A Greek and Turkish warship were involved in a minor collision during a standoff in the eastern Mediterranean on 12 August.  The Turkish survey vessel Oruç Reis is pictured being escorted by Turkish Navy vessels in the eastern Mediterranean on 10 August. (Ministry of National Defense/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)  The incident occurred amid rising tensions between the two countries after Turkey dispatched a geological survey vessel, Oruç Reis, to chart an area claimed by both sides for possible hydrocarbon deposits accompanied by five Tu...

The 2nd Kommandokräfte (Commando Forces) Company of Germany’s Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) special forces command was disbanded on 1 August owing to increasing far-right sentiments among its personnel. In May 2020, the arrest of a sergeant major in the Germany Army (Bundeswehr) attached to the KSK underlined the risk of extremist employees serving in Germany’s military and its security and intelligence services. As of June 2020, the Bundeswehr had recorded approximately 600 cases of personnel harbouring links to far-right extremism and other...

The US Navy is reassessing the impact of Covid-19 on the schedules and costs for major shipbuilding programmes with the virus taking its toll on shipyard workforce numbers.  “We are watching with some concern workforce levels at all our shipyards,” James Geurts, assistant secretary of the navy for research, development, and acquisition, said on 12 August.  Geurts told reporters during a telephone news conference that he was particularly worried about Newport News Shipbuilding, the Huntingtin Ingalls Industries (HII) yard in Virginia, “given t...

France is temporarily increasing its military presence in the Eastern Mediterranean in coming days, President Emmanuel Macron announced in a tweet on 12 August. In a previous tweet, he explained, The situation in the eastern Mediterranean is worrying. Turkey's unilateral decisions on oil exploration are causing tensions.    Turkey’s research vessel   Oruç Reis  being escorted by Turkish warships.  (Turkish MND)  Turkey issued an international maritime safety message (Navtex) on 10 August announcing that itsresearc...

Finland’s Ministry of Defence announced on 11 August that there would be a delay to the issuing of best-and-final-offer (BAFO) requests to replace the country’s fleet of Boeing F/A-18C/D Hornet aircraft under the HX programme.  As a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic and the need to adhere to strict guidelines to prevent transmission of the virus, BAFO requests are to be issued either later this year or at the beginning of next year, according to a statement issued by the HX programme office. The fourth round of negotiations and performance...

US President Donald Trump has confirmed that he plans to further reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan from currently 8,600 to possibly as low as 4,000 by the time the US presidential election is held on 3 November.  In an interview with the ‘Axios on HBO’ news programme Trump said, “We are largely out of Afghanistan ... We’ll be down in a very short period of time to 8,000 [troops], then we are going down to 4,000. We are negotiating right now. We have been there for 19 years. We’ll be getting out.”  During the interview, which aire...

Myanmar was, at the time of writing, enforcing the world’s longest internet shutdown across swathes of Rakhine State to disrupt the Arakan Army (AA), an armed insurgent group fighting for greater autonomy in western Myanmar. Established in 2009, the AA describes itself on its website as a “revolutionary armed organization of the peoples of Arakan”, a historical region that largely overlaps with Rakhine State. The AA has been blamed for a number of attacks against Myanmar and Bangladesh’s security forces and is estimated to have several thousa...

One US Marine is dead and eight others are missing after an amphibious assault vehicle (AAV) “mishap” off the coast of Southern California on 30 July.  Sixteen troops were in the vehicle at the time – 15 Marines and one sailor – as part of a routine training exercise by the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MUE) and Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group near San Clemente Island.  “At approximately 5.45 pm PST [Pacific Standard Time], Marines in the AAV reported taking on water,” the service announced the following day.  The USMC is searching for...

Mexico has deployed 173,776 military personnel throughout the nation for a variety of operations including combating criminal networks and helping with the government’s coronavirus response, according to recently released government statistics.  Troops involved in the internal deployment are from the army, air force, navy and National Guard, and include 85,646 troops involved with internal security missions, labeled as peacemaking operations (Operaciones de Construcción de Paz), according to a 20 July press release issued by Mexico’s Defence...

