Archive: News & Articles

India has walked a long and difficult road towards its goal of becoming a major arms exporter. Having spent many years fostering its domestic defence industry, India is finally showing signs that it is becoming ready to compete. In late September 2022, Indian local press reported that the country secured a contract worth USD 250 […]

Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) have been around for just over 100 years and during that period they have been continuously evolving with improved firepower, survivability, and mobility. Whilst there have been a few new clean-sheet designs appearing, the trend in many countries is to upgrade their existing AFV platforms rather than develop or purchase new […]

Indonesia has always been a country with vast potential, unfortunately turning potential into reality has more often than not defeated its political leadership. Since it achieved independence the country has oscillated from ineffective democratic system to dictatorship, followed by the New Order regime of President Suharto that remained in power for almost 31 years until […]

This year Denmark’s politicians have reached a consensus on raising defence spending to 2% of GDP. Yet with many areas of competing importance requiring coverage, questions remain regarding Denmark’s main funding priorities. Denmark needs to fully implement all of its NATO Capability Targets, in full and on time, with a special emphasis and urgency on […]

The Turkish private company Nurol Makina is developing two new variants of its NMS 4×4 protected mobility vehicle, Emre Akin, Nurol’s head of strategic planning told ESD in an interview on 27 September 2022. The NMS builds on the success of the company’s Ejder Yalcin, over 1,000 of which have been sold to 10 different […]

Launched in 2018, the ‘Digitisation of Land-Based Operations’ (D-LBO) programme has been an effort with regard to the imperative modernisation of the land forces’ command and control capability in support of mobile operations. This not only applies to the Army, but also covers the land-based elements of the other service branches. Merging the “Mobile Tactical […]

As Canada undertakes modernisation of its armed forces, the country’s offset requirements remain somewhat tricky to navigate. Canada is currently engaged in what could be described as a once in generation defence modernisation programme. For the first time in many years, the Canadian Forces are moving forwards on a range of significant defence procurement programmes, […]

Since the end of the Suharto ‘New Order’ regime in 1998, Indonesia has gradually transitioned to democratic governance, made significant improvements to its economy and progress in improving the life of its people. Inevitably there is a long way to go, Indonesia is evolving rapidly, but faces significant challenges that will test its governing elite […]

The ties and activity within the Turkey-Israel-Azerbaijan triad are motivated by mutual national and strategic interests and/or by coinciding political reasoning. The broader Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean constitute a complex geopolitical area saturated by a diversity of actors. Even though the preservation of fragile balance between them can become problematic, these states are […]

The war in Ukraine has seen Austria finally begin to move towards re-investing in its armed forces, however, on more fundamental issues such as the question of Austria’s neutrality, Vienna refuses to budge. Two years ago, this author spent a day with the Indian-run helicopter wing of the security forces of Mauritius. Their commander was […]

The war in Ukraine and the large-scale Russian missile attacks on the country’s civilian infrastructure impressively demonstrate the importance of effective air defence. For this to function, however, a sufficient number of interceptor missiles is necessary in order not to maintain defensive capability through a long strike campaign and also avoid defences becoming saturated. Users […]

Military medicine often has a steep learning curve when conflicts start. People taken from civilian life needing to deal with medical problems and traumas and military medics used to peacetime may have not seen some natures of injuries in years. Likewise, some types of injuries that appear in terrorist incidents do not occur often in […]

We live in an interconnected world, with global communication faster than ever before, making the world a smaller and more complicated place. Up until the end of the Cold War, in a strategic context life was very simple. There were two superpowers, the US and the USSR, and right in the middle was Europe, effectively […]

Over the coming months, the bloodiest battles in Ukraine may not feature dramatic scenes starring American MQ-9 Reapers striking Russian T-90M tanks in Mariupol, nor a swarm of Iranian Shahed 136 drones (known as Geran-2 in Russian service) destroying a HIMARS battery positioned on the West bank of the Dnipro River. Instead, the battles with […]

Although the COVID-19 pandemic and economic difficulties have limited funds available for technical modernisation, Southeast Asian states are striving to meet their priorities, among which Naval modernisation remains a key goal. Development and security of all states in Southeast Asia depend on their unhindered access to seas. No wonder that they most of them consider […]

For Russian and Ukrainian pilots tasked with combat missions in the current conflict between their respective counties, the Almaz-Antey S-300P (SA-10 ‘Grumble’) surface-to-air missile (SAM) system must be a constant worry. In service with both sides, it has a mobility and range that makes enemy coverage of the contested airspace hard for either side to […]

Australia is in the midst of an extensive programme aimed at procuring the next generation of small arms for its land forces. Thus far, several new weapons at the lighter end have already been selected, but many choices remain at the heavier end of the spectrum. LAND 159, otherwise known as the ‘Lethality System Project’, […]

A Russian journalist has published a list of advice for newly mobilised Russian personnel, which provides insights into the nature of the war for Russian troops, as well as the challenges facing the mobilised personnel. The article, published by Komsomolskaya Pravda on 28 September 2022 was written by Alexander Kots. Kots is a former Russian […]

More than eight months into the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe is sailing on full speed towards a dangerous iceberg, that is now only showing its peak: the increasing concerns regarding energy supplies. A deeper dive into European affairs would reflect a challenging crisis encompassing different dimensions that are as complex as they are interrelated. While some of […]

The fortunes of Canada’s defence industry have fluctuated over the years. At one stage this industry was capable of designing and building advanced combat aircraft and their engines. It built tanks and self-propelled guns, over 800,000 military trucks and other support vehicles between 1940 and 1945. It has built: air defence systems transport aircraft helicopters […]

Even before the outbreak of the current war in Ukraine, most Eastern European states had plans to acquire new armoured vehicles. Now, in a response to that war, some of them have already intensified their efforts. More purchases should be expected in the near future. The war in Ukraine came as a shock to many […]