By Robbin Laird During the past couple of years, I have focused on the part of Europe which is very serious about defense, namely, Northern Europe. The Danes, the Norwegians, the Swedes and the Finns, all have refocused efforts on defense of their nations, but in a broader regional context.…
By Robbin Laird Maintainability is a key aspect to ensure aircraft availability to support combat operations. The readiness crisis of the past few years has also included the challenge of upgrading maintenance support efforts as well. The strategic shift from counter-insurgency to preparing for force-on-force conflict and a more rapid…
The Ministry of Defence’s hunt for gamers and amateur coders to become cyber Reserves has led to a massive increase in applications, creating an elite force of specialists ready to support operations using their unique cyber skills. According to the UK Ministry of Defence in an article published on June…
Australia's just selected a new build BAE Systems frigate to provide a new capability for the Royal Australian Navy. The projected cost is $35 billion to build nine high-tech, anti-submarine frigates. According to ABC Australia: The contract is a key building block in the Federal Government's defence industry plan, which…
The UK is leading a Joint Expeditionary Force or JEF, which draws upon a pool of high readiness forces from nine partner nations across Europe. This Spring, the JEF carried out its final validation exercises in Joint Warrior held between April 20 and May 5 2018. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson…
According to an article published by the Italian Ministry of Defence on June 12, 2018, the role of the Italian Navy recently participated in a recent counter-piracy operation in the Indian Ocean. The first counter-piracy exercise conducted in the Indian Ocean - which saw the participation of Italian Navy Frigate…
By Robbin Laird The UK is in the throes of a major defense modernization. And like the United States, beginning a process of change is one thing, but funding the modernization process through to getting maximum effect is another. The UK faces financial challenges associated with Brexit and an uncertain…
With Britain sorting out Brexit and the European states facing an uncertain future over the way ahead with regard to the structure of Europe itself, defense becomes a vortex for both continuity and change. On the one hand, President Macron has been reaching out to include Britain in the future…
