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The U.S. Army is taking a hybrid next-generation tactical vehicle prototype for a spin in snowy Bavarian terrain, according to a report from the U.S. Army Europe and Africa posted to its website.
The GM Defense-developed Next Generation Tactical Vehicle-Hybrid, or NGTV-H, is a diesel-powered, electric light reconnaissance vehicle that the company unveiled at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference in October.
The Army introduced the prototype to the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, which is conducting testing on the vehicle during Combined Resolve, a recurring U.S. Army exercise held at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany.
Power struggle: How the US Army is tackling the logistics of battlefield electricity
The service is sending a variety of capabilities to units globally as part of its Transformation in Contact initiative, which allows soldiers and commanders to try new technologies in real operational environments and scenarios to better co..

PARIS — Armored-vehicle makers KNDS and Rheinmetall and defense-electronics firm Thales signed the shareholder agreement for the project company that will develop a future main battle tank for Germany and France, moving a step closer to starting actual work on a program held up for years by wrangling between various partners.
KNDS Deutschland, KNDS France, Rheinmetall and Thales will each hold 25% in the new company, which will be based in Cologne, Germany, with the accord signed in Paris on Jan. 23 deemed essential in creating the joint firm, the companies said in statements. The firms announced their plan to set up the joint entity nearly nine months ago.
On a country level, the work share between France and Germany will be split 50/50. The balance between the various partners “was a little complicated” to set up, Emmanuel Chiva, the head of French armament agency DGA said in May.
The future tank, known as the Main Ground Combat System, is meant to replace the Leopa..

Supernova Industries Corp has won a contract to 3D print military-grade energetic materials in a pilot program with an eye on bolstering the U.S. defense industrial base.
“Our technology has the potential to overcome the design constraints of conventional manufacturing methods to produce the next generation of military-grade energetic material components, including solid rocket motors (SRMs), explosives and pyrotechnics,” Roger Antunez, the company’s founder and CEO, said in a statement.
Supernova Industries launched Supernova Defense & Space in Austin, Texas, in 2024 to focus on 3D printing military-grade energetic materials.
Military-grade energetic materials “are necessary for the proper functioning of defense systems,” the statement notes. “However, traditional processing techniques limit their potential. Supernova’s new VLM processing techniques will provide key innovations crucial to enhance safety, ensure material consistency, reduce was..

Huntsville, Alabama-based Cummings Aerospace is readying its Hellhound for submission to the U.S. Army’s loitering munition competition set to kick off later this year, having recently wrapped up flight tests of its turbo-jet powered, 3D-printed kamikaze drone.
The company took its S3 version of its man-portable loitering munition out to the Pendleton Unmanned Aircraft Systems test range in Oregon this month and was able to verify and validate the system’s performance against the Army’s preliminary Low Altitude Stalking and Striking Ordnance, or LASSO, program requirements, CEO Sheila Cummings told Defense News in a Tuesday interview.
“We were able to successfully demonstrate that we could meet the range requirements for LASSO and then ultimately trying to make sure that we’re exercising the max flight speed and so we achieved that,” Cummings said. “We were also able to successfully integrate an inert warhead and conduct flights with that as we..

The U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that collided midair with an American Airlines passenger jet above Reagan National Airport in Washington on Wednesday night was piloted by experienced aviators that typically fly VIP missions in busy air space, according to a retired Army chief warrant officer with over 30 years of flying experience, who serves in the Headquarters Department of the Army Aviation Directorate at the Pentagon.
The two aircraft crashed in a clear night sky right as the American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, with 64 people aboard, was approaching the runway flying over the Potomac River. The Black Hawk was on a training flight from Davison Army Airfield at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, carrying three service members.
The fuselage of the aircraft broke apart in three places and was discovered inverted in waist-deep water. The helicopter wreckage was found nearby. There were no survivors found. The recovery effort is ongoing.
Until the “black box” aboard..

PARIS — The Netherlands Ministry of Defence is investing in steel to defend NATO’s eastern flank. That means adding tanks and armored vehicles, but also expanding a fleet of railway wagons that allows Dutch military planners to rush armor and supplies across Europe.
The ministry’s Joint Support Command received 75 new wagons in December and January, a 20% increase of its fleet. That makes the Dutch less reliant on commercial providers, and shortens reaction times should troops need to deploy in anger, Defence Movement and Transport Organisation (DVVO) Commander Col. Merlijn Heiligers told Defense News.
As NATO has stepped up exercises and deployments in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there’s renewed emphasis on the role of rail to rapidly move combat forces in support of alliance members. Yet European armies looking to rent wagons face scarcity on rising demand and the legacy of falling spending on military rail after the Cold War – someth..

RTX and Lockheed Martin are heading into flight tests this year in a head-to-head competition to develop a replacement for the U.S. Army’s Stinger missile.
The Army is pursuing a Stinger missile replacement for short-range air defense that can go faster, survive jamming and more easily hit tougher targets like drones.
The service awarded RTX and Lockheed Martin with contracts to competitively develop the Stinger replacement in September 2023. The RTX-manufactured Stinger missiles are currently used in the Army’s interim Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense, or MSHORAD, system and also in a man-portable configuration to provide air defense.
The Army has long planned to pursue a next-generation interceptor for short-range air defense, but the effort has become paramount as Stinger missiles were sent to Ukraine in response to Russia’s invasion of the country.
The service no longer builds new Stinger missiles, but it refurbishes old ones. To replenish its own stockpile, the Army wo..

The construction of four new solid rocket motor production facilities has begun at L3Harris’ Aerojet Rocketdyne campus in Camden, Arkansas, with a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday, the company announced.
The new facilities are part of a $215.6 million Defense Production Act program agreement between the Defense Department and L3Harris to increase rocket propulsion manufacturing capacity in the continental U.S. to keep pace with the rising global demand for tactical and strategic missile production.
“Expanding solid rocket motor production in Arkansas is a strategic investment in our nation’s security at a time when defense and deterrence are increasingly critical on the global stage,” Ken Bedingfield, president of L3Harris’ Aerojet Rocketdyne, said. “L3Harris is committed to ramping up production to support the defense of our nation, its allies and partners.”
Key production will be centralized under one 60,000-square foot, “state-of-the-art&rdq..