The Need for an Australian National Security Strategy: The Perspective of Senator Jim Molan

04/08/2019
By Robbin Laird During my current visit to Canberra in support of the Williams Foundation seminar which will focus on enhanced sustainability for Australian defense efforts, it is not surprising that I have been talking with Australians about how to do so. It is clear that as we address the…

Building the New and Modernizing the Old for Frigates in the Australian Navy: The Perspective of Marcus Hellyer

04/08/2019
By Robbin Laird Last year, the Australian navy announced that they would build a new class of frigates, the Hunter class. This new class will be built-in Australia with BAE Systems as the prime contractor. The Brits and the Aussies will work together on this new launch platform and the…

Royal Navy Success in Enforcing North Korean Sanctions

04/07/2019
According to a story published on the UK MoD website on April 5, 2019, a Royal Navy vessel conducting United Nations sanctions enforcement against North Korea has successfully tracked an illegal transfer at sea. Working alongside Japanese partners, HMS MONTROSE spotted a North Korean ship in the East China Sea, alongside…

Huawei, 5G Networks: ASPI Provides a Case Study With Regard to Restoring Infrastructure Sovereignty

04/06/2019
With 2014 came the end of an era. It was apparent that authoritarian powers were back and in many ways’ ascendant. The response by the liberal democracies has been varied and differentiated. Some have taken it seriously; others hope that the past period of hope for a globalized democratization process…

Germany’s Embargo on Saudi Arabia and the Limits of European Arms Cooperation (Updated)

04/05/2019
By Pierre Tran Paris - Germany’s renewal of an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia effectively casts doubt as the lead partner for France to build a future fighter jet, drone, and tank, key projects to boost consolidation in the European defense industry. Berlin on March 28 extended by a further…

From Legacy Training to Training a Crisis Management Force: 5th Gen and the Kill Web

04/04/2019
By Robbin Laird An ability to actually have a kill web force requires the training to actually do it. Training will need to occur on two levels. First, in the live environment, working the physical pieces of operating ADA with Naval Systems with Air Systems and working the C2 architecture…

Luke’s F-35 5-year Anniversary

04/04/2019
Luke AFB is where the F-35 global enterprise has been launched. Pilots AND maintainers have been trained for the USAF and all the partner nations which have purchased the F-35A. They fly together — including flying each other's airplanes — and maintain together. When we use the term F-35 global…