Aeronautics Group, an Israel-based UAS manufacturer, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Romaero, a Romanian aerospace company that integrates aero-structure manufacturing and maintenance and repair for civil and military transport aircraft. The agreement was signed during the "Black Sea Defense & Aerospace 2018" exhibition in Romania.

Under the collaboration agreement, the companies will maintain UASs on Romanian soil, as well as cooperate in the training of local personnel on the advanced systems.

The rapidly-changing strategic environment and the complex reality of the battlefield pose many challenges, but also bring opportunities for those involved in Israel’s national security. This year, Israel Defense’s annual conference addressed broad aspects of the complex and changing environment. The conference was held in cooperation with the Israeli Artillery Association and the Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC).

Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems on Wednesday signed a teaming agreement with Romaero, Romania’s largest government-controlled Aerospace & Defense Industry.

As part of their new partnership, Rafael and Romaero will consolidate a local partnership to facilitate local production and knowledge-transfer geared towards various Romanian acquisition programs.

The US Department for Homeland Security has published its cybersecurity strategy.

“This strategy provides the Department with a framework to execute our cybersecurity responsibilities during the next five years to keep pace with the evolving cyber risk landscape by reducing vulnerabilities and building resilience; countering malicious actors in cyberspace; responding to incidents; and making the cyber ecosystem more secure and resilient,” according to the DHS publication.

The NATO Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Centre (NMIOTC) located in Crete hosted a conference this week on dealing with weapons of mass destruction.

The conference, which was jointly initiated and led by Greece and Israel, was attended by some 100 participants from different countries, including nine representatives from Israel.

“It is my estimate that within a few months, the Iranians will announce their withdrawal from the nuclear agreement and return to their original nuclear program,” says Sima Shine, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) and a former senior officer of the Mossad and the IDF Intelligence Directorate.

As part of its Global Transparency Initiative, Kaspersky Lab is adapting its infrastructure to move a number of core processes from Russia to Switzerland. This includes customer data storage and processing for most regions, as well as software assembly, including threat detection updates. To ensure full transparency and integrity, Kaspersky Lab is arranging for this activity to be supervised by an independent third party, also based in Switzerland.   

Global transparency and collaboration for an ultra-connected world

“We must not rest on the laurels. We must not be euphoric, nor smug nor arrogant. We are in a good state regarding our operational and technological power, and we must continue to build this force in order to create a practical advantage over the enemy.” These remarks were made by Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon, former Israeli Minister of Defense and former IDF Chief of Staff, during the Israel Defense annual conference held this week in Tel Aviv.

“Erdogan speaks like a true enemy, but let me remind you that he once received information from Israel that helped prevent an ISIS attack [in Turkey],” Israel’s Intelligence Minister Israel Katz said today in his address at the Fire, Maneuvering & Intelligence Conference, referring to Erdogan's accusations against Israel's actions to put down the violent demonstrators along the Gaza border fence.

The Israeli Air Force took part for the first time in RED FLAG-Alaska – an exercise which aims to increase interoperability between the US and partner nations. RED FLAG-Alaska 18-1 took place from April 30 to May 11, 2018.

“[For the first time] the Israeli Air Force tankers were certified to fuel US Air Force F-15s and F-16s, and we were able to incorporate them in voles [missions] throughout the exercise,” said Capt. Loren Keisling, the 353rd Combat Training Squadron chief of battle management.