Feature

Australia’s $45 billion Hunter-class frigate program faces fresh scrutiny after Senator David Shoebridge asked the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) to examine how the Royal Australian Navy chose the British Type 26 design despite warnings it carried “extreme risk.” The referral follows a May Auditor-General report that found officials kept no minutes for two critical meetings, skipped a value-for-money study, and failed to update risk registers while costs climbed.

General Dynamics Mission Systems, a key arm of General Dynamics Corp., landed an $882 million Navy deal to build large vertical sonar arrays for next-wave submarines. The award cements plans to widen undersea reach and signals faith in U.S. industry. Navy buyers praise the gear’s sharp range boost. Analysts call the move timely, since rival fleets keep fielding quieter boats that slip past older ears.

The T406 engine reached a solid 500-hour record on one Osprey in mid-August last year. It happened during normal line ops, not a test flight. The count feels modest next to jetliner totals, yet inside tiltrotor work it signals tough stamina. Dust storms, salty deck spray, rough landings—each hop chews parts quicker than manuals predict.

Defense-aerospace.com reports that the Fisingapore Army has introduced a new generation of protected combat support vehicles intended to strengthen its military readiness and safeguard frontline operations. Officials have described these vehicles as pivotal assets that will offer greater survivability, flexible mission profiles, and robust mobility. The Ministry of Defense has expressed confidence in their capacity to meet future challenges.

France and Germany have released a revised outline for the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), the two-nation effort meant to retire the Leclerc and Leopard 2 fleets by the mid-2040s. Defense staff says the update locks roles, targets fresh trials, and places stricter cost checks across the work.

The single-engine F-35 keeps dragging the Pentagon into deeper trouble. Early budgets spoke about $233 billion for building the fleet. Today the ledger shows roughly $412 billion for 2 470 jets. Money keeps pouring, yet the fighter still can’t fly at full strength. A key reason sits right behind the cockpit: Pratt & Whitney’s F135 engine. Program leaders now admit the motor never met the real-world loads it faces, and every extra flight hour cuts its life shorter than planned.

Finlands defence chiefs took a bold step in early 2022. They shifted every special-operations unit into one, single chain of command. Many officers cheered the plan straight off; others worried it might cramp service-level culture. Yet, the Commander of the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) signed the order and never looked back.

China’s medium-lift Z-20 is no longer a paper plan. Pilots in several PLA brigades now fly the grey-green machines every week. Beijing says the type is home-grown, tuned for thin air over Tibet, and ready for sea duty as well. Western watchers still argue the airframe copies the U.S. UH-60, yet fresh photos show details that do not match the older Black Hawk. The debate rolls on, but the helicopter keeps logging hours.