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Shielding the Spear Tip: How Britain Could Defend Its Forward Bases from the Drone Age
The drone that struck RAF Akrotiri was small, comparatively cheap and — in the grim arithmetic of modern warfare — expendable. Yet it exposed something far more valuable: the vulnerability of Britain’s forward operating model in an era when unmanned…
Akrotiri: Drone Explosion on British Sovereign Territory Raises Stakes in Eastern Mediterranean
The stillness of the Mediterranean night was broken shortly before midnight when a drone exploded on the Akrotiri Peninsula — a stretch of land that is not merely adjacent to Britain’s military footprint on the island but forms part of…
Antwerp’s Strategic Shield: Belgium to Install Air-Defence at Europe’s Trade Nexus
When the Prime Minister of Belgium stood before representatives of the Port of Antwerp last week and announced the deployment of an anti-aircraft defence system by 2027, it marked a significant shift in how Europe’s critical infrastructure is fortified against…
Belgium seizes suspected Russian shadow fleet tanker linked by US sanctions to Iranian shipping network
Belgian authorities have seized a tanker identified as part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet in what appears to be the country’s first operation of this kind at sea. The vessel, Ethera, was intercepted overnight off the Belgian coast and escorted…
ProtectEU: Inside Brussels’ Strategy to Prevent Terrorism
When the European Commission unveiled its new ProtectEU strategy on 26th February, it marked a notable moment in the bloc’s long and often cautious efforts to confront terrorism and violent extremism. The initiative, presented as a comprehensive agenda to prevent…
Can Europe’s nuclear deterrent remain credible without US certainty?
Europe’s nuclear deterrence debate has sharpened as officials and analysts examine whether Britain and France can continue to provide a credible nuclear backstop in a less certain security environment. The immediate trigger has been a broader reassessment of deterrence in…
Mass Russian attack damages Ukraine energy grid, leaving six regions without power
Large-scale overnight missile and drone attack damages power infrastructure, forcing blackouts and supply restrictions across much of the country. Parts of six Ukrainian regions were left without electricity on Thursday, 26 February, after what Kyiv described as a combined large-scale…
Secret Tunnels and Hybrid Pressure: How Belarus and Russia Are Testing Europe’s Eastern Border
Belarus’s use of migration pressure against the European Union is no longer confined to flights, forest crossings and organised pushes at the frontier. According to reporting by The Telegraph, citing Polish officials, border guards discovered four underground tunnels under the…
England Hosts Ukraine’s First Overseas Drone Factory in Strategic Defence Move
In England’s quiet Norfolk-Suffolk borderlands, far from the front lines of Europe’s most ferocious conflict, a remarkable new chapter in the Russo-Ukrainian war has quietly begun. A £200 million drone production facility, built by one of Ukraine’s most prominent unmanned-systems manufacturers,…
Four Years Since the Invasion: The War’s Strategic Lessons for Ukraine, Russia and Europe
Four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the central expectation that shaped much of the early commentary has not materialised: Moscow has not achieved its declared war aims. On the fourth anniversary, the…