#circulateddefensenews — Public Fediverse posts

ISTANBUL — The Baykar TB-3 combat drone landed and took off from the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship Anadolu for the first time this week, a demonstration that officials called a milestone for Turkey’s military capabilities.

Turkish drone maker Bayraktar publicized the Nov. 19 event on social media and shared videos of the flight. The tests were conducted off Aksaz Naval Base in the Mediterranean Sea.

The TB-3 unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) is specially developed for use onboard the Anadolu. The drone is 8.35 meters long and has 14 meter folding wings. It weighs in at 1,600 kilograms, with a payload capacity of 280 kilograms. The aircraft has a 125 knots cruise speed, and it is constructed with six hardpoints from which to hang ammunitions.

According to information shared by the company, the second prototype of TB3 took off from the runway of TCG Anadolu, which has a 12-degree inclined ramp. The UCAV landed after a 46 minute flight back on the ship without the need for any landing support equipment.

The TB-3 is powered by Tusas Engine Industries’ PD-170 engine. The takeoff and landing on the carrier followed more than 700 hours of test flight conducted on land.#dn-dnr #turkey #baykar-tb-3 #bayraktar #strike-drone #ucav #unmanned-warfare #circulated-defense-news #circulated-c4isrnet
Turkish strike drone completes first carrier landing, takeoff

JERUSALEM — Elbit Systems reported its financial results for the third quarter of 2024, accumulating a 5.2% increase in its order backlog, to $2.2 billion, a trend in line with other local defense companies supplying weapons for Israel’s war against Hamas and Hezbollah.

The Israeli company booked fresh deals recently, including a $127 million contract to supply Iron Fist active protection systems for U.S. Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and a $335 million contract to supply PULS rocket launchers and Hermes 900 drones to a European country that company officials did not to name.

According to Elbit’s report, the company’s quarterly revenue increased by 14.4% compared to the corresponding quarter last year, reaching $1.71 billion. The company attributes most of the rise to the continued increase in orders from the Israeli Ministry of Defense for the armed forces.

The figures show a 7% increase in aircraft sales, 13% in information technology and cyber sales - mainly radio and control systems, 13% in intelligence and electronic warfare, and 24% in land sales.

Geographically, 29% of Elbit’s sales in the third quarter were to Israel, 25% to Europe, 22.5% to North America, 18.3% to Asia Pacific, 2.2% to Latin America and 3% to the rest of the world.

Elbit mentions in its report that its revenues from sales to America increased by 17% compared to the corresponding quarter last year due to the increase in sales of night-vision systems and medical instrumentation sales.

In Europe, on the other hand, sales decreased by 3.2% after two strong years due to the arming of European countries amid the war in Ukraine.

Another Israeli company that benefited from the “Iron Swords” War is IAI, whose backlog of orders rose to $25 billion, of which $2 billion resulted from orders from the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

The company’s revenue grew by 16% compared to the corresponding quarter last year and stood at approximately $1.54 billion, with the increase being shown in all of the company’s operational divisions and in each of the geographies in which it is active.

The missile and space systems division made up the bulk of its quarterly sales and accounted for 42% of them.

A spokeswoman said the results mark IAI’s “most profitable period in the company’s history.”#dn-dnr #israel #hamas #hezbollah #elbit #iai #circulated-defense-news
Elbit, IAI report major sales upticks amid Israeli war

PALAWAN, Philippines — U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited a Filipino military base only miles from the South China Sea, a sign of resolve against Chinese harassment in the waterway that flared this summer.

Antonio Bautista Air Base was Austin’s final stop in the Philippines, a country he’s visited more than any previous secretary of defense. He spoke with officials from Manila’s Western Command, which defends Filipino claims to the South China Sea — mapped in bright green on the wall inside the base’s headquarters.

The trip itself is a message to China, which claims ownership over much of the area despite a 2016 ruling from the United Nations saying otherwise.

In response, the U.S. and Philippines’ militaries have recently become much closer partners. American officials often attribute this warmth to shared interests and values. During a Tuesday press conference, though, Manila’s top defense official was more direct.

“The operative factor ... which has caused this alliance to be as robust as it is, is the Chinese overreach and aggression,” said Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro, noting that Austin initiated the visit.

Teodoro was referencing behavior around the islands mapped in the headquarters’ lobby, in particular Second Thomas Shoal. This is the site of an ageing Filipino outpost that houses a clutch of its marines.

To protest the Philippines’ presence there, Chinese coast guard ships have blocked missions to resupply the outpost. At times they’ve done so violently, including a standoff this June in which Chinese forces rammed Filipino ships and brandished knives, cutting off one sailor’s thumb.

The crisis nearly triggered a mutual defense treaty between the U.S. and the Philippines, whose president has said would activate if China killed a Filipino citizen.

Austin later declined to specify whether the U.S. agrees with that threshold, though American officials have long argued that the treaty applies to the South China Sea.

China and the Philippines later negotiated a temporary deal to avoid further crises around Second Thomas Shoal. Rather than ceasing altogether, Chinese ships and planes have kept up such behavior around other disputed parts of the South China Sea.

Austin is not America’s first defense secretary to visit Palawan, but he’s the first one to do so in this era of conflict around the waterway.

