A risk for security and the maritime economy On 23 June 2025, the Federation of German Industries (BDI) published the position paper "Strengthening overall defence" with an overall view of security policy, dependence on raw materials and technology. Back in November 2024, the BDI held a raw materials congress in Berlin to highlight the dangerous dependencies in the supply of raw materials for the German and...

Chinese flotilla in the Bering Strait: In mid-August, five Chinese research vessels operated near Alaska for the first time - alerting the US Navy and US Coast Guard. The Bering Strait is barely 70 kilometres wide - between the virtually uninhabited Russian Naukan and the American Wales in Alaska, which has a small airfield and...

At the major arms show DSEI (Defence & Security Equipment International) in London at the beginning of September, Brazil signed the contract to take over the ex-HMS Bulwark (LPD Albion class, 176 metres, 18,500 tonnes) - which had already been announced at the beginning of the year in the form of a bilateral MoU. The amphibious dock landing ship can look back on an eventful...

Status and developments in the Baltic states The Baltic Sea remains a troubled sea and is the focus of security and defence policy issues. Since the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in autumn 2022, the damage to Maritime Critical Infrastructure (MarKRITIS) in particular has brought the Baltic Sea into the public eye. Primarily submarine cables laid on the...

Europe's strategic interests in the Arctic "High North, low tension" was the motto until a few years ago. The Arctic seemed a remote and inaccessible place. However, progressive climate change, which is warming the Arctic four times faster than the rest of the planet, is opening up new potential and dangers. This means that the Arctic could...

Since 2022, the Royal Australian Navy and Californian drone manufacturer Anduril have been funding and developing an XL-AUV (Extra-Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle), which they call the "Ghost Shark". Three prototypes were to be built and trialled within three years - and the timeframe was actually missed! Now, at the beginning of September, Anduril Australia...

In Washington, the strong man on the Orinoco is seen as the mastermind behind the drug cartels Sinaloa (Mexico) and Tren de Agua / Cartel de los Soles (Venezuela) and the bounty was quickly doubled to 50 million dollars. Afterwards, there were plenty of oaths of allegiance to Nicolás Maduro from senior military officers. Of which, however...

On the day before the first Russian drone attack in Ukrainian waters on 28 August 2025, a US Navy P-8A Poseidon coming from Sicily (NAS Sigonella) and equipped with the AN/APS-154 Advanced Airborne Sensor had flown a reconnaissance mission across the Black Sea lasting several hours. The imminent Russian attack in the Danube Delta was...

The first Russian drone attack in Ukrainian waters on 28 August 2025 was preceded by a Ukrainian drone attack on a Buyan-M FK corvette in the Sea of Azov. This attack was carried out in a coordinated manner with a first drone against the sensors in the mast and a second drone directly against the superstructure. As a result, the ship was heavily...

The Armada is not entirely wrong when it says that the continued operation of a flying fixed-wing component on the carrier "Juan Carlos I" (and thus the carrier itself) can only be guaranteed by the purchase of a certain number of American Lockheed Martin F-35B 5th generation short/vertical take-off and landing (STOVL) jets. The...

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