The Shephard Defence Podcast

In this episode of the Weekly Defence Podcast we bring you the latest from the 32nd annual Surface Navy symposium in Washington DC; we talk about air defence systems and how they work; we discuss the US Army’s decision to cancel OMFV solicitation, and, looking forward to India hosting its biennial DefExpo next month, consider whether the country is ready to tackle its huge list of not-too-competently managed procurements. News Round-up (00:45)VP Content Tony Skinner discusses an interesting opinion piece by The Geobukseon on India’s procurement practices. With the DefExpo 2020 exhibition being held in Uttar Pradesh early next month, The Geobukseon considers whether and how India will be able to manage its morass of defence procurements, which have negatively affected the armed forces in past decades. Reporter, Land Flavia Camargos Pereira gives an insight into the US Army’s decision to terminate the current acquisition process for the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV). This followed the receipt of only a single bid in the competition to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Deep dive – Air Defence Systems (16:25)  Following the catastrophic events of 6 January, which confirmed that a Russian-made, Iranian- operated Tor-M1 system was responsible for the Ukrainian airliner crash near Teheran, Director of Analysis Matthew Smith and Senior Analyst Ilker Aktasoglu discuss how air defence systems are operated, what are challenges the industry is currently facing, the pressures operators are under, and what fail-safes are in place. Surface Navy Symposium and interview with Lockheed Martin (30:00) VP Content Tony Skinner chats to Senior Editor, Naval Richard Thomas who was on the floor of the 32nd annual Surface Navy Symposium in Washington DC last week.The biggest stories from the naval domain include the Maritime Strike Tomahawk, which is no longer expected to achieve its milestone this year following a delay in achieving initial operational capability; and the UK RN which will see its fleet escort numbers dropping in the next years as the build schedule for the Type 26 and Type 31 frigates struggles to keep pace with the planned out-of-service dates of the ageing Type 23 class.Richard also speaks to VP of Naval Combat and Missile Defence systems at Lockheed Martin, Jim Sheridan, about ship self-defence systems.This episode was produced and recorded by Noemi Distefano with music and sound mixing by Fred Prest.

       News Round (00:38) Reporter- Land Flavia Camargos Pereira gives us an insight on Brazilian defence priorities, including the Brazilian Air Force procurement of the KC-390, the army’s purchase of the VBTP-MR Guarani and, on the naval domain, the PROSUB submarine programme, which delivered the first submarine to the Brazilian Navy in 2018 and is set to deliver the next three by 2022.Air Editor Tim Martin discusses the biggest story of the week as Leonardo has overcome competition from Airbus, Bell and two other contenders to win the US Navy’s (USN) TH-73A trainer helicopter programme, securing a four-year production run for 130 TH-119 aircraft.·        Deep dive – the role of the frigate (18:00) Tony Skinner talks to our Special Correspondent Tim Fish about how the role of frigates is changing. Cold war ships are retiring to meet new requirements and strategic maritime challenges while new technologies in the maritime domain will soon dominate the industry, making large expensive surface platforms potentially vulnerable and not cost-effective in delivering capability. ·        Interview – L3Harris (35:40) Tony Skinner speaks to Dr Paul Brittan, chief scientific officer at L3Harris about artificial intelligence and machine learning, and how the modern battlefield constraints impact the architecture and performance of contemporary machine learning techniques. Keeping in mind the role of the human operator, what are the benefits AI can provide in the battlespace and how effective can it be? ·        Industry Voice - Nammo (48:10) VP Content Tony Skinners talks speaks to Senior Vice Presidents Communication at Nammo, Endre Lunde about design and branding in the defence industry discussing where we are at and what can be improved.  Music and sound mixing provided by Fred Prest

On the podcast this week...Interview: (01.13) Senior Editor – Naval Richard Thomas sits down with Paul Mcloughlin, news editor at the Middle East focused and London-based TheNewArab to talk about how Iran has cultivated and supported proxy forces in the region, and how the Quds Force operates as intelligence gatherers, trainers and convert operators in aid of Tehran’s ambitions.News Roundup: (09:00) Editor – Air Tim Martin talks from an air domain perspective about how air defence networks and fighter fleets could see more regular action if the conflict between Iran and US continues to escalate. He also focuses on how Iran prioritises its defence spending and what offensive and defensive capability the country possesses. In this episode we also introduce our new Reporter – Land Flavia Camargos Pereira. She approaches the crisis from a different angle, analysing the radically different political reactions of South American countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. While Brazil supports the US action with President Jair Bolsonaro saying the country rejects all forms of terrorism, Argentina is more concerned about boosting security, with defence minister Agustín Rossi warning that the country must be alert. In Colombia meanwhile, the FARC political party organised a ceremony to pay tribute to the Iranian general, whereas other Latin American countries are concerned about how the crisis will impact the oil price.Interview: (21.53)Sophia Bellas, Middle East analyst at Dryad Global, speaks about where recent events leave the US’s influence in the region.Recorded and produced by Noemi Distefano  with music and sound mixing provided by Fred Prest 

