One of the Cold War’s great ‘what ifs?’ was whether the United Kingdom’s V-Bomber nuclear deterrent force would have been able to reach and attack its targets in the Soviet Union. In the 1950s and ‘60s, the Royal Air Force’s V-Bomber fleet was the custodian of Britian’s nuclear deterrent. A trio of aircraft, namely the Vickers Valiant, Handley Page Victor and Avro Vulcan series strategic bombers were all tasked to deliver nuclear weapons of varying yields to targets in the Soviet Union...

Diamonds have attributes which are useful for current and future defence electromagnetic applications such as quantum communications and navigation. Diamonds have the highest thermal conductivity of any solid material making them particularly suitable for environments where temperature management is paramount. Electronic warfare, radar and military communications all depend on power amplifiers to transmit radio frequency energy. The more power you send through these amplifiers, the more...

Israel’s ongoing military operations in the Gaza Strip have once again highlighted the perils and pitfalls of urban electronic warfare, much as US-led operations in Iraq did several years earlier. In episode 8 of the Radioflash! podcast, we chatted to Colonel Jeffrey H. ‘Fish’ Fischer, a European and global security expert, and author of the Curt Nover series of thrillers. Fish talked about the Electronic Warfare (EW) implications of Israel’s ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. This discussion...

Ahmed Al Khoori, senior vice president, Strategy & Excellence, EDGE Group talks to Asian Military Review Editor-in-Chief ahead of exciting announcements at the Dubai Airshow.

In this episode of Radioflash! we explore how the war between Israel and Hamas could unfold in the electromagnetic spectrum. On 7th October, the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a series of devastating raids on numerous targets in Israel. As of late October, is it believed that these attacks have killed over 1,400 people. Over five thousand have been injured and Hamas has abducted in excess of 200. The surprise attack seemingly caught Israel’s government, her military and security...

It is a truism of military theory that the road to victory is harder for the side which does not win and sustain air supremacy. It is now over eighteen months since the Russian government commenced its second invasion of Ukraine. The conflict has seen the shattering of some military aphorisms and the affirmation of others. One that has stood this test of time is that the achievement of air superiority and supremacy is a prerequisite for victory. To date, neither the Russian nor Ukrainian...

Milrem Robotics has made impressive strides in developing innovative robotics solutions for challenging environments. Established in 2013, Milrem developed Type-X, which was the first RCV designed for unmanned operations, as well as the renowned THeMIS which is currently part of the robotics program in 16 countries.  In this episode, we are joined by Kuldar Väärsi, the CEO and Founder of Milrem Robotics. Having recently joined the Platforms & Systems cluster of EDGE, one of the world’s...

As near-peer adversaries continue to develop and deploy advanced electronic warfare capabilities, the warfighter’s ability to operate in congested and contested electromagnetic spectrum environments has emerged as a critical need. Silvus Technologies Jimi Henderson joins Armada’s military communications webpage and monthly newsletter editor Dr. Thomas Withington on this special podcast to examine the challenges of establishing and using tactical communications networks in congested and...

Information is a strategic resource, it always was, but with fake news and disinformation by nefarious actors very much on the agenda, its manipulation risks having a profound effect on our democracies. How do we manoeuvre in the information space? What steps should governments and militaries be taking to ensure we are safeguarded against disinformation’s adverse effects? In our latest Radioflash! podcast we talk to Ewen Stockbridge, chief executive officer of 360ISR. 360ISR is an...

Multi-Domain Integration risks creating challenges for electromagnetic spectrum operations command and control, but these are not insurmountable, argues Major Erik Bamford. Once again, this year’s Association of Old Crows (AOC) Electronic Warfare Europe conference and exhibition was a resounding success. Held in the delightful city of Bonn, Western Germany, Multi-Domain Integration (MDI) was the event’s overarching theme. MDI sees the integration of all personnel, capabilities and bases...

Keen-eyed readers of Armada’s military communications webpage may remember an article we ran in April that looked at tropospheric radio. The article discussed the British Army’s recent acquisition of a tropospheric communications system. As the name suggests, tropospheric techniques exploit the troposphere. This is a layer of the atmosphere stretching up to 43,000 feet (13,106 metres) above the Earth’s surface. When aimed at an angle towards the troposphere, some radio signals can jump over...

The electromagnetic spectrum has never been so congested. This is only likely to get worse. Training is a key part of meeting this challenge as we explore in episode 3 of the Radioflash! podcast. Ericsson predicted the world would have one billion 5G subscribers by early 2023. This could grow to five billion by 2028. As the ether gets more saturated, hostile actors have more places to hide their signals of interest. Moreover, new techniques like artificial intelligence are coming to the fore...

