Archive: News & Articles

In 2025 the UK government will give more military support to Ukraine than ever before, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) asserted on 16 January 2025. GBP 3 billion (EUR 3.55 billion) has already been committed for lethal aid, while the first GBP 1.5 billion from a GBP 2.26 billion loan as part of the G7 Extraordinary […]

Babcock has secured its first NATO training contract, which will involve delivering support to the alliance’s Joint Warfare Centre (JWC), the company announced on 13 January 2025. The five-year contract, delivered primarily in Stavanger, Norway, where the JWC is headquartered, will support military exercises by providing subject matter experts to fulfil play functions, such as […]

Another 30,000 first-person view (FPV) drones will be sent to Ukraine following GBP 45 million (EUR 53.3 million) worth of contracts being placed by the international Drone Capability Coalition, co-led by the UK and Latvia, as the UK steps up its leadership in supporting Ukraine in 2025. The initiative was announced by UK Defence Secretary […]

As if to presage what is to come, US president-elect Donald Trump began 2025 with comments that could easily be construed as imperialist. In a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on 7 January 2025, Trump renewed his first term ambition to buy Greenland from Denmark; said the United States should […]

Belgium’s FN Herstal announced on 6 January 2025 the official launch of the Small Arms Ammunition Technologies (SAAT) project. The four-year initiative, co-ordinated by FN Herstal and conducted by a European consortium consisting of defence companies, research organisations, and the defence ministries of nine countries, aims to establish a common standard for small arms ammunition in Europe […]

The Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD) announced on 1 January 2025 that it has established an Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Autonomy Administration, having inaugurated it the previous day. Operating under the IMOD’s Directorate of Defense Research & Development (DDR&D), the AI and Autonomy Administration will spearhead research, development, and force build-up efforts in AI and […]

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has highlighted the critical need to ramp up defence spending and defence production amid an increasingly turbulent security climate. Speaking on 12 December 2024 at an event hosted by Carnegie Europe in Brussels, Rutte called on the NATO allies to “shift to a wartime mindset and turbo charge our defence […]

Military and civilian experts from across NATO met at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on 10 December 2024 to ramp up further co-operation in countering threats to critical undersea infrastructure. The specialists were joined by industry representatives, including telecommunications operators. Participants at the meeting reviewed mechanisms to boost situational awareness, to enhance information sharing […]

NATO Foreign Ministers wrapped up two days of meetings in Brussels on 4 December 2024 by vowing to address the increasing incident of sabotage and other hostile actions being inflicted on NATO countries. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated that “both Russia and China have tried to destabilise our countries and divide our societies with […]

UK Defence Secretary John Healey launched the UK Labour government’s Defence Industrial Strategy on 2 December 2024, inviting investors, innovators, industry and trade unions to give their views on how to grow a better, more integrated, more innovative and more resilient UK defence sector. Speaking at a London Defence Conference event with investors in the […]

The UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a partnership of 10 northern European nations, has successfully concluded Exercise ‘Joint Protector 24’ across multiple locations in Latvia, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 23 November 2024. The exercise was designed to test how quickly the JEF could deploy together across Europe to defend Latvia from any […]

As the 1,000th day of Russia’s war against Ukraine passed on 19 November 2024, the conflict was reverberating with a series of dangerous escalations. Arguably the first of these became evident on 24 October 2024, when the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) reported that around 11,000 North Korean troops had arrived […]

On 19 and 20 November 2024 the Portuguese National Defence Course Auditors Association (AACDN), a public institution founded in 1981, hosted the Congress ‘Security and Defence in Europe: Challenges’ at the Military Academy in Amadora, Portugal. The event brought together an extensive line-up of key figures in Portuguese security and defence. The congress opened with […]

Donald Trump’s stunning comeback to be elected the 47th president of the United States – only the second candidate to win non-consecutive presidential terms and the only ever criminal defendant to win a presidential election – could have far-reaching geopolitical consequences. Showing some urgency in adjusting to the new reality, the leaders who are presumed […]

UK Defence Secretary John Healey has launched what is being billed as the “biggest reform of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in over 50 years to fix what the Public Accounts Committee calls the ‘broken’ defence procurement system and to strengthen UK Defence”, the MoD announced on 25 October 2024. The move comes amid increasing […]

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has issued a statement condemning the deployment of North Korean troops into Russia. Speaking in Brussels on 28 October 2024, Rutte stated, “This morning, a delegation from the Republic of Korea, a close NATO partner, briefed the North Atlantic Council and our other Indo-Pacific partners – Australia, Japan and New […]

The United Kingdom and Germany have signed a landmark defence agreement – the first of its kind between the two countries – that will see the joint development of deep strike weapons, German maritime patrol aircraft (MPAs) operating from Scotland and the production of large-calibre gun barrels returning to the UK. Known as the Trinity […]

ESD is happy to announce the magazine received 13 nominations and secured two awards at the 2024 Defence Media Awards (DMAs), held in Washington, DC, on 13 October, along with a further win at the 2024 European Military Press Association (EMPA) awards in Vienna. ESD Editor-in-Chief Mark Cazalet won the DMA for ‘Best Defence Electronics Submission’ with his article ‘Silent Struggle: […]

In the days preceding the one-year anniversary marking the 7 October 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, conceded that the country is now in conflict on multiple fronts and closer than ever to a direct confrontation with arch nemesis Iran. “Today, Israel is defending itself on seven fronts against […]

NATO’s Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC) has recently put in place a next-generation data processing and simulation system built in close collaboration with artificial intelligence (AI) specialist Pathway, the company announced on 1 October 2024. The Reinforcement Enablement Simulation Tool (REST) was developed by Pathway as a functional demonstrator to combine advanced data fusion, […]

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has taken steps to further enhance the defence posture of US forces throughout the Middle East region to deter aggression and mitigate the risk of a broader regional conflict, the Pentagon announced at the end of September 2024. The moves followed Israel’s targeted assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, leader of […]