24 February 2022
by Guy Anderson
Sanctions imposed against Russian entities as a result of Moscow's ordering of troops into the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine are unlikely to have an impact on Russia's defence industrial base – a sector that has adapted to measures imposed by Western governments since the occupation of Crimea in 2014.
Measures have been progressively applied against the crown jewels of Russia's defence industrial base for much of the last decade. The EU and the US have acted to cut Moscow's military and banking organisations off from financial markets to reduce access to credit, investment, and instruments necessary for international trade.
Embargoes have also been used to stop the supply of military and dual-use equipment to Russia, in addition to measures to stop technical assistance and the transfer of technology.
The EU's measures against Russia were framed primarily through Council Decision 2014/512/CFSP and Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014. These have been extended periodically since 2014, most recently at the start of this year for six months to the end of July 2022.
While EU measures have specifically targeted major Russian state-controlled defence assets such as aerospace group United Aircraft Corporation and land systems developer UralVagonZavod, US measures went further and targeted virtually the whole Russian defence industrial base.
US sanctions applicable to Russia (plus Iran and North Korea) were codified in 2017 into a new instrument –the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
EU sanctions in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea guillotined a series of collaborations and defence trade agreements between Moscow and Western countries.
These included a 2013 partnership between what was Renault Trucks Defense and Russia's UralVagonZavod to develop a new infantry fighting vehicle, and a Russo-Italian submarine development programme. Both were terminated in 2014 along with France's sale to Russia of Mistral-class amphibious assault ships.
Russia was also forced to look beyond the West for products ranging from industrial machine tools to semiconductors, to support its defence industrial activity.
Moscow embarked on an import substitution drive to fill gaps caused both by sanctions and the collapse of relations with Ukraine, which had previously operated as a de facto part of Russia's industrial base. Ukraine had been a significant producer of military subsystems for Russia, ranging from Motor Sich aircraft engines to Zorya-Mashproekt naval turbine assemblies.
Exclusion from Western financial markets, meanwhile, obliged Russia's military industrial complex to look to domestic sources for credit and liquidity with state funding used to support activity.
Where possible, Russia's sprawling network of defence industrial assets also restructured to shield subsidiaries from sanctions imposed against their parent companies.
29 March 2024
by Michael Fabey
The USN CNO noted the need for the development of directed energy weapons, such as the laser system shown in this artist's rendition. (Lockheed Martin)
Recent US Navy (USN) operations in the Red Sea have underscored the importance of logistics, according to Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the USN chief of naval operations (CNO).
Adm Franchetti also noted the importance of developing new weapons and related capabilities to match emerging threats.
The CNO made the comments during a discussion for Defense One that was shown online on 27 March.
“I've focused a lot especially on contested logistics and the need to think creatively about how to resupply our ships that are out there on the pointy end,” Adm Franchetti said. “We've been able to do that.”
22 March 2024
by Michael Fabey & Ridzwan Rahmat
BAE Systems was confirmed as the UK shipbuilding partner for AUKUS submarines, shown here as an artist rendition. (BAE Systems)
Britian's BAE Systems will partner with Australian shipbuilder ASC to build Canberra's nuclear-powered submarines for the trilateral AUKUS defence agreement, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed on 21 March.
The partnership deal follows “months of negotiations” and could be worth “billions of pounds”, theMoD said in a release.
First announced in September 2021, AUKUS calls for the three countries – Australia, the UK, and the US – to work together on a range of capabilities, including a conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine capability for Australia, the ministry release noted.
Phase Two of AUKUS involves the sale of three US Virginia-class submarines to Australia with an option for up to two more, subject to US Congressional approval. Phase Three is the construction of the trilateral nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) for AUKUS.
The first UK submarines built to this design will be delivered in the late 2030s to replace the current Astute-class vessels, and the first Australian submarines will follow in the early 2040s.
19 March 2024
by Nicholas Fiorenza & Andrew MacDonald
The Swedish flag was raised at NATO headquarters in Brussels on 11 March to mark the country's accession to the alliance as its 32nd member on 7 March. (NATO)
NATO welcomed Sweden as its 32nd member on 7 March. The Scandinavian country had intended to join together with Finland, but Turkey and Hungary blocked Swedish accession until the Grand National Assembly of Turkey approved it on 23 January, followed by the Hungarian parliament on 26 February.
In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership on 18 May 2022 and were invited to join the alliance by the Madrid summit of allied leaders on 4 July 2022. Finland joined NATO on 4 April 2023.
As Enhanced Opportunities Partners under NATO's Partnership Interoperability Initiative, Finland and Sweden were able to skip joining the alliance's Membership Action Plan that has been required of the most recent countries to become NATO members, reflecting the fact that the two Nordic countries are more interoperable with allies than some NATO countries.
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