By Robbin Laird My last visit to Hawaii and meetings with the MARFORPAC commander and his staff was in 2014. In August 2021, I visited again and spent several days in the Islands, during which I visited both MARFORPAC and PACAF. Since my last visit, what the Marines refer to…
By Pierre Tran Paris - Europeans have dusted off the concept of a European rapid reaction force in response to a lack of U.S. cooperation with allies in the chaotic withdrawal from Kabul. The European Union’s pursuit of the concept of strategic autonomy may have won greater political support, but…
By India Strategic New Delhi. In the first contact with the Taliban after the U.S. ended its two-decade occupation of Afghanistan, India on August 31 raised its “concern” that the country should not be used for anti-India activities and terrorism “in manner” and also discussed the early return of Indian…
By Petty Office Lee-anne Cooper M777A2 Howitzers were brought into action ready to fire. Tiger helicopters established battle positions ready to engage targets. But the Shadow 200 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and their targeting lasers were the stars of the show on exercise Dragon Sprint. The exercise was held at…
By Robbin Laird During my visit to Honolulu in early August 2021, I visited MARFORPAC for several days. I had been last there in 2014-2015, so had a chance to look at changes underway since then. One of those changes has been the focus on naval integration and how the…
According to the Australian Department of Defence: "Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021 (TS21) is the largest bilateral training activity between Australia and the United States, commencing on July 14 2021. "Held every two years, TS21 aims to test Australian interoperability with the United States and other participating forces in complex warfighting…
By Pierre Tran Paris - The French, German and Spanish defense ministers signed yesterday their third intergovernmental agreement on work on the Future Combat Air System, covering 2021-2027, the three ministries said Aug. 31 in a joint statement. “On this occasion, they have signed the third implementing arrangement of the…
According to a story published on July 29, 2021 on the UK Ministry of Defence website, a new £250 million contract for next phase for Future Combat Air System has been signed. The Ministry of Defence has signed a £250 million contract with British industry ‘Team Tempest’ partners, driving forward…
