News, Articles and Comment

Ed. The author, Mechanical Engineering Officer (MEO) of HMS Fearless, carrying the Command and Warfare (COMAW) headquarters and with a large workforce and engineering support then on board, provides here the first of a series of retrospectives on his experience during the Falklands War. A 30 minute read.

Ed. Our correspondent relates the fascinating story of his own involvement in the K219 saga.

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. Holding reservations about the unknowns of the Type 83, the author considers the future of joint surface combatant procurement in the United Kingdom and Australia. 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. With renewed focus on mass and scaling in terms of force employment, the author considers potential options for the RNR’s expansion in wartime. 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. An important survey of Russian naval history and naval ambitions from the Great Northern War to the Putin era, demonstrating, the author contends, a perpetual inability to intuit technological modernity. A 25 minute read.