Defense

LIVERPOOL, England — British finance minister John Healey will put his support firmly behind firms investing in defense on Monday, part of what he will describe as a new industrialization drive to try to spur the nation’s anaemic economic growth. In his first speech to the governing Labour Party’s annual conference as finance minister, Healey will aim to put flesh on the bones of Prime…

PARIS — French defense-technology firm Thales is “quite advanced” in discussions with a number of NATO countries about using its artificial intelligence-powered command-and-control system HexaForce, said the company’s vice president for multi-domain operations, Patrick Moreau. Thales announced the availability of HexaForce last week, after testing it during NATO’s Coalition Warrior…

Despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s nostalgia for old-fashioned steam catapults, the U.S. Navy appears to be sticking with electromagnetics for its newest class of aircraft carriers. The Navy recently awarded contracts for the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, which uses electrically generated magnetic fields to launch aircraft from Ford-class carriers. Kato Engineering…

On Oct. 1, the Air Force will eliminate all 10 civilian positions at the China Aerospace Studies Institute, the Air University center that publishes unclassified research on the People’s Liberation Army’s air, space and missile forces. Its director said the move will effectively end the institute, even as the service says CASI’s mission will continue. “As a part of the ongoing civilian…