French Naval Group and the Greek Navy: Building out the FDI Frigate

10/27/2019
By Pierre Tran LORIENT, France - The Greek navy chief of staff was foreign guest of honor at the Oct. 24 ceremony of first cutting of steel for the frigate for defense and intervention (FDI), signaling Naval Group’s aim to help close a sale of the new French warship. Admiral…

In the Rebuild of the Australian Navy: The Government Looks to Key Role for Industrial Partnerships

10/09/2019
By Robbin Laird As I have argued earlier that the rebuild of the Australian Navy is not just a whole of government effort but a whole of society effort, if it is to succeed. The Australian Chief of the Navy, Vice Admiral Mike Noonan, emphasized in his presentation in the…

Finland Builds a New Class of Maritime Surface Warfare Corvettes

10/02/2019
According to a story published on the Finnish Ministry of Defence website on September 19, 2019. the Finns are to build a new class of surface warfare corvettes to replace their legacy vessels. At its plenary session on 19 September 2019, the Government authorised the Defence Forces Logistics Command to…

Challenges for the Australian Submarine Enterprise

09/13/2019
By Marcus Hellyer The word on the street is that the government intends to make a decision by Christmas on whether to relocate full-cycle dockings of the Collins-class submarines from Osborne in South Australia to Henderson in Western Australia. Full-cycle dockings are the two-year-long deep overhauls that ASC conducts to…

Dassault’s Perspective on the Way Ahead on European Defense Projects

09/06/2019
By Pierre Tran, Paris European industry needs much patience as key nations have yet to agree on requirements and budgets for a planned Future Combat Air System (FCAS) and a medium-altitude, long-endurance drone, Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier said Sept 4. France, Germany and Spain have yet to sign contracts for technology…

Thinking Post-Brexit: Serco Looks to Expand Footprint in the French Market

08/04/2019
By Pierre Tran Paris - Serco is seeking to break into the French defense market with offers of support services to military commanders, part of the British company’s bid to triple sales in Continental Europe in the next four years, two directors said. That drive to win French outsourcing deals…

The UK Launches its Loyal Wingman Program

07/31/2019
In our recent report on Australian and UK defence transformation, we highlighted the opportunity for the two nations to collaborate on a number of efforts, one of which is a remote platform or family of platforms to worked with manned platforms, notably in the Australian case with its loyal wingman…