BODØ, Norway–The United States signed an agreement with Ukraine to help the eastern European nation further modernize its military, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Sept. 8.

Carter told reporters in London before departing for Bodø that the five-year modernization agreement “ran the gamut,” from command and control (C2) and training to acquisition and logistics. Carter said since Ukraine will remain an important European power for a long time, it is important for it to have the capability for self defense, interoperability with the U.S. while undergoing necessary reforms and transformation.

The deal, Carter said, was about helping Ukraine move from reacting to events to being proactive.

“It allows us greatly to strengthen…and get (Ukraine) off a sort of ad hoc basis of the last two years (of) reacting to events and put it on…a more sustained and systematic horizon,” Carter said.

Carter also said retired Army Gen. John Abizaid agreed to serve as a senior adviser to Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak. Carter had discussed with Poltorak finding a senior adviser to help him, leading Carter to reach out to Abizaid to ask him to support Ukraine’s effort. Abizaid served as commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) from July 2003 to March 2007. He also served as executive assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; director of strategic plans and policy (J5) on the Joint Staff and director of the Joint Staff.

While this agreement does not include the U.S. providing Ukraine with money and weapons, Carter said the U.S. is already providing Ukraine with several hundred millions of dollars worth of equipment. The U.S., Carter said, is involved with a multi-national training unit in Ukraine.

“This agreement makes all of that both easier and all pursuant to the purposes of transformation of the Ukrainian military,” he said.

Carter late Sept. 8 attended an official dinner with Norwegian Defence Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide. On Sept. 9 he was set to head to Oslo for a joint press conference with Søreide before returning to Washington.

LONDON–The United Kingdom’s newest class of aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, will host United States F-35s starting in 2021, U.K. Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said Sept. 7.

The Queen Elizabeth-class carriers will be the biggest and most powerful warships ever constructed for Royal Navy, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defence. The other Queen Elizabeth-class carrier will be the HMS Prince of Wales, which had its final structural section lowered into place earlier this summer, according to the Royal Navy. The HMS Queen Elizabeth will have a range of 10,000 nautical miles at 500 nautical miles per day with 65,000-ton displacement. It will also be 280 meters long and 90 meters wide.

Fallon, in a press conference with Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, said he also expects U.K. F-35s to be hosted on U.S. aircraft carriers. Carter didn’t say whether the U.S. would host British F-35s. The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) was unable return a request for comment by press time Sept. 7.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth is slated to begin sea trials in 2017 and to be handed over to the MoD on behalf of the Royal Navy and the U.K. Armed forces, according to the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, the team of BAE Systems, Thales, Babcock and the MoD that are building the carriers. The HMS Prince of Wales is set to begin sea trials in 2017.

Each of the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers can take up to 40 aircraft, both rotary and fixed wing. It is predicted they will routinely operate with 12 F-35s while being capable of carrying up to 36 F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variants. The Queen Elizabeth-class carriers are also designed to receive the latest generation of Raytheon‘s [RTN] Phalanx close-in weapon system. The carriers are also designed to receive 30mm guns and mini-guns to counter asymmetric threats.

L-3 Communications [LLL] on Sept. 7 said it has agreed to acquire Australian defense company Micreo Limited in a deal that expands its business in Australia and complements its capabilities in sensors.

Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in September, were not disclosed. Micreo has 72 employees and is expected to have $27 million in sales and be accretive to L-3’s earnings in 2017.

L-3 said the acquisition will strengthen its development of future products in the higher electronic warfare radio frequency bandwidth. Micreo’s products support various air, land and security programs in Australia and it supplies defense companies worldwide with its products.

Micreo’s products are also used in counter improvised explosive device equipment that L-3 said will enhance its existing range of man-portable and vehicle electronic counter measures equipment.

L-3’s current work in Australia includes satellite communications, maritime, warrior systems, aviation and aircraft modernization work.

“As part of L-3, Micreo will enhance our technical expertise and offerings, providing immediate synergies with L-3 products as well as adjacent growth opportunities across our existing business,” Michael Strianese, L-3’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “Importantly, this addition will help drive L-3’s international growth, wile providing cross-selling opportunities in key markets.”

Chris Kubasik, L-3’s president and chief operating officer, stated that the deal will grow L-3’s customer base in Australia and in the Asia-Pacific region. Kubasik joined L-3 last October and has been focused on realigning the businesses and growth, to include acquisitions.

L-3 had $321 million in sales from customers in Australia in 2015, up from $254 million in 2014. The company’s last acquisition in Australia was in 2008 and was for HSA Systems Pty Limited, a provider of geospatial, marine and electronic systems for maritime and defense customers. At the time, HSA had $10 million in sales.

The NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency held a cyber Threat Vector Analysis (TVA) workshop along with industry representatives in Valbonne, France on Aug. 23, the agency said Sept. 2.

Hosted by Fortinet [FTNT], the workshop focused on Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks. The goal was to better understand the evolution of DDOS attacks to better improve defenses against them.

This was the third in a series of events held since February meant to strengthen NATO and industry cyber defenses through collaborative identification of threats, techniques, practices, and procedures to counter the threats.

