The US giant deal and the competition for the Israeli weapons system

The US aims to improve its defense capabilities against UAVs and closes a huge deal with its rival for the Israeli David Slingshot system, as a lesson learned from the “Iron Swords” war. At the same time, China claims to have developed a fighter plane whose wings become UAVs, and Russia uses an unmanned vehicle to disperse heavy smoke on the battlefield. All this and more in the weekly defense industries corner.

The USA is in a huge deal with the rival of David’s Slingshot

The US Army closed a huge deal for the purchase of advanced Patriot systems (3-PAC) in the amount of 5.2 billion dollars from Lockheed Martin, which includes supplies that will last until 2027. The US Secretary of Defense did not say how many interceptors the deal includes, but it was noted that the implementation of the agreement will be carried out through Lockheed Martin’s facilities in Alabama , in Florida, New York and nine other states.

The deal comes about two months after the Israeli Air Force announced that it was parting ways with its veteran Patriot batteries. The reason for this lies in Rafael’s “David’s Slingshot” system, which, as part of the Israeli multi-layered defense system, is focused on intercepting advanced threats in the short and medium term. While Israel avoided upgrading the Patriot batteries, it moved forward with the David slingshot, the first operational interception of which was carried out as early as May 2023.

David’s Slingshot is a collaboration that illustrates the strength of the Israeli defense industries together. Its MMR radar, manufactured by the Elta Division of the Aerospace Industry, is more powerful than the Patriot’s. It allows detection of the firing point, real-time calculation of the impact point rate, as well as range correction. Next to it is the “Golden Almond” control and control system. A development product of the Elisra company, from the Elbit group.

The end result is that the David slingshot is an Israeli product very close to the level of the PAC-3, the most advanced interceptor of the Patriot series. However, in the world of armaments economics, it is significantly cheaper: while each PAC-3 interceptor is valued at approximately $6 million, intercepting a David slingshot costs the State of Israel approximately $700,000.

Inspired by Iran: Russia and China are developing a suicide drone

Russia and China are developing a roving weapon (suicide drone) inspired by the Iranian Shahed series. This is reported by the Bloomberg news agency. Shaheds were used, among other things, by the Revolutionary Guards in the attack against Israel on April 14, and Hezbollah has been using them to attack Israel on a daily basis for the past nine months.

According to the report, companies from the two countries held talks already last year about the possibility of duplicating the Shahed. Sources told Bloomberg that they began to open and test a certain version this year. “The Chinese drones have not yet been used in Ukraine,” they noted.

The officials who spoke to Bloomberg did not identify the stray weaponry under development, but Chinese defense websites and some media reported that the country is developing a suicide drone called the “Sunflower 200”, which is described as similar to the Shahid 136.

The Americans are developing UAV detection capabilities for the Middle East

The US Army’s Central Command, which is in charge of the Middle East region, is working to strengthen its ability to identify and track UAVs, Defense News reported. This activity is carried out as a lesson learned from the many stray weapon attacks of the pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Syria, as well as from the attacks of the Houthi rebels.

Therefore, the American Central Command decided to combine arms with the digital and artificial intelligence department of the Pentagon, in order to develop sensors that are able to detect threats and be integrated into the existing command and control systems. The US Central Command’s innovation officer, Major Brian Sarsi, said that the plan is to select sensors already during the summer, to practice them in exercises in October and early next year.

The US Central Command’s innovation department has been working to develop systems to deal with UAVs since March, even before the Iranian attack on Israel on April 14. The teams flew to the front lines to talk with the forces in the field in order to find out their needs. Later, elements from the private sector were incorporated – In order to unify all existing knowledge in order to find solutions.

China presents: a fighter plane that breaks down into drones

China has conducted an experiment with an advanced stealth aircraft that, during its flight, detaches parts of its wings and turns into two drones, according to Beijing. “Despite a brief jolt resulting from the sudden reduction of the wing area and center of gravity of the aircraft, both the aircraft and the drones stabilized quickly” , reported in the local media.

Du Xin, a senior engineer at the Institute of Aeronautical Technology at the China Aerodynamic Research and Development Center (CARDC), noted that the experiment proves the effectiveness of the new concept. According to him, this capability will enable cooperation between a manned vessel and unmanned vessels. The chief designer of the fifth generation J-20 aircraft, Yang Wei, said that China’s future aircraft will engage in fruitful cooperation with unmanned vehicles.

Russia’s unmanned way of spreading smoke on the battlefield

Russia is using unmanned aerial vehicles (UGV) for dispersing smoke screens on battlefields, the Bulgarian military website reports. According to documents that appeared on social networks, these are light tools with four rubber wheels, which carry on their backs the device that disperses the smoke. People who were present on the battlefield said that those tools spread extremely thick smoke.

 

⚡️刚刚Russian drone can lay down smoke screens: pic.twitter.com/Iqt3AVvljw

– SIMPLICIUS Ѱ (@simpatico771) June 24, 2024

At first, the unmanned vehicle emits thick white smoke, but within seconds it turns into dense, thick black smoke. In Military Bulgarian, it is noted that one of the most popular compounds for creating a heavy black ten screen, is hexachloroethane: a white crystalline solid substance, when burned, emits a thick black ten. This is how the Russians manage to hide their forces on the battlefield.

The United Arab Emirates is strengthening its fleet

The French Naval Group company handed over to the Emirates Navy the second corvette (fast attack ship) it produced for it, “Al-Amarat”, as part of a ceremony held in the city of Lorraine. The manufacturer is also responsible for training the Emirati teams, before they bring the Corvette to Abu Dhabi in August. Al-Amarat constitutes half of the deal signed between the parties in 2019, for a total of 850 million dollars.

The corvette, which will take part in the defense of the economic waters of the United Arab Emirates, includes panoramic sensor systems and various armaments, including a machine gun and a launcher. The United Arab Emirates is the 11th customer to use this French model corvette, with another Middle Eastern country that uses it being Egypt.

The mysterious mission of the Portuguese submarine in the Arctic

The Portuguese conventional submarine “Arpao” returned to the port of Alpeita in Lisbon, after 70 days of activity as part of NATO’s “Brilliant Shield” operation under the Arctic ice. This was the first mission of its kind for the Portuguese Navy, which attests to the great attention given to the Russian threat in NATO in the North Atlantic Ocean.

In order to pass through shipping lanes that are in the maritime space of a certain country, a submarine is required, according to the international laws of the sea, to rise to the surface of the sea. If this was not done, it shows that the allied countries in whose territory the submarine passed, knew about its passage under the sea level. “We have successfully fulfilled our objectives for surveillance and patrolling in the North Atlantic,” the Portuguese Navy said.

Beyond that, Arpao’s mission was unique in proving that for activity in the arctic space, it is possible to be satisfied with conventionally powered submarines, and not just nuclear submarines. This is an extraordinary success, because conventionally powered submarines, especially those that are combined diesel/electric, are required to surface at regular intervals to recharge their batteries – not an easy task under the arctic ice.