News, Articles and Comment

Ed. The author takes on the classic systemic technological argument of naval platform obsolescence. Reprinted from the United States Naval Institute Proceedings with permission. A 10 minute read.

Ed. With particular attention to amphibious capabilities, the author makes the case for corvettes as the basis for RN fleet expansion. A 15 minute read.

Ed. The author continues his Cassandra call for counter-intuitive solutions targeting RN hull number shortages amidst perilous fiscal conditions. A 15 minute read.

Ed. Many leading Arctic nations are engaging programmes to build more icebreakers or to otherwise modernise or refit their icebreaking capability. China is an emerging polar nation with icebreakers and an overall presence in the Arctic only set to increase – and perhaps to overtake existing Russian Arctic dominance. A 20 minute read.

Ed. The author, BMT’s Global Head of Innovation and Research, argues that the robotics revolution has introduced new air defence and anti-submarine tactical options, with implications for platform survivability and systems economy – but only if naval planners act to fully integrate marine autonomy. A 5 minute read.

Ed. The author argues that the expense of Astute and delays in Dreadnought development threaten success of the AUKUS plan for a next generation SSN. Both the RAN and RN should consider buying future USN Virginia-class submarines to quickly fulfill the SSN-AUKUS mandate. A 10 minute read.

Ed. Not too unlike the Hellenstic inventor Archimedes and his patron Hiero II of Syracuse, or 20th century technologists such as Bob Noyce and William Shockley, brothers Samuel and Jeremy Bentham were a pair of functionalist Georgian characters. While Jeremy is well known for his contributions to the Reform Movement and utilitarian philosophy, the younger brother Samuel, a prototypical early steam-era inventor and Royal Navy engineer, in the mold of predecessors such as Thomas Slade and Charles Middleton, or successors like Sir Robert Seppings and Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, is less well known. The authors herein examine Samuel Bentham’s life and work. A 30 minute read.