K40 to be withdrawn by 2128

The Clone Air Force has announced that the final withdrawal of the K40 fighter has been bought forward a couple of years and the last will be withdrawn before the end of 2128. Less than 300 now remain in service, all of them the final K40S variant. Withdrawal from CSE-E and the resulting disbanding of dozens of squadrons has allowed the K40 to be retired early.

A CAF spokesclone said that the K40 was iconic and had served the Clones with distinction since the Clone Wars but it was time for it to be retired.

Clone Army to disband dozens of regiments, withdraw thousands of armoured vehicles

The Clone Army is to disband dozens of regiments as part of the withdrawal from the CSE-E and a reorganisation of the army structure. Hundreds of tanks will be withdrawn, mostly older types. Over three thousand other armoured vehicles will also be withdrawn. The army say this will save several billion zarks a year, the money will be recycled into newer weapons.

The Clones are looking to try and sell these withdrawn vehicles, though many may be cascaded to territorial and internal security forces.

Repic open to joining Commonwealth of Interstellar Nations

The Repicans, a hyper capitalistic Saurian nation who have been aligned to the Bolitic Confederacy in the past, have made overtures to the Commonwealth of Interstellar Nations about joining. A senior Financial Officer of Repic has visited Castarian and met with Emperor Melson. Senator El Diablo also attended the meeting.

Whilst it is unlikely the Repicans could join the CIN in the short to medium term, it is possible Repic could join the Saurian Alliance - a sub-grouping which consists of the Dino Republic and Bolitic Confederacy.

Clones to develop next generation Gale ICBM / CSM

Admiral Anderson has agreed the development of the replacement for the Gale-III ICBM which also forms the launch stage of the CSM. The Gale-IV could enter service in the early 2130s and will include improved signal management, reduced infrared emissions and an improved guidance system.

Gale-IV will also only be mobile launcher based. The Clone have been wanting to shut down the Gale silo ring for some time. The fifteen remaining silos used for Gale/CSM will be closed, four sites will be repurposed for other Clone Army use, one silo will be used for development and missile research.

First Z26ZNX delivered

The first of one hundred Halogen Z26ZNX helicopters has been delivered to the Clone Naval Air Service (CNAS). The production line was re-opened due to delays in the Halogen replacement and the ageing state of the CNAS helicopter fleet. The ZNX is a minor upgrade to the previous final version the ZNS and will replace the oldest helicopters in the CNAS fleet.

The Clone Air Force has attempted to also get new build from the re-opened Halogen line though Admiral Anderson said that the production line will be closed once and for all when the new helicopters have been built for CNAS.

DF looking into "Chain Worm Drive" (Project Red Shift)

UNDF is looking into a so-called "chain worm drive" which is where multiple worm drives operate in series to result in extreme performance. It is thought that a Lavender 105A unmanned reconnaissance ship may be fitted with a second worm drive, this will then be used to perform double worm jumps in sequence. This could result in an equivalent speed of 10000ec!

However, there are a lot of unknowns with this technology. This is why DF want to test it with an unmanned ship first. If it is successful then DF are considering building a test ship based on the Type 35 platform with no fewer than four worm drives! This is known as Project Red Shift and could produce the ultimate rapid response ship. An equivalent speed of 20000ec would mean a ship could reach nearly all of UNDF in minutes.

One source says that tests with the Lavender could begin next year.