Italian Airpower Modernization: A Discussion with the Editor of Rivista Italiana Difesa

10/09/2015
2015-10-07  By Robbin Laird During my recent trip to Italy, I had a chance to discuss with senior Italian Air Force officers the way ahead with regard to Italian airpower. The Italians, like the British, are undergoing a double transition, whereby the Eurofighter is being modernized in two ways: namely,…

Hijack for Profit: The Evolving South East Asian Piracy Model

10/08/2015
2015-10-07 By Karsten von Hoesslin,Manager of Special Projects, Risk Intelligence There are 18 networks accounted for within South East Asia and 65 upper-tier players have been identified in the author’s network analysis. Upper-tier players consist of fixers (middlemen), boarding team leaders, recruiters, forgers, so-called ‘big bosses’, and buyers. Boarding team…

2015 SACT Change of Command: The Transformation Command Faces a Transformed Strategic Environment

10/08/2015
2015-10-08 by Murielle Delaporte On September 30th, 2015, a change of command ceremony took place in Norfolk, Virginia, during which NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg presided over the official handover of the post of Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) from General Jean-Paul Paloméros to General Denis Mercier and awarded the…

The Australians Participate in Norwegian F-35 Missile Program

10/07/2015
2015-10-07 An element of the F-35 global enterprise is the possibility for allies to collaborate among themselves on building new missiles for the platform. Meteor is clearly one example and the Norwegian maritime strike missile is another. According to a story in Australian Aviation published on September 22, 2015: The…