Captured Leopard 2 resurfaces at Russia’s main tank factory

BERLIN — Russia has transported a captured Ukrainian Leopard tank deep into its hinterland to tear it down and analyze its components, an open-source investigation by Defense News shows.

Satellite imagery, footage released by Russian media and other open-source information pinpoint the location of the captured 2A6 tank. The factory, Uralvagonzavod – Ural Wagon Factory, in English – is known as the world’s largest tank producer, reportedly having churned out over 100,000 since World War 2. It is also involved in the production of the most modern tank variants Russia has to offer.

The captured tank appeared in good shape once the tarp covering it during its journey was lifted by workers. On the sides of the turret, anti-drone steel screens – colloquially called “cope cages” – were visible. These additions have become standard on the battlefield in Ukraine as a simple defense against explosive-laden kamikaze drones, which can crack armored vehicles when rammed into weak points.

It’s unclear when and where exactly the Leopard tank was captured by Russian forces. Dutch open-source investigative site Onyx, which keeps track of battlefield losses in the Ukraine war, has identified 13 Leopard 2A6 tanks that the Ukrainian armed forces have lost. Seven have been destroyed, while the rest were damaged.

Located in Nizhny Tagil behind Russia’s Ural Mountains, which form the boundary between Europe and Asia, the factory where the Leopard 2 resurfaced is far from the front line in Ukraine. The vehicle was seen arriving at the facility under the cover of darkness on a flatbed truck, video footage reviewed by Defense News showed.

The Ural Wagon Factory, which produces train cars besides armored vehicles, is one of the largest industrial complexes in Russia. It was built in its present location deep inside Russia at Stalin’s behest during World War 2. At the time, the rapid advance of German forces in their surprise “Barbarossa” invasion necessitated the evacuation of vital wartime industries far away from the Western border of Russia, home to most of the country’s population centers.

The location was likely chosen as the destination for the captured 2A6 Leopard because of its institutional knowledge and role as a high-end tank manufacturer in the Russian military-industrial complex, meaning it houses experienced engineers. Media reports from 2023 showed that the state-owned enterprise was responsible for producing Russia’s modern T-90M and the modernization of T-72B3M main battle tanks.

Defense News was able to geolocate video footage of this upgrade process to the same building where the captured Ukrainian Leopard tank was dropped off.

The plant’s importance was underscored by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit in February of this year. Russian government press releases have hinted that new production capabilities are being added to Uralvagonzavod, and the factory has switched to an around-the-clock work schedule to increase its output for the war effort in Ukraine.

Sensitive technologies?

Russian media gloated at the capture of the Western tank, citing Western industry publications as panicking about classified technologies falling into Moscow’s hands. Articles further goaded that “the unsuccessful use of German tanks in Ukraine could negatively affect the export potential of armored vehicles,” as RIA Novosti, a Russian state-owned news agency, put it.

Although over 20 years old, the German-made Leopard 2A6 is still regarded as a competent and modern main battle tank. Its advantages over Russian tanks range from higher crew survivability to the advanced gun, fire control system, different armor, type of shells used, and even the powerful and efficient engine.

Despite some media claims, gladly echoed by Russian state-run outlets, it is unclear whether the tanks delivered to Ukraine from Germany contain more sensitive technologies than those that were built for export to other countries. Some analysts expressed concern that because the tanks came from German Bundeswehr stocks, they may have especially advanced systems on board.

KNDS, the tank’s manufacturer, told Defense News that the company was not concerned about the capture of its technology by Russia.

“It won’t be easy to copy, and Russia is likely to have much of the information already anyway,” a company spokesperson said in an interview. The arms manufacturer further clarified that there is no such thing as an “export version” of the tank, but that orders are tailored to their specific customers’ requirements. The spokesperson, who asked to remain unnamed, could not say whether there were particularly sensitive technologies in the tanks coming from the German armed forces or whether they had been modified before being sent to Ukraine.

“The Russians will likely be able to figure out some things — but what exactly, is hard to say,” the company spokesperson concluded.

The German armed forces did not return a reply for clarification and comment on the specifics of the Leopard 2A6 tank in time for publication.

Germany has provided Ukraine with 18 Leopard tanks of the 2A6 variant, while Portugal has contributed three.

This isn’t the first Leopard 2 that Russia has captured. In April, footage was released of Russian military men analyzing a tank in a field tent that was missing its treads. However, the more recently resurfaced tank appears to be in much better condition, possibly providing insights that Russia was unable to gain previously.

