Key Developments

The Headless Crisis: A Lame Duck Presidency Escalates the War in Ukraine

11/22/2024
By Robbin Laird

When we had the Cuban missiles crisis, we had President Kennedy and an Administration. When we…

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The Shipbuilding Context of the Kill Web Maritime Warfighting Paradigm Change

11/20/2024
By Robbin Laird

The challenge of ramping up the capabilities of the fleets of the democratic nations to deal…

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CMS 330: Empowering Allied Naval Combat Systems Integration

11/19/2024
By Robbin Laird

Over the years, I often dealt with MBDA. The European company – and it is truly…

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European Defense and Foreign Policy Entry Points, 2017 versus 2025: Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0

11/15/2024
By Robbin Laird

Dateline: Paris, France This week I returned to Rome to spend time with the Italian Air…

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The Trump Election and Its Impact on European Defense: A Polish View

11/13/2024
By Robert Czulda

The U.S. presidential election has worldwide implications, and Central and Eastern Europe is no exception. Donald…

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Special Reports
10/07/2024
On September 26, 2024, the most recent seminar of The Sir Richard Williams Foundation was held. It was...
Book Review
11/10/2024
We have launched a series which provides the insights of leading strategic thinkers on global change in our time. The past 15 years have seen dramatic changes which are driving further change in the global system. The series provides insights...
Featured Defense System
11/27/2024
By Robbin Laird

In his recently published article, Rob Mather of IFS, focused on the paradigm shift to the connected battlefield. This used to be conceptualized as network centric warfare, but it has become a different animal as distributed forces enabled by new genration C2 and ISR enable a whole new capability for forces operating at the tactical edge, In my recent visit to the warfighting training center for the Navy at Fallon Nevada, the Martime ISR officers have argued that the change is becoming so significant that they are really MSRD officer. That is Maritime surveillance, reconnaissance and decision enabling officers. The point being is intelligence as understand in a legacy context is simply to slow to enable decision making at the tactical edge. Operational tempo is increasing and the...

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