Read more about the article Poland’s Military Surge: Strategic Investments and Recent Developments in Polish Armed Forces
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Poland’s Military Surge: Strategic Investments and Recent Developments in Polish Armed Forces

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Poland has been among the most active countries in supporting its eastern neighbour to halt the advance of Russian forces and to conduct its counteroffensive. This decision was consistent with Polish strategic objectives, allowing Poland to launch its modernisation project and expand its military capabilities. Although Poland’s strategic rationales vary depending on the political stance of its elites (Pawłuszko, 2022), there are three common denominators: the intent to deter Russia, the need to secure US support, and the ambition to become the Central-Eastern European region’s leading power.  Poland considers strengthening its armed forces as essential for achieving these goals. In fact, Warsaw aspires to build the most potent European land force by the beginning of 2026 (Tilles, 2023). While this objective is ambitious, the Russian invasion has catalysed the modernisation of the Polish military and its arms industry (Cucino & Scarazzato, 2023).This paper will address Poland’s recent strategic investments, aimed at developing multiple components of its armed forces, including land, air, sea, drone, and anti-missile forces, and analyse the potential challenges that such a rapid upgrade and amplification of its military capabilities entail.

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20 September 2024
Read more about the article Ukraine Aid and European Defence Procurement: Insights from the Prague 2024 GLOBSEC Conference
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Ukraine Aid and European Defence Procurement: Insights from the Prague 2024 GLOBSEC Conference

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is nearing its third year, yet how to support the war-torn country remains one of the most discussed issues in security and defence circles. At the 2024 GLOBSEC Conference in Prague, discussions centred on what Ukraine’s current battlefield needs are, what the role of the EU in meeting them is, and what lessons the Union can learn from Ukraine’s experience. This paper will dedicate a section to all 3 of these aspects, providing detailed information about European actions in support of Ukraine and the future of European procurement.

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19 September 2024
Read more about the article Dehumanising trends in Humanitarian Law: the breach of the obligation to protect medical units. Violations of IHL during the war in Ukraine
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Dehumanising trends in Humanitarian Law: the breach of the obligation to protect medical units. Violations of IHL during the war in Ukraine

On July 8th 2024, the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv suffered an airstrike that killed at least 42 civilians, five of them children, and injured at least 190 (HRW, 2024). The hospital was hit during a wave of Russian Federation missile attacks on different cities in Ukraine (UNSC, 2024). Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has sustained at least 9,560 civilian casualties, and 21,450 more injuries, including 1,796 children (594 killed and 1202 injured) (HRW, 2024). The Russian Federation claims that it was an accident, going so far as to declare that: “claims about a deliberate Russian strike on civilian targets in Kyiv are not true. The destruction was caused by the fall of a Ukrainian air defence missile [...] If this were a Russian strike, there would have been nothing left of the building and all the children would have been killed and not wounded”, as stated in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting the day after the attack (UNSC, 2024). This is one aggression in a long list of strikes on hospitals and medical facilities, which are places that enjoy a special regime of protection within International Humanitarian Law (IHL). This paper explores the norms that protect these spaces and the people inside them, aiming to shed light on a worrying trend of unlawful warfare. Firstly, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocols are examined, with Article 14 of the IV Geneva Conventions as the backbone foundation upon which the legal protection is built. Secondly, an account of the prohibition of attacks on hospitals and safety zones is explored, which proposes different options in which this breach of IHL could be prosecuted. Lastly, this article briefly oversees the international community’s response to the aforementioned attack and compares it to other conflicts in which similar attacks have occurred.

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30 July 2024
Read more about the article Humanitarian Aid and European Defence: Legal Status and Budget Allocations
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Humanitarian Aid and European Defence: Legal Status and Budget Allocations

Humanitarian relief is a significant issue and a prominent concern for actors in our societies, particularly non-governmental organisations, governments, and individuals, as the ongoing crisis in Ukraine has demonstrated. Many people do not have access to basic supplies and could have to move due to natural or man-made disasters. The European Union (EU) has responded by devoting significant resources in line with its responsibility to aid those in need (European Commission, n.d.-c). Nevertheless, how does the EU distribute aid, and under what criteria does it operate? This article analyses the internal humanitarian aid system of the EU by looking at the key organisations responsible for managing these programmes and the funding structure that supports them. Moreover, it will address the fundamental principles that guide the EU's assistance distribution strategy to guarantee that aid reaches the most disadvantaged. Although, the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine emphasises the need for adequate assistance, it is simply one aspect of a global issue. This article will also evaluate the EU's role in the global humanitarian arena, highlighting its continuous efforts to maximise the effectiveness of its assistance in an international context where crises are happening increasingly often.

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22 July 2024
Read more about the article Cloud Computing in Defence
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Cloud Computing in Defence

Information superiority is critical to modern combat, and in a changing digital landscape, investment in cloud technology is paramount to maintaining these defence capabilities. During warfare, military forces must gather and analyse extensive data to stay ahead of adversaries. However, warfare has evolved from traditional battles on land, sea and air to encompass various interrelated types of war, including cyberwarfare, information warfare, and space warfare. The evolution of warfare is compounded by the effects of technology, which increase the speed at which war is fought and managed. However, the success of decision-making that modern warfare requires relies on the ability of information technology systems to rapidly process large amounts of data (Defence One, n.d.). New technology is outperforming these older IT systems, and European militaries must adopt new technology, specifically Cloud computing to maintain information superiority which underpins successful warfare. Cloud will likely serve as the backbone of all future digital defence capabilities; thus, investment in this technology is fundamental to maintaining information superiority. Cloud is more than just a storage platform as it can host various computing tools that assist in information superiority through situational awareness, contributing to efficient decision-making during conflict. In 2019, the European Defence Agency financed a study about cloud computing for the defence sector (European Defence Agency, 2024). The EDA’s study, Cloud Intelligence for Decision-Making Support and Analysis (CLAUDIA), ended this January (European Defence Agency, 2024). The study was run in collaboration with GMV, a private capital technology business group (GVM, n.d.), and The Information Processing and Telecommunications Center (IP&T Center) (European Defence Agency, n.d.). This paper explores the notion of cloud computing, and using the case studies of CLAUDIA, NATO and the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), it delves into three uses of cloud in the defence sector, including source analysis, edge computing and multi-domain operations. Finally, the analysis discusses challenges associated with cloud technology, including digital sovereignty and the need for cultural shifts within the defence sector.

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18 July 2024