DSEI Japan 2023 Senior Military Advisor Air Vice Marshal (Ret) Gary Waterfall in conversation with Armada/AMR Editor-in-Chief Andrew Drwiega.

AMR is delighted to present our second podcast. Editor-in-Chief Andrew Drwiega discusses the IDEX defence expo in Abu Dhabi with the EDGE Group's Miles Chambers, Director International Business Development. The Gulf defence sector is expanding rapidly and the EDGE Group, a United Arab Emirates state-owned conglomeration of 25 companies providing military weaponry and related technologies is at the centre of this expansion. Miles discusses the technologies that EDGE is developing as well as...

FICINT is a useful tool to help us imagine how the future may unfold. It is particularly apt for those working in the electromagnetic spectrum where technology moves at breakneck speed. Keen eyed members of our audience may remember an article we published in late November entitled Fast Forward the Future. This looked at the emerging field of Fictional Intelligence (FICINT). In 2021 the Royal Air Force commissioned a three-volume series of books to imagine the RAF in 2040. These looked at...

Armada is proud to launch our new Radioflash podcast. Blending our electronic warfare and military communications podcasts Radioflash covers all aspects of military electromagnetic spectrum use. Fittingly, our first guest is Dr. Bleddyn Bowen, associate professor of international relations at the University of Leicester. He is the author of two books on the militarisation of the cosmos: War in Space: Strategy, Spacepower and Geopolitics and the recently published Original Sin: Power,...

As the electromagnetic spectrum becomes more congested and contested so the EW practitioner’s work increases. Human factors play a key role in Electronic Warfare (EW) but how do we empower EW practitioners to meet today’s and tomorrow’s challenges? How do the tasks of today’s EW practitioners differ from those of yesterday? What tools do today’s and tomorrow’s practitioners need to meet contemporary and future threats? To discuss these important subjects Armada’s EW Podcast chats to Dave...

A recent article contained a startling revelation that US FARRAH satellites provided SIGINT to British forces during the Falklands War. Taking its name from film and television icon Farrah Fawcett, America’s FARRAH Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) satellites were launched from 1982. That same year, the UK deployed forces to the South Atlantic to liberate the Falkland Islands from Argentine control following their invasion on 2nd April. The article by space expert Dwayne Day revealed these...

How orbit and architecture combine to enable game-changing mission-specific capabilities.   SES will shortly commence deployment of its second-generation Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) constellation, O3b mPOWER. Building on the technically proven and commercially successful O3b MEO operating since 2014, O3b mPOWER will deliver dramatic levels of increased throughput, flexibility, and secure, resilient connectivity, all with the low-latency inherent to its Medium Earth Orbit location.    So why...

Electronic Warfare has a new foe in the guise of the Covid-19 with microwaves harnessed as an effective tool to kill the virus. Elettronica has developed the E4Shield virus inactivation system which is effective against Covid-19 and several other pathogens. In our latest Electronic Warfare Podcast we chat to Simone Astiaso, Elettronica’s vice president of engineering and operations, about this new technology and its potential.

Private sector satellite communications provision is paying dividends for Ukrainian forces in that country’s ongoing war. In the wake of Russia’s Ukraine invasion on 24th February, thousands of Satellite Communications (SATCOM) terminals were shipped to Ukrainian forces. Elon Musk despatched terminals to provide wideband internet coverage via his Starlink satellite constellation. His actions mirrored those of Viasat which had provided terminals before the invasion. Both Starlink and Viasat...

Phase 1 of Russia’s war in Ukraine has ended, but battle rages on. Russia’s electronic warfare posture seems to be steadily strengthening as the conflict assumes a new direction. Jeffrey Fischer has 30 years’ experience with the US military. He has worked as an EW officer and completed seven combat tours in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans. His new novel Balkan Reprisal will be published this autumn. In our latest podcast, we chat to Jeff about Russia’s use of electronic warfare in the...

Cyber threats and attacks are staples of the evening news, yet how cyber warfare supports conventional military operations is less discussed. The ongoing war in Ukraine has placed cyber warfare firmly on the agenda. A new book by Daniel Moore called Offensive Cyber Operations: Understanding Intangible Warfare is helping us understand cyber operations. In our latest Electronic Warfare Podcast he talks about the relationship between cyber warfare and military operations, and reflects on...

We are delighted to launch Armada’s new series of Military Communications podcasts. In our first episode we dive into the world of Multiple-In, Multiple-Out radio. Better known as MIMO, this innovative tactical communications technology is making its presence felt in the defence sector. However, you may be unaware of MIMO and how it operates? Jack Moore, vice president of business development for US special operations command and the US Army at Persistent Systems explains how this technology...