The International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), with roots in preventing the proliferation of international weapons, has morphed over the decades into what appears to be a policy to keep America first to the rest of the world. Today, American manufacturers see it as an obstacle to their business and…
The creation of defense bases is by nature organizational. The goal is to put support capabilities in common on a territorial and joint basis, since all French MoD structures physically located near the defense base are to be supported by the "Defense Base Support Group" (GSBdD or "Groupement de Soutien…
The recent China-based cyber attacks on more than thirty Silicon Valley companies, including Google, are the beginning of a new stage in the evolution of cyber warfare. The attacks targeted and stole source code and user information from the companies’ servers. Based on the sophistication and scope of the attacks,…
The reform of the French armed forces, which is now taking place is at least as thorough as the professionalization reform initiated in 1996. This reform is twofold as it results from the convergence of two distinct reviews: on the one hand it stems from the White Paper on defense…
When Fallujah erupted in April 2004, the Marines needed TacAir that operated above 11,500 feet for CAS, creating air control problems. (...) By turning the Fallujah fight over to the Marine Corps the CFACC could focus on other areas where insurgent activity was expected to increase.
At the heart of logistics and sustainment are readiness issues. “If the military and its equipment are not ready to fight, its ability to influence events is significantly reduced. And the ability to count on availability of weapons systems is a significant aspect shaping concepts of operations worldwide", he explains.
The search for a balanced agreement has led to a risk sharing approach between Dassault Aviation and the French government: on the company's part, the challenge is to give a guarantee on a very high reliability of equipment for the coming years; on the state's part, it is to take…
Even thought immediate parallels to Hurricane Katrina have been made, the real story is the way the US Military in Haiti has been building on the lessons learned by providing aid and comfort to the victims of the 2005 Tsunami.
