The Unintended Architects: How Putin and Trump Shaped Xi’s Global Strategy

08/01/2025 In the complex chess game of global geopolitics, few developments have been as paradoxical as the way two of Xi Jinping's most challenging counterparts may have inadvertently strengthened China's strategic position. While facing significant domestic economic headwinds, President Xi has found unexpected opportunities in the disruptions caused by Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine and Donald Trump's aggressive trade policies. By… Read more »

Beyond the Science Project: A CONOPS for Hypersonic Weapons in Today’s Fight

08/01/2025 By Robbin Laird The United States faces a critical strategic moment in the Pacific. While adversaries deploy operational capabilities — however imperfect — America continues to treat essential weapons systems as science projects rather than deployable assets. This is particularly true for hypersonic weapons, where the absence of a clear concept of operations (CONOPS) has relegated transformational capabilities to endless… Read more »

How to Manage the New Fighter Project: The Dassault Perspective

07/31/2025 By Pierre Tran Paris - The key point on a planned European fighter jet lay in opting for clear program leadership with a prime contractor rather than assigning subcontractor work based on national funding, Dassault Aviation executive chairman Eric Trappier said July 22. French officers had conducted “an audit on the efficiency of cooperation” on a new generation fighter (NGF),… Read more »

Looking Back at 2019: Presaging the Future

07/30/2025 By Robbin Laird The 2019 International Fighter Conference in Berlin brought together military leaders and industry representatives from nations living in the shadow of authoritarian powers. Their presentations, focused on airpower strategies for self-defense against existential threats from Russia and China, now read like a prophetic warning of conflicts to come. What seemed like contingency planning in 2019 became brutal… Read more »

Textron Aviation Defense Announces its New Trainer Plane: The Beechcraft M-346N

07/29/2025 On July 28th, Textron Aviation Defense announced that it's proposing the Beechcraft M-346N jet trainer as a solution for the U.S. Navy's Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS) program. The company has partnered with Leonardo in a teaming agreement to meet the Navy's requirements for this new aircraft procurement. The M-346N is based on Leonardo's proven M-346 design, with over 100… Read more »

Beyond Hedging: Democratic Middle Powers and the Crisis of International Order

07/29/2025 By Robbin Laird The comfortable world of middle power diplomacy is disappearing. For decades, countries like Brazil and Australia have thrived by maintaining strategic flexibility. They are trading with multiple partners, participating in diverse institutional frameworks, and avoiding definitive alignment with any single major power. This hedging strategy worked well within the relatively stable architecture of the post-Cold War liberal… Read more »