Archive: News & Articles

In recent years, Poland has launched the largest modernisation programme for its armed forces in history. However, not all widely publicised announcements have resulted in binding orders. Impending financial difficulties also raise doubts about these ambitious plans. In July 2024, Deputy Minister of National Defence Paweł Bejda stated that it was his “dream” for Poland’s […]

Why are some US-supplied weapons relying on the Global Positioning System falling prey to Russian jamming? May 2024 finished with bad news. Some of the weapons the United States had supplied to Ukraine were losing their effectiveness. Systems such as the BAE Systems/Raytheon M982 Excalibur 155 mm artillery shell and Lockheed Martin’s M142 HIMARS (High […]

State and non-state actors are seeking to build mass at sea, with maritime uncrewed systems a key line of development. The potential for adversaries to use such systems in swarm attacks is prompting Western navies to counter this threat, including at distance to push it further out In the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, rogue […]

In the era of great power competition, the ability to conduct deep-strike operations against targets over the horizon and also far behind the front line at distance – on land and at sea – is seen as essential to degrade enemy forces and win a future peer conflict. This article investigates the capabilities being fielded […]

As far as combat aircraft programmes go, there appears to be one inescapable fact; although every new generation of combat aircraft aims to outperform its predecessor and often does so, it is unable to achieve a significant reduction in costs. Despite efforts to control costs, the reality of designing, developing and fielding an advanced combat […]

The start of the war’s summer campaign in Ukraine has seen key developments emerging, the results of which could be assessed over the next few months. In May 2024, the Russian command launched an offensive in the Kharkiv region, in parallel lines with the ongoing offensive operations in Donetsk region. Given the limited Russian capabilities […]

This article examines some of the key recent developments in the air refuelling tanker space. Tanker aircraft programmes worldwide reflect shared challenges. Tankers based on airliner designs – the vast majority of those now in service – may prove vulnerable to future threats. The need to increase tanker availability has led to NATO’s multinational tanker […]

A significant number of European nations are acquiring the F-35 fifth-generation combat aircraft. This will enhance interoperability within NATO armed forces, but raises the question of excessive reliance on a single weapon system. The F-35 Lightning II combat aircraft was conceived at the outset as a multinational project and with an eye to exports beyond […]

The armed forces of the United States are pursuing acquisition of unconventional VTOL aircraft to perform niche missions, with Congress taking an increasing interest in these capabilities. The primary advantage of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft lies in their flexibility. They operate independent of runways and also from relatively confined areas including parking lots, […]

Superior airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) confers advantage over an adversary and potential dominance over a battlespace. Latest AEW&C aircraft developments and operations underpin the continuing and increasing importance for their presence in the skies above today’s geopolitically, supercharged, global landscape. Following the advent of radar in the UK in the mid-1930s, it was […]

One of the key lessons learned from the ongoing war in Ukraine is the need for combat aircraft to have look-down/shoot-down capabilities against low and slow targets, such as uncrewed aerial vehicles. The Persian Gulf is located 2,987 km from Ukraine yet an event that occurred on 13 April 2024 near this stretch of water […]

Leading military powers are looking to new technologies and innovative designs to enhance the future survivability and operational effectiveness of their air forces. As offensive and defensive technologies develop, armed forces that do not keep pace become vulnerable. Particular threats to aircraft are posed by increasingly long-range and discriminatory sensors coupled with long-range air defence […]

As NATO peer and near-peer adversaries have continued to advance their intelligence-gathering, targeting, and long-range strike capabilities. Consequently, airbases, which have typically been geographically separated from conflict areas and represented relative safe havens, are increasingly vulnerable. As such, NATO Allies and partner nations are streamlining to become more ‘agile’, to counter a range of threats […]

Generating fast-jet pilots is an expensive business with air forces adopting a number of different training models to achieve their goals. This fast-jet training pipeline is not easy to manage, and a number of air forces are suffering pilot shortages and incurring increasing costs as a result. What does it take to fly a modern […]

Underpinning the US’ formidable intelligence-gathering capabilities are the varied and unique spy satellites operated by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). This article peers into the murky world of US space-based intelligence gathering, charting its progress from the Cold War to the present. Back in the late-1970s, a US aerospace engineer drew my attention to a […]

Over the past decade, hypersonic technologies have become one of the most discussed developments related to modern warfare. At present, hypersonics are being actively developed both for tactical and strategic uses by most major military powers. It is important to define what exactly hypersonic weapons are, as there is somewhat of a tendency to overuse […]

Europe produces three modern fighter aircraft in service with the continent’s air forces, although the American F-35, a crucial component of NATO’s air strategy, will form the backbone of the Alliance’s air defence. Five countries (Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom) operate the Eurofighter Typhoon, while France, Greece, and Croatia fly the Rafale. […]

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and loitering munitions (LMs) above the battlefields of Ukraine are just some of the airborne threats that have changed the battlespace forever. However, the airburst/proximity effects and latest ‘programmable’ capabilities of certain medium-calibre munitions are providing an effective counter. This article looks briefly at the relevance of proximity […]

Fake news and disinformation are cancers afflicting societies around the world with potentially catastrophic consequences. Both are also posing increasing risks to military operational and tactical decision-making. It was the Newsthrob website that broke the story, possibly the biggest of the war so far. The special forces soldiers were all NATO troops. The commandos stormed […]

Artillery is once again in the forefront of air-land warfare due to the War in Ukraine. European nations are updating their artillery, introducing L52 guns, and utilising tracked or wheeled vehicle platforms. Western European countries, the majority of which belong to NATO, have neglected their ‘classic’ artillery until recently. In 2019, the British Army fielded […]

Thermobaric weapons, sometimes also referred to as ‘enhanced blast weapons’ or ‘vacuum bombs’, and their common subset fuel-air explosives (FAE), have been used in various conventional weapons used by militaries and even improvised explosive devices (IEDs) used by non-state actors. These weapons are said to have been used in Afghanistan, the Middle East in different […]