The Future Combat Air System: An Overview

08/05/2021
The Future Combat Air System (FCAS) is a core initiative of the Macron Administration for both defense modernization and building out defense cooperation with its core Airbus allies, Germany and Spain. The Administration is committed to the modernization of their core combat fighter aircraft, the Rafale, for the next thirty…

Next Generation Autonomous Systems

06/08/2021
In this report, the key themes and presentations at the April 8, 2021, Williams Foundation seminar on Next Generation Autonomous Systems are highlighted. A number of interviews with participants are included as well as insights from earlier interviews from pre-COVID visits to Australia. In addition, selected articles are included in…

2nd Fleet and Joint Force Command Norfolk: A May 2021 Update

05/25/2021
As the Commander of 2nd Fleet and of JFC Norfolk put it in a recent article in The Proceedings: “In response to Russia’s military resurgence, the U.S. Navy reestablished Second Fleet (C2F) in 2018, and NATO’s North Atlantic Council announced the formal activation of Joint Force Command Norfolk (JFCNF) in…

Platforms, Concepts of Operations and Defense Decisions: The German Case

08/30/2020
With the launch of our defense information website (defense.info) , we introduced a micro-site on defense decisions. We wrote: “In this new section of the defense.info website, we will address U.S. and allied upcoming procurement choices and decisions. “We are focused on how platform and system choices affect the evolution…

Fifth-Generation Enabled Military Transformation: Australia, the UK and Shaping a Way Ahead

06/13/2019
Australia and the UK are located in very different parts of the world. But both face significant challenges from a regional power with global reach. And both are reshaping their militaries to face the strategic shift from the land wars to full spectrum crisis management. Each has a different trajectory…

The Strategic Shift: The Role and Impact of the F-35 Global Enterprise

03/31/2019
The liberal democracies are facing a key strategic shift from a primary focus on the land wars in the Middle East to facing the challenges posed by peer competitors. The Pentagon has referred to this as the return of Great Power competition which requires a significant shift from the forces…

The Return of Direct Defense in Europe: The Challenges for Germany

02/17/2019
We have been looking at the strategic shift for the liberal democracies from a primary focus on the land wars in the Middle East to the challenge of dealing with crisis management involving peer competitors who can engage in force-on-force conflict. We have done so both with regard to the…