2015-10-07 By Gulshan Luthra http://www.indiastrategic.in/topstories4097_Rafale_Contract_by_end_2015_says_Air_Chief_Arup_Raha.htm Dateline New Delhi and Paris In an interview with India Strategic and at remarks at his annual pre-Air Force Day briefing here October 3, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha observed that the Indian Air Force (IAF) was “terribly short” of…
2015-08-14 By Robbin Laird The Pacific area is certainly not Europe or the Middle East from the standpoint of shaping a deterrence strategy. It is about the US providing a core set of capabilities to protect its national interests and working with core allies and a wide range of partners…
2015-08-19 By Ed Timperlake It is the goal of Second Line of Defense with the publication of this article to begin a series on the problems with the Veterans Administration. It is hoped that visibility into VA problems by highlighting key challenges – including specific instances of corruption and malfeasance…
2015-08-18 By Zbigniew Mazurak India has recently announced its decision not to buy 126 Rafale fighter jets and to reopen the competition to replace its aging fighter fleet, this time the scope being 90 aircraft as New Delhi has already ordered 36 Rafales from France. So the whole replacement contract…
2015-08-10 By Gary Schaub, Jr. Last September, Denmark reacted quickly and enthusiastically to the American call to join the anti-Daesh coalition, contributing a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft early on, 7 F-16s, and 120 soldiers to train Iraqi security forces. During the past 10 months, Danish F-16s have flown over 452…
2015-08-08 Earlier, Second Line of Defense has raised the question several times about whether the execution of the Mistral deal made any sense in light of Russian actions in Europe. As Steve Blank noted in 2014: Whatever the logic of negotiating a deal with Russia in 2011, the strategic situation…
2015-07-23 By Harald Malmgren In parallel to the Eurogroup-Greece imbroglio Europe has also found itself torn by other conflicting political and security priorities. Paramount for some European nations are the growing tensions with Russia. President Putin’s aggressive behavior in the Ukraine continues, and there are signs of intention to extend…
2015-08-01 By Richard Weitz At the 2010 Lisbon summit, NATO decided to make missile defense a priority mission and committed to protect European populations and territory from missile attacks as well as their deployed armed forces. The NATO decision did not highlight any particular country as a threat but cited…