MERSIN, Turkey — The Ukrainian Navy has accepted delivery of the first Bayraktar TB2 drone from Turkish defense company Baykar, according to Ukraine’s Defence Ministry. The ministry announced the delivery on July 15 through its official Twitter account. After completing acceptance tests, the drone, along with mobile control terminals and spare parts, will be deployed

CONSTANTA, Romania — European nations are pursuing two separate programs to build sixth-generation aircraft and a bevy of advanced systems within the next two decades, but at least one lead Air Force official hopes the efforts will merge. The Franco-German-Spanish Future Combat Air System, or FCAS, program is about to launch the next phase of

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s state-controlled missile-maker Roketsan has developed a supersonic, anti-radiation missile for the TF-X, the country’s indigenous fighter jet in the making. The missile, dubbed Akbaba (or “vulture” in English), was included in the ammunitions list of the TF-X at a Turkish Air Force briefing on June 30. The Akbaba program is classified,

WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s Defence Ministry is reportedly preparing to buy about 250 M1 Abrams tanks from the United States, two months after it announced plans to buy 24 Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones. Two sources close to the deal told Polish news site Gazeta.pl that the ministry is negotiating the potential contract terms. “It has

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has hired an Italian defense company to convert three Embraer Lineage 1000 regional jetliners into long-range maritime patrol aircraft for its Navy. The contract with Leonardo involves the acquisition of two aircraft to join the single Lineage 1000 already in Pakistan, followed by the design, modification, installation and integration of an anti-submarine

WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department on Thursday approved a potential sale of heavy tactical vehicles to Kuwait for $445 million. In its announcement, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the proposed sale was approved because the ally “is an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East.” In addition to

Historically, modern presidential transitions have been rocky, to say the least. That is why many of us in the defense community breathed a sigh of relief at the Biden administration’s embrace of the Next Generation Interceptor missile defense program, even though its genesis occurred under the Trump administration. The current ground-based missile defense system has

WASHINGTON ― When U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly was elected to chair the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in November, the new role harkened back to one of the congressman’s earliest jobs in Washington. Though the Virginia Democrat is primarily known for chairing the House Subcommittee on Government Operations, which oversees cybersecurity, his early days in Washington were

ROME – Fincantieri has signed to sell six FREMM frigates to Indonesia, a deal which CEO Giuseppe Bono said allowed the Italian yard to “assume global leadership” in the surface ships sector. The contract takes Fincantieri’s confirmed sales of the frigate to 20, including ten to the Italian navy, two to Egypt and two to

WASHINGTON — The chiefs of the U.S., U.K. and French navies met in France on Thursday to affirm their commitment to deeper collaboration and interoperability between their fleets to address some of the most vexing maritime security issues around the globe. U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday, British Royal Navy First Sea Lord