Dozens of Western countries, including many in NATO, use the Leopard 2 tank in various configurations. Finland operates 200 Leopard 2 tanks, of which 100 are of the 2A6 variant. Analyzing its capabilities and limitations could assist Russia in furthering its own domestic technologies but could also provide Moscow’s armed forces with a better understanding of how to defend against and destroy the vehicle.

Russian government outlets have repeatedly said that the Western supply to Ukraine amounted to “playing with fire” and directly involved NATO countries in the conflict, a stance that the Euro-American alliance rejects.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine would be considered legitimate targets by the Russian military.

Army’s mixed reality device set for upgrades and battalion assessment

The Army’s helmet-mounted, mixed reality device that merges information tools, night vision and thermal optics will see more design updates and a battalion-level assessment next year.

The Integrated Visual Augmentation System, or IVAS, is a $22 billion program on which the Army has worked closely with Microsoft since 2018. The military system was built on the commercially available Microsoft HoloLens device.

Maj. John Thomas, assistant program manager for IVAS Development at Program Executive Office-Soldier, told Army Times that as they work through the upcoming events, the next focus is on “extensibility” of the device.

Apps to drive how soldiers use Army’s ‘mixed reality’ device

That entails using the capabilities of IVAS to control other devices, such as the soldier-borne sensor, a microdrone currently in use by soldiers.

The Army is working on the third of five prototypes of the device since the program began. The current version, IVAS 1.2, is the second engineering validation build, Thomas said. This includes some design changes that must be implemented in the next prototype as the service continues gathering troop feedback.

The following updates are in the works for IVAS 1.2:

A low-light camera with increased sensitivityImproved low-light focus mechanism, especially when wearing glovesMore robust bumpers, cables, bungees and tethered solar capsHinge improvements for usability, display clarity and durabilityImproved transport case and mission bag for better storage and protectionMinor visor and display improvements for greater clarity and durabilitySoftware improvements

As engineers work through those updates, soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, are slated in January to run a user assessment.

But following that test will be the largest event so far with the device. Next spring, soldiers with the 4th Infantry Division, out of Fort Carson, Colorado, will conduct an operational demonstration, handing the IVAS to a battalion of soldiers for a field exercise.

For now, the Army has IVAS sets on loan to the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Moore, Georgia, 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York, and III Corps headquarters at Fort Cavazos, Texas, officials said.

Once the IVAS 1.2 engineering changes are made and the Army completes the battalion operational assessment — and any additional testing — the service will be ready to award a production contract, officials said.

PEO Soldier and Microsoft have made significant changes to the device since the program’s inception.

The Army presented the early HoloLens-based iteration of IVAS in March 2019. That was followed by ruggedized, military versions through 2022.

The device transitioned from a helmet- or no-helmet goggle option, with a chest-mounted controller and thick cabling, to a helmet-mounted flip-up visor-like version. The controller also moved to the rib cage, opening more room on the user’s chest for other gear.

Developers reached the limits of what they could do with the analog night vision technology, built over 70 years of research and development.

Maj. Gen. Christopher Schneider, PEO Soldier commander, told Army Times that the legacy analog night vision had problems incorporating augmented reality, a key feature of how IVAS is expected to be used.

The development team fixed early problems with moisture in the device, dizziness reported by users and display glitches, officials said.

This division is learning what multidomain means for small units

As the Army adjusts its forces to a new way of warfare — multidomain operations — the division and corps focus of the fight can lead some subordinate units wondering about their roles.

One Army division is finding ways to practice the Army’s newest multidomain doctrine with partners, at home station and using space assets to test the mettle of its company and battalion commanders.

Soldiers with the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado, recently conducted the first division-level command post exercise as they prepare for their warfighter exercise in 2025.

Army lays out its vision for space in future operations

The division planned a year ahead of this summer’s events, all to tie together Army National Guard, Marine Reserve, Air Force, Space Force, special operations forces and conventional units in a series of fast-paced fire missions.

Exercise Lethal Ivy ran for a week at the end of August at Fort Carson and the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, about a two-hour drive away from the installation.

The exercise saw 1,000 4th ID soldiers in the field working remotely and virtually with various joint units to coordinate simulated fire missions in Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, simulating the distances they’d likely face in Europe or corners of the Pacific.

Participating units put the Army’s multidomain operations doctrine, or MDO, which seeks to sense and strike, linking any shooting platform, Army or other military branch or ally, to the test. They configured ways to communicate quickly and rapidly converge windows to take out “enemy” assets and strike precisely.

But in the years since the service announced MDO and built its multidomain task forces to work with operational units in theater, units not aligned specifically to those regions are working out how they can execute these multiprong attacks that MDO requires.

