Category: National Defence

MSC Report asserts Europe needs to be more assertive and militarily independent from the US administration

The Munich Security Report 2026 warns the greatest challenge to the liberal international order is “coming from within” through the dramatic shift in the current US administration that no longer shares a commitment to liberal democratic norms, values, and its alliances.

The world has entered a period of wrecking-ball politics. Sweeping destruction – rather than careful reforms and policy corrections – is the order of the day. The most prominent of those who promise to free their country from the existing order’s constraints and rebuild a stronger, more prosperous nation is the current US administration. As a result, more than 80 years after construction began, the US-led post-1945 international order is now under destruction.

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Trump again threatens Canada with more tariffs, decertification Bombardier and all Canadian airplanes

Trump said on Thursday January 29, 2026, the US was “decertifying their Bombardier Global Expresses, and all aircraft made in Canada” and threatened a 50% import tariffs on all aircraft made in the country until such time as Canada certified a number of airplanes produced by Gulfstream, an American company.

Transport Canada is the agency responsible for Canadian certifications.

There are 150 Bombardier Global Express aircraft in service registered in the US operated by 115 operators and 5,425 total aircraft of various types made in Canada in service registered in the US.

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Kaja Kallas’ keynote at the European Defence Agency Annual Conference 2026

Kaja Kallas is the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission. Kaja Kallas was the first female prime minister of Estonia.

HR/VP Kaja Kallas: Keynote speech at the European Defence Agency Annual Conference 2026

Canada signs an Equipment and Technology Transfer Agreement with Japan

This agreement, signed by David McGuinty, Canada’s Minister of National Defence, and His Excellency Kanji Yamanouchi, the Japanese Ambassador to Canada, and announced Tuesday, January 27, 2026, will help Canadian and Japanese companies co-develop projects that require the transfer of equipment, technology, or Intellectual Property.

Canadian and Japanese companies will now be able to work more closely together, build together and strengthen both countries defence industries and will also permit Japan to export defence equipment and technology to Canada, providing the Canadian Armed Forces with an additional source of supply.

Source:

News Release: Department of National Defence: Minister McGuinty signs an Equipment and Technology Transfer Agreement with Japan https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2026/01/minister-mcguinty-signs-an-equipment-and-technology-transfer-agreement-with-japan.html

NATO chief’s Trump flattery strains the alliance

Trump rocked European allies this month by threatening to seize Greenland from NATO and EU member Denmark. The crisis has reinforced calls for the European continent to cut its decades-long reliance on the US for defences.

Politico spoke to more than a dozen NATO insiders, diplomats, and current and former colleagues of NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte. They described a leader admired as a skilled crisis manager who recently pulled off a win on Greenland, but at the cost of deepening European unease about NATO’s long-term future.

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France sends flagship aircraft carrier into North Atlantic as European leaders close ranks over Greenland and tensions test NATO unity

The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle set sail from the Mediterranean port of Toulon.

French officials declined to give precise details of its route, sources said the carrier strike group is heading into the North Atlantic,

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NATO’s security general says Europe cannot defend itself without the US

“If anyone thinks here … that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming,” NATO chief Mark Rutte told lawmakers on the European Parliament’s defence and foreign affairs committees. “You can’t.”

Rutte then went on to criticize NATO allies. A “European pillar [of NATO] is a bit of an empty word,” arguing a European army would create “a lot of duplication” with the alliance. Moreover, Russian President Vladimir “Putin will love it,” Rutte added.

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Rheinmetall and OHB in talks over Starlink-style satellite service for the Bundeswehr

German defence manufacturer Rheinmetall are in talks with satellite builder OHB about a satellite project for the German armed forces.

The proposed joint venture would bid for a multibillion-euro contract to create a secure, military-grade satellite communications network in low Earth orbit (LEO) for the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces.

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US threatens NORAD and continental security if Canada does not purchase more US-made F-35 fighter jets

US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra describes the current defence relationship between the two countries as “awesome,” but stressed military interventions by the US military into Canadian airspace would increase if Canada does not increase its purchase of Lockheed Martin F-35s beyond the 16 currently on order.

The North American Air Defence Command (NORAD) is a decades-old partnership between Canada and the US which tracks inbound threats and scrambles armed jets to intercept where appropriate.

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As the world inches back to a pre-WW2 order, the ‘middle powers’ face new challenges

In any age of economic stagnation and extremes of inequality, popular trust in democratic institutions corrodes. It has been corroding not just in the US but across the Western world for decades now. As such Trump may be a symptom, not a cause, of Carney’s “rupture” with the post-World War Two order.

Watching those old men making their way through the Normandy cemeteries was a graphic and poignant reminder that democracy, the rule of law, accountable government are not naturally occurring phenomena. They are not even, historically speaking, normal. They have to be fought for, built, sustained, defended.

And that is the challenge from here facing what Mark Carney called “the middle powers”.

Source:

Allan Little, BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c99kkerr93ko