. Among other things, the company develops aerial image systems for interception and alerting; engine for building a marine image and alerts; systems for detecting criminal activity and maritime terrorism; tactical systems for special forces; and intelligence systems for planning attack targets.
Germany presents: a shell factory near Russia
The creative solution of the German giant Rheinmetall to the need to increase the production capacity of 155 mm shells – the establishment of a factory in Lithuania, which borders Russia, with an investment of 190 million dollars. The factory, which is expected to be built by the middle of 2026, is designed to produce tens of thousands of shells every year. “The agreement will yield maximum benefit to Lithuania,” said Lithuanian Economy Minister Usharina Armonieta.
Not coincidentally, the plant will be located in the area of Isugala, where a NATO air force base is also located. The new facility is part of an overall project by Rheinmetall, which is working to accelerate its production capacity to 700,000 shells per year, ten times more than before the war in Ukraine. In the shadow of the demands, the company even received a historic order of 155 mm shells in the amount of 9.1 billion dollars from the German army about five months ago.
Japan will test a plane based on artificial intelligence as early as next year
One of the most fascinating technological races in the world of defense industries lies in the air forces as a whole and in the implementation of artificial intelligence-based systems in them, as part of the development of measures that will serve the sixth generation aircraft. In this context, the Ministry of Defense of Japan recently announced a significant event: a test flight of an unmanned aircraft based on artificial intelligence is scheduled to take place this November.
Colonel Michitaka Ikeda, a senior official in the Japanese Defense Procurement Administration, said that the process began in 2022, when the development of the system and early tests were already completed in 2023. In Tokyo, they plan to use the technology for the benefit of two models whose purpose is completely different: a combat version and a collection version. The flight tests are expected to continue until 2027, with the aim of testing the compliance of the tools with all the designations.
Emergency battlefield hackathon in memory of the fallen
The emergency battlefield hackathon will be held on the coming Sunday-Monday at Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with PAAT, in memory of the fallen Eitan Oster, Omri Tamri and Shahar Cohen, whose memory is blessed. The first challenge they will deal with is evacuating the wounded on the way up and in a very complicated area (SHSM): The terrain route on the northern border includes narrow paths with the ability to pass for one person, challenging vegetation, and rocks. The goal is to bring a solution that will allow a quick and efficient evacuation based on the capabilities of the force. A light solution, resistant to environmental conditions and suitable for wide distribution.
The second challenge is the development of a device to stop bleeding from transitional areas. That is, between the body and the limbs – groin and neck. Currently, there is no effective solution to stop bleeding from transition areas at the surface level, with the exception of fighting points with fingers. The required answer is a tool to stop bleeding in transition areas for the field level, using a convenient to use, light weight and small volume device. The last challenge is the development of an inflow camera cleaning system for an armored combat vehicle. The system is required to have the ability to immediately control the driver’s control (signal lever) through the vehicle’s communication.
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