Archive: News & Articles

Unmanned surface vessels (USVs) are well-suited to Russia’s constrained naval reality in the Black Sea theatre: they’re cheap, scalable, and uncrewed. After suffering numerous losses to Ukraine’s indigenous USVs, Russia has rapidly developed multiple designs and established specialised units to deploy them. The era of Russian sea drones looks to have begun, despite significant technical […]

From nerve agent antidotes to radiation sickness treatments, medical countermeasures against CBRN threats remain an oft-overlooked corner of defence spending. This piece examines the current state of play and identifies where the most urgent capability gaps lie. Military medicine has always been worried about how to treat injuries and illnesses caused by chemical, biological, radiological, […]

The skies over the Middle East tell a story of dramatic transformation: Iran’s once-powerful air force is a shadow of its former self, while Syria’s capability has been destroyed, yet Gulf states are acquiring hundreds of advanced Western fighters. This piece charts the changing aerial order of battle in the Middle East over the decades. […]

Project Linchpin is an important but little-known initiative led by the US Army’s Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare, and Sensors (PEO IEW&S). It aims to “deliver trusted AI” capabilities “across the Army enterprise”.  PEO IEW&S is focused on continuing what it calls “the long-term Campaign of Learning for Intelligence and Sensor modernization, including […]

As the US’ strategic focus shifts to the Asia-Pacific theatre, conventional helicopters may not be enough. The vast distances of the region are driving innovation in military heavy-lift rotorcraft, toward development of platforms that can fly faster and farther than today’s workhorses. While the future efficacy of operating light battlefield helicopters has in recent years […]

It can be remarkable how quickly things change in a single month. Writing in late September I discussed the fact that five Ukrainian towns – Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad, Kupiansk, Kostiantinivka, and Siversk – were at risk of capture, with a sixth town – Lyman – likely at risk over the longer term (see: ‘Ukraine: Five sieges’ […]

Following the negotiation of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, along with the release of Israeli hostages, the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine is anticipated to regain prominence on President Donald Trump’s foreign policy agenda. The US President was reportedly leveraging the potential provision of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine as a means of […]

The German Navy-hosted Commander Task Force (CTF) Baltic – one of NATO’s newest maritime commands – is bringing added capacity and capability to the alliance’s regional command structure. It is also bringing significant strategic and day-to-day deterrent impact in a region crucial to NATO security. In October 2024 CTF Baltic was formally established at the […]

More than six decades after the M109 entered service and following a series of cancelled replacement programmes costing billions, the US Army is once again seeking a new self-propelled artillery system, but the path forward remains uncertain. At the Association of the US Army (AUSA) exposition in Washington, DC, in October 2025 numerous artillery system […]

Russia’s defence industry has seen a dramatic transformation since the 2008 ‘New Look Reforms’ and especially since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Once dependent on foreign machine tools and regular state orders, it is now operating under wartime conditions, massively expanding its missile, drone, and ammunition production. This article looks at how […]

Western militaries face an acute shortage of complex weapons while confronting numerically superior adversaries. Multifunctional interceptors offer an appealing solution – yet the reality of engineering missiles to excel in multiple roles proves more challenging than theory suggests. The question of whether complex weapons should become more multifunctional is a subject of considerable discussion. In […]

The UK’s deployment of its carrier strike group (CSG) on the CSG25 deployment has demonstrated a subtle but significant shift in UK geostrategic emphasis. It has also underscored once more the wider utility of the UK’s carrier strike capability in supporting UK geostrategic aims, however they may shift. Arguments aimed at the UK’s carrier programme […]

Poland continues to modernise its armed forces, but the process is increasingly challenged by structural issues, particularly financial constraints. In 2024, total defence spending reached EUR 32.4 billion, marking a 23% increase compared to 2023. According to local outlet Dziennik Zbrojny, while the government had planned to allocate 4.2% of GDP to defence in 2024, […]

Air-to-air refuelling (AAR) is vital to projecting and sustaining combat air power, especially in high-intensity conflicts. The US Air Force’s 100th Air Refuelling Wing, therefore, is at the forefront of tactical changes in Europe that aim to ensure fuel – and therefore combat air power – remain available wherever, and whenever they are required. Air-to-air […]

Training any modern air force to allow it to deliver the optimal military effect is an expensive process. This is epitomised in the provision of live aggressor aircraft and associated resources to replicate the actions of an expected hostile air force. This aggressor force must mirror an enemy’s techniques, tactics and procedures (TTP) and where […]

Within the last two decades the airlift capabilities of Europe’s air forces have been – and continue to be – significantly renewed and enhanced, but with high-intensity conflict having returned to Europe since 2022, questions remain as to whether this rejuvenation goes far enough. Less than two decades ago Europe’s air forces effectively had no […]

Battlefield electromagnetic deception is a vital means to sow doubt into hostile decision-making, and force enemies to divide their assets; tactics that are at the heart of the Spartacus initiative. The United States Army’s First US Army Group, better known as FUSAG, was a formidable outfit: FUSAG contained two armies, the British 4th and the […]

Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, followed by Azerbaijani offensives on Armenian territory and Nagorno-Karabakh in 2022 and 2023, marked a turning point in the country’s defence strategy. These conflicts exposed critical weaknesses in the Armenian army, which remained largely reliant on outdated Soviet and Russian weaponry. This dependence on Russian arms and logistical […]

Thaon di Revel is an Offshore Patrol Vessel of the Italian Navy. Within the Marina Militare, she is classified as a multipurpose Offshore Patrol Vessel or Pattugliatore Polivalente d’Altura, PPA.   CDR Chericoni, you must be proud to be in command of ITS Thaon di Revel. Equipped with the latest generation of modular and scalable […]

In December 2024, a first live tracking of an airborne object was achieved for Lockheed Martin’s AN/SPY-7(V)2 solid-state, fixed-face, S-band (NATO E/F-band) radar, being developed as part of the Spanish Navy’s F-110 frigate programme. The testing – conducted at the US company’s Moorestown, New Jersey facility – used a single-face variant, instantiated in an engineering development model […]

Türkiye’s ambition to modernise its armed forces and achieve greater self-sufficiency in defence products is most clearly evident in its naval shipbuilding industry. In January 2025, the Turkish Ministry of Defence announced that 31 warships were in various stages of construction for the Turkish Naval Forces, spanning nine different projects. These projects cover a broad […]