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The Certainty of Uncertainty: Brazil and Its Fall Presidential Elections

06/20/2018By Kenneth Maxwell With the Presidential election in Brazil due this October the country remains profoundly split between uncompromising extremes. And the political scene remains highly uncertain. Hovering in the background is the figure of the ex-president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, better known as Lula. He is a former two-term president who is now in prison charged… Read more »

An Update on Leveraging the F-35 in Shaping a Way Ahead: The Perspective of Air Commodore David Bradshaw

06/19/2018By Robbin Laird Air Commodore Bradshaw was appointed as Lighting Force Commander, Royal Air Force Marham in April 2017 and he succeeded Air Commodore now Air Vice-Marshal H. Smyth. Earlier, I have had the chance to discuss the standing up of the F-35 within the RAF with Air Vice-Marshal Smyth and that conversation in 2016 highlighted the core significance of… Read more »

Working F-35-HIMARS Integration: Shaping a Way Head for a 21st Century Distributed Shooter-Sensor Capability

06/19/2018By Robbin Laird During my latest visit to MAWTS-1 in May 2018, the work of the MAWTS-1 team during WTI-18-2 was the focus of attention. MAWTS-1 is working on reshaping Marine Corps approaches to moving forward from a primary focus on counter intersurgency. The strategic shift from counter-insurgency to contested operations was the focus of the most recent seminar of… Read more »

SANDF Way Ahead: Priorities and Challenges

06/19/2018By defenceWeb The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has revealed its short and long term priorities, including border safeguarding, anti-piracy patrol and continental peacekeeping, which it aims to pursue in spite of severe funding cuts. In the Department of Defence 2018 Annual Performance Plan, Secretary for Defence Dr Sam Gulube states that “the Department of Defence continues to defend and… Read more »

Launching the Second Hundred Years of the RAF: Setting in Motion UK F-35 Operations

06/16/2018By Robbin Laird In early May 2018, I visited RAF Marham where the RAF and the Royal Navy was getting ready to receive their F-35s which have been operating in the United States with the USMC and the US Air Force, the former at MCAS Beaufort Air Station and the later at Edwards Air Force Base. Those jets arrived at… Read more »

The HMS Queen Elizabeth and Crafting the Way Ahead for Its Initial Deployment

06/15/2018By Robbin Laird The coming of the HMS Queen Elizabeth to the UK combat force is a trigger for significant defense transformation. Most of the analysis of the new carrier really focuses on the platform and what is necessary to get that platform operational but that is far too narrow an approach. The carrier is a centerpiece, trigger or magnet… Read more »

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The Nordics and the Strategic Shift

05/25/2018The Russian seizure of Crimea and other aspects of its global activism have had a significant effect on the Nordics. The Nordics are working mores closely together to deal with the strategic shift. And they are adding new capabilities to shape a more effective approach to crisis management and deterrence in depth. Download PDF Now »