The Farnbourgh Airshow 2012: Glimpses of the Future

07/06/2012
By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake This year’s Farnbourgh Airshow is occurring at an interesting juncture in history. On the financial side, there is the Euro crisis, and various dynamics such as the fate of the Chinese and American economies. On the defense side, there is the end of a…

Moscow Experts See Growing Chinese Challenge to Russian Arms Sales

07/06/2012
07/6/12: by Richard Weitz A team of Russian defense analysts at the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) in Moscow have produced the most comprehensive and comprehensible study of the Chinese defense industry in any language. In Shooting Star: China’s Military Machine in the 21st Century, Mikhail…

Trilateral Nuclear Complexities: Tunnels, Warheads and Other Challenges

07/05/2012
7/5/12: by Richard Weitz The Russians are increasingly concerned with Chinese nuclear forces and their growth. The recent U.S. release of a paper by Russian General Viktor Yesin, a former chief of staff of Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces, on “China’s Nuclear Potential,” which calculates that China probably has between 1,600…

The Emergence of a New European Map: France, the U.S. and the Future of Europe

07/04/2012
7/4/12: On Tuesday, June 26, 2012, the Hudson Institute hosted a lunchtime talk of former senior military officers and civilian national security policy makers to discuss security developments in Europe and Afghanistan. Among the guests were Lieutenant General (retired) Jean-Patrick Gaviard, French civilian strategists Olivier Zajec and Murielle Delaporte, and…

The Air Tanker Contribution to Gulf Security

07/03/2012
7/3/12: by Robbin Laird During the U.S. tanker competition, one journalist made the comment that this was simply a competition about a gas station in the sky.  This comment revealed only partial understanding of what a modern air tanker can bring to operations. The A330 MRTT tanker  as a fleet…

Shaping Redundant Response U.S. Military Space Capabilities

07/01/2012
7/1/12: by Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake In a recent report by The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, the evolving threat to U.S. space capabilities was highlighted. “China is pressing forward with an ambitious counterspace program, including a ground- and space-based space surveillance systems, electronic warfare capabilities, and kinetic kill…

The F-35: The Impact of a Global Fleet

07/01/2012
7/1/12: by Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake Much of the Inside the Beltway debate about the F-35 revolves around the program as if it were simply building a replacement tactical aircraft PLATFORM.  In reality, the program was established to manufacture a global product in significant numbers to enable a global…

Evolving UAE Perspectives on Gulf Security

06/29/2012
6/29/12: In mid- June 2012, Second Line of Defense talked with Victor Gervais, a young French researcher who recently published his dissertation on the UAE military.  Gervais had just returned from a two-week visit to the UAE when we discussed with him his perspectives on how the UAE leadership was…