In this episode of the Weekly Defence Podcast, as we welcome in the new year, we take the chance to look back at some of our best coverage of the past few months, including coverage from DSEI, an examination of the fixed-wing market, an interview with L3Harris and discussing defence export controls.Show coverage: DSEIThe team report from DSEI in London, where among the announcements was news that Babcock’s Arrowhead 140 has won the £1.25 billion ($1.54 billion) programme for the five-ship Type 31e light frigate programme.Sea editor Richard Thomas and deputy air editor Tim Martin run through the machinations of the long-running Type 31e saga.Tim also looks at the decision by the UK and Italy to partner on the Tempest future fighter programme. A statement of intent has also been agreed at an industrial level between Rome and London, further evidence that engineering and design efforts will involve a formidable and diverse mix of suppliers including BAE, Leonardo, Rolls-Royce and MBDA.Meanwhile, land domain editor Beth Maundrill outlines the progress of the UK’s flagship land programmes, including the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme (WCSP) upgrade and the Challenger 2 Life Extension Programme (CR2 LEP).Deep Dive – Fixed Wing Aircraft AnalysisLand Editor Beth Maundrill sits down with Shephard’s Director of Analysis, Matt Smith, to talk about the latest in the series of Defence Insight’s analysis. This time the team looks into military fixed-wing aircraft and the upward tick in investment over the next decade.Interview – The AVX-L3Harris Compound Coaxial HelicopterTim Martin speaks to Luke Savoie, the President of Aviation Services for L3Harris, about its proposal for the US Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft that it is developing in partnership with AVX.AVX and L3T show FARA handInsight: What next for the FARA five?Industry VoiceBeth Maundrill speaks to Nammo’s SVP of Communications Endre Lunde, who provides his insights into the area of defence export controls.Music and sound mixing provided by Fred Prest

As a bonus episode for listeners of The Weekly Defence Podcast, here's episode four of our new Revolutions in Vertical Flight podcast series.The full series can be found hereThe Revolutions in Vertical Flight podcast tells the little-known story of the history of rotorcraft, from the autogiro and helicopter, to the tiltrotor and eVTOL platforms in development today.Revolutions in Vertical Flight reveals the stories of a small group of pioneers, the visions and beliefs that drove them, and their approach to invention and innovationAnd the Shephard Studio podcast series looks at the vertical flight innovation underway today, revealing how it will transform military operations and revolutionise urban mobility.In this episode, we turn to the future and hear how the US Army’s plan to replace its current fleet of helicopters is set to introduce entirely new configurations of rotorcraft. We hear how the US Army believes we are at an “inflection point” and how the new rotorcraft designs are set to change the face of modern warfare.And we speak to the industry teams vying to bid for two key helicopter programmes and learn how innovation is being brought to bear across their development programmes

In this episode of the Weekly Defence Podcast, as we say goodbye to 2019, we take the chance to look back at some of our best coverage of the past few months, including coverage from MSPO in Poland, China's military parade and NATO Engages in London.Show coverage - MSPOEditor in chief Richard Thomas and deputy air editor Tim Martin report from MSPO in Poland.Among the news to emerge from the show was the confirmation that the Pentagon's decision to remove Turkey from the F-35 programme has since left production made aircraft readied for Ankara without an owner.Meanwhile, among the new products on display was a technology demonstrator of an mobile air defence combat system (ASBOP–PERKUN) the Lukasiewicz – PIAP Institute has developed in partnership with the Telesystem-Mesko company.Deep Dive – People’s Liberation Army (PLA) armamentsOn 1 October China put on its largest-ever parade through Tiananmen Square in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the modern-day People’s Republic of China. Dominating the spectacle were missiles, unmanned systems and electronic warfare (EW) capabilities.Asia Pacific editor Gordon Arthur was there and outlines what he learned from the parade, which saw some 40% of the equipment shown to the public for the first time.Chinese missiles dominate world’s largest military paradeInterview – Justin Bronk of RUSIDeputy Editor, Air Tim Martin talks to Justin Bronk, Research Fellow specialising in combat airpower and technology in the Military Science team at RUSI, at the NATO Engages event in London.Industry Voice - NammoNammo SVP of Communications Endre Lunde outlines the challenges the defence industry faces planning for 2020 and beyond given the current global instablility.Music and sound mixing provided by Fred Prest

As a bonus episode for listeners of The Weekly Defence Podcast, here's episode three of our new Revolutions in Vertical Flight podcast series.The full series can be found here:The Revolutions in Vertical Flight podcast tells the little-known story of the history of rotorcraft, from the autogiro and helicopter, to the tiltrotor and eVTOL platforms in development today. Revolutions in Vertical Flight reveals the stories of a small group of pioneers, the visions and beliefs that drove them, and their approach to invention and innovation.And the Shephard Studio podcast series looks at the vertical flight innovation underway today, revealing how it will transform military operations and revolutionise urban mobility.In this episode, we look at a persisting dream of the early rotorcraft pioneers – how to build a machine that combined the vertical takeoff and landing attributes of a helicopter with the speed and range advantages of a fixed-wing aircraft.We hear how a failed military mission in the Iranian desert ultimately led to the creation of the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor. And how Leonardo plans to bring the tiltrotor design to the civil market with its AW609. 

