An "aggressive" Pentagon analytical effort to identify critical and fragile niches in the defence industrial base has turned up several areas of concern for senior military acquisition officials, who have developed plans to intervene if necessary, according to a new government report.

While the military fighter aircraft market is set for a period of great activity over the coming decade there are concerns in the US that unless planning for the next generation fighter begins in the 'near term' the US could lose its current technological advantage over European manufacturers.

Defence and security company Saab has received an order from the Royal Thai Navy for the upgrading of the Combat Systems on the frigates HTMS Naresuan and HTMS Taksin.

The US Army is seeking counter-unmanned aerial system capabilities that could be included in next year's Black Dart exercise, designed to allow officials to test systems against drone threats.

The Su-30SM multirole fighter, developed by JSC Sukhoi Design Bureau and designed for the Russian Ministry of Defence, is undertaking a series of test flights at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant's airfield.

The Russian Army is testing a future high-tech soldier equipment system and plans to stage exercises with the equipment as part of state trials, Defense Ministry ground forces spokesman Lt. Col. Nikolai Donyushkin said.

Ukrainian defence electronics enterprise Adron has developed a precision-guidance kit for Soviet-designed 'dumb' bombs.

New Zealand has announced plans on 20 September to buy a range of land-based C4ISR systems to support its development of a network-enabled army.

Moscow hopes that the NATO will be using Russian aircraft for its cargo deliveries to and from Afghanistan via the Ulyanovsk transit base in the Volga area, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said.

BAE Systems has been selected by Raytheon to help develop the US Air Force's Dismount Detection Radar.

The full version of Defence Week Premium no.224 of 27 September 2012 can be downloaded here as a PDF. A separate PDF of the latest Defence tenders can also be downloaded here.

Only half of the 12 RAAF F/A-18F Super Hornet strike fighters destined for the EA-18G Growler electronic attack role at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion will be converted to the new configuration initially.

Defence Science and Technology Organisation scientists have successfully conducted a test flight of an experimental hypersonic vehicle at the Andoya Rocket Range in Norway.

BAE Systems Australia has been awarded a contract from the New Air Combat Capability Program to develop an operational model to integrate the Joint Strike Fighter into the Australian Defence Environment.

On Friday 14th September 2012 a group of talented students from Dickson College visited the Rapid Prototyping, Development and Evaluation Canberra office to show off their latest Unmanned Aerial Vehicle design.

Desert Owl is a software application that detects and alerts operators to movements or changes occurring in a field of operations.