By Robbin Laird I am in Berlin today for the International Fighter Conference 2019 which starts tomorrow. I took the opportunity to revisit Checkpoint Charlie. It is now a museum, but also a testament to the will of the West to defend liberal democracy against the Soviet Union. I often…
By India Strategic New Delhi. The 19th India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC) meeting, co-chaired by Defence Minister Mr Rajnath Singh and Russian Defence Minister General Sergey Shoigu was held in Moscow on November 6th. Defence Minister inspected the Guard of Honour at the Russian Defence…
By Pierre Tran Paris – Tough talks between industry and the French and German authorities on development cost are holding up a program launch of a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle, the French procurement chief said. Joel Barre, head of the Direction Générale de l’Armement procurement office, gave Oct. 2…
By Richard Weitz With the death of terrorist leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi at the hands of U.S. Special Forces, the so-called Islamic State has lost critical finances, territory, and now leadership. These blows have removed several sources of the Islamic State’s attractiveness, both regionally and globally. Al-Baghdadi had uniquely sinister…
By Robbin Laird In the shifting narrative of Vladimir Putin as the leader of Russia, over time he has downplayed Russia’s modernization engaged with the West to shaping a Euro-Asian perspective and promoting the concept of Russia as a unique Eur-Asian power. Although the Obama Administration referred to Russia as…
By Michael Shoebridge The post mortems on Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s US visit and speech in Chicago on Chinese state trade distortions didn’t wait for the trip to finish. We’ve had the line from opposition leader Anthony Albanese that the big issue was that the speech was delivered in…
By Pierre Tran Paris – Dassault Aviation played the host for an Oct. 8 ceremony for hand over of the first Rafale fighter jet to India, signaling a close military and industrial tie France seeks to deepen amidst stiff competition from Israel, Russia and the U.S. The presence of Indian…
Second Line of Defense is attending the Chief of Navy’s Seapower Conference 2019 being held in Sydney, Australia from October 8-10 2019, We will have a number of stories generated from our participation. A key aspect being highlighted by both the new Australian government and the Royal Australian Navy is…
