Archive: News & Articles

US President Donald Trump has signalled a major shift in his administration’s support for Ukraine as it battles to stem a Russian invasion of the country now well into its third year. Meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the White House on 14 July 2025, Trump announced that he has approved the transfer […]

The United Kingdom and France are to order more Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles while stepping up work on the weapon’s replacement as part of a new refreshed Lancaster House agreement signed on 10 July 2025. The new agreement will see the UK and France commit to launching the next phase of their joint project for […]

European systems house Thales is soon to publish a white paper on how human-machine teaming (HMT) can enhance decision making and operational agility in defence, to which ESD has been afforded a preview viewing. Noting that the embedding of artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous systems across modern defence systems is leading to a profound shift […]

US President Donald Trump has reversed a suspension in the shipment of US precision munitions to Ukraine after apparently being unaware of how the suspension was implemented in the first place. During a Cabinet meeting in Washington, DC, on 8 July 2025 Trump said that the US government would continue to send defensive weapons to […]

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding strengthening bilateral defence co-operation between Poland and the Netherlands was signed by the two countries’ defence ministers in Warsaw on 7 July 2025. The MoU acknowledges the leading role of NATO in ensuring international peace and security and outlines areas of co-operation such as: defence planning and policy; shared […]

After James Taiclet, the president and CEO of Lockheed Martin, took up his post in June 2020, he asked his leadership team how Lockheed Martin should focus and position itself in terms of having an impact on deterrence. Speaking recently to ESD at the Paris Air Show on 16 June 2025, Michael Williamson, president of […]

On 1 July 2025 Steen Søndergaard began his three-year term as NATO Chief Scientist, having been appointed to the position by the North Atlantic Council earlier this year upon recommendation by the NATO Science & Technology Board (STB). As Chief Scientist, Søndergaard serves as chairman of the STB and acts as the senior scientific advisor […]

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) formally established the UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) organisation on 1 July 2025 as the focal point for innovation within the ministry. The organisation will develop over the next 12 months, with further design, transition and implementation work, while determining the optimal workforce structure needed to achieve its long-term ambitions. […]

The US Department of Defence (DoD) has suspended shipments of some air defence missiles – including Patriot rounds – and other precision munitions to Ukraine over concerns that US weapon stockpiles have fallen too low. The news was initially reported in an article by US digital news outlet Politico on 1 July 2025, which stated […]

Ukraine is joining other countries in the proximity of Russia in withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention, otherwise known as the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty. Ukraine thus joins Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, which all announced on 18 March 2025 that they would withdraw from the convention in light of the deteriorated security situation in Eastern […]

NATO concluded its two-day summit in The Hague on 25 June 2025 with the allies agreeing to invest 5% of their GDP on defence and reaffirming their continued support for Ukraine in its fight to repel the Russian invasion. At the formal session of NATO Heads of State and Government on 24 June allied leaders […]

As the truce between Israel and Iran brokered by the US Trump Administration on 24 June 2025 appeared to be holding on 25 June after some initial violations, attention turned to just how much damage was done to Iran’s nuclear weapon programme by Operation ‘Midnight Hammer’: the US B-2 bomber and cruise missile strikes against […]

On 20 June 2025, in the run-up to the NATO Summit in The Hague on 24-25 June, the Norwegian government was among the first NATO allies to commit to allocating 5% of GDP to defence-related expenditures. “The world has become more dangerous and more unpredictable. Europe must shoulder greater responsibility for its own security. We […]

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been forced to review its base security measures in the wake of an incident in the early hours of 20 June 2025 in which activists from pro-Palestinian protest group Palestine Action broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and damaged two Royal Air Force (RAF) Voyager aerial refuelling/transport […]

Having been barred from showing their systems at both France’s Eurosatory defence exhibition in June 2024 and Euronaval show in October 2024 in light of Israeli military operations against Hamas in Gaza, most Israeli defence companies, including Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Elbit Systems, Rafael, Aeronautics and UVision, have now been frozen out of the 2025 […]

The UK’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) places NATO at the heart of the UK’s defence posture and the British Army is no exception to this. The Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), a corps-level headquarters that is commanded by British personnel, has been asked to provide NATO with two divisions, and this is the context through […]

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has delivered a warning about Russia’s growing capacity to churn out war materiel and the imperative for NATO to robustly respond. Giving a speech at the Chatham House think tank in London on 9 June 2025, Rutte warned that the ‘war machine’ of Russian President Vladimir Putin “is speeding up […]

As illustrated in the UK’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR), published on 2 June 2025, the continuing Russo-Ukrainian war underscores the UK’s continuing need to contribute two core national capabilities, provided by the Royal Navy (RN), to NATO’s North Atlantic deterrence and defence. First is the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent, delivered currently by the RN’s four […]

The UK Ministry of Defence published its much-anticipated Strategic Defence Review on 2 June 2025. With high-intensity conflict having returned to Europe since the publication of the Integrated Defence Review in 2021 following Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the SDR consequently set out wide-ranging new measures and initiatives to adapt to the new military-geopolitical […]

Germany has announced that all range restrictions on the long-range weapons provided to the Ukrainian armed forces by their Western allies have been lifted, allowing them to strike much further behind the front lines in Ukraine. Confirmation of the move came from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who stated at the WDR Europaforum on 26 May […]

The United Kingdom and Germany confirmed for the first time on 15 May 2025 that they will co-lead the development of a new European long-range strike capability with a range of over 2,000 km. The initiative follows the signing of the landmark Trinity House Agreement on Defence Co-operation between the two countries in London on […]