A painting a local student made for Austin drove home the point. It featured the American and Philippines’ flags above two clasped hands in uniform, with the words: “West Philippine Sea, it’s ours,” referring to another name for the South China Sea.

To help the Philippines defend its territory, the U.S. recently sent the country half a billion dollars in long-term security aid, more than 12 times the number last year. Meanwhile, Manila is also funding a more capable military — investing $35 billion in the effort over 10 years.

The aid will act as a kickstart, mainly buying equipment to help Manila monitor its waterways. While at the base Tuesday, Austin watched a demonstration of maritime drones already being delivered to the Philippines through U.S. assistance.

These systems, which look like rowboats with a swiveling camera on top, are already deployed to Oyster Bay, another part of Palawan. Austin said that the Philippines will be ordering more drones with the aid.

The base Austin visited on the island is one of nine military sites where the U.S. can rotate in equipment of its own — a number of locations that almost doubled in his time as secretary. Some of the bases are more developed than others, and even the one on Palawan partly overlaps with the jungle, as wild animals roam and locals hang clothes out to dry.

Though Congress has yet to pass this year’s defense budget, the Pentagon has requested $128 million to build military infrastructure across the nine sites. The number is more than twice that of the previous year.

Projects like these will help the Pentagon bring more and more advanced equipment to the country, such as the Typhon, a missile launcher with a range long enough to catch China’s attention.

The U.S. deployed one of the launchers to the Philippines this spring, and Manila has sought to buy one of its own. American defense officials, speaking with reporters traveling alongside Austin, acknowledged the interest but said the weapon is still in development and not yet for sale.#south-china-sea #philippines #indo-pacific #china #dn-dnr #circulated-defense-news #circulated-military-times
Pentagon chief visits island near South China Sea in sign to Beijing

The Defense Department, in its seventh year conducting a full audit, has made progress toward a clean audit but has yet to pass across the board.

“This result was not a surprise and I know on the surface it doesn’t sound like we’re making progress, however that is not the case,” DOD Comptroller and Chief Financial Officer Michael McCord said in a late afternoon press briefing at the Pentagon on Nov. 15. “I believe the department has turned a corner in its understanding of the challenges and, more importantly, in addressing those challenges. Momentum is on our side.”

The Pentagon has until fiscal 2028 to obtain a clean opinion from the Inspector General as mandated by Congress.

A year ago, McCord noted, the DOD was already at the halfway mark in achieving clean opinions on sub-audits of assets. This year, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) received an unmodified audit opinion in only its second year of a standalone audit, he said.

DTRA brings the total to nine clean opinions. Last year, the U.S. Marine Corps achieved the same and, while the report was one of three yet to be submitted, McCord said he believed the service would pass again.

The Pentagon also saw major progress in resolving material weaknesses, a key metric used to track auditability. The DOD resolved all contingent legal liabilities considered material weaknesses, for instance.

Additionally, across 28 different sub-audits, the military departments and defense agencies closed seven material weaknesses and received downgrades for 12 more. A downgrade is audit jargon representing progress toward resolution of weaknesses.

“That’s a 46% increase over the 13 weaknesses that we addressed, that were closed last year,” McCord added.

The Pentagon also saw momentum pick up over the last year resolving material weaknesses related to its fund balance with the Treasury – closing or downgrading 12. This roughly equates to ensuring the department’s checkbooks match the Treasury’s records.

In FY24, McCord said, eight DOD reporting entities closed or downgraded a material weakness on fund balance with Treasury to include the Army’s General Fund, the Navy’s Working Capital Fund and the Air Force’s Working Capital Fund.

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) resolved both its general fund and working capital fund balance weaknesses. DTRA, the Defense Research Projects Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency accomplished the same.

“These are big rocks for our defense agencies,” McCord stressed. “In addition to reporting entities that already had favorable audit opinions, $703 billion, or 82% of our DOD-wide, $856 billion balance is now free of material weaknesses.”

For context, the Pentagon has “improved from less than 7% to over 82% of its funding being free of material weaknesses” since FY21, McCord said. “And we’re talking about a universe here of approximately 1,500 different active DOD accounts in the Treasury with a value of over $856 billion that must be reconciled.”

Scores went up in systems control testing as well with 93% of the system tests completed receiving favorable opinions. The Pentagon completed 27 system tests and achieved 17 unmodified and eight qualified opinions. Two tests failed. In FY21, 81% received favorable test results.

While there is no single method or tool that would solve all of the challenges of auditing a government department as large as the DOD, the use of data analytics platforms and artificial intelligence is “helping us pick up the pace of progress,” McCord noted.

“The Department continues to need the sustained investment, senior leadership commitment, and the support of our partners in Congress, federal regulators, the audit community, and our military and civilian personnel to accomplish its audit goals,” McCord said. “An unmodified audit opinion has always been the Department’s primary financial management goal, and with their help, I know it is achievable.”#dod-audit #audit-readiness #pentagon-audit #pentagon-comptroller #pentagon-chief-financial-officer #dn-dnr #circulated-defense-news
No clean audit yet, but results show ‘momentum,’ DOD comptroller says