2017-08-23 By Robbin Laird I have been writing for some time about the strategic shift or one could call revolution to building software upgradeable systems. The new multi-mission platforms on sea or in the air such as the Australian ANZAC Class frigates or the Wedgetail are simply different from legacy…
2017-08-23 By Robbin Laird During my current visit to Canberra in August 2017, I was able to continue my discussion with Officer Commanding No 42 Wing, Group Captain Stuart Bellingham about the Wedgetail and its evolution. After the recent presentation by the head of the USAF Materiel Command underscored the…
2017-08-29 The PRC is not simply playing classic global power politics. They are working within key allied nations, including key ones like Australia and the United States, to achieve their power ambilitions. In an interview earlier this month, Ross Babbage, the Australian strategist discussed the challenge as follows: We then…
2017-08-25 By Robbin Laird Last year I had a chance to talk with the Commander of the Surveillance Response Group Air Commodore Craig Heap about the way ahead for this unique and key part of the RAAF. In our discussion, he argued that the aperture needed to be opened on…
2017-08-24 By Richard Weitz Although Sino-U.S. military ties have showed surprising residence in the phase of numerous China-U.S. security differences, they lag considerably behind Beijing’s defense relations with Moscow. During the last week of July, the Chinese and Russian navies conducted a week of joint drills in the Baltic Sea,…
2017-08-22 By Danny Lam Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich believing that he settled the Czechoslovakian problem, “Peace for our time”. Chamberlain earnestly believed that Hitler was like any other European statesman who is core concern is the survival of the Nazi German regime, and the rapid pace of…
2017-08-25 By Robbin Laird There seems to be a growing and vast literature on Brexit: pro and con, and increasingly framing the negotiations and the way ahead. And this could prove to be longer than many people believe. Article 50, the exit clause, in the European treaty, allows for continued…
2017-08-21 By Kenneth Maxwell The long and troubled legacy of slavery unfolded again last weekend in Charlottesville, which is the home of the University of Virginia. Thomas Jefferson designed its Rotunda. His recently restored statue stands before it. This is where the white "nationalists" marched with their burning torches, as…
