Russia lifts the veil on new military equipment and the tracks versus wheels debate

In this episode of the Weekly Defence Podcast we tackle the tracked versus wheeled armoured vehicles debate and we examine the equipment on display at Moscow’s Red Square during the Victory Day Parade. 

Newsround: (00:32)

Cross-party political talks in Sweden addressing future defence funding have collapsed, following disagreement over whether additional money should be approved. 

In Singapore the government insists it will not compromise on the acquisition of strategic capabilities, despite some disruptions.

A new report by the UK’s National Audit Office points towards new delays in developing the F-35B Lightning jet and Crowsnest AEW capability programmes.

News Focus:

Senior Editor Naval Richard Thomas and Air Editor Tim Martin take a closer look at what the Royal Navy can expect following the NAO report release. 

Several questions were raised over future funding for the Royal Navy in a post COVID-19 scenario. It seems that the initial goal set by the MoD for the carrier strike group to reach full capability by 2023 could be beyond budget.

Tim Martin also reports on the parliamentary hearing on the fate of the UK’s 5G network held in Westminster on the 30 June. The UK MoD has clearly stated that the Chinese telecommunications provider Huawei will have no future role to play in domestic defence communications and cyber networks.

In the land domain, Land Reporter Flavia Camargos Pereira talks about the Spanish Army decision to enhance its NBC capabilities. Amid COVID-19 struggles, the country’s armed forces have laid out their NBC equipment priorities in a programme that aims to deliver new systems and technologies by 2035. 

Deep Dive: Track vs Wheels debate (22:28)

Richard Thomas chats to Defence Insight Senior Analyst Land Sonny Butterworth to find out more about the long-running track versus wheel debate. 

Analysis: Russia’s Victory Day parade (42:34) 

Shephard’s contributor Leonid Nersisyan is on the line with News Editor Ben Vogel to report on the new kit on display in Moscow’s Red Square during the Victory Day parade. 

New features included the TOS-2 Tosochka thermobaric MRLS, the Pantsir-SM self-propelled anti-aircraft system and new anti-UAV missiles.

Music and sound mixing by Fred Prest