By Robbin Laird In a period of global competition and conflict, the liberal democracies need to accelerate their capabilities to defend themselves and to find ways to enhance their deterrent capabilities not just for the long haul but in the short to mid-term. My recent visit to Australia, where I met…
By Robbin Laird During my September trip to Australia, I had a chance to sit down with the CEO of Penten, Matthew Wilson, along with my colleague John Blackburn, to discuss the role of Australia defence industry in direct defence of Australia. According to their website: “Penten is an Australian…
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 September 28, 2022 Williams Foundation Seminar, the Chief of the Australian Navy, VADM Mark Hammond, noted that: "I have spent much of the past 83 days as Chief of Navy working to build strong relationships in Canberra and importantly with my counterparts from Fiji, Indonesia, the UK, France,…
In a November 2, 2022 articled by the Australian Department of Defence, the cooperation between the A330MRTT air forces was highlighted. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) have signed an arrangement formalising their cooperation in air-to-air refuelling. Air Vice-Marshal Darren Goldie, AM,…
By Robbin Laird With the impact of the Ukraine war ongoing, one observation seems clear with regard to the preparation of the liberal democracies for war rather than military operations: we don’t really have an arsenal of democracy like we once did. When confronting industrial age war, supplies become critical…
By Robbin Laird During my September 2022 visit to Australia, I had a chance to talk with Robert Dane, the CEO of Ocius, about the way ahead for maritime autonomous systems in both defence and security missions for the Australian forces. In 1996, Robert Dane, a passionate sailor and environmentalist,…
