Niche is the name of the game for Finnish companies
When you are an European country with a mere five million souls, that is not a member of NATO and has spent much of the last century living in the ominous shadow of the Soviet Union you perhaps don't expect to be at the forefront of defence contracting. However, as DSD reporter Henry Wilson discovered during a visit to Finnish defence companies, there are other ways of making an impression.
The US National Security Strategy (NSS) has always had shortcomings in promoting democracy and building a strong relationship between the Middle East and the United States. So says Sam Hamontree in a thought provoking paper, which he wrote whilst at the US Air War College.
Douglas Harpel, DSD's Washington Correspondent, recently sat down with US Air Force Colonel Linda Palmer, Director of the Foreign Comparative Test Programme to discuss the programme and the opportunity it presents for allied industry to penetrate the US defence market.
Douglas Harpel, DSD's Washington Correspondent, explores the implications of majority rule in Washington on U.S. national security policies and programs. With unexpected gains in both the House and the Senate, the Republican Party will have firm control of the reins of government as America moves closer to what appears to be an inevitable conflict with Iraq.
Ben Moores, Industry Analyst (Europe) at Frost & Sullivan, considers the impact that new technology has had on the outcome of the first stage of the 'war against terror' during the ongoing Afghan conflict. He identifies some clear lessons emerging from various military and academic circles that European industry and Procurement agencies will doubtlessly be listening closely to.
In Part One, Leon Engelbrecht examined the background to South Africa's multi-billion rand Defence acquisition programme. He also looked at the programme's cost and the expected benefits, or offsets, for the broader economy.
In this second and final part he explores whether these justifications hold water and after making a few predictions regarding the future course of this and other programmes, reaches his conclusions.
On 19 October 2001 the US General Accounting Office (GAO) published a critical and comprehensive report on the status of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) acquisition program. The GAO's recommendations are likely to be far reaching...
"To eliminate one of the major sources of cost and schedule risk, we recommend that the Secretary of
Defense delay the start of engineering and manufacturing development until critical technologies are
matured to acceptable levels."
Leon Engelbrecht takes an insider's look at the state of South Africa's Defence programme. Whilst there is a case to rejuvenate the SAAF and SAN with more modern equipment, South Africa's 1996 Defence White Paper and subsequent Defence Review did not establish any major external military threats.
So what is to become of South Africa's declared intention to re-equip the SANDF? Leon Engelbrecht explains...
During the height of the Cold War, Western armchair strategists loved to talk about "playing the China
card". The idea was that by getting closer to Beijing, the US could increase pressure on Moscow. How
times have changed....
Larry Johnson, Managing Director of CDC Systems UK Limited, speaks on the record to Defence Digitization Bulletin about the development of the CDC Bowman solution.
The Australian Government has concluded that it needs to reverse a policy of
defence-industry privatisation to achieve policy objectives
that consolidate existing submarine construction capabilities.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Squire, UK's Chief of the Air Staff, presents a capability review of the Royal Air Force from its inception to the present day.
DSD's South African correspondent, Leon Engelbrecht, is keeping track of the transformation of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the challenges it still faces, six years after integrating soldiers and combatants from as many as nine different armed forces. He offers a candid insight into the challenges that surround racial harmony and operational efficiency within the SANDF.
In a speech at Australia's National Engineering Forum 2000 held in Canberra on 14 April 2000, Paul Salteri, Managing Director Tenix Pty Limited, presented an authoritative and forward looking summary of Australia's Defence & Security issues and requirements for the 21st Century.
The traditional paradigm that has linked greater tonnage to greater firepower is changing. While procurement of smaller class ships has always been the pursuit of navies with limited power projection and resources, the historical "blue water" western navies are also looking to smaller ships to confront a changing post-Cold War threat environment. This will change the strategies of radar and sonar manufacturers in addressing naval sensor markets.
Australia is using a sophisticated new radar network that can detect stealth bombers, curb illegal immigration and spy on neighbouring nations from at least 3000 kilometres away. The $A1.8 billion Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) has taken more than 30 years to complete but is now undergoing final trials.
As with the Köln European Council before it, the progress made by the Helsinki European Council in December 1999 towards a Common European Security and Defence Policy defied rather than disappointed expectations. It adopted a 'Headline Goal' defining the repertory of force capabilities needed for EU-led operations, and launched the process of getting European states to pledge national contributions to it.
NATO's new Strategic Concept has not been headline news for quite a few months. Actually, the odd thing was that it ever made the news at all. The headlines from the 1997 Madrid Summit focused on the decision to invite Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to join NATO, rather than the decision to 'examine and update' the 1991 Strategic Concept. What nobody foresaw was that debates about Alliance philosophy, high policy, and even terminology would become entangled with real – and difficult – decisions in the Real World.
Tim Ripley looks behind the marketing hype and points up the real lessons from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations during the Kosovo conflict. In the wake of the NATO's Operation Allied Force, senior US military leaders and industry figures have been enthusing about the contribution of UAVs to the successful outcome of the NATO air campaign.....but the further away you are from western capitals and the closer you get to Kosovo, the more sceptical western military men are about UAVs.
In his book, "Operation Deliberate Force - The UN and NATO Campaign in Bosnia 1995", Tim Ripley has assembled; through a remarkably extensive set of candid interviews with central military and political players in the Bosnian tragedy; a deeply depressing catalogue of the new limits to diplomacy and military strategy.
U.S. National Security Strategy in The Middle East: Operational Victories and Strategic Setbacks
Finding success in the US Foreign Comparative Test (FCT) Programme
U.S. National Security & the 108th Congress
The Dawn of Network Centric Warfare?
South Africa's multi-billion arms programme revisited - Part Two
Joint Strike Fighter acquisition: Mature critical technologies needed to reduce risks
South Africa's multi-billion arms programme revisited - Part One
Washington tries to "play the Russia Card"
CDC Systems UK - Bowman Solution
New Prospects for Aussie Submarine Corporation
From Spitfire to Eurofighter - The RAF's Legacy
"Going ballistic" - the SANDF six years on
Australia's Defence challenges in the 21st Century
Changing perceptions and threats usher in next generation naval sensors
JORN assures early warning for Australia
European defence: another set of questions
NATO's new strategic concept
UAVs over Kosovo - did the Earth move?
A review of Operation Deliberate Force
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