Read more about the article New Developments in Cloud Initiatives in Land Forces – Advantages and Challenges
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New Developments in Cloud Initiatives in Land Forces – Advantages and Challenges

We have entered a modern era of warfare, where the battlefield is no longer exclusively physical but also digital. Information is vital to national security. In this context, the storage and process of data become crucial to guarantee mission success (Department of Defense, 2018). An effective ally to do so is represented by cloud technologies that empower the military infrastructures. Cloud technologies or services are defined as “a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction” (Mell & Grance, 2011). Cloud services are an information technology model that allows information and resources to be available via the Internet (Al-Gharibi, 2019). As a consequence, reliance on the traditional IT model is reduced.

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1 March 2022
Read more about the article Current Trends in CBRNE Threats: Spotlight on Roadside IEDs, Islamic State activity and Public Safety in Somalia
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Current Trends in CBRNE Threats: Spotlight on Roadside IEDs, Islamic State activity and Public Safety in Somalia

Despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, other threats to public safety remain persistent. Perilous threats are grouped under the label of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) events. These events are observed and prepared by various military and civilian organisations, such as the NATO’s Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defence Centre of Excellence (JCBRN Defence COE); or the EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC). Likewise, most of the world’s military forces have within their ranks specialised command structures, such as the US-American 20th CBRNE Command. However, training and defence preparations do not eliminate the threat posed by CBRNE events, which raises the question: How often do CBRNE events occur? The Italian Observatory on Security and CBRNE defence (OSDIFE) publishes a monthly report to shed some light on this issue. The OSDIFE’s report compiles CBRNE event-related reports worldwide and further supplements this collection with reports about counterterrorism, terrorism, and innovations in defence technology.

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23 February 2022
Read more about the article The Future of Warfare is Now: Robots and AI
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The Future of Warfare is Now: Robots and AI

The idea of using robots in warfare dates back to the 1940s. From WW2-era German Goliaths and Soviet teletanks to Cold War Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), we are steadily moving towards a more robotised battlefield. Projects are many, and development is encouraging, but not without its problems: military and ethical questions quickly come to the surface with high costs.

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21 February 2022
Read more about the article Nord Stream 2, a Rift in the EU’s Response to Russia?
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Nord Stream 2, a Rift in the EU’s Response to Russia?

As tensions continue to build surrounding the possible invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military, one issue has stood out as a potential point of tension: the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. A significant part of the European Union (EU) still depends on imported natural gas as a source of energy. A sizeable part of that comes from the Russian Federation, the primary import of natural gas to the EU, amounting to 40% of imports (Euractiv, 2022). In that context, any tension with Russia has the potential of having serious consequences for the energy supply of the Union. Russia has been known to use this leverage in negotiations in the past, such as when it turned off all supplies to Ukraine in January 2006 over a dispute regarding payments (Parfitt, the Guardian, 2006). At the time, this has pushed the EU member states to realise the danger of depending on Russia for energy, and incited them to pursue other sources, as well as increase storage capacity in case the EU’s supply was ever cut.

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18 February 2022
Read more about the article The Ukraine-Russia Crisis: Current Developments and Prospects for European Security
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The Ukraine-Russia Crisis: Current Developments and Prospects for European Security

In recent months tensions between Russia and NATO have reached a critical point as Russia has mobilised more than one hundred thousand troops along Ukraine’s border. Russia wants to coerce NATO to meet its demands by mobilising these troops. One of these demands holds that NATO will not expand further and halt all new membership plans, including Ukraine. In addition, Russia wants NATO to reduce its military presence in countries close to Russia’s borders, essentially returning NATO forces to where they were stationed before 1997 (Roth, 2021). Moscow states they are not planning any invasion. However, they argue that if their security demands are not met, their next step might be a military one (Kirby, 2022). The U.S. government expects that a Russian incursion into Ukraine could lead to the deaths of roughly 50.000 civilians and cause a refugee crisis in Europe (Cooper and Sanger, 2022).

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15 February 2022