Shaping a Way Ahead for Rapid Evolution of Air Combat Power and Its Impact On the Joint Command Authority

02/11/2018
2018-02-09 By Robbin Laird and Edward Timperlake Late last year, we published an interview with Secretary Wynne where he proposed an innovative way ahead on evolving air combat capability. https://sldinfo.com/redefining-the-next-generation-fighter-aircraft-build-out-air-combat-capability-by-shaping-a-21st-century-version-of-the-century-aircraft/ We want to revisit this discussion to highlight key elements of the proposal, which are important in and of themselves…

The German Heavy Lift Helicopter Competition: Rheinmetall Joins with Sikorsky on the CH-53K Offer

02/11/2018
2018-02-09 Sikorsky is ramping up its engagement to prepare its CH-53K offering to the German military. According to a February 6, 2018, press release fro Rheinmetall, they have signed a new teaming agreement with Sikorsky to support the bid to replace the CH-53 legacy heavy lift aircraft with the new…

Paul Bracken Assesses the Trump Administration Nuclear Posture Review

02/10/2018
2018-02-08 By Paul Bracken The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) is a thoughtful, deliberative report that captures the big strategic issues facing the United States in the area of nuclear force structure.[1] This is surprising and welcome in my view. The previous two NPRs, in 2002 and 2010 respectively, were ideological tracts with…

UK Chief of Defence Staff Visits Australia

02/10/2018
2018-02-10  The UK Chief of Defence Staff has reinforced a commitment to stronger defence ties with Australia after a series of meetings with senior Australian officials. According to an article on the UK Ministry of Defence website published February 7, 2018: During a visit to the country, Sir Stuart Peach…

UK Enhances Air Mobility: Opens New A400M Hangar

02/10/2018
2018-02-10 Recently, the UK Minister of Defence procurement officially opened a new Atlas hangar which is large enough to contain three of the RAF’s new Atlas transport aircraft at the same time. The hangar is part of a significant infrastructure build by the UK Ministry of Defence to support new…

Perth Forum on Counter Terrorism

02/10/2018
2/10/18: The inaugural Sub-Regional Defence Ministers’ Meeting on Counter-Terrorism was held in Perth, between 1 and 2 February 2018. The Perth Meeting is a new forum, which brings together ministers from Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation in our region. Minister for Defence,…

The Intelligence Community in the Golden Age of Open Source Intelligence

02/09/2018
2018-02-04 By Danny Lam Competition between public and controlled information is as old as life. From the beginning of time, there were information hoarder / controllers and disseminators / distributors.   Information science tells us that 99% of information is public and only a tiny portion is significantly restricted. The explosion…