Recently, the PACFLEET Commander, Admiral Paparo, provided the keynote address at the WEST 2023 conference held in San Diego from February 14 through 16 2023. That presentation provides his perspective on joint and partner operations in the Pacific and how they are working together to address deterrence in defense. The…
By Robbin Laird To deal with the challenges in the Pacific, the United States has and will continue to have a significant shortfall in core platforms to implement a classic warfighting strategy. That is why I wrote a book with my colleagues published in 2013 entitled, Rebuilding American Military Power…
By Pierre Tran Paris - Close U.S. scrutiny of arms exports, Franco-German cooperation, and how the French procurement office is short changed are among areas considered in a report on French foreign sales of weapons by the national audit office. The head of the independent audit office approved on Jan. 24 publication…
By Pierre Tran Paris - France took a financial hit of €409 million ($440 million) as a result of its 2015 cancellation of the sale of two helicopter carriers to Russia, the national audit office said in its report on French arms exports. “In total, taking into account the result…
by Robbin Laird I was fascinated to read an interview with the USCG Pacific Commander which was published by The Wall Street Journal. In an article by Mike Cherney, we learn that the Biden Administration wants the USCG to expand its footprint amid competition with China. The only problem with…
By Robbin Laird The impact of the war on the European front-line states is very significant. It also one of the most underreported aspects of the dynamics of change within Europe. Much of the U.S. coverage is upon European solidarity, NATO, and the arming of the Ukrainians. Yet the challenges…
By Robbin Laird During the first week of January 2023, I had the chance to travel to San Diego to visit Camp Pendleton and various U.S. Naval commands. The visit to Pendleton was to MAG-39. The history of MAG-39 can be found at the end of the article. I had…
"Retired army general, Petr Pavel, has been elected the next president of Czechia. Mr. Pavel won the runoff against former prime minister Andrej Babiš, by the biggest margin ever in the history of Czech presidential elections. With all votes counted, Petr Pavel got over 58.3 percent of the vote, his…
