ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

This map shows the military situation in eastern Ukraine on February 22, 2017: Click to see the full-size map

The Leopard 2 PL tank has been developed by the Rheinmetall Company for the Polish Army. The Leopard 2 PL tank (Photo: defence.pk) German Rheinmetall Company presented to public the upgraded Leopard 2 PL tank at the IDEX 2017 international arms exhibition, the WarSpot information website reported. This version, intended for the Polish Army , is a future development of the Leopard 2A4 tank . In 2002-2003, 128 tanks of this type were delivered free of charge to the Polish Armed Forces. Since 2015, their upgraded version, designed to bring the tanks practically to the level of the Leopard 2A6, has been developing. The Leopard 2 PL is equipped with an outboard composite armor, which significantly improves the protection against some types of ammunition, and has increased ballistic protection of the tower. Hydraulic stabilization mechanisms of the gun and turret drives of the tank were replaced with electrical ones that allowed to improve work of mechanisms and increase space inside the ta

Written and produced by SF Team: Brian Kalman, Daniel Deiss, Edwin Watson In the first half of August of 2016, the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) located at Fort Benning, Georgia, invited almost 200 representatives from the defense industry to a meeting to discuss the desire to acquire a whole new type of vehicle. The program was named “Mobile Protected Firepower” (MPF). The U.S Army has decided to dispense with its overly bureaucratic acquisition system of past decades, and has instead had the TRADOC, the command that is most knowledgeable of what the Army requires, sit down directly with industry professionals from the very start to design a vehicle that takes existing technologies and capabilities to design a workable solution at minimal cost. Apparently, the U.S. Army has learned something from past failed programs. In concept, the MPF is seen as a highly mobile vehicle that is able to accompany and support Stryker Brigade Combat Teams and mobile and mechanized in

Scores of Saudi mercenaries, including several high-ranking commanders, have been killed in a ballistic missile attack in Yemen. A file photo of Yemeni militia commander Major General Ahad Saif al-Yafei (L) and commander of Emirati troops in Yemen Nasser Moshabib al-Atibi (C), who were killed in a missile attack by Yemeni forces (Photo: Wam) The Houthi-Saleh alliance has launched a medium-range ballistic missile on positions of Saudi-backed fighters, stationed near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the al-Masirah TV-channel reported on Wednesday, citing press service of the Yemeni Operational Command. As a result, scores of Saudi mercenaries, including the commander of Saudi-led Emirati troops in Yemen, have been killed and wounded. As the TV-channel noted, the missile hit Mokha city, located in Taiz province, and killed not only usual Saudi militants, but also several high-ranking commanders, including commander of Emirati troops in

According to local sources from Hasakah, a senior commander of the Islamic State terrorist group, who had come from the US, was killed by unknown assailants in northeastern Syria. Photo: AFP / Ashraf Shazly A senior commander of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, Abu Fariq al-Ameriki, who had come to Syria from the US, was killed by unknown assailants in the southern part of Hasakah , the Fars news agency reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed local sources. Reportedly, the body of the killed commander was found by other members of the terrorist group at a bazaar in Merkedeh town. As the news agency’s sources noted, recently, a number of fighters and commanders of the IS were killed by unknown assailants or members of the terrorist group itself due to accusations of escape from the battlefields in Merkedeh. After the killing of al-Ameriki, the terrorist group has put its forces on red alert in the region. On Sunday, one of the senior commanders of the IS , Abu Mohammad, was execute

Until recently, Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi was a relatively unknown name in the jihadi community of Syria. A 26-year-old from a small village in the district of Malacca on the southwest of the Malayan Peninsula, he arrived in Syria on 26 January 2016, officially recruited into the jihadi community through Facebook. The Islamic State seemed perfect for his ambitions, as it had no strict preconditions for new recruits — no previous battlefield experience, no theological credentials, only a determination to serve the cause and an oath of commitment to its self-proclaimed “caliph,” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The Malaysian recruit fit all of the above, but was placed under routine probation, common for foreigners who join the Syrian and Iraqi battlefields, where they are tested for discipline, will, courage and behavior. Restrictions were placed on Jedi from the start; he was not allowed to roam about freely. Such rules didn’t apply to battle-hardened warriors from previous frontiers

By Danny Sjursen  The United States has already lost -- its war for the Middle East, that is. Having taken my own crack at combat soldiering in both Iraq and Afghanistan, that couldn’t be clearer to me. Unfortunately, it’s evidently still not clear in Washington. Bush’s neo-imperial triumphalism failed. Obama’s quiet shift to drones, Special Forces, and clandestine executive actions didn’t turn the tide either. For all President Trump’s bluster, boasting, and threats, rest assured that, at best, he’ll barely move the needle and, at worst… but why even go there? At this point, it’s at least reasonable to look back and ask yet again: Why the failure? Explanations abound, of course. Perhaps Americans were simply never tough enough and still need to take off the kid gloves. Maybe there just weren’t ever enough troops. (Bring back the draft!) Maybe all those hundreds of thousands of bombs and missiles just came up short. (So how about lots more of them, maybe even a nuke ?) Lead from the

Turkey has decided not to directly participate in the liberation of the Syrian city of Raqqa and offered to send formations of the Syrian opposition to storm the capital of the Islamic State terrorist group in the country. Photo: AFP The Turkish Army will not be directly involved in the liberation of Raqqa city from terrorists of the Islamic State (IS) group, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on February 19. Instead of this, Ankara offers to send loyal formations of the Syrian opposition to storm the capital of Syrian terrorists, and currently tries to agree on this issue with Washington. As experts noted, sending of Turkish tanks to Raqqa would turn into open war with Syrian Kurds. During his visit to Germany, Yildirim made it clear that the Turkish Army is not going to participate in the offensive on Raqqa, but it is ready to provide “tactical support” to troops of the Syrian opposition. According to the Turkish prime minister, Ankara wants detachments of the Free Syri