2014-11-29 By Harald Malmgren Economics, politics and global threats are reinforcing a shift away from the globalism of the past thirty years and posing the possibility of a new phase of global development, in which nationalism returns as a clearer definer of the way ahead for the global system. It…
2014-12-03 by defenceWeb Nigeria, long targeted as a potential customer for the Chinese/Pakistani JF-17 Thunder jet, is close to ordering one or two squadrons, according to reports from Pakistan. IHS Jane's Defence Weekly quoted a senior Pakistani Ministry of Defence official at the IDEAS 2014 exhibition in Pakistan as saying…
2014-12-03 By Gulshan Luthra The Government is fast-tracking modernization of equipment with the armed forces, and it was “comforting” for the Navy to know that long-pending requirements were now being procedurally cleared. Stating this, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Robin Dhowan told India Strategic in an interview that notwithstanding the delay in…
2014-12-03 According to a BBC news story, the Royal Navy's first squadron of unmanned aircraft, commonly known as drones, has been formed in Cornwall. The 700X Naval Air Squadron has been established at RNAS Culdrose, Helston, to fly the pilotless aircraft. The Royal Navy said the establishment of the new squadron…
2014-11-25 By Robbin Laird Both the UK and Italy will operate a mixed Eurofighter and F-35 fleet. Both have operated the Tornado, which is reaching the end of its service life. Both will sort through evolutions of the Eurofighter to encompass some of the mission sets for Tornado as the…
2014-12-02 Our colleague Amatzia Baram has recently published a new book on Iraq. We have interviewed Baram, a leading expert on Iraq, published an essay by him and have leveraged his work to suggest a shift in US policy towards Iraq. http://sldinfo.wpstage.net/isil-and-a-cascading-regional-crisis-a-conversation-with-amatzia-baram-2/ http://sldinfo.wpstage.net/in-iraq-back-to-the-tribes/ http://sldinfo.wpstage.net/president-obama-and-his-historic-opportunity-in-iraq/ His new book looks at the evolution…
2014-11-14 By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake After our visit to the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center at Fallon Naval Air Station where we focused on the training for the current and evolving integrated strike group, we had a chance to discuss our experience with Rear Admiral Michael Manazir,…
2014-11-28 The UK has added new tankers and is starting the process of adding a new airlifter to its lift fleet, the A400M. This follows the first operational squadron being set up in France. According to a piece by Murielle Delaporte based on a visit to the French base: The…
