Category: Security policy

Sevastopol and the Black Sea Fleet - an impossible divorce

Sevastopol and the Black Sea Fleet - an impossible divorce

Gepostet von | 17 Mar 2022 | , , , | 0

The naval base of Sevastopol on the south-western tip of Crimea has been the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet since the 18th century. This fleet is part of the former Imperial Russian Navy, or the Soviet naval fleet until 1991, and since then the naval forces of the Russian Federation. Although it is the smallest of the four fleets in the Russian sphere of influence and has no nuclear significance (it has been disarmed since the early 1990s), it is Russia's strategic arm towards the Mediterranean. It is stationed with the vast majority of its units in Sevastopol, while other harbours in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov are used as bases for larger or more powerful...

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The maritime dimension of US policy in the Pacific region

The maritime dimension of US policy in the Pacific region

Gepostet von | 17 Mar 2022 | , , | 1

President Barack Obama's administration had already turned its attention to the Indo-Pacific region. The pivot to Asia continues to influence American policy to this day. In a speech to the Australian Parliament in November 2011, then US President Barack Obama announced the US pivot towards Asia: a deliberately pithy slogan that resonated with the audience in Canberra. However, others were also listening. America's NATO allies noted with concern the shift of diplomatic attention and military capabilities to the Pacific region. As a result, the Obama administration had to rush to reassure its European partners that the US...

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Where have they gone?

Where have they gone?

Gepostet von | 15 Mar 2022 | , , , , | 0

After reunification in 1990, Germany's navy suddenly had hundreds of boats and ships at its disposal. Many of them were dispensable for political purposes and were sold or utilised worldwide. At the end of the Cold War in 1990, the Bundesmarine was a powerful and operationally ready navy capable of high-intensity combat. The Bundesmarine's mission was based on credible, conventional deterrence against the Warsaw Pact navies in the North Atlantic and in the North and Baltic Seas. At the time, the German Navy comprised around 175 boats and ships as well as 110 Tornado fighter-bombers. With the end of the bloc confrontation, politics and society demanded a clear peace dividend...

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Hypersonic weapons: fast to the target

Hypersonic weapons: fast to the target

Gepostet von | 8 Mar 2022 | , , , | 0

Russia, China and, more recently, North Korea already claim to have hypersonic weapons. Now the US armed forces are also pushing ahead with the development of such missiles. The US armed forces have been endeavouring to develop hypersonic weapons for around 15 years. In 2019, it was decided to accelerate American research and testing in view of the development of hypersonic weapons in Russia and China. According to the Pentagon, the introduction of these missiles, which can reach more than Mach 5, is now on the horizon. The Pentagon's development programmes fall into two categories: hypersonic cruise missiles and stratospheric glide missiles. The cruise missiles achieve their flight speed using a supersonic combustion ramjet, or scramjet for short. Air is...

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LNG terminal - a long way off?

LNG terminal - a long way off?

Gepostet von | 16 Feb 2022 | , , | 0

Dependence on Russia and no way out? A column It was 2018, and since then there has been optimistic talk of future terminals at all maritime conferences. At the VSM conference in 2019, we repeatedly heard that things were getting underway in Brunsbüttel. Then came the National Maritime Conference: even the German Chancellor dutifully read off the page what had been written down for her, that we could rely on the strong maritime industry and its innovative strength in the future. Alternative technologies, alternative fuels, transitional technology. The magic word "Power to X" and LNG as a transition. Liquefied natural gas, not only for propulsion, but also of great importance for the national energy supply. And what...

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