Geopolitics, Strategy & Technological Rivalries

Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) are surface-to-air missiles that can be carried and fired by a single individual or carried by several individuals and fired by more than one person acting as a crew. MANPADS were designed to be used by national military forces to protect their troops and facilities. With …

The claims by Nigeria’s government that terrorist group Boko Haram has been “defeated” continue to ring hollow. An attack by the terrorist group on an army base  in Nov 2018 led to as many as 100 soldiers being killed, Reuters reports. The attack has been attributed to Islamic State West …

Graphene is a 1-atom-thick layer of tightly bonded carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. Graphene the world’s first 2D nanomaterial, is widely regarded as the “wonder material” of the 21st century due to the combination of its extraordinary properties. As a single layer of graphite, it is the thinnest …

India’s principle of “strategic autonomy” remains strong, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, drawing an equivalence in ties with Russia, the U.S. and China and cautioning against a “return to the age of great power rivalries,” at a conference in Singapore in June 2018. Referring specifically to relations between India and …

The more than 6-year-old civil war in Syria has been a showcase for Russian-made arms. Russia has supported Assad and his forces, while the U.S. has helped moderate rebel groups and called for Assad to step down. “Syria is not a shooting range for Russian weapons, but we are still using …

Early Warning and Response System (EWRS) systems aim to: Identify the causes of a conflict, anticipate their outbreak, and mitigate their impact. The EWRS are mechanisms for preventing and addressing conflicts that focus on the systematic collection, processing and analysis of information (quantitative or qualitative) about conflict situations for the …

Sometimes thought of as the invisible army, private military and security companies (PMSCs) are part of a global, multi-billion-dollar industry. Private military firms are businesses that provide military and security services for their employers and have legal status. This new ‘Privatized Military Industry’ encompasses hundreds of companies, thousands of employees, …

The United States remains the world’s top weapons seller, accounting for 34 percent of global arms sales over the past five years. Russia was the second-largest exporter with about 20 percent of all global arms deliveries, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported on March 11 in its latest …

EOD operators or ammunition technical officers conduct some of the military’s most dangerous jobs, who has the daunting task of dismantling, defusing and disposing bombs and other explosive ordnance, often in the most hostile and challenging of environments. Making this job safer  are bomb disposal robots, unmanned vehicles capable of disabling …

As the space is getting weaponized, countries are evolving new space strategies, space command and forces and space situational awareness and space weapons. There is also ongoing Space security cooperation between Canada, U.S., U.K. and Australia to counter the threats. In 2014, Defence departments of the Canada, U.S., the U.K. and …