Brig. Gen. Eugene “Buddy” Ferris, 4th ID deputy commanding general-maneuver, shared some insights from the effort while at the Maneuver Warfighter Conference at Fort Moore, Georgia, in September.

Much of the event’s audience was made up of captains, most attending the mandatory captains career course at the installation.

“This is a future concept, but right now it’s just a manual, it’s just an idea,” Ferris said.

Ferris first highlighted the real-world demands of practicing the new doctrine, pointing to the Russia-Ukraine war as an example.

Ferris noted intelligence is showing that Russian troops are firing up to 40,000 rounds daily and some days forces on either side are taking up to 1,000 casualties.

“Think about that, a battalion plus off the battlefield,” Ferris said.

But much of the talk about MDO sits at the division and corps level, right?

Wrong.

“Seventy-five percent of my audience right now is captain and below, and you’re like, ‘What does this matter to me?’” Ferris said. “You’re the one who’s going to allocate that tool.”

The general pointed to the companies and battalions needing to be at their appointed battlefield location on time and ready to execute their tasks; otherwise, it will hurt their comrades.

Even though connecting the unit took a lot of work, Ferris said some of the basic soldier tasks caused the most friction.

“Talking, supplying, resupplying and then coordinating and planning — that is where we learned we need to keep getting better,” Ferris said.

During the exercise, one of the units, which Ferris did not name, wasn’t at the line of departure — where units coordinate and begin an attack — on time.

Another unit had taken out enemy radars and artillery to open a window for the unit to move. But when the timing was off, the unit took 1,000 virtual casualties in the combined live and simulated exercise, Ferris said.

“I can only keep a convergence point open for so long,” Ferris said.

This is part of the adjustment, Ferris said, of the Army’s move from counterinsurgency operations, mostly happening at the company or platoon level, to MDO, which is moving brigades around the battlefield under division and corps support.

“You’ve got to recognize that you’re part of a bigger fight,” Ferris said.

In the lead up to the August event, 4th ID had to align their communications equipment and practices with Air Force, Army Guard and Marine Reserve units.

That effort alone required a lot of troubleshooting.

“How do you talk to the Air Force? How do you talk to a Marine Reserve unit, never mind an Army Reserve unit; you think an Army Reserve unit has stuff that’s old, wait until you see the Marines,” Ferris said.

Once they’re connected, Ferris said the subordinate units still set up their command posts like they would for a counterinsurgency operation where there wasn’t an aerial threat or enemy sensing.

“In our efforts to shrink a command post, we have forgotten the function of a command post,” Ferris said.

He saw well-developed brigade and division command posts, slimmed down with less personnel and gear, hiding effectively and running missions.

However, the battalions often simply set up four to five company command posts as they traditionally would, which makes those posts easy targets.

“I will tell you the whole team learned and we learned a lot,” Ferris said. “Did we get everything right? No. But I think the more we push the system and accept the fact that we may fail, we will get better.”

Army Reserve needs skilled soldiers to support major combat

The Army Reserve is looking to direct commissions and better technology to find the right fit for soldiers who’ll serve in the Reserve.

Lt. Gen. Robert Harter, chief of the Army Reserve, wants the service to have its own data-centric approach to identifying individuals who may offer the Army a longer commitment if they can do that job in the Reserve.

The active Army met its recruiting mission this past fiscal year for the first time in two years, bringing 55,000 new soldiers into the ranks. Next year’s goal is 61,000 new troops, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth announced Monday.

Training changes ahead for Army Guardsmen

The Guard plans to add 1,000 soldiers to its end strength mission annually from fiscal 2026 to fiscal 2029, said Lt. Gen. Jonathan Stubbs, Army National Guard director, at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference Tuesday. If successful, that will bring Guard end strength up from its current 325,000 soldiers to 329,000 soldiers over the next five years.

Meanwhile, as the Reserve aims to improve recruiting and retention, it is also seeking out more direct commissions for civilians with critical skills. The Reserve holds much of the strategic capacity that the Army is going to lean on should it face large-scale combat.

Some of those positions, such as medical doctors, chaplains, experts in artificial intelligence or big data and machine learning, fit niche but crucial roles for the service as it supports the active force’s global mission.

The command’s personnel experts have been looking at ways to speed up the commissioning process for potential soldiers with such skills, said Brig. Gen. Kelly Dickerson, Army Reserve deputy chief of staff for strategic operations.

Much of that is simply filling gaps.

“What Army schools do they need?” Dickerson noted. Once those areas are covered, a direct commission soldier can plug right into a Reserve unit and start contributing.

Those specialties, whether from civilian experience or through Army training, are necessary for the Reserve to achieve its mission of providing the bulk of major combat operations support to the active duty Army.