The NCI Agency highlighted that the TVA workshops are a key activity of the NATIO Industry Cyber Partnership (NICP), focused on developing a common taxonomy for threats and the use of standards in exchanging cyber threat information. The partnership effort acts to improve understanding and the efficiency of information sharing, ultimately hoping to achieve a better collective cyber defense, NATO said.

NATO leaders endorsed the NICP at the September 2014 Wales Summit.

“The TVA workshops illustrate what can be achieved when NATO and industry sit down together to tackle a common challenge. Through this forum, we have identified obstacles to closer collaboration on countering cyber threats and have taken steps to overcome them,” Ian West, NCI Agency Chief of Cyber Security and co-chair of the August workshop, said in a statement.

“Each workshop builds upon the one before, improving the cyber defenses of NATO and industry alike. Working together, we have already made advances in our understanding of these modern threats and how to defend against them,” he added.

Following the G-20 summit in Hangzhou, China, President Obama said in a press conference Sept. 5 that he and Russian President Putin talked about cybersecurity issues at the conference, acknowledging past intrusions from them, but noted the U.S. has the greatest capacity of any country.

Initially asked about allegations that Russia is meddling in the U.S. presidential election Obama said he would not comment on specific investigations, “But I will tell you that we’ve had problems with cyber intrusions from Russia in the past, from other countries in the past.  And, look, we’re moving into a new era here where a number of countries have significant capacities.”

However, the president said “and, frankly, we got more capacity than anybody both offensively and defensively,” but the U.S. goal is to start instituting norms so that countries act responsibly. He said the goal of these discussions on cyber norms is to avoid duplicating a cycle of escalation, like with other previous arms races.

Obama noted that countries are going to have enough problems with non-state actors stealing and using the internet for various illicit practices while countries try to protect critical infrastructure and financial systems.

“What we cannot do is have a situation in which suddenly this becomes the Wild, Wild West, where countries that have significant cyber capacity start engaging in competition — unhealthy competition or conflict through these means when, I think, wisely we’ve put in place some norms when it comes to using other weapons.”

Obama said this was a topic of conversation with Putin as well as other countries more generally. He highlighted that the U.S. has started to get other countries to adopt norms on cyber rules of behavior. Indeed, the U.S. has reached agreements with Singapore, India, Germany, Australia, South Korea, China and India over the past year broadly agreeing that countries should not conduct or support cyber attacks damaging critical infrastructure or cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property and also should cooperative with requests of assistance with other states to investigate cybercrimes.

“We’ve started to get some willingness on the part of a lot of countries around the world, including through our G-20 process, to adopt these norms, but we’ve got to make sure that we’re observing them,” Obama said.

Obama’s discussion of cyber norms of behavior at the G-20 summit is a continuation of a focus at the previous G-20 summit in Antalya, Turkey in 2015.

OXFORD, England–The Defense Department on the week of Aug. 29 started using its High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to help beat back ISIL combatants in Syria, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Sept. 7.

Carter, in a speech at the University of Oxford, said the United States had previously used air strikes and surveillance to support Turkey and vetted Syrian opposion forces to clear the remaining stretch of the Syrian side of Turkey’s border from ISIL. Carter vowed that the U.S. is willing to do more to help Turkey, including on the ground in Syria, to cut off ISIL lines to, and from, Europe.

Developed by Lockheed Martin [LMT], HIMARS is a lightweight mobile launcher, transportable by C-130 and larger aircraft, that fires guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) rockets and Army Tactical Missile System (TACMS) munitions. HIMARS consists of a launcher loader module and fire-control system mounted on a standard five-ton truck chassis. A specialized armored cab provides additional protection to the three soldiers or Marines who operate the system. HIMARS is capable of deploying MLRS rockets or one ATACMS missile 300 km.

HIMARS was among a handful of capabilities recently deployed to the region along with attack and bomber aircraft, command and control systems and attack helicopters. Carter in late July promised the 18th Airborne Corps and its commander, Army Lt. Gen. Steve Townsend, a blank check to order resources needed for the hasty defeat of the so-called Islamic State.

HIMARS was initially fielded in 2005 and, since then, 14 additional launcher battalions have been fielded with the Army and active and National Guard units. The Marine Corps received its first HIMARS launchers in 2007.

Lockheed Martin [LMT] signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with the Polish state-owned defense company Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa (PGZ) covering several defense issues that could increase Poland’s involvement in defense programs, the companies said Sept. 7.

The LoI was signed at the International Defense Industry Exhibition (MSPO) in Kielce, Poland by Jonathan Hoyle, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s Europe and Latin America division and President of PGZ Arkadiusz Siwko.

This agreement “paves the way” for PGZ member companies to be directly involved in the manufacture of products including satellite systems, aircraft, helicopters, weapons and combat systems, and training devices and simulators, the companies said.

This LoI is building on a previous agreement by PZL Mielec, a Lockheed Martin company, and PGZ at the Farnborough International Air Show signed in late July. That agreement said PGZ companies would have significant involvement in the S-70i Black Hawk helicopter program if Poland selected LMT’s subsidiary Sikorsky and PZL Mielec to provide a fleet of multirole helicopters.

