Russian media recently claimed that the Federation’s new intercontinental ballistic missile will be able to penetrate even America’s most effective defence systems—but are they right? Russia claims the new RS-28 Sarmat heavy ICBM, being introduced …
Articles by: "Malcolm Davis"
Russia faces real challenges in sustaining its military modernisation efforts, given low oil prices, Western sanctions and the cost of operations in Ukraine and Syria. Despite that, Moscow looks set to continue the program. At …
In an earlier article on the USAF X-37B space plane I noted that the Obama administration’s 2010 space policy sought to avoid space weaponisation and ASATs. Washington’s current policy reinforces international norms against space warfare …
In announcing a separation from the US, the Philippine’s President Duterte recently flagged a closer relationship with China, stating, ‘America has lost…I’ve realigned myself in your [China’s] ideological flow’. Although Duterte subsequently walked back from …
A transformation in military space capabilities is occurring hundreds of kilometres above the Earth’s surface as the US Air Force X-37B Space Plane logs over 500 days in orbit in its latest mission. The unmanned …
The 2016 Defence White Paper (DWP16) signals that ‘options to replace the Super Hornets in the late 2020s will be considered in the early 2020s in the light of developments in technology and the strategic …
The Philippines under President Rodrigo Duterte’s erratic foreign and defence policy is lurching from one foreign policy crisis to the next. There’s deepening concern about extrajudicial killings that are piling bodies up and tarnishing the …
A common refrain when discussing the future of airpower is that ‘the F-35 is the last manned fighter’ and the future belongs to unmanned systems. The expanding use of unmanned air systems (UAS) such as …
After the Abbott government approved the purchase of 72 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for the RAAF, its fast jet capability was locked in for years to come. From around 2020, the F-35s will join 24 …
The findings of the South China Sea Arbitration conducted at The Hague refutes China claim of indisputable sovereignty, and invalidates the ‘nine-dash line’ as a mechanism to delineate that claim—a heavy defeat for China. As …
Australia uses satellites to support national defence, economic, and scientific activities, but isn’t a ‘space power’ that can provide independent space systems for national needs. The Department of Industry, Innovation and Scientific Research’s 2015 ‘State …
In an earlier article, I considered Australia’s potential options to replace the RAAF’s 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets in the late 2020s as mandated in the 2016 Defence White Paper (4.42). Options could include manned aircraft, …