News review - what were the major defence news stories of 2019?

Land: Year in Review

Senior Editor, Naval Richard Thomas and Land Analyst Sonny Butterworth consider how 2019 has proven to be an eventful year for the armoured vehicles market with several major contracts finalised such as the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle for the US Army and Marine Corps and the Boxer contract for the British Army. 

Also, the trade shows this year marked the debut of several new 8x8 platforms which aim to increase their operational utility. Some of these platforms are coming from manufacturers based in countries not typically associated with the production of armoured vehicles such as UAE and Thailand. 

Asia-Pacific Editor Gordon Arthur highlights the biggest news in the land domain of the year for the Asia-Pacific region taking a closer look at Australia, South Korea, Japan and India. As Vietnam received 64 T-90S and T-90SK tanks from Russia, and India approved the acquisition of 464 T-90MS tanks, we discuss exports and how Asia’s interest in importing armoured vehicles from different places is growing.

Sea:  Year in Review 

Director of Analysis Matthew Smith and Senior Editor, Naval Richard Thomas discuss how navies across the globe face a dilemma of modernisation of hugely capable ships which yet come with a considerable price tag. Where is the right balance? 

And going through this year’s major stories in the naval sector we highlight fleet modernisation among countries such as UK and Italy, and in the US we saw the largest-ever shipbuilding contract in the sea domain awarded earlier this year to General Dynamic Electric Boat for the construction for nine Block V Virginia class submarines. 

Air: Year in Review 

Air Analyst Ilker Aktasoglu and Editor, Air Tim Martin take a look at the air domain talking how  Lockheed Martin’s F-35 has been the main subject of this year’s top stories. The US cancelled Turkish participation in the programme over Ankara’s procurement of Russian weapon systems while Singapore Greece and Poland all confirmed plans to procure the F-35. We go back to Paris Air Show which witnessed two next generation combat aircraft mock-ups: Dassault and Airbus’ sixth-generation Future Combat Air System and Turkish Aerospace’s fifth generation TF- X fighter. And in the UK we discuss the MoD’s choice to procure five new E-7 Wedgetails for $1.98 billion to replace E-3D Sentrys which will retire by 2025. 

Director of Analysis Matthew Smith talks about how the October incident caused by missiles fired by Saudi Arabia will continue to have a huge impact in the air defence domain. This could lead to a substantial growth in investments from countries in the air defence sector - especially in the Middle East. 

 

Music and sound mixing provided by Fred Prest