Western armies today face a triple challenge. First, they have been involved in “wars amongst populations” for twenty-five years, having to cope with failed states, fractured societies, and irregular adversaries. Counterinsurgency (COIN) may be out of fashion, but stabilization operations remain as complex as ever. Whether for maintaining peace or countering an insurrection, military intervention cannot deliver victory on its own, yet other “global approach” actors are often either absent or ineffective, not to mention the lack of political support and the constraints posed by permanent pressure from the media.
Meanwhile, Western forces must retain the ability to conduct high-intensity operations when fighting symmetric or hybrid adversaries that benefit from training and advanced weapons. The constituent parts of military transformation tend to spread to regional powers. Accordingly, our defense systems have to stay in the technological race and incorporate into their equipments and doctrines the multiple innovations fostered by progress in intelligence gathering and miniaturisation (sensors, networks, robotics, precision ammunition, etc.).
Remaining full spectrum is also a challenge as our militaries face unprecedented constraints in terms of numbers and budgets. in addition, operational tempo has increased and enemies have toughened. The armed forces are thus being asked to achieve more with less. The political and budgetary context, especially in Europe, is likely to limit the size of militaries and the conditions of their use. It is therefore necessary in the short term to offer solutions for optimization and set the stage for a necessary military build up in the future. Established within Ifri’s Security Studies Center, the Defense Research Unit - LRD’s analysis focuses on French forces first and foremost, as well as the militaries of their main allies.
Research Fellow, Director of Ifri's Security Studies Center
...
Research Fellow, Security Studies Center, coordinator of the Defense Research Unit (LRD)
...
Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
...
Military Fellow, Defense Research Unit (LRD), Security Studies Center
...
Associate Research Fellow, Security Studies Center, Defense Research Unit
Military Fellow, Security Studies Center, Defense Research Unit (LRD)
...
Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
...
Associate Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
...
Research Fellow, Head of Ifri's Geopolitics of Technologies Program
...
Ever since nuclear weapons were developed by the United States and the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, Europe has lived under the nuclear shadow. A major direct confrontation between “the West” and “the East” could have very likely resulted in the detonation of nuclear...
The French Military Planning Act for the years 2019-2025, is “dedicated” to men and women in the services, showing how crucial the human factor is for the armed forces.
Throughout history, great powers have relied upon forward military bases, either to support their interventions in areas of interest, to re-assure allies or to control a territory.
What does future hold for the Franco-British defense partnership after Brexit?
Confronted with a strained strategic environment and a relative decline of its resource base, Australia is currently going through a historical shift of its global status.
While it was left behind from power politics for the last decades, Africa is at the core of a renewed attention from global powers.
Information dominance through the exploitation of the electromagnetic spectrum has become a cornerstone of military superiority. However, it is now threatened by increasingly advanced electronic warfare capabilities.
Although the first and foremost domain in the history of warfare, Land power has been dissociated from the concept of “strategic forces” for some time now, as these generally referred to long-range and/or high-yield strike capabilities, above all nuclear weapons.
Operational command structures have always been able to adapt to the strategic context. However, they now face a new challenge: high intensity threats.
Urbanization is a relentless trend, and as cities grow and expand, armed conflict and violence are urbanizing as well.
A "Les Jeudis de l'Ifri" videoconférence around Corentin BRUSTLEIN, Director of Ifri's Security Studies Center.
Landpower has long been dissociated from "strategic forces", as these generally refer to long-range and/or high-yield strike capabilities.However, the recent military commitments contest this notion and highlight the current and future strategic value of landpower.
This event will cross various perspectives on the strategic rationale behind capacity-building efforts, assess current and future challenges to those endeavors, and provide an overview of how the European Union and France implement it in the field and in...
Dans le cadre du cycle de séminaires "2012 La Défense en question", le Laboratoire de Recherche sur la Défense de l'Ifri (LRD), la Fondation pour la recherche stratégique (FRS) et
Déjeuner-débat strictement réservé aux entreprises membres et membres individuels bienfaiteurs de l'Ifri, sur invitation personnelle.
...
An event to the attention of Ifri's corporate members, by invitation only
...De retour d'une tournée de six semaines en Irak et en Afghanistan, Montgomery McFate, anthropologue à l'origine du HTS et le Colonel Steve Fondacaro, directeur du programme HTS, présenteront les principes et les résultats de ce programme.
Sentinel represents a watershed development in French military operations. For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the number of French army soldiers actively deployed in metropolitan France roughly equals that of overseas operations. But the military establishment here is far...
The alliance is struggling to assemble four battalions to safeguard its eastern flank from a possible Russian attack. In addition, many member states are falling short of their...
One week after the terrorist attacks in Paris, the police killed two jihadists in Belgium. Officials said that the two men were coming back from Syria and were on the brink of targeting Brussels. The capital of Belgium was already targeted a few months ago: in May 2014,...
