Start Archive: News & Articles

Archive: News & Articles


Georgian–Turkish Relations and their Impact on Russia

In a nutshell, friendly relations between Georgia and Turkey are not a deterrent against potential Russian aggression against Georgia. Russia can always impose a blockade of Georgia’s Black Sea coast by using its naval assets in Sevastopol, Crimea and Ochamchire in occupied Abkhazia, thereby effectively ‘strangling’ the nascent Georgian Coast Guard. However, despite being somewhat […]

What NATO and the US Should Learn from Three Recent Wars

NATO is the most successful military alliance in modern history, but it is being put to the test. Three recent conflicts—the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War (2020), the Israel–Hamas conflict (2021), and the ongoing Russia–Ukraine War (2022–) — provide valuable lessons concerning the methods of the next war. The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War has been called the first […]

Nuclear Options

This article looks briefly at some of the threats to world peace from nuclear weapons in today’s geopolitically explosive world. These threats have brought us to the edge of a very dangerous abyss. It also touches upon nuclear deterrence as the option favoured by Western powers and the Alliance, bolstered by strength and nuclear options […]



Mapping Activity Patterns: Using Technology and Information to Secure Seabed Infrastructure

To offset the emerging, but now enduring, threat to seabed critical underwater infrastructure (CUI), navies are looking to build CUI security through co-operating on information sharing and operational responses. Innovative technology and information analysis are playing a key role in enhancing such cooperation and response. The explosions suffered by the two Nordstream gas pipelines on […]

The British Army – Still Searching for a Sense of Direction?

This author’s original intention was to uncover some positive trends within the British Army at a time where it has repeatedly come under fire for various failures. However, this task has proven quite challenging. Finding positive narratives at the current time requires a deep faith in the soundness of the institution and a willingness to […]

Major Procurements Mask Immediate Equipment Concerns for Canada

So far in 2023, Canada has signed up for some major high-value procurement programmes, while working on existing high-value procurements, and is already laying the groundwork for future major procurements. In terms of high-value procurement programmes, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) started 2023 with the announcement that it would be purchasing 88 Lockheed Martin […]



The Time for Comprehensive Changes has Come

History teaches us that all militaries, even the strongest and the most modern ones, almost as a rule, are preparing for ‘the previous war’. Experiences from the current war in Ukraine are showing that military conflict on European soil between peer competitors is fought on completely different principles than those predicted and prepared for in […]

Coordinating Naval Programmes in Europe

The War in Ukraine and a general increase in military spending is pushing several countries to modernise their ageing naval fleets, thus boosting the order books of shipyards after years of negative outlook. If this is good news, the situation remains complicated within the EU, where shipbuilders’ economic outlook is less prosperous compared with Asian […]

How ‘Special’ is this Relationship? The USA and the UK

There is over a century of broad amity between the United States and the United Kingdom. The defence and security alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom is, indeed, a special one. Americans and Britons fought alongside each other in two world wars, Korea, and several conflicts in the Middle East. Both were […]



UK Defence Command Paper 2023: Making a Virtue of Necessity

On 18 July 2023 the United Kingdom released a long-awaited Defence Command Paper setting out how the British Armed Forces will adapt to the lessons of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Limited by financial realities, the new document is long on words but short on tangible detail. Nevertheless, the measures it contains offer the prospect of a […]

Delivery rather than Perfection: ESD Interviews the UK Minister for Defence Procurement

In August 2023, ESD interviewed the Honourable James Cartlidge MP, Minister for Defence Procurement (MinDP) at the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD). The interview was conducted by Mark Cazalet and Stephen Barnard. At the June House of Commons Defence Committee (HCDC) hearing, MinDP said there are “positive changes happening” regarding defence procurement. What are these […]

Silent Struggle: Accounts from the Frontlines of Ukraine’s Electronic War

Electronic Warfare (EW) in Ukraine has been a critical enabler for both sides of the war in Ukraine, with each scrambling to adapt to modern battlefield possibilities within the electromagnetic spectrum. This domain has been used for a variety of purposes, including gathering information, target locating/positioning, disruption, deception, and even downing UAVs. While EW has […]



Heavy-Lift Helicopter Programmes

In this article, Ian Frain examines some of the heavy-lift helicopter programmes from the recent past and present. Currently, there are only four heavy-lift platforms in the world. The twin-engine, eight-blade Russian Helicopters Mil Mi-26, NATO reporting name Halo, is the largest helicopter currently in service, since the late 1980s. Then there is the three-engine, […]

NATO BMD and Upper-Tier Developments

In a worsening missile threat environment, the need for comprehensive and technologically superior ballistic missile defence (BMD) is more important for western allies now, than at any other time in world history. The US and its NATO allies have a great responsibility to protect their respective populations in what are, probably, the most dangerous geopolitical […]

NATO’s Next-Generation Rotorcraft

Throughout history, the pace of the battlefield has always increased in line with technology. As in the last century, and as foreseen for the near future, progress in technology for military rotary aircraft, will focus on carrying capacity, weapons, and the capability to cover long distances. European Legacy Craft The battlefield utility rotorcraft platforms currently […]



The Joint Force Training Centre – A Key Venue for NATO Training, Exercises & Development

As tensions continue to rise across the globe, it has never been more important for NATO member countries to ensure that their armed forces are properly trained and stand ready to defeat potential adversaries. This is NATO’s Joint Force Training Centre (JFTC), located in Bydgoszcz, Poland, principle objective. JFTC’s state-of-the-art facility plays a key role […]

Next Generation Interceptor Status Report

The United States Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is developing a Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) to support homeland defence from ballistic missiles. The first units could be fielded in 2027 or 2028. The United States began fielding a Ground-based Missile Defense (GMD) system in 2004. It was never feasible or intended to protect North America from […]

Growing the SEAD

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has a clear roadmap to revitalise its Suppression of Enemy Air Defence capabilities. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO’s) Suppression of Enemy Air Defence (SEAD) and Destruction of Enemy Air Defence (DEAD) posture arguably took a back seat during alliance Counter-Insurgency (COIN) operations in Afghanistan. NATO SEAD/DEAD came to […]



Eurofighter Approaches True Maturity as a Combat Air Platform

Having now been in service for almost 20 years, the Eurofighter Typhoon is reaching full maturity as a combat air platform. While most of its users, in Europe at least, have now joined the ‘F-35 club’, the Typhoon will continue to operate as a potent complement to the F-35 for some years to come. Peter […]

The FMV – Pushing Forward Sweden’s Defence Procurement Projects

With Europe exposed to war on its doorstep once again, and the NATO alliance continuing to face some internal political opposition with regard to the accession of its newest candidates, the modern European security environment is a challenging one to say the least. In May 2023, ESD interviewed Lieutenant General Göran Mårtensson, Director General of […]

Demonstrating Flexibility and Scale: JEF provides non-NATO options for Generating Amphibious Effects

Amphibious warfare – the capacity to project ground force ashore from the sea – is regarded as high-end military capability. In the worsening security situation in Northern Europe, building amphibious force is a key element of NATO deterrence and defence posture. NATO has been broadening and deepening its amphibious capability, to offset concerns that increasing […]




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