Attempting to eke out the remaining oil and gas from the North Sea was not the answer to the challenges facing the UK. It will not bring down the price for consumers, nor will it deliver long-term energy security. The international markets will determine the price and destination; that is not energy independence.
The RFI calls for a "rapidly procured and installable Counter UAS (unmanned aircraft system) capability" that is "suitable for maritime platforms to detect, track, identify, and defeat airborne threats." Project TALON will combine a mix of "effectors" both kinetic and non-kinetic to counter the threats posed by the proliferation of drones, and is intended to complement current complex missile-based systems.
The £1 billion air-defence warship, HMS Dragon, sailed from HMNB Portsmouth on Tuesday but did not exit British waters until yesterday, despite being ordered to rush to the eastern Mediterranean following an attack on the British base at RAF Akrotiri. The Type 45 destroyer, one of the Royal Navy's most advanced air-defence ships, had already experienced a week-long delay for repairs before its departure.
We've got no shortage of munitions. Our stockpiles of defensive and offensive weapons allow us to sustain this campaign as long as we need. Iran is hoping that we cannot sustain this, which is a really bad miscalculation.
Western governments have accused Vladimir Putin's administration of relying on a network of ageing oil tankers operating under opaque ownership structures to bypass energy sanctions imposed after Russia invaded Ukraine. Estimates from maritime analysts suggest the shadow fleet could number several hundred vessels globally, many of which transit European waters each month carrying discounted Russian crude to buyers in Asia and elsewhere.
U.S. defense planning rests on the assumption that wars are fought abroad, by expeditionary forces, against defined adversaries. For decades, those assumptions held. But today, many of the most consequential security challenges facing the United States violate all three. They occur closer to home, below the threshold of armed conflict, and in domains where sovereignty is enforced incrementally. The shift has exposed a chronic mismatch between how the United States defines its defense priorities and how it allocates resources and respect.
