Why Prime Minister Albanese Must be Careful About NATO Commitments

06/27/2022
By Paul Dibb Prime Minister Albanese is attending the NATO Summit in Madrid on 28 June, along with the leaders of Japan and South Korea and representatives from Sweden and Finland. President Zelensky has also invited him to visit Ukraine after the NATO leader’s summit. There will clearly be expectations…

Cross-Decking and Distributed Maritime Operations

06/27/2022
According to a story published by 3rd Marine Air Wing on August 20, 2021, VMFA-211 conducted the first cross-deck aviation mission in modern naval history. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 211 conducted a first-of-its-kind operation which saw F-35B aircraft launched from HMS Queen Elizabeth land on the amphibious assault ship…

Preparing for Kill Web Concepts of Operations: Squaring the Testing-Training Circle

06/25/2022
By Robbin Laird For the Australians, it is called fifth generation warfare. For the British, it is called the integrated operating concept. For DARPA, it is called mosaic warfare. For me, it is kill web concepts of operations. But what is entailed is building a distributed force that is integratable…

The 40th Anniversary of the Falklands War: ‘Global’ Britain and Reality

06/22/2022
By Kenneth Maxwell On 14 June 2022, the UK remembered the 40 year anniversary of the Falklands War. Looking back provides insights as well with regard to the state of "global" Britain. In the age of the Brexiters self-proclaimed “global Britain’ two very distinguished British historians, the late Michael Howard…

China’s Informal Empire in Latin America: The Challenge for the Biden Administration

06/18/2022
China has focused under the regime of President Xi on building out its global informal empire. By trade and investment, China has become a key player in Africa and Latin America. Its practices in doing so have a number of questionable dimensions, but instead of highlighting the reality of Chinese…

The Shaping of Amphibious Task Forces Within a Wider Maritime Kill Web Force

06/17/2022
By Robbin Laird The evolution of the amphibious force and shaping amphibious task forces can contribute significantly to expanded capabilities for maneuver warfare at sea. By leveraging the new air capabilities, adding new defensive and offensive systems on the fleet, and expanding the C2 and ISR capabilities of the fleet,…

Australia and France: New Governments and Next Steps

06/14/2022
By Pierre Tran Paris - Australia seeks to calm troubled waters by paying shipbuilder Naval Group (NG) €555 million (US $581 million) for sinking a large French submarine deal, with Canberra pledging to resume close relations with Paris. That desire to be mates again with France follows the Australian Labor…

Unmanned Integration at Sea: A Perspective on Task Force 59

06/13/2022
By Robbin Laird We are working on a longer term effort examining how autonomous systems can be integrated into fleet operations. Most analysis of the way ahead with regard to maritime unmanned, remote or autonomous systems has focused on the challenge of shaping acceptance of trusted autonomous systems, which makes…