Royal Australian Navy Explores Autonomy and Optional Crewing: Eyes LUSV as Potential LOSV Solution

05/12/2024 By Gregor Ferguson The Australian Department of Defence’s response to the Royal Australian Navy surface fleet review, Enhanced Lethality Surface Combatant Fleet, published in February, announced the RAN would field six Large Optionally Manned Surface Vessels (LOSVs) from the 2030s to carry missile launch systems. Interestingly, the RAN program closely resembles a similar but far more advanced one in the… Read more »

Insights on European Defence from the Defence24 Conference: May 2024

05/10/2024 Robert Czulda NATO member states must step up their defense efforts, as Russia continues to pose a threat that persists. The time gained through Ukraine's resistance is being squandered – this was the prevailing view during Defence24Days in Warsaw, one of Europe's largest defense-related conferences. Throughout the event, held between May 6-7, 2024, in the Polish capital of Warsaw, numerous… Read more »

Australia’s New Defence Strategy: Reshaping the ADF into a Focused Force

05/09/2024 By Robbin Laird The Australian government has laid out its strategy of change for the ADF in last year’s Defence Strategic Review (DSR) and in this year’s defence investment plan and national defence strategy. But frankly, deep cuts in current capability to play for the future force leaves many of us unsure of where the Australian government thinks it is… Read more »

Looking Back at the Formation of MAWTS-1 and Shaping a Way Ahead

05/07/2024 By Robbin Laird I had a chance to talk with LtCol Howard DeCastro, the first CO of MAWTS-1 and LtGen Barry Knutson, the eighth commander of MAWTS-1, the day before the change of command ceremony at MAWTS-1. We talked about the approach of MAWTS-1 from the beginning and the importance of continuing the tradition and approach going forward for the… Read more »

The French Defence Minister Visits Vietnam

05/06/2024 By Pierre Tran Paris - The armed forces minister, Sébastien Lecornu, is due to make an official visit to Vietnam to attend French and Vietnamese commemoration on May 6 and 7 of the bloody battle of Dien Bien Phu, which marked the defeat of French colonialism in the southeast Asian nation. The memorial events mark the 70th anniversary of that… Read more »

Attending the MAWTS-1 Change of Command Ceremony, May 3, 2024

05/05/2024 After returning to the United States from Australia on April 25, 2024, I buckled up again for a flight to Yuma, Arizona to have the privilege of witnessing the MAWTS-1 change of command ceremony. In the process of finishing up our forthcoming book on MAWTS-1, this seemed a good way to close out our effort. One of the architects of… Read more »