The PRC Expands its Global Presence: The African Case

03/08/2013
2013-03-08 By Richard Weitz In the past decade, Sino-African relations have increased in importance. Recent trends point to Chinese involvement in three areas of interest: economic policy, diplomacy, and military cooperation. Beijing’s policies with reference to sub-Saharan Africa reflect clear goals: 1)    expanding export markets (to Africa’s growing middle class) 2)   …

The Seabase in Evolution: The Navy’s New Mobile Landing Platform

03/08/2013
2013-03-05 by Robbin Laird and Murielle Delaporte This past Saturday, we attended the christening of the latest US Navy ship at General Dynamics’s NASSCO shipyard in San Diego. Fully loaded, the new ship will displace more than 80,000 tons – yet it isn’t an aircraft carrier. Instead, the USNS Montford…

First Production A400M Completes Successful Flight

03/07/2013
2013-03-07 According to an Airbus Military press release of March 6, 2013: [caption id="attachment_51288" align="alignnone" width="300"] The first French A400M will be delivered soon. Credit: Airbus Military[/caption] The first production Airbus Military A400M new generation airlifter has made its maiden flight, marking a key milestone towards its delivery to the…

Can US Industry Turn Innovative Products Into Volume Production?

03/07/2013
2013-03-07 By Richard A. McCormack, [email protected] http://www.manufacturingnews.com Structural changes in U.S. industry over the past 30 years caused primarily by the financial sector's insatiable quest for profits have left "gaping holes" in the American system of scaling up new technologies to large-scale production, according to preliminary findings from a study…

China and African Peacekeeping

03/07/2013
2013-03-07 by Richard Weitz In the past decade, the PLA has increasingly participated in multilateral peacekeeping operations in Africa. Since 2000—when China deployed fewer than 100 peacekeepers—there has been nearly a twenty-fold increase in troops-on-the-ground. In recent years, China has provided more troops, police, and observer teams to UN peacekeeping…