Archive: News & Articles

Starting with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and continuing with the current Ukraine war, virtually anyone can see the effectiveness of loitering munitions (LMs) on the battlefield for themselves. Technologically, LMs have been mature for a long time, with early examples having entered service decades ago. In Germany, however, these types of munitions have long been undesirable […]

The overall life cycle cost of UAVs are minuscular compared to traditional air platforms aircraft and the lack of onboard crew reduces the fatality in a combat environment. In 4D scenarios, UAVs can also be used to collect massive volumes of data (Dull, Deep, Dirty and Dangerous). They have previously proven their impressive capabilities in […]

India, as the world’s largest democracy, has unwittingly become the focal point of a geopolitical tug-of-war between Russia and the West, amidst a narrative largely dominated by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, sanctions, and the relevance of multilaterals. As David Frost once said, “Diplomacy is the art of letting somebody else have your way.” This is […]

The quest for speed has always spurred the development of aircraft and missile power-plants, and the growing need for speeds of at least Mach 5 within the atmosphere has resulted in new and novel solutions for what is termed hypersonic flight. Early Attempts at Mach 5 Although NASA’s North American X-15 regularly achieved hypersonic speed […]

The Future Operational Principles for the Initial Capability of the Short-Range and Very Short-Range Protection Air Defence (SHORAD/V-SHORAD) System As far as the protection of land forces against threats from the air is concerned, there is still an urgent need for action due to existing quantitative and qualitative capability gaps. Particularly at short-range and very […]

India experienced its ‘Top Gun’ moment recently when two F/A-18 Block-III SUPER HORNETs from the US Navy roared over the skies of the western Indian state of Goa at Indian Naval air station, INS Hansa. By doing so, they completed their operational demonstration for the Indian Navy’s fighter jet deal for 26 aircraft valued at […]

Strategic bombers are designed for deep penetration missions into enemy airspace to destroy high-value targets in order to significantly degrade the opponent’s warfighting capability and will. While the term “strategic bomber” is often used synonymously with nuclear armed bomber, conventionally armed aircraft are equally capable of striking strategically significant targets deep within enemy territory. The […]

The US troop withdrawal and the Taliban comeback marked a new chapter for Afghanistan and also for all those international actors that have played their part in the long Afghan war. Although its role in the country’s history has never been as powerful as that played by the US, the EU still holds a moral […]

Is the Ukrainian Air Force on the Verge of Transitioning from the Soviet-era to Western Fighters? The Ukrainian Air Force had to face huge challenges at the start of the ongoing large-scale Russian invasion. With their first missile strikes, the Russian Armed Forces intended to destroy the Ukrainian aviation fleet and its air defence network. […]

In the week beginning 12 December 2022, 18 Puma infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) suffered total failure during training at the Bundeswehr’s range in Bergen. In response, the German Ministry of Defence (MoD) commissioned a comprehensive inventory and failure analysis effort, which has been underway since 16 December. The vehicles in question belonged to a Bundeswehr […]

Although in terms of wheeled armour, the 6×6 vehicle might have been overshadowed by the larger 8×8, it would appear that the 6×6 is gaining more momentum in the marketplace. This comes from offering much of the capability of an 8×8 system at reduced cost. Currently, at the wheeled armoured vehicle marketplace, there is an […]

Whether caused by mechanical failure, accidental damage or the result of enemy action, a disabled submarine at depth is no place any submariner wants to be. From accidents such as HMS Thetis in 1939, the Kursk in 2000 and many more besides, to wartime episodes involving damage or destruction to submarines of all sides by […]

ESD’s Mark Cazalet conducted a brief interview with Magnus Andersson, Director FCS Sales at Aimpoint, on the future of the small arms optics market, and developmental challenges of miniaturised fire control systems. Q: How do you see the small arms optics market developing over the next 10 years? A: I definitely see further digitalisation of […]

In what is being seen as the first major Foreign Military Sales (FMS) deal between the United States and Pakistan since 2018, when the Trump administration halted aid to Islamabad, the recently announced USD 450 million deal for F-16s to Pakistan has annoyed India for a variety of reasons. The Pentagon has defended the Biden […]

The UK, Italy and Japan have announced that they will join forces, combining their future fighter efforts under the new Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP). On 9 December 2022, a joint statement from the UK PM Rishi Sunak, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, announced the launch of GCAP, “an ambitious endeavour […]

Between 5 September and 9 October 2022, the autumn phase of the military training cycle “Namejs 2022” took place in Latvia. The focus this year was on the security of the Baltic States and Poland. In addition to national forces, the exercise included elements of the NATO enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battlegroups participating in NATO’s […]

In Japan, major companies in the defence industry continue to withdraw from the market. Since 2003, over 100 companies have withdrawn from the defence sector. The Japanese Ministry of Defence (MoD) has therefore requested a budget for the promotion of Japan’s defence industry in its estimate for the next financial year. In order to maintain […]

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 […]