Archive: News & Articles

As senior officials from the US Trump Administration engaged with European leaders in mid-February 2025, it became increasingly clear that Ukraine’s worst fears about lack of US support for a just resolution to Russia’s invasion of the country appear to be being realised. The first indications of this came on 12 February before a meeting […]

Russia lost 1,400 main battle tanks (MBTs) in the Ukraine War in 2024 and has lost a total of more than 4,000 MBTs since its invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). In introductory remarks in London on 12 February 2025 marking the launch of […]

Less than a month after the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States, his administration’s ‘war on woke’ has the Pentagon jumping through diplomatic and cultural hoops, most recently with the second renaming of one of its largest military bases within three years. In October 2022 the previously named Fort […]

With the return of war to Europe in February 2022, Germany immediately faced up to the reality of needing to bolster its long-underfunded Bundeswehr, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz setting out major defence-spending plans in his watershed ‘Zeitenwende’ (turning point) speech three days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, nearly three years on from those […]

The new Belgian coalition government formed on 31 January 2025 has laid out plans to put an end to the country’s deficient defence spending. Posting a speech on X on 8 February, a day after delivering it to an audience in Brussels comprising staff from Belgium’s worldwide diplomatic corps, Belgian Defence Minister Theo Franken said […]

On 5 February 2025 the European Court of Auditors presented its audit report on the ‘Action Plan 2.0’ of the European Commission and the High Representative for Military Mobility. The plan, originally presented in 2018, covers the period from 2022 to 2026 and aims to improve military mobility within the EU. The findings of the […]

The United Kingdom is to launch a new combined Armed Forces Recruitment Service (AFRS) in 2027 to replace the individual schemes run by the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. The new service, announced by UK Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard on 6 February 2025, will provide a streamlined, single-entry point for prospective recruits […]

The political parties behind the Danish Defence Agreement have settled on a new accord regarding security in the Arctic and North Atlantic region, the Danish Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 27 January 2025. This first agreement contains initiatives with financial commitments of a value of approximately DKK 14.6 billion (EUR 1.96 billion) and the […]

Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone assumed the role of chair of the NATO Military Committee on 17 January 2025, officially receiving the gavel from his predecessor, Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, during a special session of the Military Committee in Brussels. Prior to the session, Adm Bauer laid a wreath at the Danish Memorial Stone, which […]

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 […]