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EU weighs stronger Aspides role as Hormuz crisis tests Europe’s maritime reach
Foreign ministers are discussing whether to reinforce the EU’s Aspides naval mission as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz exposes the limits of Europe’s ability to protect key shipping routes. The European Union is once again confronting the gap…
Canada and the Nordics move to deepen defence-industrial cooperation
A joint statement from Canada and the Nordic countries places defence production, procurement, resilience and support for Ukraine at the centre of a wider effort to tighten security cooperation among like-minded states. Canada and the five Nordic countries have agreed…
“No Winston Churchill”: Keir Starmer’s Credibility Shrinks with the Royal Navy
For a man who has spent much of his premiership cultivating the image of sober competence, Sir Keir Starmer is discovering that global politics has little patience for managerial caution. His refusal to send Royal Navy warships to help secure…
From Guernica to Kyiv: How Strategic Bombing Doctrine Evolved from Hitler to Putin
From the shattered Basque town of Guernica to the pulverised apartment blocks of modern Ukraine, aerial bombardment has evolved from experimental terror tactic to grimly familiar feature of industrialised war. Yet the philosophy behind it has changed markedly since the…
From FPVs to ground robots: Ukrainian firms at BEDEX show how battlefield technology is evolving
From bomber drones and interceptors to ground robots and autonomous control, Ukrainian companies at BEDEX showed how wartime innovation is reshaping the future of combat At this week’s BEDEX exhibition in Brussels, Ukraine’s defence technology sector did not merely display…
Europe’s powder keg economy: Poland moves to expand TNT production
In a quiet corner of northern Poland, where the forests of Kujawy meet the industrial outskirts of Bydgoszcz, the dull routines of heavy chemistry are suddenly acquiring geopolitical weight. The Polish explosives manufacturer Nitro-Chem, already the largest producer of TNT…
US Army signs major Anduril agreement for drones, software and battlefield integration
The US Army has awarded Anduril Industries a 10-year enterprise contract with a ceiling value of up to $20 billion, in a move that underlines the Pentagon’s growing reliance on commercial software, autonomous systems and integrated battlefield networks. The agreement,…
The Shkval question: how an old Soviet torpedo entered the Hormuz war debate
One of the more unusual weapons to re-emerge in discussion of the current Gulf crisis is the Soviet-designed VA-111 Shkval, a supercavitating torpedo whose speed once made it a subject of intense Western interest. Its Iranian counterpart, widely identified as…
At BEDEX, SkyFall explains the speed of Ukraine’s wartime drone innovation
Interview conducted by Gary Cartwright, Editor of DefenceMatters.eu, at BEDEX in Brussels. Ukraine’s SkyFall is now among the most prominent drone manufacturers to emerge from the war with Russia. Established after the full-scale invasion in 2022, the company says it…
‘From Bucha to Brussels’: Baltic and Nordic states seek entry ban on Russian combatants
Eight EU member states have called on the bloc’s leadership to prepare a Schengen entry ban for people who have served in the Russian armed forces, marking the clearest coordinated push yet for an EU-wide response to a growing long-term…