2016-08-20 By Richard Weitz In another of the bold moves that has marked Putin’s Syria campaign since it began last September, the Russian Air Force began using bases in Iran on August 16 to support its bombing campaign in Syria. For several days now, Tupolev-22M3 Backfire long-range supersonic bombers and the…
2016-07-17 By Robbin Laird During my visit to the United Kingdom in June 2016, I had a chance to talk with Air Commodore Dean Andrew, the ISTAR Force Commander based at RAF Waddington. We spoke about the challenges of transforming the current platform focused Air ISTAR community to an integrated…
2016-07-19 By Richard Weitz Last week, the U.S. Defense Department announced that, following months of assessment by a Republic of Korea (ROK)-U.S. Joint Working Group, the U.S. Forces Korea command would station a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in the ROK. According to the announcement, “The THAAD deployment will…
2016-07-09 After an extensive competition, the Australian government downselected the French firm DCNS to build a new class of advanced conventional submarines. In a press release from the Australian government dated April 26, 206, the Australian government announced the decision and underscored that “The decision was driven by DCNS’s ability to…
2016-07-06 By Richard Weitz Recent weeks have seen clear evidence of Russian perseverance in sustaining its Arctic presence despite the country’s national economic slowdown and other challenges. This is particularly visible in Russia’s new icebreakers, which in the Arctic are the military equivalent of aircraft carriers in other oceans—the main…
2016-06-29 By Garth McLennan Ever since its emergence as a global military, economic, and cultural superpower after the Second World War, the United States has sought to service its geopolitical imperatives by building an international order for the world that is structured around defined rules and norms. Nowhere has this…
2016-06-19 The process of enhanced cooperation among the US, Japanese and Indian navies is proceeding apace. The Chinese have already driven a deeper defense relationship between the two most important Pacific naval powers in the 20th century and now are putting the Indians in play as well. Enhanced cooperation provides…
2016-06-05 The RAAF KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport provides air-to-air refueling support to international coalition aircraft in the skies over Iraq as part of Task Group 630. On 27 April 2016, the deployed KC-30A surpassed the milestone of delivering 50 million pounds (27 million kilograms) of fuel to receiver aircraft in…