Nearly 100% of the Army’s theater opening capability, from bulk fuel to theater engineers and theater tactical signal brigades, reside in the Reserve, Harter said.

Between 70% and 80% of the Army’s medical, water purification and interrogation capabilities are also in the Reserve.

For reservists, this means that if the active Army is going somewhere in bulk, they are as well.

“You go, we go,” Harter said.

An active duty counterpart on the same AUSA panel Tuesday shared the perspective from his end.

“We want all of that, because we don’t have all of that forward,” Maj. Gen. Gavin Gardner, commander of 8th Theater Sustainment Command, said of Reserve-specific capabilities.

And the reservists that do join or stay in uniform will have more chances to work with the active duty.

One example comes from U.S. Army Pacific, which is where Gardner’s unit, the 8th TSC, resides. Nearly 4,000 Army reservists deployed this past fiscal year across 26 exercises in the Pacific supporting active units, he said.

That figure is expected to rise to 5,000 forward-deployed reservists in 25 Pacific exercises this fiscal year, Gardner said.

France eyes aircraft carrier, frigate order in 2025 spending plan

PARIS — France’s defense budget next year includes orders for a next-generation aircraft carrier to replace the Charles de Gaulle as well as a new frigate, Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu told a parliamentary hearing on Monday, sketching the outlines of the ministry’s plans in 2025.

The defense ministry plans to boost spending on ammunition, particularly “complex munitions,” lift the space budget and raise funding for intelligence gathering and cyber, Lecornu told the defense committee of the lower house. Other areas of investment will include research on directed-energy weapons, artificial intelligence and deep-sea capabilities.

The French government has proposed to lift the 2025 defense budget to €50.54 billion (US$55 billion) from €47.23 billion this year, one of the few departments to see funding increase as Prime Minister Michel Barnier attempts to bring the country’s budget deficit under control.

The aircraft carrier order will mean the start of “a program with major impact,” Lecornu told lawmakers. The minister last year estimated the cost of the vessel that will replace the Charles de Gaulle nuclear-powered carrier in the €10 billion range. The country also plans to order another defense and intervention frigate, after Naval Group started sea trials of the first unit in the program earlier this month.

France plans to increase ammo buying by 27% to €1.9 billion, with purchases including MBDA’s Meteor air-to-air missile, Mistral and Aster air-defense interceptors, Scalp cruise missiles and Exocet anti-ship missiles, as well as heavy torpedoes, according to Lecornu. The budget for the SAMP/T NG air-defense system developed together with Italy will double to €500 million.

The minister took a swipe at European countries buying the Patriot air-defense system, saying the new generation SAMP/T with its 360-degree radar coverage outperforms its U.S. competitor. First tests with the Aster B1 NT missile to distinguish its target in a saturated airspace with multiple objects have been “very conclusive,” Lecornu said.

Lecornu said he is counting on Thales and MBDA to make the SAMP/T NG system an export success, where the previous generation failed to find many buyers outside France and Italy. “We can see that it’s going to sell,” and one key element will be MBDA moving towards “a war economy with production lines that hold up” to deal with attrition, the minister said.

France plans to allocate a third of its defense budget to acquisition and maintenance of equipment, with the budget for large armament programs other than nuclear rising 16% to €10.6 billion. Salaries will account for 27% of the 2025 defense budget, with nuclear deterrence amounting to 14% of spending.

The budget for nuclear deterrence will climb 8% next year, which will pay for continued development of the M51 submarine-launched ballistic nuclear missile and work on the ASN4G hypersonic missile, expected to enter service in the 2030s, Lecornu said. He also mentioned this year’s start of construction of France’s third-generation ballistic-missile submarine.

The space budget will increase 15% to €870 million. Lecornu said militarization of space is “unfortunately” continuing, with projects by the great powers that could endanger security. Spending on robots and drones will increase around 12% to €450 million, while the Armed Forces Ministry plans to triple the budget for artificial intelligence to €300 million, including investment in a supercomputer for defense AI.

Deliveries next year will include 14 Rafale fighter jets, an Airbus A400 transport aircraft, a defense and intervention frigate, 308 armored vehicles in the Scorpion program and 21 renovated Leclerc main battle tanks, according to Lecornu.

France aims to be able to deploy two brigades in an expeditionary capacity in 2027, and have the ability to deploy an Army corps in 2030, either within a NATO framework or outside of it, Lecornu said.

How the Army’s chief of staff plans to modernize the service

The U.S. Army will ramp up its efforts to transform its formations with next-level technology including capabilities to counter drone threats much faster, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference Tuesday.

