Defense

VIENNA — EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas scrapped plans to launch a high-level advisory group on European defense just hours before its scheduled unveiling, after several member states, reportedly including Germany, Italy and France, pushed back against the initiative. The group, first announced by Kallas at an informal defense ministers’ meeting in Wicklow, Ireland, on Sept. 1, was meant…

Opposition from the United States and Russia has raised doubts that countries meeting in Geneva will on Friday agree on a document that could pave the way to international rules on the use of autonomous weapons, three diplomats said. The 128 states that are party to the Convention on ​Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), an international framework hosted under the United Nations in Geneva that…

The U.S. Marine Corps is looking to acquire high-resolution 3D scanners to detect cracked body armor. The goal is to develop sensors that can “scan individual hard armor plates for cracks and delaminations,” according to a Marine Corps Request For Information, which is due Oct. 2. More specifically, the devices will inspect Enhanced Small Arms Protective Inserts and United States Marine Corps…

NEW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan — China’s navy has introduced a new guided-missile frigate designed for coastal as well as open-sea attacks after 20 years in the making, according to Chinese state media. Not quite a technological breakthrough, military analysts say. But the 054A frigate has advantages that are expected to raise the People’s Liberation Army Navy clout along and beyond the Chinese…