Archive: News & Articles

According to NATO’s Systems Life Cycle Management (SLCM) policy the main goal of systems life cycle management is to deliver, use, and maintain NATO capabilities efficiently and effectively while ensuring a high level of Operational Availability (AO), reducing in-service costs. The application of System Life Cycle Management (SLCM) is based on the following principles: Commitment […]

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 […]

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 […]

Mine countermeasures (MCM) operators at the ‘REPMUS’ maritime uncrewed systems exercise, held in Portugal in September 2025, tested an improved data fusion construct that collated and integrated massed data from multiple sensing sources into a single, comprehensive common operating picture (COP) presented to the exercise’s naval mine warfare (NMW) battlestaff. Data was ingested, standardised and […]

A major drive towards national self-reliance in defence and aerospace, has resulted in Türkiye’s domestic arms industry now being able to deliver not only almost all materiel required by its own armed forces, but also major systems for many international clients. Türkiye’s change from being a major defence-equipment importer to one of leading international defence […]

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 […]