Fincantieri and Naval Group Move Forward on Cooperation: The Poseidon Project

06/17/2019
By Pierre Tran Paris - Fincantieri and Naval Group (NG) signed June 14 an agreement setting out cooperation on their Poseidon project, a joint venture aimed at boosting Italian and French collaboration in building and selling warships for navies at home and abroad. “Following the announcement made on 23 October 2018,…

Thales and the Future Combat Air System

06/14/2019
By Pierre Tran Paris - French electronics company Thales expects to bring greater network connection and speeded up responses as contributions to the Future Combat Air System, a project key to the concept of European defense backed by president Emmanuel Macron. “Clearly the role that we intend to play, in…

India Adds a New Attack Submarine: The Vela

05/28/2019
By India Strategic Vela, the fourth Scorpene class submarine being constructed by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited for the Indian Navy, was launched 06 May 2019, by Mrs Veena Ajay Kumar, wife of Dr Ajay Kumar, IAS, Secretary Defence Production, who was the Chief Guest on the occasion. VAdm AK Saxena,…

Manufacturing the CH-53K: Adding a Key Crisis Management Capability to the Force

05/22/2019
The CH-53K provides a truly unique heavy lift capability. Not only is it fully designed to operate in a wide variety of support missions from the sea base, but it is built as a digital aircraft from the ground up. Given its digital systems, it can work with a variety…

Shaping an Integrated at Sea Force: The Case of the New Build Australian Off-Shore Patrol Vessels

05/12/2019
By Robbin Laird Two broad findings can be drawn from my five years of visiting Australia and working with the Australian Defence Force. The first is that they are very focused on building out as integrated a force as they are capable of doing, and that means not only leveraging…

The Australian Elections and Australian Shipbuilding

05/02/2019
By Marcus Hellyer Yesterday (April 29, 2019) from the election campaign trail in Western Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison made some naval shipbuilding announcements relating to the Royal Australian Navy’s mine-clearing and hydrographic capabilities. Speaking from the Henderson shipyard south of Perth, he announced that more ships would be built in ……

French-Australian Cultural Challenges and the Submarine Program

05/02/2019
In an article by Andrew Greene, defense correspondent for Australia's ABC news, the author leveraged Pierre Tran's article published on Second Line of Defense to discuss the French-Australian working relationship around which a new submarine is to be designed, built and launched. The story was published on April 26, 2019,…

Ending US Dependence on Russian Rocket Engines: The Danger of Further Delays

04/23/2019
By Richard Weitz The U.S. Congress has a welcome opportunity to end U.S. dependence on Russian rocket engines for its national security satellites. However, Congress needs to proceed with the existing agreed timetable to avoid unnecessary deals that risk U.S. national security. Members recognize that the United States can leverage…