Putin Bails Out the Troika of Tyranny

11/19/2018
By Stephen Blank Recently John Bolton, Director of the National Security Council, gave a speech attacking what he called the Troika of Tyranny: Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, and announcing new sanctions on these states. Perhaps it is not coincidental that Bolton’s speech, announcing a new tough-minded U.S. policy towards Latin America,…

Nigerian JF-17 Acquisition

11/15/2018
by defenceWeb Pakistan has provided an $184 million government guarantee to cover production of JF-17 Thunder fighter jets for the Nigerian Air Force as the Nigerian government continues to fund the type. Pakistan’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) approved the $184.3 million sovereign guarantee for the production of three Pakistan Aeronautical…

China, South Africa and Military Logistics

11/15/2018
By Kabelo Tsogang A delegation from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Central Military Commission Logistics Support division, steered by its Deputy Chief of Administrative Office, Senior Colonel Huang Dongping, have visited the South African Department of Defence Logistics Division in Pretoria and Cape Town to finalise hosting the first military…

Rethinking Networks from a 5th Gen Perspective

11/15/2018
By Ian McDonald AM, MSc, DipEng & AVM John Blackburn (Retd) AO, MA, MDefStud The phrase “5th Generation” (Gen) is often dismissed as just another fad, whilst totally missing the paradigm shift in both technology and operations that is implied or intended by it. It is envisaged that mature 5th…

An Update on Trident Juncture 2018: The Strategic Context

11/09/2018
Trident Juncture 2018 is a major NATO exercise which is focused on Northern Tier defense. It also is an exercise for the Norwegians in mobilizing their society to deal with crises in the region in which NATO forces would be called upon to operate from Norwegian soil. A key part…

The Shift from Expeditionary Operations to Direct Defense: Denmark Reworks Its National C2 Approach

11/09/2018
The liberal democracies are facing a significant strategic shift from a primary focus on the counter-terrorism and land wars in the Middle East focus to one involving peer competitors and the threat of force-on-force direct defense challenges. And this is unfolding in a post-post Cold War world in which the…

India Operationalizes Nuclear Triad

11/07/2018
By India Strategic Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi received the crew of Strategic Strike Nuclear Submarine (SSBN) INS Arihant Nov 5, 2018. The submarine recently returned from its first deterrence patrol, completing the establishment of the country’s survivable nuclear triad. Stressing the significance of the successful deployment of INS Arihant…

The F-35 Digital Thread Production Process: Donald Kinard Provides an Overview

11/07/2018
Don Kinard, Senior Fellow for F-35 Production, provided an overview on the history and the evolution of the F-35 production process. It is a process built around digital thread production and is both benefiting from and contributing to what is called industry 4.0. According to Wikipedia, Industry 4.0 is defined…