By Robbin Laird Australia stands at a strategic crossroads. The Pentagon's last-minute withdrawal from the Indo-Pacific Deterrence Dialogue in Canberra, coupled with the Trump administration's review of AUKUS and escalating trade tensions, has crystallized a fundamental challenge for Australian strategists: how to maintain essential alliance relationships while building the strategic…
Australia faces one of the world's most daunting maritime surveillance challenges. With responsibility for approximately 10 percent of the world's ocean surface and 59,700 kilometers of coastline, the Australian Maritime Border Command (MBC) has long struggled with the fundamental problem of insufficient assets and manpower to effectively monitor such vast…
Armenia is executing a careful but decisive pivot away from Russia toward closer integration with the European Union and United States, driven by Moscow's failure to protect Armenian interests during the Azerbaijan conflict and Russia's broader decline as a reliable security guarantor. The EU's nuanced approach, offering partnership without demanding…
By Pasquale Preziosa South Asia, long considered the epicenter of geopolitical rivalry — particularly between India and Pakistan — is now entering a new era of heightened complexity. The region’s established fault lines are being reshaped not only by traditional animosities but also by global shifts: the redefinition of United…
By Robbin Laird The Philippines is pioneering a revolutionary "porcupine defense" strategy that uses distributed maritime autonomous systems to create defensive geometries that complicate adversary attack profiles while providing multiple axis points for disruption — proving that innovative, cost-effective platforms can effectively challenge traditional maritime power projection. A New Paradigm…
By Robbin Laird In combat, reliability isn't just important. It's everything. Seconds count and missions hang in the balance. So it’s good news that Congress just made a $160 million investment in combat readiness with the Osprey Nacelle Improvement Program, which will keep America's most versatile aircraft in the fight.…
2016-03-02 Our colleague Air Vice Marshal (Retired) John Blackburn has focused attention on the energy security shortfall for Australia for some time. As an island continent at the bottom of the Asia Pacific region, Australia is heavily dependent upon liquid energy imports and with a rapidly disappearing domestic refinery production capacity,…
2016-01-30 Recently, our partner defenceWeb looked at the evolving challenges of maritime defense and security seen from South Africa. Thursday, 28 January 2016 Economic growth through development of the ocean economy as part of Operation Phakisa requires effective maritime surveillance and defence, with nearly 4 000 kilometres of South Africa’s…
