Category: Armed Forces

Is the navy being forgotten in air defence?

The Patriot, Iris-T and Arrow land-based systems are the talk of the town when it comes to air defence. However, the German Navy already has modern and effective weapons for this purpose in the form of frigates 124. Russia's unlawful war against cities and critical civilian infrastructure in Ukraine has finally led to a realisation in Germany of the importance of efficient air defence. Now it is time to seriously and swiftly re-equip - together with other NATO partners. This was announced by Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht in a statement on the fringes of the October meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels. According to the statement, fourteen European countries and Germany have signed a letter of ...

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Light(er) on land

The Navy and Marine Corps are planning the joint construction of amphibious units. However, different ideas are jeopardising the success of the project. The US Navy is planning to introduce a new class of light amphibious warship (LAW) for transporting marines to the theatre of operations. A decision on the ship design is expected to be made in the first half of 2023. With a length of between 60 and 120 metres and a displacement of 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes, the LAW falls into a medium size class from an international perspective. The maximum draught is 3.7 metres in order to ensure that the ship can approach the landing beach directly and...

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Size Matters

With China in mind, the American navy is to receive additional ships. This also raises the question of the shipbuilding industry's capacities on the other side of the Atlantic. The US Navy published the Navigation Plan 2022 (Navplan 2022) on 26 July. These documents, which are published at irregular intervals, provide an insight into the structural and capability planning of the US naval forces. The author of the Navplan is the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), in this case Admiral Michael Gilday. The new fleet composition propagated in the Navplan caused the greatest stir. The stated goal is a battle force of 373 manned ships plus 150 large, unmanned ships.

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Finding the right balance

The world has not seen a high-intensity naval battle for decades. In view of the Russian attack on Ukraine, the urgent question now arises as to how naval warfare needs to be rethought. You would think that the Russian attack on Ukraine would have made life easier for planners. After all, many uncertainties regarding Russian intentions have now been resolved, albeit painfully, and it is now possible to concentrate properly on adequate defence planning. However, with new certainties, new questions have unpleasantly arisen. Did the West underestimate Putin's dangerousness, but at the same time overestimate the capabilities of his army? Was the Russian approach so...

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Breathless...

...we are following the annual reviews for 2022. Events in the world have unfolded at a speed that we could not - or did not want to - imagine. With the hope of an imminent end to the pandemic, the desire for good governance in Berlin and a bright future with the rulers in Washington, Paris or Rome, we hoped for stability and the usual economic satisfaction. Putin would not be so serious with his deployment, the US criticism of Nord Stream 2 was exaggerated, the defence budget could be developed moderately, if at all necessary, and we would concentrate on the...

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