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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.

The senior team at MD Helicopters, Inc. calls the Army’s Light Utility Helicopter choice “flat-out wrong”. They argue the service stacked the deck for EADS North America, parent of Eurocopter. Managers say the Army brushed past cost data, safety files, and past flight hours that could have swung the verdict. Three vice-presidents used the word “outrageus” in one briefing last week, a slip that showed how tense the mood got inside the Mesa, Ariz. plant.

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Cubic Corporation has picked up a hefty, fresh slice of work at Fort Polk. A new extension, capped at about 468 milion dollars, keeps its teams locked in with the Army’s Joint Readiness Training Center for up to ten more years. The baseyear runs now, and nine option years sit in line. This step carries on a partnership first inked back in 2007 and, frankly, it shows how much trust the Army holds in Cubic’s way of shaping live training.

Purdue University in West Lafayette has finished a large step in high-speed flight study. The new Hypersonics Applied Research Facility (HARF) cost about $41 million and covers near 65 000 sq ft. It sits inside the Discovery Park District, close to existing engine and rocket labs. Managers say the building links theory with hardware, letting ideas move from slide deck to test article without months of delay.

Russia says its new Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle slices through air at Mach 27—about 33 000 km/h. Officers call it a “shift point” for global power, though they spoke carefuly. Analysts in Moscow add that the craft twists faster than most shields can track.