Defence and security Archives

Responding to the unprecedented challenge posed by climate change will require all actors – including the defence and security community – to step outside their comfort zone, writes Luca Bergamaschi.

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday (27 August) that Russia and Turkey had agreed steps to tackle militants in northwest Syria and “normalize” the situation there after a Syrian army offensive encircled rebel fighters and a Turkish military post.

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday (21 August) that the United States was in a position to deploy a new land-based cruise missile in Romania and Poland and that Russia considered that a threat which it would have to respond to.

Amazon, Microsoft and Intel are among leading tech companies putting the world at risk through killer robot development, according to a report that surveyed major players from the sector about their stance on lethal autonomous weapons.

Washington has talked for some time of relocating US troops from Germany because of its annoyance with Berlin's military spending shortfalls. But President Donald Trump's upcoming visit to Poland in September could give it another twist.

An increasing number of EU member states is buying weapons 'made in France'. After its exports were high in 2018, France is even expected to top those numbers in 2019. EURACTIV's partner La Tribune reports.

A new generation of EU leaders is grappling with the shipping crisis in the Arabian Gulf in a way that could determine the future military posture of individual countries, and perhaps even of the European Union, writes Faisal Al Yafai.

The Pentagon said on Monday (19 August) it tested a conventionally configured ground-launched cruise missile with a range of more than 500 km, the first such test since the United States pulled out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).

The threat of political violence towards women has grown over the past 19 months and is currently at its highest level recorded since 2018, a new report by the NGO Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) has found.

The "militarisation" of the South China Sea is threatening peace in the contested waterway, the EU's top diplomat said Monday (5 August) in Hanoi, echoing warnings from the US as pressure mounts against Beijing's ambitions in the region.

A landmark agreement of Cold War-era arms control signed by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan in 1987, the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) banned a whole class of medium-range ground-launched nuclear-capable missiles of 500 to 5,500 kilometres.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday (26 July) Turkey would turn elsewhere for fighter jets if the United States will not sell it the F-35 jets, adding that a US decision to cut Ankara from the program would not deter it from meeting its needs.

CDU party chief Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has been sworn in as the new German defence minister before the Bundestag on Wednesday (24 July). In her first government statement, she emphasised Germany's reliability as a member of NATO.

France, Italy and Denmark gave initial support for a British plan for a European-led naval mission to ensure safe shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, proposed after Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged tanker, three senior EU diplomats said on Tuesday (23 July).

Republican and Democratic US lawmakers pressed President Donald Trump on Thursday (18 July) to impose sanctions on Turkey over its purchase of a Russian missile defense system, saying he should follow a law mandating penalties for doing business with Russia’s military.

In a surprising turn of events, the leader of the German Christian Democrats (CDU), Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, was appointed Germany's new defence minister. While the opposition is unhappy, observers are wondering whether she will do a good job, given that she had opposed  to take cabinet responsibility until recently. EURACTIV Germany reports.

The United States said on Wednesday (17 July) that it was removing Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program, a move long threatened and expected after Ankara began accepting delivery of an advanced Russian missile defense system last week.

Tensions have escalated between Turkey and two EU member states – Greece and Cyprus. But that hasn't stopped another EU country, Germany, to continue exporting arms to Ankara, according to official government data.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's favoured successor and the head of her CDU party will become the country's next defence minister, an official statement said Tuesday (16 July), after Ursula von der Leyen was elected European Commission president.

EU ministers called for Iran to fully comply with its embattled nuclear deal, and reiterated their regret at the US' withdrawal, at a foreign affairs ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday (15 July). EU ministers discussed how to preserve the nuclear …

Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid was in Paris for the French military parade on Bastille day (14 July). She participated in a working lunch organised at the Elysée on European defence issues. As a champion in cyber defence and digital services, Estonia is an important ally for France. EURACTIV's partner Ouest-France reports.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday (14 July) sought to showcase European military cooperation in France's annual Bastille Day parade that included representatives of nine other European armies in a show of unity at a time of growing tensions between Europe and the United States.

A fire aboard a top-secret Russian nuclear submarine could have led to a “catastrophe of global proportions” if not for the selfless actions of the crew, a senior navy official was cited by a Russian media outlet as saying.

In a wide-ranging interview, Russia's Ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov, speaks about nuclear arms control, the EU elections and top jobs, the situation in Ukraine, including the MH17, and America's bid to challenge Russian gas.