By Robbin Laird Last week, the Pentagon announced that Raytheon has won a $14.8 million contract to purchase the Naval Strike Missile for the Littoral Combat Ship and to put it in line to do the same for the new class of frigates which the US Navy is postured to…
MBDA is building a new generation of missile defense capabilities, built in part around a common missile. Recently, the UK MoD announced the arrival of the Sea Ceptor for its frigates. he Sea Ceptor is a sea-based supersonic missile defence system developed by MBDA for the UK’s Royal Navy. The…
The defense industrial side of Brexit is clearly tied up with the general dynamics of whatever trade and circulation of skills and labor generally agreed to between the UK and the European Union. But defense is an area where exceptions in regulations are often the rule; but they clearly are…
By Robbin Laird MAWTS-1 plays a unique role within the USMC and in the joint force. In our book on the reshaping of Pacific strategy and the role of new technologies and concepts of operations, we highlighted the role of the warfighting centers in the development and evolution of US…
By Robbin Laird I had the chance to visit HMS Queen Elizabeth in Scotland as the carrier was being built. During a visit to Portsmouth in late April 2018, I had a chance to see the carrier again and to talk with senior UK Navy and industrial personnel involved in…
By Stephen Blank For Clausewitz war was a chameleon. And what we now call hybrid war is inherently a protean chameleon-like process encompassing many dimensions of human activity that are or have hitherto not been thought to be connected with war. Venezuela, both of its own accord and as a Russian…
The HMS Queen Elizabeth is designed as a fast jet carrier for strike operations but also able to operate assault operations as well. For the assault mission, Leonardo has developed a new variant of the Merlin helicopter. According to a story published on the UK Ministry of Defence website on…
By Robbin Laird The Royal Norwegian Air Force is transitioning from an F-16 to an all F-35 air combat force as part of both Air Force modernization and overall defense transformation for the Norwegian forces. The coming of the F-35 and the interaction between the standup of the F-35 and…