“We have to buy smart and fast,” George said in a speech at the annual Eisenhower luncheon. “Our budget is tight, our numbers are lean and that requires us to prioritize and make informed investments.”

When George became Army chief a year ago, he announced he would focus on using units in the field to transform the service “in contact,” putting capability into the hands of soldiers in realistic operational environments to advance things that work and scrap what doesn’t.

George said there are four major areas where “we will step on the gas” to continue the momentum established over the past year through a collection of initiatives to move faster, from working to obtain more flexible funding for specific capabilities to getting equipment into soldiers’ hands rapidly.

“First, our formations are going to dramatically improve their ability to counter enemy uncrewed systems,” George said. But this means ensuring a close alignment with the service’s effort to fix its current network and command-and-control capabilities.

How the US Army is helping Ukraine with front line repairs

“We have to give every formation the right systems to sense, seek, and defeat enemy UAS to enhance their protection and security,” George said.

The second area will focus on scaling the transforming in contact initiative to include using two Armored Brigade Combat Teams, two Stryker BCTs and additional Guard and Reserves formations for additional transformation in contact experimentation.

“At the end of [fiscal 20]25, every warfighting function – including protection and sustainment – will be part of our transformation efforts,” Georg said. “The technologies we will infuse in our formations are not years away – they are available now.”

The Army will also “double-down” on operational transformation, George said.

“This means expanding the range and improving the accuracy of long-range precision fires. We will continue to demonstrate the lethality and impact of land-based fires on all domains of combat,” he said.

Multi-domain task forces, which bring long-range precision fires capability, will be integrated into operational-level commands, according to George.

“Intelligence will play a critical role in this transformation – both in guiding our warfighting concept and in protecting our soldiers from fort to port to foxhole, securing our installations, and defending our modernization and research institutions from exploitation by our adversaries,” he said.

Lastly, the Army will continue to modernize and strengthen its industrial base.

“Enhanced production capacity with the corresponding concentration of stockpiles at the most likely points of need to ensure the delivery of ready combat formations,” George said. “We can buy the best weapons in the world, but they will be useless to us if we can’t scale the production of the ammunition we need for today’s battlefield.”

Already the Army is working to shore up its industrial base, moving away from single sources, upgrading old infrastructure and growing its magazine depth after sending millions of rounds to Ukraine.

The Army has gone from producing 14,000 155mm rounds to nearly 50,000 a month. The service is aiming to expand capacity to 100,000 rounds.

“But improving 155 rounds is not enough,” George said. “We must invest across all of our critical munitions inventories.”

America’s adversaries are working together more so than ever, he warned.

“Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea represent an ‘Axis of Upheaval’ that is increasingly collaborating and conspiring to undermine democratic values and drive a wedge between us and our allies and partners,” George said. “Everything we do is about building lethality and cohesive teams, and given our current operating environment, we have to do it as fast as we can.”

How the US Army is helping Ukraine with front line repairs

It starts with a message on the secure messaging app Signal.

Front line units in Ukraine see an issue with their equipment and send notes to translators, who soon share those with the U.S. military. Then, operating from one of seven stations in Poland, American forces schedule video calls with the Ukrainians to help them repair the weapons.

This is the process for the Army’s virtual repair mission to help keep equipment working as long and as close to the front line as possible in Ukraine.

The equipment in the shop ranges from howitzers to tanks, and repairs can take anywhere from hours to weeks. Altogether, soldiers assisting with it said, the work is helping Ukraine keep its weapons in working order, and teaching the U.S. how to repair on the fly.

“The capability is forward. They’re able to fix forward just with some backup support on the telephone,” said a member of the Army’s 16th Sustainment Brigade, speaking from a video call in Poland at one of the Army’s seven stations where they help troubleshoot such issues.

Brigade tents look like small warehouses, filled with the same equipment that Ukrainians are handling on the front lines. The 16th Sustainment Brigade operates the facilities as part of the Remote Maintenance and Distribution Center-Ukraine, or RDC-U.

When the Ukrainians have an issue and share it with the translators, the team in Poland consults with their technical manuals — like a maintenance book kept in a car’s glove department. They then tinker with their own equipment, trying to recreate the same issue the soldiers are having on the front lines. From there they can discern the root issue.

Russia casualties reach 600,000 during war in Ukraine, Pentagon says

On occasion, these problems surpass the Army’s technical expertise. In those cases, the 16th relies on a team of 276 contractors from the companies that build the equipment the Ukrainians are using on the front lines. On one call from Poland, two engineers from the British defense giant BAE Systems discussed repairs to the M777 howitzer — a system they had worked on for 20 years.

