Latest news with #NSPA
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Denmark buys four Sky Guardian drones for Arctic surveillance
MILAN — Denmark has purchased four U.S.-made long-range maritime drones from General Atomics, a step meant to boost the country's surveillance capabilities in the Arctic region. The Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organization signed an agreement with NATO's Support and Procurement Agency, or NSPA, to acquire four MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, the government agency announced on July 22. The systems are expected to be delivered between 2028 and 2029 and will undergo a certification process to be able to fly in national and international airspace. Although no contract value was disclosed, DALO listed three specific areas of interest where the drones could operate: the Arctic, the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea region. The Arctic has become increasingly important for NATO's defense posture, especially in light of growing Russian presence and activities in the region. For example, Russian ice-class LNG tanker Alexey Kosygin, sanctioned by the United States, is expected to become operational in the second half of this year at the country's Arctic LNG 2 plant, as reported by Reuters. Having eyes in the sky is a priority for Arctic states, but acquiring drones that can operate in such a harsh environment can be challenging. The extreme cold impacts battery life, sensor performance and GPS signal quality. According to a General Atomics spokesman, the MQ-9B drones are ready to operate in cold temperatures. 'The MQ-9B is perfect for the Arctic Security mission and has been designed, tested and certified for operations in extremely cold climates – it routinely flies at very high altitudes [maximum above 40,000 feet] where outside air is usually between -40 and -70 Fahrenheit (-40 and -56,6 Celsius),' spokesman C. Mark Brinkley told Defense News. In its announcement, DALO highlighted that the drone purchase is being conducted in close cooperation with other allied NATO nations to ensure access to common knowledge. Neighboring Norway has also shown interest in acquiring the MQ-9B, as part of its quest to get long-range maritime drones. North Grumman's MQ-4C Triton is also in the running there. Solve the daily Crossword
Miami Herald
23-07-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Denmark Buys Four MQ-9B SkyGuardians From GA-ASI
NSPA Supports Denmark and European Countries in MQ-9B Acquisition and Sustainment SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESS Newswire / July 23, 2025 / Denmark and the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) have announced the procurement of four MQ-9B SkyGuardian® Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. The purchase includes three Certified Ground Control Stations. Denmark joins a growing list of European countries that have selected MQ-9B for its multi-domain capabilities with exceptionally long range and endurance. The platform provides pole-to-pole satellite control and de-icing capabilities to enable missions in the harsh conditions of the Arctic in support of Denmark and its NATO Allies. Additionally, MQ-9B's in-house-developed Detect and Avoid System aids MQ-9B's ability to fly in unsegregated airspace for domestic civilian operations, making it highly versatile for operations from Denmark. MQ-9B recently became the first large remotely piloted aircraft to obtain a Military Type Certificate (MTC) from the UK's Military Aviation Authority, certifying its safe operation without geographic restrictions, including over populous areas. "It's been a very productive year for our MQ-9B platforms," said GA-ASI President David R. Alexander. "First, we earned MTC and now we've added Denmark to the U.K., Belgium, and Poland as MQ-9B customers in Europe. I believe the extensive waters of the North Sea, Norwegian Sea, and Baltic Sea of the Nordic countries make the MQ-9B a very effective tool for national maritime surveillance and security." MQ-9B SkyGuardian is the first and only unmanned system to offer multi-domain Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Targeting (ISR&T) as an internal payload that can search the ocean's surface and its depths in support of Fleet Operations. MQ-9B can also be fitted with a number of payloads including a maritime surveillance package with a 360-degree maritime radar and/or sonobuoy dispensing pods. This sale was aided and supported by NSPA, which has developed a contractual framework for supporting cooperation amongst its member nations and promoting the proliferation of MQ-9B in Europe. NSPA has added MQ-9B to its portfolio of defense systems to contract on behalf of European nations, with the goal of enhancing interoperability while facilitating training and joint operations. "This procurement demonstrates how NSPA enables efficient, effective and responsive multinational acquisitions for advanced, interoperable capabilities. We are proud to support Denmark in this strategic investment for national maritime surveillance and security," said Ms. Stacy A. Cummings, NSPA General Manager. About GA-ASI General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. is the world's foremost builder of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Logging more than 8 million flight hours, the Predator® line of UAS has flown for over 30 years and includes MQ-9A Reaper®, MQ-1C Gray Eagle®, MQ-20 Avenger®, and MQ-9B SkyGuardian®/SeaGuardian®. The company is dedicated to providing long-endurance, multi-mission solutions that deliver persistent situational awareness and rapid strike. For more information, visit Avenger, EagleEye, Gray Eagle, Lynx, Predator, Reaper, SeaGuardian, and SkyGuardian are trademarks of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., registered in the United States and/or other countries. # # # Contact Information GA-ASI Media Relations asi-mediarelations@ 524-8101 SOURCE: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. Related Images press release
