Latest Articles about Military/Security

Poland Seeks Next-Generation Main Battle Tank to Replace Its Aging Soviet-Era T-72s
The Polish Ministry of National Defense (MoND) has expressed interest in acquiring next-generation main battle tanks (MBT) for the country’s ground forces. On May 30, the MoND’s Armament Inspectorate issued a call to domestic and international arms manufacturers to submit offers for consideration. The document... MORE

Russia’s Syria Resupply Route Through the Turkish Straits: Vulnerable to Terrorist Attack?
Since Moscow’s military intervention in the Syrian civil war began in September 2015, a key element of Russian logistical support for its forces has been a maritime supply route deployed from southern Russian Black Sea ports via the Turkish Straits to Syria. This supply train,... MORE

Does Georgia Have Sufficient Resources to Create a New Military Reserve System?
The Georgian parliament’s Committee on Defense and Security met on May 12 to continue lawmakers’ discussions on how best to restructure the Georgian military reserves (Newsday Georgia, May 12). Currently, the reserves are built exclusively on a territorial and mobilization principle: according to legislation passed... MORE

NATO and US: Enemies of Choice for Russia’s Military
This week (May 25), the leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) gathered in Brussels for a special summit. Hopes abounded in Moscow that the summit would not be dominated by Russia and the escalation of East-West tensions and that more attention would be... MORE

Russian Electronic Warfare in Ukraine: Between Real and Imaginable
The outbreak of war in the Donbas region (April 2014) turned Ukraine into one of the main targets of Russian information warfare, information-psychological operations, as well as cyberattacks and electronic warfare. Within the past three years, Ukraine has been subjected to no less than 7,000... MORE

Armenia and India Build Strategic Relationship
With Azerbaijan and Pakistan currently pursuing a strategic partnership (see EDM, September 28, 2016; December 15, 2016), Armenia and India have decided to step up their cooperation across several dimensions. Indeed, the past six months were marked by a visible reinvigoration of Armenian-Indian bilateral ties,... MORE

How to Spend on Defense: Romania’s 2 Percent Conundrum
In January 2015, in the aftermath of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and calls by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United States for Allies to increase their defense budgets, Romania decided to allocate 2 percent of its GDP for its Armed Forces. President... MORE

Russian Amphibious Capabilities—Kontraktniki and Rust Buckets (Part Two)
*To read Part One, please click here. With the new landing ship Ivan Gren expected to be handed over to the Russian Navy later this year, the country is clearly trying to preserve its amphibious assault capabilities (see Part One in EDM, May 17). After... MORE

Russian Amphibious Capabilities—Kontraktniki and Rust Buckets (Part One)
The year 2017 will probably finally see the new landing ship Ivan Gren handed over to the Russian Navy. This vessel was long fraught with delays and mishaps on its way from the shipyard to the Ministry of Defense (SM News, May 2). In September,... MORE

New Controversies Swirl Around Russian Military Base in Armenia
The trial related to the most shocking crime committed in Armenia in recent years—the murder of a family of seven, including two babies, by a Russian soldier stationed at the 102nd military base at Gyumri (see EDM, January 16, 2015; January 30, 2015)—has reached a... MORE