The one thing Boris Johnson and his DUDE — Deliver, Unite, Defeat, Energize — partisans have in common with their opponents is that they all want to see a quick end to a process that has paralyzed the debate about Europe’s future and created a climate of instability which only NATO’s foes can find suitable.

The sale to Montenegro might be small, but the US push into the Balkans will not make Moscow happy.

Didier Plantecoste, head of the MRTT program at Airbus, says the allied tanker program is wooing new European customers in “the South.”

While two carriers attracting most of the attention, a smaller US footprint is being established between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, where Russia — and Turkey — are raising concerns.

WASHINGTON: The European Union has taken a major step toward more effective national security screening of foreign direct investments, implementing a new “framework”  for the EU. It is the beginning of a more unified approach across the vast market on a long-standing issue. Even though China is not explicitly targeted in the new document, the timing of… Keep reading →

A British defense official talked up the good news about British defense spending in DC this week — including on many US-built weapons — but some dark clouds hang over the ambitious plan.

Barring the collapse of the British government, London plans to unveil its Combat Air Strategy during the Farnborough Air Show. Unlike its Brexit strategy to leave the European Union, there is general consensus here around the broad thrust of the document: position the UK to remain a key player in the design, development and manufacture… Keep reading →

EUROSATORY: Like all military shows, Eurosatory – the French equivalent to the big AUSA annual meeting in the United States – takes the pulse of the land warfare market both from a technological and geopolitical point of view. Far from being exhaustive given the size of the show and the scope of such an endeavor,… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: After two decades of watching the American share of the NATO budget grow from 50 to 75 percent, the alliance’s leadership is determined to learn how to operate without the usual American help, even as nationalist movements roil the capitals of the transAtlantic alliance and Vladimir Putin hacks his way through democratic elections. Meeting… Keep reading →

A key dynamic in the shift from COIN-centric land wars to a twenty-first century combat force is what the US and its closest allies will learn from each other thanks to the core weapons systems they are buying at the same time. Hidden in plain view is the emergence of a significant driver of change  –- flying the same… Keep reading →