Modernising Recruitment and Retention Strategies

The military as an institution is currently experiencing a state of great flux. Prior to recent developments, one could observe a general reorientation in the objectives of professional European armies. However, the consequences cannot yet be sufficiently evaluated, for many policymakers and some military officials the end of the Cold War signaled the obsolescence of traditional military objectives. Such concerns were replaced with a plethora of multilateral ‘peace’ missions. Soldiers would now not only fight but also enforce or build peace and nations.

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U.S Army Decline: A Comparative Look at American and European Armies

On 4 April 2022, The American Defence Department announced that their budget request would entail a policy shrinking of the army services by 12,000 troops leading to an overall 473,000 soldiers left in 2023. In a fragile period, due to the Russia-Ukraine war, which has led several European countries to reinforce their military services, the U.S is taking a somewhat oxymoron path. The main reason behind the U.S Army’s decision to cut down on soldiers is because the recruitment process has come across several hindrances which push young people away, especially in the past few years. In other words, according to an army official, the institution struggled to achieve the recruitment goal for 2022 and will probably not reach the 2023 goal based on the previous year. Army officials suggest that this is one of the most challenging eras for recruitment since 1973.

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European Commission grants €1.2 billion to 61 Collaborative Defence Cooperation Projects under the European Defence Fund

On 20 July 2022, the European Commission announced that it would grant €1.2 billion to 61 collaborative defence research and development (R&D) projects under the European Defence Fund (EDF). The selected projects focus on a broad range of high-end defence capability development, from next-generation aircraft, ships and tanks to artificial intelligence and cyber capabilities, semiconductors and new materials, and quantum and other potentially disruptive technologies.

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U.S State Department Approves Sale Project for Patriot Missiles to the Netherlands

The U.S Department of State has approved a possible military sale to the Government of the Netherlands of ninety-six PATRIOT MIM-104E Guidance Enhanced Missile-Tactical (GEM-T) Ballistic Missiles and related equipment for an envisioned cost of $1.219 billion. The sale proposal scheme includes, in addition to the missiles, training and test equipment, spare and repair parts, technical assistance, logistic service and support equipment. The Department of State’s decision came after an intense week of dialogue with Netherlands, as the Dutch Defence Minister visited the Pentagon on 13 June, and with other allies, Washington hosted the Fourth Ukraine Defence Contact Group on 20 June.

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NATO and Climate Change: a crossroads between adaptation and awareness

Anthropocene is the name of the current geological era, in which humanity acts on the planet as a geophysical force (Stromberg, 2013). Human adaptability to the new era consists of the ability to generate new tools that can navigate technological challenges, ingrained habits of thought and the fabric of everyday life, and to describe the disproportionate influence humans exert on their environment and global ecology (Caprioglio, 2019). From this narrative, the defence sector is not exempt. This is reflected in the process of adapting to new challenges has caused NATO's focus to be broadened to include risks arising from climate change. Although the 2010 NATO Strategic Concept mentions climate change, the Atlantic Alliance has only recently begun to address the issue in a more concrete way.

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