Land: Year in ReviewSenior Editor, Naval Richard Thomas and Land Analyst Sonny Butterworth consider how 2019 has proven to be an eventful year for the armoured vehicles market with several major contracts finalised such as the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle for the US Army and Marine Corps and the Boxer contract for the British Army. Also, the trade shows this year marked the debut of several new 8x8 platforms which aim to increase their operational utility. Some of these platforms are coming from manufacturers based in countries not typically associated with the production of armoured vehicles such as UAE and Thailand. Asia-Pacific Editor Gordon Arthur highlights the biggest news in the land domain of the year for the Asia-Pacific region taking a closer look at Australia, South Korea, Japan and India. As Vietnam received 64 T-90S and T-90SK tanks from Russia, and India approved the acquisition of 464 T-90MS tanks, we discuss exports and how Asia’s interest in importing armoured vehicles from different places is growing.Sea:  Year in Review Director of Analysis Matthew Smith and Senior Editor, Naval Richard Thomas discuss how navies across the globe face a dilemma of modernisation of hugely capable ships which yet come with a considerable price tag. Where is the right balance? And going through this year’s major stories in the naval sector we highlight fleet modernisation among countries such as UK and Italy, and in the US we saw the largest-ever shipbuilding contract in the sea domain awarded earlier this year to General Dynamic Electric Boat for the construction for nine Block V Virginia class submarines. Air: Year in Review Air Analyst Ilker Aktasoglu and Editor, Air Tim Martin take a look at the air domain talking how  Lockheed Martin’s F-35 has been the main subject of this year’s top stories. The US cancelled Turkish participation in the programme over Ankara’s procurement of Russian weapon systems while Singapore Greece and Poland all confirmed plans to procure the F-35. We go back to Paris Air Show which witnessed two next generation combat aircraft mock-ups: Dassault and Airbus’ sixth-generation Future Combat Air System and Turkish Aerospace’s fifth generation TF- X fighter. And in the UK we discuss the MoD’s choice to procure five new E-7 Wedgetails for $1.98 billion to replace E-3D Sentrys which will retire by 2025. Director of Analysis Matthew Smith talks about how the October incident caused by missiles fired by Saudi Arabia will continue to have a huge impact in the air defence domain. This could lead to a substantial growth in investments from countries in the air defence sector - especially in the Middle East.  Music and sound mixing provided by Fred Prest

In this episode of the Weekly Defence Podcast, after heads of state, government and military leaders descended on London for the NATO Leaders’ Meeting, we review the issues facing the alliance, and get the perspective of two key analysts.News Roundup (00:36) On the news this week…Senior Editor, Naval Richard Thomas and Deputy Editor, Air Tim Martin, take a look at the atmosphere at this year’s NATO meeting in occasion of the 70th anniversary of the alliance. They discuss why the positive speech delivered from the NATO Secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, was contrasted by scepticism by some world leaders, with particular attention to French President Emmanuel Macron’s speech.Director of Analysis Matthew Smith shares data following the NATO release of its most recent set of budgets, which saw a significant increase in procurement expenses compared to last year with Turkey on top of the list with an estimate $5.3billion for procurement expenses. Senior Editor, Naval Richard Thomas talks about the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier commissioning ceremony in Portsmouth, 78 years after the sinking of the first HMS Prince of Wales.Interview – Justin Bronk of RUSI (21:14)Deputy Editor, Air Tim Martin talks to Justin Bronk, Research Fellow specialising in combat airpower and technology in the Military Science team at RUSI .Interview – Robert Vass President of GLOBSEC (36:26)We discuss with Robert Vass some the most prominent issues amid countries part of the NATO alliance following the world’s leaders’ speeches at this year’s event in London.Industry Voice: Nammo (51:24) Shephard Media’s VP Content Tony Skinner and Nammo SVP of Communications Endre Lunde discuss the EU’s possible prohibition of lead ammunition for sport and hunting purposes, and the effect this would have on the defence supply chain.Music and sound mixing provided by Fred Prest

·       News Roundup (00:40)In the news this week…We hear from VP content Tony Skinner about companies developing new training solutions and when those systems are likely to be ready for deployment.  We also learn about Epic Games and its software engine and Cruden’s fast boat simulator, both on the show floor at this year’s I/ITSEC.Military Training & Simulation News Editor Trevor Nash considers whether lower-cost military training technologies are a panacea for companies, and if these devices will be ready to replace larger full-flight simulators and weapon system trainers.·        Deep Dive – I/ITSEC 2019 (14:44)Senior Editor – Naval Richard Thomas talks to Booz Allen Hamilton about why immersive training environments are gaining popularity, and the challenges of using VR and AR for militaries . ·        Interview – Richard Whittle  (31:04)With the V-22 tiltrotor having recently passed the 500,000 flight hour milestone, VP Content Tony Skinner talks to author Richard Whittle, who goes back in time, explaining some of the challenges that the original proponents of the Osprey programme had to overcome. Music and sound mixing provided by Fred Prest