David Axe

NATO's recent intervention in Libya marked the major combat debut for the U.S. Navy's growing arsenal of unmanned vehicles. In coming years, the U.S. Navy could add hundreds of flying, swimming and diving robots to its existing fleets of surface warships, submarines and manned aircraft. But the Navy's robotic revolution is a belated one. more

The British navy will suffer deep budget cuts as part of government-wide austerity measures, with around one-quarter of the fleet to be decommissioned and future purchases delayed and reduced. The need to give up some of its 11 current standing missions will likely force the navy to limit its participation in multilateral naval missions, representing a major reversal for a navy that has prided itself on its international leadership role.

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On Oct. 19, the U.K. Ministry of Defense announced its long-awaited Strategic Defense and Security Review. Though Royal Navy observers expected to lose ships, few expected cuts as deep as those announced. The end result is a much smaller fleet and a net reduction in the U.K.'s ability, in the medium term, to influence world events. The implications are enormous for Great Britain and the world. more

KINSHASA -- Congo's worsening epidemic of sexual violence could cause anarchy to spread into neighboring states, severing commercial links and leaving much of the world without vital minerals. Fearing this and the awful spectacle of a nation overrun by rapists, aid groups and armies have launched a loosely coordinated campaign to help rape victims and to reform the groups responsible for rape. more

DUNGU, Democratic Republic of Congo -- Around 15,000 women and girls are reported raped in Congo each year, with thousands more likely going unreported. Rebels account for a third of the assaults; the majority are perpetrated by Congo's own army. Fearing the massive human and economic cost of the sexual violence, a coalition of aid groups and agencies is working to treat both the effects and causes of rape.
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DUNGU, Democratic Republic of Congo -- A contingent of Indonesian army engineers are hacking their way slowly through the Congolese tropical forest, while miles away, their Nepalese counterparts advance at a similar pace. Sometime in the next couple months, the road segments will meet, allowing U.N. soldiers and aid workers to speed between two major eastern towns without resorting to costly air transport. more

DUNGU, Democratic Republic of Congo -- Last week, residents of the Congolese town of Duru told peacekeepers at a nearby U.N. base that the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebel group had just attacked and abducted several people -- right under the noses of U.N. troops. The incident highlights the difficulties the U.N. faces in protecting civilians from one of the world's most brutal armed groups.
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KINSHASA, Congo -- The U.S. Army came to Congo in part to win hearts and minds. But a recent attempt to provide basic medical services in concert with the Congolese army highlighted logistical and public-relations challenges that have cropped up repeatedly since U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates emphasized the need to strengthen the U.S. military's capacity to use soft power three years ago.
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In this four-part video opinion series, WPR contributor David Axe examines obstacles to NATO and U.S. victory in Afghanistan. These include terrain, a culture of corruption, the agrarian nature of the economy, and the technology employed by U.S. and NATO forces, he argues.
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Since the early years of the Iraq war, insurgents have combined civilian and military technology to create lethal weapon systems against which U.S. forces have few defenses. Indeed, this ability to adapt quickly is a major advantage of insurgencies in Iraq, Afghanistan and all over the world. Now, to counter its enemies' rapid adaptation, the U.S. Army is increasingly trying to think like an insurgent. more

Torrential monsoon rains since late July have flooded Pakistan's Swat Valley and portions of neighboring Afghanistan, killing nearly 2,000 people and displacing around 2 million. Relief efforts have included deployments of troops and helicopters by the Pakistan military, the NATO force in Afghanistan and, perhaps surprisingly, the nascent Afghan air corps. more

Today, the U.S. Navy is scrambling to preserve its dominance of the western Pacific in the face of a rising Chinese military. But the emerging AirSea Battle doctrine -- inspired by the 1980s' AirLand doctrine -- risks foundering for a lack of cash and hardware. U.S.-allied governments that could help compensate for America's waning resources might be turned off by AirSea Battle's risky aims and aggressive overtones. more

It was a shocking discovery. On July 2, agents from the Ecuadorian military and police raided a smugglers' camp deep in Ecuador's jungle. Among rickety buildings and some scattered equipment lay a 100-foot-long submarine, half-submerged in a muddy channel. Smugglers have been using semi-submersible boats for more than a decade, but the fully submersible Ecuadorian vessel is the first of its kind known to authorities. more

Fifteen days after twin suicide bombings killed 76 people in Kampala, Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni used an African Union summit in the capital city to declare war on the Somali group responsible for the July 11 bombing -- as well as on foreign fighters aiding the group. But to secure its borders, cities and regional interests, Uganda must do more than target terrorists.
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One of U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus' first moves after taking command of the war effort in Afghanistan was to begin forming "community policing units" to help bolster local security in Taliban-plagued areas. Reaction to the plan was swift and alarmed. On no fewer than three occasions in the last three years, NATO has experimented with local security forces. All these previous efforts failed, sometimes spectacularly. more

In the July issue of the U.S. Naval Institute's Proceedings magazine, an officer of the Indian navy claimed that Islamic extremists had teamed up with sea pirates in Somalia to form a "nexus of piracy and terrorism." In reality, where Somalia's Al-Shabab and other Islamic groups control territory, pirates are usually among the first targets of the groups' emphasis on law and order. more

On a number of recent occasions, unannounced Chinese naval flotillas cruised in international waters off the coast of Japan, in contravention of naval protocol if not of international law. The incidents seem to portray China as a maritime aggressor among nations apparently unprepared to counter any move by Beijing. But Japan is quietly enhancing military capabilities that themselves pose a threat to the fast-growing Chinese navy.
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When hundreds of thousands of Darfuri refugees flooded across the Chad-Sudan border in 2003, the U.N. and various aid groups raced to help, building a vast network of refugee camps. But armed groups waging battle with Khartoum and its militias used the camps as safe havens and recruiting pools. Inadvertently, the U.N., EU and aid groups had taken a side in one of the world's worst conflicts, thereby prolonging it. more

In February 2008, the government of East Timor declared a state of emergency after rebels under disgruntled former army officer Alfredo Reinado tried to assassinate the country's president and prime minister. Today, East Timor faces a new and more welcome set of challenges: negotiating potentially conflicting efforts by world and regional powers to gain influence in the still under-developed country. more

In April, the U.S. Air Force's X-37B prototype roared into orbit atop a rocket launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Some 15 years in development, the X-37's technology, performance and purpose all are cloaked in mystery. Two months after the unmanned vehicle's launch, it is still in orbit, performing its unspecified tasks behind the military's veil of silence and ambiguity. That has caused concern among potential rivals of the U.S. more