Interviews

Chairman’s Questions: Lessons, Needs, and Future of the Ukrainian Air Force

DefenceiQ had the privilege of interviewing active duty Mig 29 Pilot “Juice” and spokesperson Colonel Yuriy Ignat of the Ukrainian Air Force. Using questions from Chairman General (Retd.) Gorenc, Defence iQ gains rare insight into one of the most complex aerial wars in Europe since the Second World War. This interview touches on the challenges and lessons learnt by the Ukrainian Air Force, as well as their material need to ensure air superiority.

Contextualising Defence, Interview with PWC

The economic impact of defence spending is a complicated subject. Detractors of defence spending cite a variety of reasons why defence spending is wasteful, ineffective or harmful and that it diverts resources from more urgent or beneficial areas such as education, healthcare and development. Could NATO’s failure to deter Russia from invading Ukraine be seen as insufficient commitment to defence spending? The answer is not simplistic, and neither is the case for and against spending on defence. Does defence spending benefit the economy or is it a waste of resources? We recently came across a detailed study conducted by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) on the economic impact of defence spending which we thought was interesting.

Royal Australian Air Force: JSF and Growler Update

Air Commodore Michael Kitcher, Director General Capability Planning (DGCP), RAAF, discusses the plans and implications for the introduction of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the EA-18G Growler. This briefing took place at the prestigious International Fighter conference; November 2015, London, UK.

Issues under discussion at the 2016 meeting will include EW and SEAD, advances in Munitions, reliance on space assets and low earth orbit technologies, LVC, advanced fighter radar technology, and the limitations of stealth.

Raytheon: Industry-customer partnerships for the future threat environment

Major General (Ret'd) Michael Snodgrass, Vice President International Business Development, Sensors & Airborne Systems at Raytheon Company, spoke at the International Fighter conference on the need for strong military-industry partnering when it comes to the fighter aircraft domain and the future threat environment.

Topics covered:
• Present day review of NATO leader’s perception of current threats
• Historical context of the changing threat environment over
the past 50 years
• Implications for how historical threats and modern threats
seem to be finding ways of combining to present new
threats to security
• Role of industry in helping to evaluate this environment in
partnership with our customer base