Latest news with #MickRyan
Business Insider
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
An F-35 stealth fighter has been stuck in a country not cleared to access the tech for over a month
A UK F-35 stealth fighter jet has been stuck for more than a month in India, a country that isn't part of the program and does not have access to the plane's advanced tech and capabilities. The stealth fighter landed on June 14 at Thiruvananthapuram airport in the state of Kerala, where it was diverted after it ran into bad weather in the Indian Ocean. An engine issue then prevented the jet from returning to the Royal Navy's flagship carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, the British High Commission in New Delhi said. Local media reports that the jet is still there but the repair work is underway. The jet is an F-35B, the short-takeoff/vertical landing variant built with a lift fan for operations on amphibious assault ships, certain aircraft carriers, and limited runways. This version of the fighter is used by the UK, Japan, Italy, and the US. The fifth-generation aircraft, made by the US defense contractor Lockheed Martin, is one of the most advanced jets in the world, and the US determines who gets access to these planes. India isn't on the list of approved partner countries. The jet being stuck for so long has raised questions about how this could happen to such a modern jet and concerns about having top tech stranded where it shouldn't be. Former Australian Army Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan, a warfare strategist, explained to Business Insider that "given the extraordinary capabilities and advanced technologies on these things, you really don't want it sitting in a country that isn't cleared to access knowledge about those capabilities." He said he suspects the US is putting pressure on the UK concerning the recovery of the jet. Neither the Pentagon nor the US State Department responded to BI's request for comment. The F-35 Joint Program Office did not immediately respond either. "I'd say there'd be a lot of diplomatic action in the background with the Indians to ensure that the security of that aircraft is paramount and that there aren't efforts to exploit that aircraft by some who might be tempted to do so," Ryan added. The US is able to decide a lot about how the jet is used around the world, including restricting its export. It has previously done so with countries that use Russian and Chinese weapon systems, such as Turkey, which was initially part of the program. India has never been a part of the program, though there's been interest. Christoph Bergs, an airpower analyst at the UK's Royal United Services Institute, told The New York Times this month that "there's lots of secrecy involving military aircraft in general," but it's even more sensitive with the F-35. Even though it's used by many American and partners allies, its tech is carefully guarded. "You don't want unauthorized access where people can either interfere with the machine, or take very close-up pictures, or even start, you know, messing with the machinery itself," he said. The jet has been moved to an on-site hangar. When it was sitting out in the open, there were reports in Indian media that it hadn't been moved due to the UK's distrust. The Royal Navy rejected that in a statement to The Independent, saying it would have been done sooner if the required tools and expertise had been available. When relocating the fighter jet to a hangar became an option, action was taken "to minimise disruptions to the regular airport operations," it said. The British Royal Navy directed BI to the British defense ministry, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. While the British military and experts have attempted to downplay potential trust issues and there have been no indications that India is attempting to access the jet's classified technology, there is, nonetheless, a reason to take security seriously. A complicated relationship The advanced combat technology aboard the F-35 stealth fighter is exceptionally sensitive, and the US carefully weighs who gets access to it. The US and India are not formal allies, but they are strategic partners. India has purchased billions of dollars worth of US defense equipment, and the countries hold military exercises together, with Washington viewing Mumbai as a partner against China. India, however, also buys a lot of Russian equipment, with Moscow as a major supplier of weapons to Mumbai. India also maintains a relationship with Russia and is a major buyer of Russian oil, complicating ties with the US. Amid these complexities in the relationship, the US has at times been hesitant to share advanced tech with India. For instance, the previous US administration left it off the list of countries with unrestricted access to US-made microchips. It's unclear how the new Trump administration will affect ties. India rejected President Donald Trump's claim in June that he had brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan during a conflict in May. But India's government has also publicly praised Trump, in a move seen by some analysts as a bid to avoid heavy tariffs that Trump is putting on much of the world. The Trump administration has pledged to deepen its defense partnership with India. Trump said in February that "starting this year, we'll be increasing military sales to India by many billions of dollars." He added that they were "paving the way" for India to eventually get the F-35. Whether that goes through remains to be seen. It's uncertain whether F-35s are right for India, which is eager to grow its own defense industry. Also, Russia is offering India an export version of its less expensive Su-57. The Russian jet comes with less red tape but also less capability. Rescuing the jet The UK is trying to repair the stranded aircraft to take it out of India. The UK Defence in India, the official X account of UK Defence Adviser in India, Commodore Chris Saunders, posted on July 7 that a team of engineers from the UK had arrived to work on the aircraft It said repairs were underway on the aircraft, which had been moved to the maintenance hangar. It said "we are grateful for the continued support and collaboration of the Indian authorities." UPDATE: A team of UK engineers has arrived in India to commence repairs on the UK F35B aircraft. Repairs are underway on the aircraft, which has now been moved to the maintenance hangar. We are grateful for the continued support and collaboration of the Indian authorities. 