By Robbin Laird The coming of Finland and Sweden into NATO changes how the defense of Northern Europe is worked. As Admiral (Retired) Nils Wang has put it: "Now one needs to think in terms of defence of the North of Europe from Iceland to the Finnish and Norwegian borders.…
By Robbin Laird In any reimagining of what Nordic defense looks like, Norway — a founding NATO state that served as the alliance’s de facto lead in the high north — fits as a central piece. Certainly, the template they have shaped in their restructuring of defense since 2014 provides…
According to a story published by the Japanese Ministry of Defence, the Finnish Defence Minister visited Japan and met the Japanese Defence Minister on 26 October 2022. On October 26, 2022, Defense Minister Hamada and Defence Minister Kaikkonen held a Defense Ministerial Meeting from 10:15 for 45 minutes at the…
By Robbin Laird Brendan Sargeant, my late friend and colleague, and a noted Australian defence strategist, underscored the importance of strategic imagination when reshaping defence and foreign policies when entering a new historical era, such as we are doing right now. “A country will possess a strategic imagination which will…
During my visit to Euronaval on October 20, 2002, I had a chance to talk with Tuija Karanko, the Secretary General of the Association of Finnish Aerospace and Defence Companies. I will highlight what the Association does and focuses upon in the appendix to the interview, where I will republish…
At the recent Williams Foundation on the challenge of building out a more lethal and survivable ADR, the newly appointed Chief of Navy, VADM Mark Hammond provided his perspective on the way ahead of the RAN and the nation in meeting these challenges. His text delivered at the seminar follows:…
By Robbin Laird After the Williams Foundation Seminar held on September 28, 2022, I had a chance to discuss some of the takeaways with regard to the way ahead for Australian defence with my colleague Air Vice-Marshal (Retired) John Blackburn. We started by focusing on how in reshaping the ADF…
By Robbin Laird Dr. Dupont provided the launch presentation for the recent Williams Foundation Seminar held on September 28, 2022. That seminar focused on key questions and challenges facing the ADF as it addressed the shift to focus primarily on the direct defense of Australia. In his presentation, Dupont provided…