The engineers spend much of their time writing or filming what they call “white papers,” an index of video clips and technical documents translated into Ukrainian and then shared with soldiers on the front. Amid more enduring problems, the Army will hold meetings as necessary with their counterparts to resolve the issue.

“In the fight”

Speaking on the show floor of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference, Col. Matthew Alexander, of the 16th Sustainment Brigade said that Ukraine has 172 towed artillery systems, like the M777, donated by the U.S.

Aside from small, commercial-style drones, these howitzers have been one of the defining weapons of the war so far. America recently donated its millionth 155mm artillery round, compatible with the M777, Alexander said.

“We’re seeing them put rounds through that particular weapon system more than any U.S. unit has seen,” he said.

The volume itself presents an opportunity for the U.S. Army, Alexander said.

On one end, it can better study the needs of artillery warfare. Both sides in the conflict are firing so many rounds back and forth that they’re wearing through the barrels of their launchers. The only facility that makes those in the U.S. is in Watervliet, New York, and Ukraine’s demand far exceeds their supply.

Alexander said the Ukrainians are helping expose these bottlenecks in America’s defense industry and how the weapons themselves manage wear. For example, the maintenance team has helped study the effect of firing a NATO-class round through a U.S. system, which rattles the chamber more than an American shell would.

The other main lesson the Army is learning is how to quickly repair equipment under duress. America hasn’t fought a war in which its logistics are threatened for decades, instead engaging in counterinsurgency wars such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon has since started to prepare for the risk of larger wars against countries like Russia or China that could threaten these supply lines.

The tele-maintenance occurring in Poland right now is a chance to practice operating under imperfect conditions.

“They are finding new ways to bring something out of the battle… something that we thought may be irrecoverable,” Alexander said of the artillery systems Ukraine has been able to salvage.

That said, the Ukrainian military has had varying levels of success learning to repair western weapons. It’s been more successful working on its howitzers than the 30-odd Abrams tanks America has donated. In response, the Army has tried to more thoroughly train Ukrainians on repairs that go beyond normal services, like a broken track or turret rather than an oil change.

When those larger issues appear, Alexander said, the tanks have to go back into U.S. hands across the border. He cautioned against reading too far into that level of expertise though; Alexander expects it to improve.

“When we first started, there was a bit of back and forth of them passing equipment back to the area in Poland. Now not a single M777 platform comes out of Ukraine,” Alexander said. “We’re also learning things as a U.S. Army: how to repair our equipment and keep it in the fight.”

Rheinmetall, Leonardo pitch new Italy tank pact as a model for Europe

ROME — Rheinmetall and Leonardo will deliver a new infantry fighting vehicle to the Italian army within two years and a new main battle tank within three years, the companies said on Tuesday as they announced the signing of a joint venture.

Known as Leonardo Rheinmetall Military Vehicles (LRMV), the 50-50 joint venture will be headquartered in Rome with its operational headquarters in La Spezia, the Italian hub for ground vehicle construction, the firms said in a statement.

Formed in response to an Italian army requirement for new fighting vehicles and tanks, the JV will involve Leonardo taking 50 percent of workshare and Rheinmetall in Germany taking 40 percent with the remaining ten percent taken by Rheinmetall’s Italian facilities.

Dubbed by the firms as a “new European nucleus for the development and production of military combat vehicles in Europe,” the JV follows a memorandum of understanding signed in July.

It also comes in the wake of the collapse of plans by Leonardo and KNDS to build vehicles after the Franco-German consortium balked at Leonardo’s workshare requests.

Speaking at a press conference in Rome, Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani said firms in Europe needed to join forces and be “sherpas” on the continent, leading governments towards industrial integration, even if they risked losing “a fraction” of domestic market.

“We hope this will be a seed for the growth of a safer Europe,” he added.

Speaking alongside him, Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said, “We negotiated everything in 3-4 months and made it happen.”

The deal involves the manufacture of 1,050 new infantry fighting vehicles for the Italian army based on the Rheinmetall Lynx to replace Italy’s aging Dardo vehicles.

With 16 different versions to be supplied and the first vehicle delivered in two years, the program will run to 2040 and cost €15 billion ($16.4 billion), the managers said.

Rheinmetall’s under-development Panther KF51 will be the basis of a new main battle tank to replace Italy’s Ariete tanks, with 132 to be supplied in an €8 billion program due to run until 2035, with the first tank to be delivered in two and a half to three years.

Papperger said a 130mm gun would be ready for the tank in three years if the Italian government wanted it.

