Defence of the Realm

From the very start, when they were introduced with great fanfare into Afghanistan just under two years ago, we had our doubts about the V...

Amid all the doom and gloom, some glad tidings come from The News of the World today, under the heading "Men of Iron". Despite no...

In the dying days of the Bush administration, defence secretary Robert Gates still has enough "reach" to put into practice his thi...

In another of his visits to Afghanistan, opposition leader David Cameron used the opportunity to speak out the "staggering" govern...

One of the many things which makes commenting on defence policy so very difficult these days is the absence of any balanced – or sensible – ...

Considering the speed and severity with which he took Gordon Brown to task on his blog last June for the heinous "crime" of refer...

You don't see this very often: two French F2 Rafales in formation with two US Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and one F/A-18C Hornet. They ...

The well-planned attack (by all accounts) by the Taleban on French troops, which started shortly after midday on Monday, seemingly breaks th...

On the day one more soldier is reported killed in Afghanistan , another stage was reached in the tortuous path which is hoped will eventuall...

Good news this week was the delivery of the first of the batch of 157 Ridgeback MRAPs to Brize Norton, a month ahead of schedule. They will...

The guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70) fires an AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile while under way in the Pacific Ocean July 11, 200...

It is not at all surprising that we could get little insight into the plans of the MoD to augment the UK helicopter fleet in Afghanistan. A...

After a somewhat prolonged absence from this blog, we return with a report, trailed in The Daily Telegraph about UAVs – not that the reader...

Yes, it is the real thing, the Airbus A400M, and not a computer-generated graphic. It was actually rolled out on 26 June, to deadly silence...

On the MoD website is a remarkably well-written and upbeat piece attributed to Major General Barney White-Spunner, the UK's most senior...

Although initial media reports, based on MoD information, made no reference to the vehicle type, we must commend the MoD website report on ...

It was Sir Nicholas Winterton's turn at defence questions today (link to follow) when he took up the theme of helicopter availability in...

On the face of it, the story is pretty damning. Michael Smith in The Sunday Times is telling us that the Treasury is blocking the Army'...

For every solution, there is a problem – an aphorism which applies as much to the famed mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles as a...