Archive: News & Articles

The US DoD trains thousands of military helicopter pilots each year and these are produced by the US Army, Navy and Air Force to different standards using unique training pipelines and utilizing different training aircraft. All three services have, or are in the process, of adopting new training syllabi to address a number of shortfalls. […]

In July 2024 the NATO Support and Procurement Agency issued study contracts ultimately intended to kickstart the development of a next-generation medium, multi-role rotorcraft capability for the alliance: an ambitious project that could see a preferred solution selected by the end of 2027. The Next-Generation Rotorcraft Capability (NGRC) effort is a NATO Support and Procurement […]

The market for armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) is growing, and the vehicle turret market is following suit. The armoured fighting vehicle and vehicle turret markets are closely linked, both influenced by shared dynamics and various factors—political, technological, and tactical. Some of these factors were present during the past decade, while a number of new factors […]

Protected patrol vehicles balance mobility with protection from mine and ballistic threats. While they come in various size, weight and protection configurations, the current trend is pointing towards prioritising enhanced mobility over heavy armour. What follows is a selected overview of currently marketed systems. Protected patrol vehicles (PPVs) are versatile or multi-mission-capable vehicles. The British […]

The small arms sector is undergoing a significant transformation, with a growing focus on integrating advanced fire control systems (FCS). This shift is poised to reshape the future of weaponry, as users increasingly seek to enhance the effectiveness and precision of small arms systems. The problem is that while most agree some form of optic […]

As cheap drones transform modern warfare, counter-drone technologies are experiencing a massive surge in interest. This piece explores how the latest developments in C-UAV systems aim to restore the balance against the drone threat. Revolutions in Military Affairs (RMAs) don’t come along very often. In the last century, the machine gun, tank, aeroplane, submarine and […]

While the Middle East and Africa are no strangers to the use of drones in warfare, increasingly, many of the technological developments, trends, and tactics in unmanned vehicle employment observed in Ukraine appear to be proliferating. It was around December 2023 when the first evidence began to appear on social media – a grainy video […]

Small, adaptable, and increasingly autonomous, unmanned systems are increasingly reshaping the battlefield and changing how military operations are conducted, with numerous countries and non-state armed groups demonstrating their potential in conflict zones. During his long career as a member of Hamas, and as its leader in Gaza since February 2017, Yahya Sinwar probably accepted a […]

Recent years have seen wheeled self-propelled artillery platforms proliferate, outpacing procurement of their tracked counterparts. Yet what challenges do designers of these platforms face, and do the claimed advantages of wheeled platforms outweigh their potential disadvantages? Yes and no. Wheeled self-propelled artillery (SPA) is by no means a new concept, with the first examples of […]

With adversary ballistic threat precision increasing, and the cost of ballistic missile defence rising, many assumptions within our system design requirements for ballistic missile defence need reviewing. This analytical deep dive explores how integrating sensors, adopting ‘high-low’ interceptor mixes, and reconsidering traditional metrics of success could reshape how we think about ballistic missile defence. Defending […]

The Baltic Sea is becoming a significant geographic space in NATO-Russia naval rivalry. For NATO, its new Baltic member states – Finland and Sweden – add value in this context, bringing Baltic-specific capability, experience, and expertise to the contest with Russia in the region. The Baltic Sea sits centrally in the contemporary naval competition between […]

As aerial threats continue to evolve, air defence likewise evolves to keep pace. This article explores how changing battlefield dynamics have driven the US military to continuously reimagine its air defence systems, from legacy systems to the latest programmes aimed at defending the skies of tomorrow. The US Army has rarely fought under unfriendly skies, […]

The personal defence weapon is a relatively recent development in terms of small arms, emerging in the 1980s in response to a NATO requirement for a new weapons system that would potentially replace the submachine gun and the pistol in certain applications. Yet thus far, disruption seems to have been relatively minimal. The military pistol […]

Reducing the time between detection, identification, and engagement by the appropriate weapon platform is crucial in order to maximise the chances of successful target destruction on the battlefield. This requires a near real-time sensor-to-shooter (STS) loop, enabled by the latest command and control (C2) technologies networked with effectors. Lessons learned on the battlefields of Ukraine […]

The Middle East enters 2025 burdened with multiple conflicts and tensions, all of which are contributing to significant geopolitical shifts. It is difficult to optimistically anticipate a peaceful year ahead. Certain dates in international politics hold both symbolic and transformative significance. For instance, 1989 marked the end of the Cold War, bringing fundamental changes to […]

Mittler Report Verlag, in cooperation with the NATO Life Cycle Management Group (LCMG), hosted the 20th edition of the LCM in NATO conference and exhibition on 21 and 22 January 2025 in Brussels. Bringing together government and industry representatives, and marking 20 years of NATO LCM, the conference offered a unique setting to exchange about the […]

New and innovative EXTRAGUARD upper technology is light-weight and remains lightweight – even in extremely wet conditions Days of deployment in the rain, cold, mud and snow with hardly any time to recover: Infantry and special units brave the toughest conditions on deployment. Only the best equipment meets the requirements: EXTRAGUARD upper technology enables a […]

ESD recently secured the opportunity to interview Admiral Naveed Ashraf, the Pakistan Navy’s Chief of the Naval Staff, about his ambitions and expectations for the fleet’s development under his leadership. His answers paint a vision of a modernised PN working in partnership with friendly navies to achieve regional stability. The interview was conducted by Conrad […]

Attaching armoured fire support vehicles to light infantry units can enhance survival and support offensive operations. While such vehicles have been offered in various configurations for many years, recently there appears to be increased interest in acquiring such vehicles. Several factors differentiate fire support vehicles (FSVs), whether wheeled or tracked, from other armoured fighting vehicles. […]

The Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) and its variants first entered British Army service in 1987. Some 38 years later, it has reached its out-of-service date, but at this point there is no defined successor system. So, who are the key contenders? That there needs to be a successor to Warrior is obvious, but defining […]

Bolstering interoperability and collective defence amongst EU member states is at the heart of the ambitious Common Armoured Vehicle Systems (CAVS) programme, which is gaining momentum, not simply with the numbers of vehicles on order growing significantly, but also in the efficient manner in which the whole effort is being conducted and coordinated. 2024 was […]