In this issue: Australia’s shifting defence spending priorities, military innovation made in Japan, the next stage of the British-French Future Combat Air System project, modernising IT for the UK MoD, what’s next for the Successor submarine programme and more.

The post Global Defence Technology: Issue 64 appeared first on Army Technology.

Once almost unheard of outside of sci-fi circles, the fast-developing field of synthetic biology is now swiftly leaving the dystopian fantasy landscapes of Blade Runner and Gattaca far behind and going mainstream in the real world – with a lot of defence spending paving the way.

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The US Marine Corps fills a unique role – operating seamlessly between land, sea and air – but in a time of cutbacks and longer duration deployments, is the Corps as we know it doomed to history? Dr Gareth Evans finds out.

The post Under pressure: is the US Marine Corps fit for duty? appeared first on Army Technology.

The US Government has fully lifted arms ban on Vietnam, Singapore to invest $1.7bn in Australian military bases and Northrop Grumman wins position on $7.2bn contract for ATSP4 contracting programme. Army-technology.com wraps up key headlines from May.

The post May’s top stories: Vietnam arms ban lift, Singapore’s $1.7bn on Australian bases appeared first on Army Technology.

India is often overlooked when glancing at the geopolitical chessboard of Russian security affairs. Though disparate in many political-economic aspects, the two countries historically and presently share common security concerns in their overlapping spheres of influence in central Asia and worldwide, as Simon Williams and Alex Flather report.

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From January 2016 all US military occupations and positions became open to women, without exception. The much-welcomed decision is expected to roll out with ease and the military hopes to quickly see the benefit of the skills and perspectives that women have to offer. This special timeline feature by Claire Apthorp takes a look at how opportunities for women have evolved in the US Army over the last century.

The post Timeline: women in the US Army appeared first on Army Technology.

US Department of Defense (DoD) has announced that the president would seek a $582.7bn defence budget for 2017 and reshape spending priorities to address five evolving challenges, including Russian aggression in Europe, the rise of China in the Asia Pacific, North Korea, Iran, and the ongoing fight against terrorist groups such as ISIS. The proposal is taking a ‘long-term view’ which will see a number of priorities re-jigged as the budget seeks a balance between modernisation and readiness. Claire Apthorp reports.

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Nestling alongside the detailed strategic narrative, geopolitical analysis and discussions of future military capabilities contained in the 190 pages of Australia’s latest Defence White Paper (DWP) are clear signs that developments in the Asia-Pacific region are not going the way Canberra had hoped. The continuing rise of China in particular has deviated significantly from the script, as Dr Gareth Evans finds out.

The post Australia’s defence budget: sign of a power shift in East Asia? appeared first on Army Technology.

In this issue: The US Marine Corps under pressure, what’s holding back military robotics, investigating drone crashes, the potential of synthetic biology in new material research, detection tech for dirty bombs, and more.

The post Global Defence Technology: Issue 63 appeared first on Army Technology.

Death beams and ray guns may be science fiction staples, but the idea of directed energy weapons (DEWs) was around long before Captain Kirk boldly went anywhere, or anyone named Skywalker ever thought to pick up a lightsaber. Now, as DEWs look close to becoming reality, the next question on everyone’s lips is: If for every measure there is a countermeasure, what counters direct energy? Could it be the forcefield? Dr Gareth Evans reports.

The post Battlefield 2050: direct energy weapons meet the forcefield appeared first on Army Technology.