Archive: News & Articles

From the French Navy’s embedded data hubs to predictive maintenance software on US vessels, artificial intelligence (AI) is already changing maritime warfare. Yet widespread deployment remains limited by concerns over trusting the algorithms, ethical frameworks, and the complex challenge of making allied systems work together. “CommandGPT, considering submarine threat indices, minefield charts, weather forecasts and […]

We live in an era where much of the conversation surrounding air force happenings is based around future sixth-generation fighters and collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) and what these technologies will mean for the air forces of the future. All of this tends to overshadow critical capabilities and missions in the here and now. Amongst these […]

MALE and HALE drones are unique assets providing long-term observation and strike capabilities. These attributes make them force multipliers. The designations medium-altitude, long endurance (MALE) and high-altitude, long endurance (HALE) are largely self-explanatory, and summarise these unmanned aerial vehicles’ (UAVs) primary characteristics. Their flight altitude provides a significantly greater detection range and geographic coverage than […]

Ever since the first operational deployment of chaff (then codenamed: ‘Window’) by the RAF over Hamburg in July 1943, aircraft and the technical mechanisms designed to kill them have been locked in a lethal cycle of measure/countermeasure. This cycle has included the introduction of new threats, and the production of a variety of means of […]

Demand for air-to-ground precision munitions continues to grow. Increasingly accurate and sophisticated systems are entering the market or being developed. Conflicts of the past three decades have seen an exponential increase in reliance on air-to-ground precision guided munitions (in NATO parlance: A2G-PGMs). During Operation Desert Storm (1991), only 9% of air-dropped ordnance (calculated by tonnage) […]

With just 11 SIGINT aircraft currently operational among European NATO members, and growing demand for the capabilities they provide, Europe faces a critical shortage in one of its most vital intelligence disciplines. New German, French, and Italian programmes aim to partially fill this gap over the next few years, but a more comprehensive solution would […]

While 5th and 6th-Gen fighters grab headlines, the backbone of global air power broadly remains firmly rooted in 4th-Gen platforms – and for good reason. Cost, payload capacity, and operational flexibility keep these enduring fighters relevant. Peer-on-peer warfare is back. The spectre of superpower confrontation and war via proxies has been almost fully exhumed from […]

Recent Indo-Pakistani air battles showcase the lethal evolution of beyond visual range air-to-air missiles (BVRAAMs). As more countries field BVRAAMs capable of increasingly long-range engagements, traditional air combat doctrine faces an immense challenge. When the Indian Air Force (IAF) launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ on 7 May 2025 against targets in Pakistan; the resulting events included an […]

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 […]

Following years of uncertainty and budget reviews, the US Air Force (USAF) Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) 6th-Gen fighter programme has passed a significant milestone with the selection of Boeing’s F-47. The service now faces the challenge of balancing the platform’s new capabilities with fiscal realities and production numbers. On 21 March 2025 President Trump […]

Pilots and crew aboard fixed and rotary-wing military aircraft face numerous potential operational and peacetime-related emergency scenarios for which several items of personal protection and safety equipment will help improve their chances of survival. This article looks at some of the and survival kit intended to keep military pilots and crew alive in the event […]

The German-led European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) is aimed at enhancing the continent’s protection from the aerial threats. Nonetheless, questions remain regarding how this initiative will connect with other Europe-wide air defence initiatives. The skies over western Europe have been free from hostile attack ever since the end of the Second World War. While the […]

On 18 March 2025, Ministers of Defence from Albania, Croatia, and Kosovo gathered in Tirana, Albania, to sign a trilateral security and defence agreement, an initiative that, while unsurprising to seasoned regional observers, introduced a new layer to an already complex strategic environment. This agreement marked a new twist in the already complex security environment […]

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the nature of the fighting has evolved at an unprecedented pace, thanks to rapid adoption of new equipment, tactics, techniques, and procedures. Central to this shift has been the meteoric rise of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as both sides have adopted this class of […]

If there has been one constant in the War in Ukraine, it is that trends often do not stay fixed for long. In last month’s editorial, I noted that the front lines had moved relatively slowly in the opening portion of 2025. Yet as no sooner had that gone to print, than the pace of […]

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 […]

CBRN respiratory protection is intended to give the user safe and clean air to breathe. Various approaches to achieving this end have both advantages and disadvantages. A major problem is that the disadvantages, in certain situations, end up with the user being dead, disabled, or seriously injured. Lots of engineering has gone into respiratory protection […]

Since the dawn of chemical warfare in the First World War, various countries in the world made large quantities of chemical warfare agents (the toxic chemicals themselves) and chemical munitions (the weapon systems to dispense them). Only a portion of these weapons were used on the battlefield and no country has a declared arsenal of […]

Both the Army of the Czech Republic (Armáda České republiky; AČR) and the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic (Ozbrojené sily Slovenskej republiky; OS SR) are currently undergoing the most extensive modernisation since their creation in 1993. The following overview presents the most important recent procurement projects. Czech Republic Air Force The most expensive armament […]

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 […]

Electronic countermeasures (ECM) to defend warships against guided weapon attacks are not a new development. Rudimentary jamming devices were fitted to Royal Navy and US Navy ships as far back as 1943 to disrupt the communications link used in German Hs 293 and Fritz-X radio-controlled bombs. Subsequently, off-board expendable decoys, typified by radio frequency (RF) […]