The Hill
14-07-2025
- Business
- The Hill
What to know about the US-NATO weapons deal for Ukraine
President Trump on Monday said he had brokered a deal to send more weapons to Ukraine without burdening the U.S., while threatening Russian President Vladimir Putin with new sanctions if there is no deal to end the war in 50 days. Trump's announcement marks a potential turning point for a president who had wanted to pull U.S. support from Ukraine and has repeatedly demonstrated favorable treatment to Putin despite Moscow's invasion of its neighbor. Under the deal, weapons would be sourced from NATO allies in Europe, who just agreed to step up their defense spending at a summit Trump hailed as a success. Here's what to know about the deal. Trump had announced last week that he had struck a deal for NATO to purchase weapons from the U.S. to send to Ukraine. On Monday, he said these systems would include Patriot Missile Defense batteries critical for Ukraine to guard its skies under increasing Russian bombardment. 'It's everything. It's Patriots. It's all of them. It's a full compliment with the batteries,' Trump said, adding that the batteries could arrive in Ukraine within days. 'They're paying for everything. We're not paying anymore,' Trump said. A top German military official told reporters in Kyiv last week that Berlin was in negotiations for weeks with the U.S. over the potential purchase and transfer of a Patriot missile battery. The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) is the arm of the organization which can handle acquisitions and logistics support and can be used to purchase and deliver the weapons for Ukraine. The Agency employs around 1,550 staff and oversees over 2,500 contractors in NATO's missions across the world, according to NATO's website. Another avenue that NATO allies can use to procure weapons for Ukraine is purchasing them directly with the U.S. on a bilateral basis, with NATO helping to facilitate such transactions. 'We're going to make top-of-the-line weapons and they'll be sent to NATO. NATO may choose to have certain of them sent to other countries where we can get a little additional speed where the country will release something and be it'll be mostly in the form of a replacement,' Trump said. There's little information on what exact weapons systems Trump is greenlighting for countries to purchase or what is being prioritized. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told lawmakers at the NATO summit last month that in addition to Patriots, the country needs additional long-range weapons. 'But beyond that, I haven't heard any specifics from this administration,' she said in a call with reporters. Trump acknowledged that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had paused weapons shipments to Ukraine as part of a review of Department of Defense stockpiles, despite reports that the president was caught off guard when weapons to Ukraine were halted on July 1. 'What Pete was doing, and me too, I knew what Pete was doing, was evaluation because we knew this was going to happen,' Trump said, referring to the NATO-procurement deal. 'So we did a little bit of a pause.' The U.S. still has $3.86 billion worth of presidential drawdown authority for Ukraine as part of appropriations provided by Congress. This allows for the U.S. to send weapons directly from Pentagon stockpiles and use the money to purchase backfills. President Biden last provided a drawdown worth $500 billion on January 9. Politico reported last week that Trump is considering a drawdown package for Ukraine. The moves are likely to rankle Trump's Make America Great Again base, which oppose the U.S. sending weapons and military aid abroad. 'We do not want to give or sell weapons to Ukraine or be involved in any foreign wars or continue the never ending flow of foreign aid,' Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) posted on X on Monday. Trump made his latest remarks in the Oval Office following a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, a staunch supporter of Ukraine. 'Dear Donald, this is really big,' said Rutte, who has demonstrated a unique ability to both flatter and cajole Trump to the side of Europe. 'You called me on Thursday that you had taken a decision. And the decision is you want Ukraine – what it needs to have to maintain to defend itself against Russia, but you want Europeans to pay for it, which is totally logical, and this is building on the tremendous success of the NATO summit,' he said. Trump gave Putin a 50-day deadline to reach a deal over Ukraine or risk being hit with a 100 percent tariff on exports to the U.S. 'The country's economy is going very poorly, and he's got to get his economy back. He's got to save his economy,' Trump said. But Trump raised doubt over his support for a Republican-led sanctions bill on Russia that has 85 co-sponsors. Trump suggested the sanctions bill might not be needed and is meeting with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) later on Monday. Still, Trump has increasingly expressed frustration with Putin as being the obstacle to peace, after months of trying to re-orient the U.S. as a neutral mediator between Moscow and Kyiv. Rutte said Trump's outreach to Putin in the initial days of his administration served to 'break the deadlock' and start the conversation over whether peace was possible. 'You have to test him, and you did this, and you really gave him a chance to be serious to get to the table to start negotiations,' Rutte said. Trump said 'we probably had four times a deal,' but that Putin's talk 'didn't mean anything.' 'I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy,' Trump said of his dealings with Putin. 'He's fooled a lot of people… Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden. He didn't fool me. But what I do say is that at a certain point, ultimately talk doesn't talk. It's got to be action. It's got to be results.'