Asked why Leonardo had broken off its talks with KNDS to furnish the Italian army with the Leopard, Cingolani said KNDS had only been able to promise the first tank in five years.

In their statement, the firms said that Leonardo will be responsible for mission systems, electronics suites and weapons on the vehicles destined for the Italian army.

Papperger said a half-hour discussion with Cingolani about combining Rheinmetall’s platforms with  Leonardo’s digitalization capabilities was enough to convince them to do the deal.

“It was clear that complementarity with Rheinmetall was very high,” said Cingolani.

The new vehicles would “Very likely (be) the most advanced on the continent, on the planet,” he added.

Papperger said that the vehicles had export potential. “We are primarily addressing the Italian market, but we will also be targeting other partner nations which are in need of modernizing their combat systems in the future,” he said, adding that most of the 5,000 main battle tanks in the world were at least 35 years old.

He predicted that the new JV’s revenue could run to €2 billion to €4 billion a year, with profitability at 15 percent.

Cingolani said that by networking the new vehicles, further business opportunities were in store.

“Those machines will talk to satellites and super computers and other platforms and we have room to develop more and newer technologies to integrate into these platforms,” he said.

Papperger said the deal with Leonardo would not affect its commitment to building a new European tank with KNDS, which he said was due to be ready in 2040.

“At the moment we have war, and there is need over the next ten years for infantry fighting vehicles and tanks,” he said.

The European tank program, he added, “Is a different approach and it is not dead.”

Training partners give US soldiers better backup in future combat

The Army’s answer to training partner forces — its security force assistance brigades — is proving as helpful to the trainers as the students.

Col. Brandon Teague, commander of the 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade, or SFAB, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, or JBLM, Washington, spoke with Army Times on Monday at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition about the brigade’s work in the Pacific and how it’s growing the Army’s capacity to operate in the region.

For instance, the Thai military has been working in recent years with the SFAB on training and maintaining its Stryker units through an SFAB partnership using a specially trained team of Stryker advisors from the 7th Infantry Division, also at JBLM, and a unit from the Washington Army National Guard, Teague said.

The SFAB growth continues in 2022 as commander pushes more partnerships

The first SFAB units were formed in 2017 to fill a conventional military partner training force mission, first in Afghanistan. The brigades tailor their deployments down to the small-unit level, dispatching teams of no more than a dozen soldiers led by a captain to just about every combatant command across the globe.

“Even though we’re helping the partner, it’s mutual,” Teague said.

The arrangement came about because the combatant commanders across the globe, but especially in the Pacific, have requested more SFAB personnel across their areas as the brigades have grown, the colonel said.

While the work is keeping the Thai Stryker units moving, having a solid system for obtaining parts and conducting maintenance on the crucial vehicle also helps U.S. soldiers, Teague said.

That’s because should there be a ground fight in the region involving U.S. Strykers, they’ll likely need parts.

Early partnership and coordination ensures that should the Army need to lean on a partner, it can, Teague said.

In even more foundational areas, the SFAB’s work is building out a knowledge base that could save soldiers’ lives.

“The first line of care is buddy aid, the person on your left and right,” Teague said. “And the people in 5th SFAB’s left and right are our partners that we’re partnered with.”

For the first time, the Army sent a maneuver advisor team to Mongolia this year, which is assisting the nation’s military in preparing a platoon of Mongolian soldiers for a February rotation at the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center in Alaska, Teague said.

That follows years of training the next-door neighbor of China’s military in leadership fundamentals. One of the first requests from Mongolian military officials to the Army was to help them set up a noncommissioned officers academy, which the Mongolian military now runs.

The major focus areas for the SFABs, Teague said, involve aligning the people, technical aspects and procedures between the U.S. and partner units.

For example, during the current Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center rotation that the unit is conducting with the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii this month, the SFAB is working with the Japanese Self-Defense Force. The partnership works on the same kind of communication gear and communication protocols.

So, even though the brigade’s team might meet up with a different unit within the Japanese military than in a previous encounter, they’ll already be coordinated on their communications.

Those same communications challenges are being worked through with each of brigade’s partners, such as the Philippines, Mongolia, Thailand and other Pacific nations.

For Replicator 2, Army wants AI-enabled counter-drone tech

The Army is eyeing a mix of existing and new technology to potentially scale through the second iteration of the Pentagon’s Replicator initiative, including systems that use artificial intelligence and machine learning to target and intercept small-drone threats.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced last month that Replicator 2 would center on countering threats from small drones, particularly those that target “critical installations and force concentration,” he said in a Sept. 29 memo. DOD plans to propose funding as part of its fiscal 2026 budget request with a goal of fielding “meaningfully improved” counter-drone defense systems within two years.

