Category: Security policy

Hypersonic weapons: fast to the target

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?

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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The sea as a safety factor

In its new annual report, the Naval Command describes Germany's dependence on safe sea routes. The little-known importance of the maritime industry is also emphasised. In his foreword to the Naval Command's 2021 annual report on Germany's maritime dependency, Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schönbach explains why Germany has no choice but to protect its maritime interests. "As a member of the United Nations, the EU and NATO, we are committed to ensuring that our merchant and passenger ships can continue to sail the world's oceans safely and freely." The document updates and supplements the data and findings of its predecessors. It describes in detail the situation of...

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Dragon taming for beginners

With its drive for expansion, China is turning more and more nations against itself and fuelling fear in the region. This leads to the formation of security co-operations. China's aggressive expansionist policy is increasingly turning the Indo-Pacific region into the theatre of a global political conflict that is primarily maritime in nature. In the South China Sea, from which China wants to push the USA out in the long term, there is a constant risk of a military incident between US ships during their regular Freedom of Operations missions (Fonops) and Chinese ships. For the USA, the Pacific region with East Asia is the focus of its geostrategic security policy. As a guarantor of stability and security, it has traditionally enjoyed strategic supremacy there, which...

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Royal Navy of the 21st century?

Beijing is massively arming itself, particularly in the maritime sector. The return of Asian naval power is challenging the West - once again. It is over. It's over. Taiwan can no longer be defended. At least not militarily. China is too strong. Now also for the United States. This is how one could summarise the Pentagon's conclusion. The US Department of Defence has already simulated the defence against a Chinese invasion of Taiwan eighteen times. Eighteen times the simulation ended in defeat for the Americans. How could this happen? Should the mighty US Navy with its large aircraft carrier battle groups no longer be able to control the Taiwan Strait?

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