Time of India
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
NATO corruption probe 'reminder' of defence boom risks
Representative AI image Revelations of an unfolding corruption investigation involving staff and ex-staff at the Nato Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) have continued to emerge, with a total of five detentions, two in Belgium and three in the Netherlands, made public so far. The Belgian public prosecutor reported the first detentions late Wednesday, saying they concerned "possible irregularities" in contracts awarded to buy ammunition and drones via Nato. The Belgian authorities said in a statement that NSPA employees or former employees in Luxembourg may have passed information to defence contractors. "There are indications that money obtained from these illegal practices would have been laundered, partly by setting up consultancy companies." A short time later, Dutch authorities announced that they had made three arrests, including of one 58-year-old former defence ministry official whose previous job had "involved international procurement contracts." In Luxembourg, the public prosecutor's office confirmed that documents had been seized in the Grand Duchy and said that the investigation had also spread into Italy, Spain and the US, coordinated by the EU justice agency Eurojust. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng với sàn môi giới tin cậy IC Markets Đăng ký Undo Nato: 'We want to get to the root of this' At the recent Nato meeting in Antalya, Turkey, the military alliance's secretary-general, Mark Rutte, told reporters that it was the agency itself that initiated investigations. "We want to get to the root of this," Rutte said. With a staff of more than 1,500 people, the NSPA is headquartered in Luxembourg and has sites in several other European countries. As well as providing logistics support for Nato operations or missions, it can also negotiate defence contracts on behalf of the member states. Such joint procurement initiatives are supposed to save national governments money by efficiently bundling demand. According to Nato, the agency itself operates on a "no-loss, no-profit" basis. Last year, the NSPA signed a nearly $700-million (€624 million) contract for Stinger anti-aircraft missiles on behalf of several member states. Former Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg announced the deal in May 2024, without naming the countries involved, in comments reported by the Reuters news agency. For defence expert Francesca Grandi of watchdog Transparency International , the ongoing Natoprobe, whatever its outcome, is a "precious reminder" of the importance of thorough oversight of how public money is spent on defence. "This case really is timely, in a way, because it reminds us of the importance of transparency." Bad timing for Nato For Nato, the timing is somewhat unfortunate. Eyeballing Russia's massive military buildup amid its ongoing war with Ukraine, Nato countries are in the midst of a huge defence spending boom likely to last years. At an upcoming Nato summit, under pressure from US President Donald Trump, the 32 countries look set to commit to spend at least 3.5% of their gross domestic product. This would be a huge step up from the current target of 2%, as well as the current average proportional GDP expenditure of 2.7%. In 2024, the alliance collectively spent $1.3 trillion on defence, according to NATO figures published last month. Meanwhile, the European Union, whose members make up two-thirds of Nato, is teeing up for a major spending spree. The European Commission has announced a plan to use the EU's excellent credit rating to borrow €150 billion ($168 billion) that could help the 27 EU members invest €800 billion more in defence. More money, more problems for the defence sector With additional hundreds of billions set to flow to the defence industry in the next five years, public institutions will likely come under enormous pressure to manage risks of potential corruption. Worldwide, the defence sector is particularly prone to corruption due to the high levels of secrecy that shroud governments contracts, the large amounts of money at stake and the sensitive nature of negotiations, Grandi explained. Europe is no exception. At national and EU level, many of the transparency mechanisms that are supposed to help root out other public procurement processes often do not apply to defence and security. For example, the European Parliament does not have its normal budgetary oversight over money sent to Ukraine for its defence needs through the European Peace Facility. More than €10 billion has already been allocated to Kyiv through the mechanism, which is outside the EU budget. In general, Transparency International is very concerned about the lack of policymaker attention to transparency and oversight it sees in the burgeoning defence spending wave, Grandi said. At the same time, defence industry lobbying is on the rise. "The risk from a lack of oversight is that we end up with a defence architecture that is not ensuring the security of its citizens as it should do, that is marred in inefficiencies, that wastes money, but also that creates space for abuse of power, for undue influence," she warned.