🇬🇧🤝🇮🇳 — UK Defence in India🇬🇧🇮🇳 (@UKDefenceIndia) July 7, 2025 India Today reported that UK military personnel were guarding the hangar and that India's security forces were staying outside and at a distance. The jet likely can't be safely flown right now. The UK Ministry of Defence, in a statement to The Associated Press, rejected speculation that the jet could be partially dismantled and transported in a cargo plane if it can't be fixed by engineers. Kerala, the destination you'll never want to leave. Thank you, The Fauxy. #F35 #Trivandrum #KeralaTourism — Kerala Tourism (@KeralaTourism) July 2, 2025 For now, the advanced jet is where it is and has become something of a source of humor in India, sparking memes. The tourism department of Kerala shared a cartoon image of the fighter jet on a runway beside some palm trees with a fake five-star review alongside the text "Kerala is such an amazing place, I don't want to leave. Definitely recommend."
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israel showed that seizing air superiority isn't gone from modern warfare, but Iran isn't China or Russia
Military officials and experts warn that air superiority may not be possible in modern warfare. Israel, however, was able to quickly achieve it against Iran. Iran, though capable, isn't bringing the same fight that a foe like Russia or China could. Israel swiftly seized air superiority over parts of Iran during the latest fight, showing that it's still possible in modern, higher-end warfare to heavily dominate an enemy's skies. But there's a risk in taking the wrong lesson from that win. Iran isn't Russia or China, and as the West readies for potential near-peer conflict, it really can't afford to forget that, officials and experts have cautioned. Western military officials and warfare experts have repeatedly warned in recent years that achieving air superiority against those countries would be a daunting task. Russia and China, especially the latter, boast sophisticated, integrated air defense networks with ground-based interceptors well supported by capable air forces, electronic warfare, and reliable space-based and airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Air superiority in a limited theater is not the same as breaking through a complex anti-access, area-denial setup. Israel's victory in the air war over Iran shows that air superiority is "not impossible" in modern warfare, former Australian Army Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan, a warfare strategist, explained. That said, he continued, a Western conflict with Russia or China would be "very different." Israel attacked nuclear and military sites in Iran in bombing runs and eliminated dozens of Iranian air defense batteries. Justin Bronk, an airpower expert at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), said it "highlights what you can do with a modern air force against some, on paper, fairly impressive defenses." Iran maintained a capable layered air defense network featuring domestic systems, foreign-supplied defenses, and some modernized older systems. Though only semi-integrated compared to fully networked air defenses, it presented an obstacle. Israel dismantled Iranian defenses over multiple engagements through extensive planning, detailed intelligence, and the employment of combat-proven airpower, specifically fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighters built for penetration and suppression of enemy air defenses and fourth-generation F-15s and F-16s, which can also support that mission. Important to Israel's success in the latest fight with Iran were the engagements last year that substantially weakened Iranian air defense capabilities, as well as Israel's skills in this mission. Failures and aircraft losses in the 1973 Yom Kippur War led it to reevaluate how it approached enemy air defenses, in many ways leading to the emergence of the kind of missions used against Iran. Ed Arnold, a security expert at RUSI, said that Israel reporting no aircraft losses "was significant, and it just showed that, yeah, you can get air supremacy very quickly." The caveat there is that doing so requires the right tactics, weapons, and intelligence, but even then, it is not guaranteed. Retired Air Commodore Andrew Curtis, an airfare expert with a 35-year career in the Royal Air Force, told BI "the situation that everybody's been used to over the last 30 years is air supremacy," but when it comes to high-intensity war against a near-peer adverary, realistically, "those days are long gone." Iran had air defenses, but not airpower. It's air force is largely made up of obsolete Western, Soviet, and Chinese aircraft. The ground-based surface-to-air missile batteries are more capable, but that's only one part of the defensive picture. Curtis explained that Iran has "very little in the way of air defense aircraft, whereas of course Russia, and especially China, has stacks of them." Both Russia and China field fourth-generation-plus aircraft, as