This new agreement also includes involvement in the Medium Extended Air Defense Systems (MEADS), the NATO air and missile defense system; as well as a commitment to evaluating the possibility of placing a regional Black Hawk helicopter upgrade, maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility in Poland.

The companies also committed to greater involvement of PGZ member companies in the supply of weapons, components, and assemblies for products manufactured in Mielec

“This is a very significant step towards tightening the cooperation between Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa and Lockheed Martin, which is a very important partner for us. We hope this cooperation will result in strengthening our long-term partnership and our involvement in many successful projects, to the benefit of both American and Polish industry,” Siwko said in a statement.

“We believe this agreement will lead to an even deeper partnership with Poland, supporting hundreds more jobs within PGZ member companies and boosting the contribution the defense industry makes to the national economy,” Hoyle added.

Lockheed Martin currently employs over 1,500 persons in Poland following its acquisition of Sikorsky in December 2015.

General Electric [GE] on Sept. 6 said it plans to acquire two European companies that provide additive manufacturing capabilities for various industries, including aerospace, with the deals worth a combined $1.4 billion.

The two companies, Sweden’s Arcam AB and Germany’s SLM Solutions Group, will report to David Joyce, president and CEO of GE Aviation. GE said that Joyce will lead the growth of the two new companies and spearhead the integration effort to drive 3D manufacturing applications across the company.

Arcam has customers in the aerospace and healthcare industries and its electron beam melting machine performs 3D printing and produces advanced metal powders. SLM produces laser machines for metal-based additive manufacturing with customers in the aerospace, energy, healthcare and automotive industries.

“We love the technologies and leadership of Arcam AB and SLM solutions,” Joyce said in a statement. “They each bring two different, complementary additive technology modalities as individual anchors for a new GE additive equipment business to be plugged into GE’s resources and experience as leading practitioners of additive manufacturing. Over time, we plan to extend the line of additive manufacturing equipment and products.”

Arcam, which has 285 employees and had $68 million in sales in 2015, says on its website that its electron beam melting technology has applications in all segments of aerospace including commercial and military aircraft, space, missiles, and various subsystems such as engines and accessories.  The company also says its technology enables better optimization of raw materials, shorter lead times, and new design possibilities.

SLM has 260 employees and had $74 million in sales in 2015. The company is part of a private team of scientists and engineers that is working on Google’s [GOOG] lunar xprize competition to perform the first private mission to the moon. SLM’s equipment has been used to manufacture the wheels and camera observer for the team’s lunar rover.

Jeff Immelt, GE’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement that “GE’s aspirations in additive fits our long-term business model. We have world-class industrial businesses that leverage systems integration, material sciences, services and Predix. We want all of our businesses to leverage the GE Store, promote digital differentiation, and drive productivity for GE and our customers.”

Since 2015 GE has invested $1.5 billion in additive manufacturing technologies and has developed related applications across six of its businesses. GE said that the closing of its public tenders for Arcam and SLM are subject to minimum acceptance thresholds and regulatory approvals. Arcam’s and SLM’s headquarters and other key locations will remain in place.

Arcam and SLM said their board recommend that their shareholders approve GE’s offer. Arcam’s financial adviser on the deal is Carnegie Investment Bank AB.

Airbus Helicopters was set to showcase the H225M Caracal helicopter at the MSPO International Defence Industry Exhibition the week of Sept. 5 in Kielce, Poland after it landed Sept. 1 following a ferry flight from France, the company said Sept. 2.

The H225M Caracal is able to perform a wide range of missions including special operations, combat search and rescue (CSR), tactical transport, medical evacuation, and a spectrum of maritime missions. It was pre-selected by Poland’s government in 2015 and is currently operated by forces of France, Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia, and Thailand. Most recently, Kuwait ordered 30 Caracal in August, Airbus said.

The Caracel was originally developed by Eurocopter, now Airbus Helicopters, and was originally designated the EC725. It is the latest member of the company’s Super Puma/Cougar family of helicopters.

The company highlighted its presence at the exhibition is in line with its “Make in Poland” ambition and that it will aim to emphasize its global commitment of long-term cooperation in the country.

In addition to the H225M, Airbus will also place a Tiger HAD helicopter in its upcoming Kruk acquisition project frame, and a real H145M Helicopter from the German armed forces on the company static display.

The Tiger is designed for armed reconnaissance, air or ground escort, air-to-air combat, ground firing support, destruction, and anti-tank warfare in various conditions. It has been used in deployments to Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Libya, and Mali. The K145M was certified in 2015 and is the latest member of Airbus’ 4-ton-class twin-engine rotorcraft product range.

The company also said other space and defense products would be displayed at its MSPO International Defence Industry Exhibition stand. This includes the A330 MRTT tanker/transport aircraft, a model of the Europfighter Typhoon combat aircraft, the Orlik Multi-purpose Trainer (MPT) aircraft built and maintained in Poland, and the Astrobus S Earth observation satellite.

Airbus has over 900 direct jobs located in Poland and is aiming to create 6,000 direct and indirect jobs in the country over the new few years  as part of multiple cooperation projects, the company said.