Shaping an Integrated Australian Defense Force: Crafting an Australian Anti-Access and Area Denial Strategy

08/28/2016
2016-08-20 By Robbin Laird The Aussies are shaping a transformed military force. It is one which is built around new platforms but working together across services to achieve a joint effect and able to operate in a joint manner in an extended battlespace. It is about extending the defense perimeter…

Building Submarines in Australia: Shaping a New Combat Capability in the Pacific

07/16/2016
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…

Russia Revives its Icebreaking Fleet

07/11/2016
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…