Best bits: Naval power in Singapore, South African army developments and the future of rotorcraft

In this episode of the Weekly Defence Podcast, as we farewell regular host Helen Haxell we took the chance to look back at some of our best coverage of the past few months, including naval power in Singapore, our chat with the chief of the South African Army and discussing the future of military rotorcraft. While our sponsor Nammo provides this week’s Industry Voice segment.

And a big thanks to Helen for all her hard work on the podcast and best wishes with the new role!

• Show coverage – IMDEX Asia (01:53)

 At IMDEX Asia 2019 in Singapore, the team cover the numerous companies touting their naval wares, including ST Engineering showcasing their Vanguard 130 vessel, which seems to tick all the requirements the Singapore Navy has recently announced for their next multirole combat vessel. 

The team also discuss the various conferences that took place at the event, reporting on topics such as the threat of increased connectivity between maritime vessels and how it may be subverted, the threats posed by contractors accessing ships during their maintenance cycles and the continuing demand for innovation.

• Interview – Lieutenant General Lindile Yam (13:43)

Deputy land editor Beth Maundrill had a busy first half of the year and during her time in South Africa she was able to sit down with Lieutenant General Lindile Yam, chief of the South African Army, to talk about the financial problems facing the military in the region.

• Interview – Bell (28:00)

 Air domain editor Helen Haxell talks to Steve Mathias, Bell’s VP for global military sales and strategy, who provides an update on the company’s bid for the US Navy’s Advanced Helicopter Training System (TH-XX), progress of the flight trials of the V-280 Valor tiltrotor and longer-term helicopter technology development at Bell

• Industry Voice – Nammo (39:54)

In this week’s Industry Voice Tony Skinner, our VP of Content, and Endre Lunde, SVP of Communications for Nammo, about how the defence industry is increasingly looking to go green and the reasons why.

Music and sound mixing provided by Fred Prest