By Max Blenkin The big grey warships, the frigates and guided missile destroyers, may well be the star athletes of the modern Royal Australian Navy, but it’s always been the little ships which did most of the work. The numbers tell the story. Budget documents for 2019-20 show the Navy’s minor combatants, the patrol boat fleet and minehunters, achieved 4,098…

By Lieutenant Commander Kelli Lunt An Australian command task group element was based in a Japanese ship for the first time during a mine counter-measures exercise in Japan. Minehunters HMA Ships Diamantina and Gascoyne, together with a commander task group, participated in Exercise Hyuga Nada, a mine counter-measures exercise, off the coast of…

By Robbin Laird At last year’s International Fighter Conference, the team working on the Franco-German Future Combat System program provided an overview on the launch of the effort. At this year’s conference, the team provided an update on progress over the first year, and underscored key timelines into what was…

By Robbin Laird I have just returned from Berlin. I attended the International Fighter Conference 2019 and visited Checkpoint Charlie and shared thoughts with German friends of the thirty-year anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Both events had much in common – the Cold War is over but…

On October 15th and 16th, the JMSDF conducted bilateral exercise KAEDEX 2019-2 with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) in waters and airspace south of Kanto region. The exercise aims to enhancing the JMSDF’s tactical skills and strengthening relations with the RCN. In the exercise, two JMSDF destroyers, JS Shimakaze and JS Chokai, and…

We have argued that the liberal democracies are facing the challenge of full spectrum crisis management in dealing with the 21st century authoritarian powers. The Nordics certainly get the point. No one more so than the Finns. A recent article on the Finnish Ministry of Defence website highlights a new…

By Robbin Laird At last year’s International Fighter Conference, the Future Combat Air System or FCAS was introduced as a new Franco-German Initiative. At this year’s IFC, an update on the program was provided by the French Air Force, the German Ministry of Defence and Airbus Space and Defence. A…

In this report, the major presentations and discussions at the Williams Foundation seminar on the requirements for fifth generation manoeuvre held on October 24, 2019 in Canberra, Australia are highlighted along with interviews conducted before, during and after the seminar as well.  What is fifth generation manoeuvre? The definition by…