Calibre Defence

Check out our article on the @DefenceHQ announcement that the UK's operation to counter Russian submarine activity: calibredefence.co.uk/uk-details-ope…

The Netherlands has declared its V-Bat drones from Shield AI operational. The drone was selected in July last year, not a bad turn around.

The Israeli forces have conducted a unique mountain march to flush out Hezbollah positions, it is covered in brief in this article.

More news from Lockheed - the image shows Grizzly, a new vertical launch system for missiles like the AGM-114 Hellfire. It uses existing infrastructure and an iso container to produce an expeditionary missile capability.

The US is quadrupling production of many of its missiles, including the PrSM and THAAD from Lockheed Martin. This could mean up to 1600 PrSM per year under a new framework. Some serious investment going on over the Atlantic.

According to Wikipedia, this is what the UK deployed during Operation Ellamy - the Libya campaign in 2011. Could the services pull something similar together today? Presumably the carriers would mean fewer strike aircraft ferrying to-and-from the UK. But the enablers?

US forces are trying to find ways to fight in the Indo-Pacific. Knowing that air power will be constrained – and very busy – they are exploring expeditionary capabilities. One of them is the Grizzly missile launcher from Lockheed Martin, which recently conducted live test firings

Delighted to welcome @TotherChris back to @CalibreDefence. This time looking at recent reports from the Times on plans to defer UK shipbuilding, and the potential impacts: calibredefence.co.uk/delay-defer-re… Thanks as always to The Other Chris for your time and effort on this piece.

@nicholadrummond It's difficult to see the current "fight in the deep" concepts working without enough MLRS - launchers, munitions, or crew. But I suspect that drones of all types are being positioned as a viable alternative.

The British Army has agreed to acquire 60 M27A2 GMLRS launchers. This is enough for two regiments with 24 each plus a training battery of 12, or 60 in total. But it wants 72 launchers, because an extra 12 would give it a third regiment, i.e., a lot more bangs for its bucks. This makes a heap of sense, because the cost is in the munitions not the launchers. Any I hope it’s in the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) and I hope the Army keeps pushing. As I’ve said before, this has been an exemplary upgrade programme.

@RaytheonDefen__ is set to increase Tomahawk production to more than 1,000 units per year and double production of other key US missiles under a new set of frameworks signed with the DoD. The US is grappling with growing adversary arsenals, so these increases are very welcome.

Sweden and Denmark fund Ukraine's Tridon Air Defense Battalion: calibredefence.co.uk/denmark-to-fun…

The @USMC has bumped its order for ACV-30 vehicles up to 150 with a recent contract award to BAE Systems. The vehicles are designed to support the Marines as they fight dispersed throughout the Indo-Pacific. A big task indeed. Check it out in the link below.

How do you like your drones in the morning? I like mine...microwaved: youtu.be/vLmovz7naRM?si…

@william_freer Worth noting they had rarely tested the ability to load out ammunition at scale, and it’s not clear if they had the barrels to maintain that level of firing for much more than a week.

UK/European efforts to ramp up shell production have been very impressive, but for context the BAOR in the 1980s assumed a division with 4 art btns would need 35,000 155mm rounds per day… More than 12 million over a year, for a single division’s consumption in peer conflict

Poland has contracted Saab to build two SIGnals INTelligence (SIGINT) ships to help it monitor Russian activity. The first was launched in 2025 and the second was launched on January 14, 2026. calibredefence.co.uk/polands-second…