A Look at Texelis: French Builder of Mobility Packages for Armored Vehicles

05/20/2024 By Pierre Tran Paris - Texelis, a builder of mobility packages for armored vehicles, is working on an electric  motorized wheel as an alternative to conventional drivelines, chief executive Jean Vandel told the Association des Journalistes de Defense, a press club. The company is developing and investing in new technology, including the “hybridization of mobility” for the Serval troop carrier, he… Read more »

Australian Defence Strategy in Transition: 2014-2024

05/20/2024 By Robbin Laird I have been coming to Australia since 2014 to participate in and write the seminar reports for the Sir Richard Williams Foundation. What started out as a Foundation focusing primarily on airpower has transitioned over that period to focusing on shaping the ADF as an integrated force, increasingly focused on their region. The latest report focused on… Read more »

What is the Opposite of Surge for Defence: The Australian Government Defence Strategy, 2024

05/17/2024 When the past government and the current one underscored that the warning time for the defence of Australia has been dramatically reduced because of Chinese behavior and lack of commitment to the “rules-based order”, it seemed like a critical turning point. Only it really is not. The current government has cut significantly current and already planned ADF capability, such as… Read more »

You Have Heard of a Day Without Space: Now Try Operating Without an Osprey

05/16/2024 By Robbin Laird As the United States faces a global overload of strategic challenges and the concomitant challenge of shaping an effective and capable force to deal with these challenges but having serious budget stringencies, leveraging the unique capabilities which the United States already possesses is crucial. It is nice to think of 6th generation aircraft, new AI autonomous systems,… Read more »

MAWTS-1 Change of Command, May 3, 2024

05/15/2024 By Robbin Laird Ed Timperlake and I are publishing a book on the MAWTS-1 training center later this year. As we note in our preface: Training for military forces is in the throes of significant change. The threats are dynamic; there is always the reactive enemy; and technology fosters new ways to operate. Concepts of operations are evolving, most notably… Read more »

Royal Australian Navy Explores Autonomy and Optional Crewing: Eyes LUSV as Potential LOSV Solution

05/12/2024 By Gregor Ferguson The Australian Department of Defence’s response to the Royal Australian Navy surface fleet review, Enhanced Lethality Surface Combatant Fleet, published in February, announced the RAN would field six Large Optionally Manned Surface Vessels (LOSVs) from the 2030s to carry missile launch systems. Interestingly, the RAN program closely resembles a similar but far more advanced one in the… Read more »