Rudy Ruitenberg
Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.
All Stories By Rudy
British troops test laser weapon as cheap option to fry drones
The British Army’s experimental laser weapon uses advanced sensors and tracking systems to maintain lock on target.
France, UK embrace fully drone-based naval mine hunting with new tech
Novel systems include a portable operations center, unmanned surface vehicles for finding mines, and underwater drones for disabling them.
Europe picks consortium for sovereign satellite constellation IRIS²
The EU is counting on IRIS² as a sovereign alternative to the likes of Starlink, Amazon’s Kuiper or U.K.-based OneWeb.
Europe launches space mission in defense against city-killer asteroids
The Hera mission will investigate the result of NASA’s asteroid redirection test, in which the U.S. agency rammed a spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos.
European militaries rush to catch up on space traffic mapping
“We have no map of space, it’s a drama for the military,” said Col. Ludovic Monnerat, head of space domain for the Swiss Armed Forces.
France plans low-orbit demonstrator that can target other satellites
The nanosatellite won’t be weaponized, though it may include a “dazzling” capacity, according to the general in charge.
France tests space lasers for secure satellite downlink in world first
The point-to-point nature of lasers makes them more secure than radio frequencies, and they can’t be jammed the way radio can.
Ariane 6 launch returns in-house space access to Europe’s armed forces
The new rocket has an order book for 30 launches, according to Caroline Arnoux, head of the Ariane 6 program at Arianespace.
