The Royal Air Force is deployed on Operation AZOTIZE in Estonia in support of Baltic Air Policing. And earlier this month engaged in its “seventeenth QRA scramble resulting in an intercept since the RAF took over enhanced Air Policing (eAP) from the German Air Force on 3 May 2019 as…
We argued in our 2103 book on Pacific strategy, that Japan would work to enhance its perimeter defense and move eventually towards what we called a two anchor appraoch. We argued that expanded perimeter defense is a key part of what we referred to as the “dynamic defense” phase in…
By Sergeant Max Bree and Corporal Mark Carter Bombing capacity of F-35As has quadrupled with the arrival of small diameter bombs introduced to No. 3 Squadron in June. The GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb, Increment 1 (SDB1), packs about 16kg of modern high explosive, guided by GPS-aided inertial navigation. Wing Commander…
By Robbin Laird Recently, both the UK Ministry of Defence and Norwegian Ministry of Defence websites highlighted the meeting between the UK Minister of Defence and the Norwegian States Security of Defence held at RAF Lossiemouth in August 2019. Defence Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan hosted Norwegian State Secretary Tone Skogen to…
In 2016, Vice Admiral James Foggo III, currently commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe, spoke of the current situation in the North Atlantic as the arrival of the fourth battle of the Atlantic. “In the early 1990s, the end of the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and…
The WA Indo-Pacific Defence conference is the flagship defence industry and defence issues conference. This year’s conference examined topics such as; ‘Partnership roles’, ‘industry support for the changing operational environment’, ‘New frontiers in Defence including the evolving role of technology and WA’s STEM agenda’, ‘Defence industry applications for WA’s battery…
With the Southern flank of NATO and indeed Southern Europe in a period of significant change even upheaval, one adaptation by NATO to the situation has been to set up what it refers to has NATO Hub South. In our forthcoming book on The Return of Direct Defense in Europe:…
U.S. Air Force Special Tactics Operators assess, secure, open and secure airspace for a forward arming and refueling point mission from an MC-130J Commando II to two F-35A Lightening IIs and two F-15E Strike Eagles during Operation Rapid Forge at Ämari Air Base, Estonia, July 25, 2019. Special Tactics is…
