On 19 April 2023, a joint investigation of Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish public broadcasters found that Russia has been using boats disguised as fishing and research ships to perform surveillance and gather intelligence in the North Sea.
Europe is experiencing an unprecedented energy crisis since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine started. This is highlighting the challenges that the continent is facing, especially concerning energy. This is one of the reasons why energy security plays a central role in the common security plans of the EU and NATO allies.
On 29-30 August 2022, Prague hosted an informal meeting of the defence ministers of the EU Member States. The main topic of discussion on the agenda was the intensification of the training of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The relevance of the topic, after seven months of the armed conflict, is also related to the counteroffensive undertaken by Ukraine. European Union Training Missions (EUTM) are one of the instruments within the EU's integrated approach and, in general, they aim to strengthen the military capabilities of the EU's partners. To this end, EUTMs support the improvement of partner armed forces through training and advising on force reform to increase the effectiveness of defence sectors.
The Swedish Ministry of Defence has awarded a $50 million worth public tender to Leonardo DRS for the supply of thermal weapon sights. The American company will provide Sweden with more than 4600 infrared Individual Weapon Sights (IWS), including weapon-mounted sights, designed both for small guns (3,100 units) and for long-range arms, such as heavy machine guns and sniper rifles (1500 units).
On May 26, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak announced that he had begun the process of acquiring 500 U.S.-made long-range weapon systems, known as High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), to crown the military modernization program. Lieutenant Colonel Krzysztof Płatek, spokesman for the Armaments Agency, added that the technology transfer will be for an internal Polish effort known as HOMAR.
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