well as fifth-generation fighters. China, in particular, has multiple fifth-gen fighters in various stages of development, and there are indications it's working on sixth-generation prototypes. By comparison, Iran's air force looks a lot like a plane museum. But they also boast more advanced and more effective air defenses. Bronk said Russia's defenses are "better networked, more capable, more numerous, and more densely layered than Iran's." He said that if the West rolled back the SAM threat, it would likely be able to overcome Russia's air force, but China is a different story. China has a complex integrated air defense network supported by ground-based air defenses, naval air defenses, and what Bronk characterized as "an increasingly very capable modern air force," among other capabilities. And China also has a "far greater and more sophisticated missile arsenal for striking bases" to hamstring an enemy's airpower. Additionally, it holds a strong economic position with an industrial base that is turning out high-end weapons. China has also been tremendously increasing its number of interceptors without really expending any, unlike the US, which has been burning through interceptors in Middle Eastern conflicts. Not all of China has the same protections, but breaking through defenses would likely represent a substantial challenge in a conflict, especially in something like a Taiwan contingency. A conflict between the West and China could look like "a more traditional air war" — something not seen in a long time, Curtis said, explaining that air-to-air combat could make a comeback, with pilots again shooting down enemy planes. "In a peer-on-peer conflict, certainly with China, you would see a lot of that, because China has got a lot of air assets." Achieving air superiority, as Israel did recently and as the US did in the Gulf War in the 1990s and in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000s, has been crucial to the Western way of war, often serving as a tool to enable ground maneuvers. Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which failed to knock out Ukraine's air defenses, now far more robust than at the start of the war, has shown what a conflict looks like when it isn't achieved. Aircraft are shot out of the sky, and ground forces are locked in grinding slogs. Devastating long-range attacks are still possible, but quick victory is generally not. It has resulted in some stark warnings for future warfare. Speaking on air superiority, Gen. James Hecker, the commander of NATO's air command, warned last year that "it's not a given." He added that "if we can't get air superiority, we're going to be doing the fight that's going on in Russia and Ukraine right now." Other military leaders have said that air superiority may only be achieved in short bursts. War is full of surprises, but evidence indicates that's a real possibility. Achieving Curtis said air planners now have to focus on specific priorities, like protecting air bases, and figuring out how to achieve a "localized time-bound air superiority or air supremacy in support of a short-term mission or operation." "It's a different mindset," he said. The key in future wars will be to seize control of as much of the aerial battlespace as possible to do what's necessary in the moment, all while holding firm defensively, as Israel did against Iran's retaliatory ballistic missile strikes, experts said. That means maintaining a strong air force and strong air defenses. "Nothing in Ukraine or Israel has shown that air superiority isn't needed in the future," Ryan shared. "I think they've both shown that having air superiority is an extraordinarily important part of warfare and remains so. Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Business Insider
Israel showed that seizing air superiority isn't gone from modern warfare, but Iran isn't China or Russia
Military officials and experts warn that air superiority may not be possible in modern warfare. Israel, however, was able to quickly achieve it against Iran. Iran, though capable, isn't bringing the same fight that a foe like Russia or China could. Israel swiftly seized air superiority over parts of Iran during the latest fight, showing that it's still possible in modern, higher-end warfare to heavily dominate an enemy's skies. But there's a risk in taking the wrong lesson from that win. Iran isn't Russia or China, and as the West readies for potential near-peer conflict, it really can't afford to forget that, officials and experts have cautioned. Western military officials and warfare experts have repeatedly warned in recent years that achieving air superiority against those countries would be a daunting task. Russia and China, especially the latter, boast sophisticated, integrated air defense networks with ground-based interceptors well supported by capable air forces, electronic warfare, and reliable space-based and airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Air superiority in a limited theater is not the same as breaking through a complex anti-access, area-denial setup. Israel's victory in the air war over Iran shows that air superiority is "not impossible" in modern warfare, former Australian Army Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan, a warfare strategist, explained. That said, he continued, a Western conflict with Russia or China would be "very different." A victory in the air for Israel Israel attacked nuclear and military sites in Iran in bombing runs and eliminated dozens of Iranian air defense batteries. Justin Bronk, an airpower expert at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), said it "highlights what you can do with a modern air force against some, on paper, fairly impressive defenses." Iran maintained a capable