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What Does the Future of Land Fires Look Like?
RUSI Defence Systems, November 2018Adam Coffey
The Royal Artillery’s ability to fight peer and near-peer threats has stagnated after two decades in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Modernising Defence Programme now offers the Royal Artillery a chance to consider the future of fires.
Land Forces
Australia’s Aegis Destroyer Will Improve its Defensive Capabilities
RUSI Defence Systems, August 2018Debalina Ghoshal
The Royal Australian Navy is leveraging the latest Aegis combat system, SM-6 interceptor missiles and its new Hobart-class destroyers to limit its vulnerability to proliferating ballistic and cruise missile threats in the Indo-Pacific region. This has implications for interoperability with allies and deterrence.
Maritime Forces
Enter the Tempest
RUSI Defence Systems, July 2018Justin Bronk
The new £2 billion Tempest programme aims to both keep the UK in the combat aircraft business and secure for it a place in the next major European fighter project. Initial mock-ups unveiled with the announcement give some clues about design priorities, but funding the project long term may be challenging
Aerospace
A Fourth F-35 Variant?
RUSI Defence Systems, June 2018Andrew Hartland
With an inherently high thrust-to-weight ratio and modified digital flight control system, an F-35 variant could operate off the Queen Elizabeth class carriers with fewer penalties to the baseline F-35A design than the current F-35B and hence fewer performance trade-offs
Aerospace
Counter-UAS – a ‘Wicked’ Problem?
RUSI Defence Systems, June 2018Adam Coffey
Finding, striking, jamming, blocking, sustaining, and generally being disruptive, are all now realistic outputs from UAS. Given these multiple potential and proven uses for UAS even by non-state actors, the military conversation has very much moved on to how to counter them.
Technology
The European Fighter Cooperation Question: How Many UK F-35s?
RUSI Defence Systems, May 2018Justin Bronk
The ongoing Combat Air Strategy under development within the Ministry of Defence faces a difficult choice, with significant capability, industrial and geopolitical cost trade-offs involved. The F-35 is at the centre of this dilemma.
Aerospace
The lights are going out all over Europe
RUSI Defence Systems, April 2018Joss Meakins
The threat of significant Russian cyberattacks against Western energy infrastructure is an increasingly clear and present danger
Cyber
Networked Air Warfare – Where Next?
RUSI Defence Systems, March 2018Andrew Hartland
Cross-platform networking architectures, coupled with innovative UAV design concepts, could offer a more efficient unmanned alternative to expensive fast jets.
Aerospace
UK Basing Posture Renews Naval Capability
RUSI Defence Systems, March 2018James Shinnie
With new UK facilities opening in Oman and Bahrain, an examination of these future bases offers helpful insights into the shape of UK strategic international engagements post-Brexit.
Maritime Forces
China and the Globalisation of Armed Drone Strikes
RUSI Defence Systems, February 2018Scott N. Romaniuk & Tobias Burgers
China’s rapid progress in developing and exporting armed and unarmed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles has significant implications and is undercutting long- running US efforts to control the spread of this technology around the world
Aerospace
SpaceX Falcon Heavy: That’s No Moon … It’s A Tesla!
RUSI Defence Systems, February 2018Alexandra Stickings
Aerospace, Technology
Taiwan’s Illustrative Minehunter Troubles
RUSI Defence Systems, February 2018Shang-Su Wu
Taiwan has had industrial financial viability problems with the construction of new minehunting vessels. These problems are indicative of the difficulties Taipei faces in its indigenous military modernisation efforts aimed at ameliorating its military inferiority vis-à-vis China.
Maritime Forces
Potential Chinese Railgun Testing Illustrates the US Navy’s Biggest Long-Term Challenge
RUSI Defence Systems, February 2018Justin Bronk
Pictures of what appears to be a test installation of a naval railgun on a PLA Navy landing ship suggest China is moving forward with sea trials of a weapon which can threaten all Western surface assets. At the start of a huge ship-building plan, China is ideally placed to capitalise on this technology.
Maritime Forces, Technology
Diversity in the UK's Intelligence Agencies
Financing Right-Wing Extremism and Terrorism
New UK Government Initiative to Support High-Risk, High-Reward Military Science Needs Refinement