Amid the attention to the various centenaries of the first world war, we should not overlook the half-centenaries of the Vietnam War. As a recent ‘Rear Vision’ program on the ABC reminded us, fifty years …
Where H is for helicopter, emphasising the H in LHD is imminent. HMAS Canberra is now due to conduct initial underway deck, embarkation and aviation support trials with ADF ground-support helicopters. In a recent Strategist …
The CIA is set to undertake one of its largest-ever internal restructures since its inception in 1947. The reorganisation will see a new ‘Directorate of Digital Innovation’ join the agency’s four existing directorates. CIA head …
Since the 1946 ‘Report on the International Control of Atomic Energy’ and the closely associated Baruch Plan formulated by the United States, ‘nuclear latency’—put simply, the potential for countries to obtain nuclear weapons capability—has been …
I explained previously that the US places a premium on having a long-range bomber in inventory, and how big that premium can be. With the B-2, the costs of bomber programs effectively ‘hit the wall’, …
With International Women’s Day yesterday this week’s Land Warfare tips its hat to women in the US army and former CIA spy Betty McIntosh, and then looks at Boko Haram, US military power, the offensive …
This post is a contribution to a series leading to ASPI’s Future Surface Fleet Conference at the end of March. Sam Bateman’s recent post identified problems with our national commitment to the Antarctic and the …
This week’s post discusses the implications of UAV exports, F-35 production, the future of warfare, swarming and 3D printing. Last week, we discussed the US export policy for unmanned aerial systems. This week, we look …
It’s now possible to do public-opinion surveys in China on everything from pandas to pensions. So why not slip in some questions about the territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas? That’s what …
Team Strategist is taking a break to celebrate a public holiday in the nation’s capital (currently illuminated like the set of Tron). But we’ll be back tomorrow with our usual line-up of analysis and updates. Until then, for some good reads, …
Happy International Women’s Day from The Strategist team! The Center for New American Security last week hosted a conference on ‘Women and Leadership in International Security’ (recap here), where USAF Secretary Deborah James announced a …
In my previous post on the US Long Range Strike–Bomber (LRS-B), I promised to return to the likely cost-effectiveness of the future system. But first I’m going to back-track to examine the possible costs in …
Why is ASPI starting a border security program? Why is border security important to an island country with no land borders? Where and what is a border in a globalised world? In the past a …
This piece was drawn from the second part of a presentation to the 2015 Chief of Air Force Symposium, the theme of which was ‘Integrating Air Power.’ At last year’s Air Power Conference in Canberra I spoke …
This week’s update includes CCTV for Australian schools, British extremism, China’s CT laws, the FBI’s online fight against IS, white supremacy, and inside the mind of a terrorist. Australian schools categorised as being at risk …
December 2014 saw the Australian Army wind down its longest ever warlike commitment—after 13 years of continuous operations, Australian troops ceased combat operations in Afghanistan. Now for the first time in over a decade the …
On The Beat this week: Europol’s latest organised crime report, cybercrime vs drug trafficking, the National Identity Security Strategy, security funding for Australian schools and the case against metadata retention. Europol and tomorrow’s organised crime …
From the time it came into being in 1947, the United States Air Force has had a state-of-the-art long-range bomber in its inventory. The first was the extraordinary B-36 Peacemaker (see photo)—the name intending to …
The cyber element has been a staple of global threat assessments for quite some time. Last week’s Worldwide Threat Assessment delivered by US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was no exception. Testifying at the …
This piece was drawn from the first part of a presentation to the 2015 Chief of Air Force Symposium, the theme of which was ‘Integrating Air Power.’ Who could be so silly as not to want …