DID - First AIM-120D Missile Fired From F-15EX | Israel To Build Laser-Based Counter Rocket | SPY-7 Radar Integrated Into Japan’s Aegis System

Americas

A crew from the 40th Flight Test Squadron successfully carried out the first AIM-120D missile firing from an F-15EX on January 25. The test took place in the Gulf of Mexico and a BQM-167 target drone was engaged by the air-to-air weapon. Maj. Benjamin Naumann, who fired the missile, said: “I am humbled to have the opportunity to fire the first weapon, but the bigger success is the verification of the F-15EX capability to live-fire a missile.”

The US Navy will mark the centennial of its first aircraft carrier, USS Langley (CV 1) this year. CV 1 entered service on March 20, 1922. The ship fought against the Japanese during the World War Two and was sunk off Java on February 27, 1942.

Middle East & Africa

Israel is building a laser-based counter rocket, artillery, and mortar system which will be operational in the country’s south by next year. The decision was announced by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett during his speech at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv on February 2. Bennett says the cost of using the current Iron Dome system to defeat incoming rocket attacks “doesn’t make sense” as the rockets are cheap to manufacture while the Iron Dome interceptor are more expensive to produce.

US President Joe Biden indicated plans to nominate Qatar as a “major non-NATO ally” after his meeting with Qatari Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The designation will change the way the United States and its military interact with that country, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby told reporters during a briefing today at the Pentagon. “It does open up a full new range of opportunities: exercises, operations and you know, perhaps, the … acquisition of capabilities as well.”

Europe

Russia’s state-owned Rostec has delivered the first batch of serially-produced ‘Balkan’ 40mm anti-personnel grenade launchers. “The design documentation for the ‘Balkan’ system has been formalized and accepted by the Defense Ministry of Russia for serial production. The first serial batch has been produced,” Rostec Armament Cluster Industrial Director Bekkhan Ozdoyev was quoted by Russian news website TASS.

Asia-Pacific

Lockheed Martin said it integrated demonstrated the integration of the AN/SPY-7(v)1 radar into Japan’s Aegis Weapon System. Through the demonstration, the company said it executed the processing required to detect, track and discriminate ballistic missile threats, and successfully guide interceptors to those threats.

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Watch: SPY-7: The World’s Most Advanced, Versatile Radar

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