layered air defense network featuring domestic systems, foreign-supplied defenses, and some modernized older systems. Though only semi-integrated compared to fully networked air defenses, it presented an obstacle. Israel dismantled Iranian defenses over multiple engagements through extensive planning, detailed intelligence, and the employment of combat-proven airpower, specifically fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighters built for penetration and suppression of enemy air defenses and fourth-generation F-15s and F-16s, which can also support that mission. Important to Israel's success in the latest fight with Iran were the engagements last year that substantially weakened Iranian air defense capabilities, as well as Israel's skills in this mission. Failures and aircraft losses in the 1973 Yom Kippur War led it to reevaluate how it approached enemy air defenses, in many ways leading to the emergence of the kind of missions used against Iran. Ed Arnold, a security expert at RUSI, said that Israel reporting no aircraft losses "was significant, and it just showed that, yeah, you can get air supremacy very quickly." The caveat there is that doing so requires the right tactics, weapons, and intelligence, but even then, it is not guaranteed. Retired Air Commodore Andrew Curtis, an airfare expert with a 35-year career in the Royal Air Force, told BI "the situation that everybody's been used to over the last 30 years is air supremacy," but when it comes to high-intensity war against a near-peer adverary, realistically, "those days are long gone." Russia and China Iran had air defenses, but not airpower. It's air force is largely made up of obsolete Western, Soviet, and Chinese aircraft. The ground-based surface-to-air missile batteries are more capable, but that's only one part of the defensive picture. Curtis explained that Iran has "very little in the way of air defense aircraft, whereas of course Russia, and especially China, has stacks of them." Both Russia and China field fourth-generation-plus aircraft, as well as fifth-generation fighters. China, in particular, has multiple fifth-gen fighters in various stages of development, and there are indications it's working on sixth-generation prototypes. By comparison, Iran's air force looks a lot like a plane museum. But they also boast more advanced and more effective air defenses. Bronk said Russia's defenses are "better networked, more capable, more numerous, and more densely layered than Iran's." He said that if the West rolled back the SAM threat, it would likely be able to overcome Russia's air force, but China is a different story. China has a complex integrated air defense network supported by ground-based air defenses, naval air defenses, and what Bronk characterized as "an increasingly very capable modern air force," among other capabilities. And China also has a "far greater and more sophisticated missile arsenal for striking bases" to hamstring an enemy's airpower. Additionally, it holds a strong economic position with an industrial base that is turning out high-end weapons. China has also been tremendously increasing its number of interceptors without really expending any, unlike the US, which has been burning through interceptors in Middle Eastern conflicts. Not all of China has the same protections, but breaking through defenses would likely represent a substantial challenge in a conflict, especially in something like a Taiwan contingency. A conflict between the West and China could look like "a more traditional air war" — something not seen in a long time, Curtis said, explaining that air-to-air combat could make a comeback, with pilots again shooting down enemy planes. "In a peer-on-peer conflict, certainly with China, you would see a lot of that, because China has got a lot of air assets." Future air battles Achieving air superiority, as Israel did recently and as the US did in the Gulf War in the 1990s and in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000s, has been crucial to the Western way of war, often serving as a tool to enable ground maneuvers. Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which failed to knock out Ukraine's air defenses, now far more robust than at the start of the war, has shown what a conflict looks like when it isn't achieved. Aircraft are shot out of the sky, and ground forces are locked in grinding slogs. Devastating long-range attacks are still possible, but quick victory is generally not. It has resulted in some stark warnings for future warfare. Speaking on air superiority, Gen. James Hecker, the commander of NATO's air command, warned last year that "it's not a given." He added that "if we can't get air superiority, we're going to be doing the fight that's going on in Russia and Ukraine right now." Other military leaders have said that air superiority may only be achieved in short bursts. War is full of surprises, but evidence indicates that's a real possibility. Achieving Curtis said air planners now have to focus on specific priorities, like protecting air bases, and figuring out how to achieve a "localized time-bound air superiority or air supremacy in support of a short-term mission or operation." "It's a different mindset," he said. The key in future wars will be to seize control of as much of the aerial battlespace as possible to do what's necessary in the moment, all while holding firm defensively, as Israel did against Iran's retaliatory ballistic missile strikes, experts said. That means maintaining a strong air force and strong air defenses. "Nothing in Ukraine or Israel has shown that air superiority isn't needed in the future," Ryan shared. "I think they've both shown that having air superiority is an extraordinarily important part of warfare and remains so.