The UAE has issued a list of equipment and technology that are subject to export controls. (Getty Images)  The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s) export control authority, the Committee for Goods and Materials Subject to Import and Export Control, has released a list approved by the UAE Cabinet of equipment subject to export control restrictions.  Published on the authority’s website on 22 July, the list was approved through the Cabinet Resolution 50 of 2020; and is an annex to the existing Federal Law number 13 of 2007 that introduced export cont...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said that Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme will “guarantee” the country’s security and future, despite what he referred to as continuing outside pressure and military threats.    In a 27 July speech car...

A new French-led multinational special forces task force reached its initial operating capability (IOC) on 15 July in Mali, the French Ministry of Armed Forces announced five days later.  Operation Barkhane commander Major General Pascal Facon inaugurates Task Force Takuba on 15 July. (French Ministry of Armed Forces)  The ministry described Task Force Takuba as a “new example of strong co-operation between European countries” and said it will eventually become the fifth tactical desert group (GTD) of its Operation Barkhane regional counterte...

Waters across Asia saw a nearly two-fold increase in reported piracy and armed robbery incidents for the first half of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019.  Singapore-based ReCAAP has reported a nearly two-fold increase in piracy cases for the first half of this year. (Janes/Ridzwan Rahmat)  According to figures released by the Singapore-based intergovernmental body, Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) on 16 July, a total of 51 incidents were recorded in the region during...

In early July, peace negotiations began between one of the Anglophone Cameroon separatist groups (led by incarcerated leader Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe) and representatives of the Cameroonian government. Although the ‘Anglophone question’ is a long-standing feature of Cameroonian politics, it has become particularly acute in recent years. What began as a series of peaceful protests in October 2016 demanding that the Cameroonian government abide by the constitution has since escalated into a brutal conflict between Anglophone separatists and the...

The UK is set to begin processing licences for the export of defence equipment to Saudi Arabia that could potentially be used in Yemen again, according to a written answer provided to parliament by the Secretary of State for International Trade, Elizabeth Truss, on 7 July.  In June 2019 the UK Court of Appeal ruled that arms exports to Saudi Arabia were unlawful as UK authorities had made “no assessments of whether the Saudi-led coalition had committed violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) in the past, during the Yemen conflict,...

On 25 June, the Islamic State claimed to have killed and wounded 10 Filipino soldiers in an attack in the southern Philippines, which the group alleged had taken place on 23 June. The claim was released via Islamic State-affiliated channels on messaging platforms Hoop and RocketChat in the name of the group’s regional affiliate Wilayat Sharq Asiyya, or its East Asia Province. According to the claim, the attack took place in the village of Bangayaha, located in the Patikul area of Jolo Island in the country’s Sulu province, and that the milita...

A joint meeting of the South African Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance and Select Committee on Finance, held on 3 July, has heard how the country’s bleak financial outlook as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic is requiring significant action to reduce the economic effect of the disease and associated lockdown, including major reform within state-owned enterprises such as local defence company Denel.  Examining public submissions on the country’s proposed supplementary budget for 2020, representatives from the Treasury noted that South...

As the end of 2019 approached, Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada appeared on course to finally fully consolidate the group and its multiple fronts and factions under his leadership, having eliminated the competing centres of power that have characterised the Taliban throughout its existence. The powerful hardline Haqqani Network appeared to have somewhat receded from its overt position of seeking a military, rather than political, resolution to the insurgency, which was likely a consequence of pressure exerted by the faction’s Saudi and P...

A major shift in Australia’s defence posture will see the country prioritise its geographic focus on the Indo-Pacific region while spending about AUD270 billion (USD184 billion) over the next decade on new and upgraded defence capabilities, including long-range missiles.  Releasing a 2020 Defence Strategic Update and a 2020 Force Structure Plan on 1 July, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a speech to Australian Defence Force (ADF) cadets that the new strategic objectives of the force were to ensure that Australia was able – and understood...

Dozens of militants attacked a frontier post in Kafolo, northeastern Côte d’Ivoire, on the border with Burkina Faso, on 11 June, from 0300 h onwards. Local reports stated it was a two-pronged attack and included both a military base and the military checkpoint on the border. The post was occupied by soldiers and police. In a communique by the Ivorian Ministry of Defence, 10 security force personnel were killed and six others were wounded, with two police officers reported missing. One militant was reportedly neutralised during the standoff. M...