Time of India
19-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Nato corruption probe 'reminder' of defense boom risks
Turkey NATO Foreign Ministers (AP) The military alliance's procurement agency is under scrutiny for deals on arms and munitions. In a sector with notoriously patchy oversight, defense boom corruption risks are very real. Revelations of an unfolding corruption investigation involving staff and ex-staff at the Nato Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) have continued to emerge, with a total of five detentions — two in Belgium and three in the Netherlands — made public so far. The Belgian public prosecutor reported the first detentions late Wednesday, saying they concerned "possible irregularities" in contracts awarded to buy ammunition and drones via Nato . The Belgian authorities said in a statement that NSPA employees or former employees in Luxembourg may have passed information to defense contractors. "There are indications that money obtained from these illegal practices would have been laundered, partly by setting up consultancy companies." A short time later, Dutch authorities announced that they had made three arrests, including of one 58-year-old former Defense Ministry official whose previous job had "involved international procurement contracts." In Luxembourg, the public prosecutor's office confirmed that documents had been seized in the Grand Duchy and said that the investigation had also spread into Italy, Spain and the US, coordinated by the EU justice agency Eurojust. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Memperdagangkan CFD Emas dengan salah satu spread terendah? IC Markets Mendaftar Undo Nato : 'We want to get to the root of this' At the recent Nato meeting in Antalya, Turkey, the military alliance's secretary-general, Mark Rutte, told reporters that it was the agency itself that initiated investigations. "We want to get to the root of this," Rutte said. With a staff of more than 1,500 people, the NSPA is headquartered in Luxembourg and has sites in several other European countries. As well as providing logistics support for Nato operations or missions, it can also negotiate defense contracts on behalf of the member states. Such joint procurement initiatives are supposed to save national governments money by efficiently bundling demand. According to Nato , the agency itself operates on a "no-loss, no-profit" basis. Last year, the NSPA signed a nearly $700-million (€624 million) contract for Stinger anti-aircraft missiles on behalf of several member states. Former Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced the deal in May 2024, without naming the countries involved, in comments reported by the Reuters news agency. For defense expert Francesca Grandi of watchdog Transparency International, the ongoing Nato probe, whatever its outcome, is a "precious reminder" of the importance of thorough oversight of how public money is spent on defense. "This case really is timely, in a way, because it reminds us of the importance of transparency." Bad timing for Nato For Nato , the timing is somewhat unfortunate. Eyeballing Russia's massive military buildup amid its ongoing war with Ukraine, Nato countries are in the midst of a huge defense spending boom likely to last years. At an upcoming Nato summit, under pressure from US President Donald Trump, the 32 countries look set to commit to spend at least 3.5% of their gross domestic product. This would be a huge step up from the current target of 2%, as well as the current average proportional GDP expenditure of 2.7%. In 2024, the alliance collectively spent $1.3 trillion on defense, according to Nato figures published last month. Meanwhile, the European Union, whose members make up two-thirds of Nato , is teeing up for a major spending spree. The European Commission has announced a plan to use the EU's excellent credit rating to borrow €150 billion ($168 billion) that could help the 27 EU members invest €800 billion more in defense. More money, more problems for the defense sector With additional hundreds of billions set to flow to the defense industry in the next five years, public institutions will likely come under enormous pressure to manage risks of potential corruption. Worldwide, the defense sector is particularly prone to corruption due to the high levels of secrecy that shroud governments contracts, the large amounts of money at stake and the sensitive nature of negotiations, Grandi explained. Europe is no exception. At national and EU level, many of the transparency mechanisms that are supposed to help root out other public procurement processes often do not apply to defense and security. For example, the European Parliament does not have its normal budgetary oversight over money sent to Ukraine for its defense needs through the European Peace Facility. More than €10 billion has already been allocated to Kyiv through the mechanism, which is outside the EU budget. In general, Transparency International is very concerned about the lack of policymaker attention to transparency and oversight it sees in the burgeoning defense spending wave, Grandi said. At the same time, defense industry lobbying is on the rise. "The risk from a lack of oversight is that we end up with a defense architecture that is not ensuring the security of its citizens as it should do, that is marred in inefficiencies, that wastes money, but also that creates space for abuse of power, for undue influence," she warned.
