Last month Australian soldiers from the Shadow UAV Group 2 completed their eight-month rotation in Tarin Kot, Afghanistan, logging about 3400 hours of flight in support of ISAF operations.

Australian Minister for Defence Stephen Smith, Japanese Minister of Defence Itsunori Onodera, and US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel held trilateral defence ministerial talks in Singapore June 1 on the margins of the International Institute of Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue.

The Defence Systems Innovation Centre (DSIC) has welcomed the University College London (UCL) as an Affiliate Partner.

The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) has completed hosting an International Maritime Trade Protection exercise involving participants from 10 nations.

The 2013 Safeskies conference is to be held at the Hotel Realm Canberra on 16th and 17th October 2013.

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The US Air Force expects to declare F-35A Lightning II initial operation capability in December 2016.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress May 21 of a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Republic of Korea for F-35 aircraft weapons and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated cost of $793 million.

General Dynamics Land Systems is leading an effort to develop the first North American combat vehicle with a fully integrated Active Protection System.

Two complementary protoype submarine hunting systems have been tested by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as part of its Distributed Agile Submarine Hunting Program.

Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems has received a $15.3 million cost-plus-award-fee contract modification to upgrade some MQ-4C Triton components from Windows XP to Windows 7.

Lockheed Martin has successfully completed MK 41 Vertical Launch System "push-through" testing of a simulated Long Range Anti-Ship Missile.

CAE has announced the opening of a second full-flight simulator spares depot in China.

The full version of Defence Week Premium no.255 of 30 May 2013 can be downloaded here as a PDF. A separate PDF of the latest Defence tenders can also be downloaded here.

While Australian Defence Magazine's forthcoming July issue will delve into the problems behind the Land 40 Lightweight Automatic Grenade Launcher acquisition, now an ongoing Project of Concern, it seems this country is not the only one to have faced difficulties in what should have been a straightforward contest between two suppliers.

The Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit has released its findings into the value of the latest Major Project Report (MPR) from the DMO and ANAO.