ABC News
07-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Australia's defence wake-up call
Ukraine's drone attack on far-flung Russian air bases captured the attention of defence experts. So what lesson can Australia learn from this operation? Retired Army Major General Mick Ryan joined David Speers to discuss what Australia needs to do to be drone and combat ready.
ABC News
02-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Ukraine drone attack a wake-up call for Australia
Samantha Donovan: Mick Ryan is a retired Australian Army Major General and a Senior Fellow for Military Studies at the Lowy Institute. I asked him why this Ukrainian drone attack on Russian military bases is so significant. Mick Ryan: What it shows is that small and medium-sized countries can launch long-range strikes deep inside superpowers or major powers and hurt them. This is a fairly significant strike that was conducted with fairly cheap off-the-shelf componentry. Samantha Donovan: Does it signal a change in the way warfare is conducted? Mick Ryan: Well, it signals an evolution in how vulnerable military bases are in our home countries. It shows that we're no longer safe in our home countries and that anyone can take some drones off the shelf, fit some warheads to them and attack our bases, and Australia is not immune to that. Samantha Donovan: What does Australia need to do to be better prepared for any drone attacks? Mick Ryan: Well, firstly, it needs to weed itself off this approach where it buys small numbers of exquisite, expensive weapons that take decades to procure. It needs a balance of some of those and lots of cheap, simple drones that we can adapt very quickly. And secondly, we need to be able to defend our bases in Australia. We can't do that. Samantha Donovan: And what's needed to defend Australian bases from drone attacks? Mick Ryan: It'll be a mix of different things. Firstly, the sensors to just know they're there. Secondly, it'll need electronic warfare, a range of other hard-kill weapons, including drone interceptors, which the Ukrainians now are world's best practice in. Samantha Donovan: Do we have any of those? Mick Ryan: No, we don't. Samantha Donovan: What's your understanding of how much damage the Ukraine drone attack has done to Russian assets? Mick Ryan: Well, we have a saying in the military, first reports are always wrong. So, we'll wait and see exactly how it pans out over the next 24 hours. But it's clear that it's certainly damaged or destroyed a significant number of Russian large aircraft, bombers and early warning aircraft, but the exact number we probably won't know for some time. Samantha Donovan: So, ceasefire talks are about to begin in Turkiye, we understand. What message do you think Ukraine is sending ahead of those talks? Mick Ryan: Well, it was sending a message to the Russians, firstly, that it's not only the Russians that can undertake large-scale strikes within the country of their enemy. It's also sending the message that unlike the Russians, the Ukrainians target military targets, not civilian targets. So, I think they're important messages to send. But finally, the Ukrainians are messaging to the Americans that a Russian victory is not inevitable and they shouldn't believe Russian misinformation, as seems to be the case at times. Samantha Donovan: Do you think it'll make any difference in Vladimir Putin's attitude to these ceasefire negotiations? Mick Ryan: I don't think it'll change his calculus. Ukrainians have been hitting Russian oil refineries, munitions depots and other airfields for quite some time now. Putin appears determined, regardless of the cost, to pursue what he's after in this war, which is to extinguish the sovereignty of Ukraine. Samantha Donovan: And of course, this isn't all one way either. There was a significant attack by Russia on Ukraine. What happened there in the last couple of days? Mick Ryan: Well, last night we saw the biggest attack by Russia on Ukraine since the beginning of the war. Last weekend we saw very significant 300-plus drone attacks. Last night was over 400 drones. So, you know, the Russians are not stepping back. They are stepping up their attacks on Ukraine in the hope that they can terrorise Ukrainians into submission and convince the Americans that all hope is lost with Ukraine. That's just not the case. Samantha Donovan: Moving away from that conflict, may I get your reaction to Pete Hegseth, the US Defence Secretary, calling for Australia to increase its defence spending to 3.5% of GDP? Mick Ryan: Well, we've known this has been coming for some time. I mean, he gave a speech in Munich that should have been read pretty clearly across the other side of the world that we were going to get these demands from America. But he's saying nothing. That Australian defence experts, including myself, haven't been saying for many years 2% of GDP is not enough for Australia's defence. In fact, the way it's being spent at the moment, overwhelmingly on nuclear-powered submarines, is compromising the readiness of the rest of the ADF. We need to be at least at 3%, potentially 3.5%. Samantha Donovan: Mick Ryan is a retired Australian Army Major General and a Senior Fellow for Military Studies at the Lowy Institute.