As with the first round of the program — which aims to deliver thousands of low-cost drones by next summer — Replicator 2 will work with the military services to identify existing and new capabilities that could be scaled to address gaps in their counter-drone portfolio.

Doug Bush, the Army’s acquisition chief, said Monday that Replicator 2 is particularly focused on fixed-site counter-small uncrewed aerial systems, or C-sUAS, needs, which means protecting installations and facilities. The Army has been fielding systems to detect and engage drones at overseas bases, largely in the Middle East, for several years, and Bush said the service will initially look to increase production of those capabilities.

The Army could start to ramp up production of these existing lines right away, Bush told reporters at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference, and may seek to reprogram funding in fiscal 2025.

“If Congress wants to help us in ‘25 when we reprogram, we have things we can buy today that we know work pretty well,” he said. “That’ll be one line of effort, expanding what we already have at the sites we’re assigned by the Department of Defense.”

But the Army also wants to use Replicator to explore emerging counter-drone technology, Bush said. The service is especially interested in systems that can not only detect objects but also use AI and machine learning to help decide how to engage them.

“It’s kind of a three-part problem set,” he said. “You have to detect it, figure out what to do, and then have an effector that can do something about it if you’re allowed. That middle part of figuring out what to do and bringing the data into that, I think, is where we can do better than we have.”

Championed by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, Replicator’s goal is to create a new pathway for the Pentagon to buy and scale high-need capabilities on faster timelines. Replicator 1 centers on delivering thousands of low-cost drones by next summer. The department plans to spend a total of $1 billion on the effort in fiscal 2024 and 2025.

Projects that the Army and the other services propose for the effort move through a validation process largely overseen by the Defense Innovation Unit. DIU Director Doug Beck chairs the Defense Innovation Working Group, which evaluates capabilities and recommends them for senior leader approval.

Maj. Gen. David Stewart, director of the Joint C-sUAS Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, said Monday that the Army is in the validation process for Replicator 2.

“The first thing to do is validate what you want to defend or protect,” he told reporters on the sidelines of AUSA. “And then it’s the process of determining what do we have that’s commercial off the shelf or military off the shelf or is it something new that we have to look at.”

The Replicator team takes advantage of planned demonstrations to do that validation work, and Stewart highlighted NORAD and U.S. Northern Command’s upcoming C-sUAS event, Falcon Peak, as one near-term opportunity.

C-sUAS on display

AUSA’s expansive exhibit halls were filled Monday with companies showcasing the full gamut of counter-drone capabilities — from software-enabled rifles to high-energy lasers.

At Leidos’ booth, the company featured its AirShield C-UAS system, an updated version of a capability it developed and demonstrated last year through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Mobile Force Protection program.

The system can be mounted on a vehicle and autonomously detect and track UAS through its Multifunction X-Band Radar. The system’s automated decision engine can identify a potential threat while on the move and use machine learning to determine whether to shoot it down or disable it.

Its nonkinetic effector is a small autonomous rotorcraft, dubbed CUGAR, which can fly with the target and release streamers that get caught in a drone’s propellers. Once it has finished its task — which could include disabling multiple UAS — CUGAR is programmed to return to the convoy or another location.

Elizabeth Robertson, vice president of growth for Leidos’ land systems business, told Defense News the firm is working with BAE to integrate the company’s Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System and is exploring other effectors to bring on in the future.

“The awesome thing about the system is the brains and backbone are already there, so integrating a new effector is not the heavy lift,” she said. “The heavy part is all the software, the programming, the machine learning. That’s all already there. So, integrating new effectors is a relatively quick turn.”

AirShield appears to be a good fit for Replicator 2′s homeland defense focus, Robertson said, noting that the company is starting to have some of those conversations with the Army this week. The system will participate in Falcon Peak later this month.

In another area of the exhibit space, Smart Shooter displayed its SMASH fire control system meant to provide military units with a dismounted counter-UAS capability. The camera and sensing capability can attach to a standard weapon and be used to track, target and shoot down a small drone with high accuracy.

Scott Thompson, vice president and general manager of the Israel-based company’s U.S. arm, told Defense News that Smart Shooter is developing a vehicle-mounted version of the system called Hopper. It plans to test the capability at the annual International Special Operations Forces demonstration next spring.

The Army and Marine Corps are both considering Smart Shooter’s technology for their C-sUAS needs, he said, and the Air Force is eyeing it as a base defense option. The company has vendors “lined up” and is ready to start producing SMASH in larger quantities.

“The secret sauce, of course, is the software,” he said. “That’s what separates us from everybody else.”