NEWS BRIEFS: INTERNATIONAL
29 November 2023
(Roll Call)
A U.S. commission created in October 2000 to scrutinize economic and security relations with China is urging a more cohesive approach to curbing the outflow of dual-use technology that can be readily transferred by commercial importers to the military.
29 November 2023
(Politico)
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said today that Turkey has promised to ratify his country’s bid to join NATO “within weeks.” He said his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, had told him of the forthcoming support, which would leave only Hungary as the sole NATO member blocking unanimous approval by the alliance.
29 November 2023
(Al Jazeera)
NATO states showing some reluctance to continue backing Ukraine’s battle against Russia are being urged by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to stand firm. “This is also about our security interests,” he pointed out during a meeting of alliance foreign November 29.
28 November 2023
(Defence News)
Florida-based L3Harris Technologies, which has a long-standing relationship supplying surveillance technology to the Canadian military, announced November 27 that it will sell its commercial aviation business to a New York private-equity firm. Contingent on regulatory approval, it would enable the company to focus more on national security and technology while paying down debt.
28 November 2023
(Defense One)
A year into efforts to boost production of 155mm artillery rounds for Ukraine, the U.S. and EU states are seeing radically different results. U.S. output has increased faster than forecast while European output has been slowed by the consensus-focused nature of NATO and the EU.
28 November 2023
(Reuters)
Iran’s deputy defence minister, Mehdi Farahi, said today that his country has finalised negotiations for delivery of Russian Su-35 fighters, Yak-130 jet trainers and Mi-28 attack helicopters.
24 November 2023
(EuroNews)
Irish Defence Minister Micheál Martin, who doubles as deputy prime minister, has told his parliament that he wants to reform his country’s “triple lock” neutrality policy on deploying troops abroad. Any such proposals require explicit consent from his government, the parliament and the UN Security Council.
24 November 2023
(Breaking Defense)
Stalled talks between Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Department of Defense about a new F-35 sustainment program have prompted the DoD to consider a temporary fix through to at least the end of 2024. “That’s just to ensure that we have the necessary framework and support in place to sustain currently fielded F-35s and operations globally,” says Assistant Secretary of Defense Christopher Lowman.
23 November 2023
(Breaking Defense)
The U.S. State Department has approved a potential $2.4-billion sale to Japan of 400 RTX Tomahawk cruise missiles and associated systems and training. The department said today that Tomahawks, which can strike targets at a published 1,600 kilometres, have “significant standoff range that can neutralize growing threats.”
23 November 2023
(Breaking Defense)
Three U.S. House of Representatives committees have been asked to review draft legislation which would require the Defense Department to collaborate more closely with Canada, Australia, Britain and New Zealand on artificial intelligence. The proposal (H.R. 6425) is sponsored by Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher, chair of the Armed Services subcommittee on cybersecurity and information technology, and its ranking Democrat, California member Ro Khana.