The Defence Horizon Journal

🛡️𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 stands for change. The work we publish follows precise scholarly standards and helps define the current landscape, by assessing emergent technologies and elaborating on the past in all #security and #defence -related fields. 🔍 Contributors from around the world share their perspectives through our multimedia publication, relying on independent editorial policy. 📝 We welcome publications from all experts, practitioners, and professionals interested in sharing their opinion and increasing awareness and knowledge on security policy, #geopolitics and #law, #conflict and fragility, applied #military science and weapons #technology. For more information, visit our website tdhj.org/ Linktree buff.ly/7h4mieE #TDHJ

🤔Do you know enough about #defence & #security? 🛡️Learn more with #TDHJ! #TDHJlearn Which country is NOT a permanent member of the UN Security Council?

🌐 Did you know that The Defence Horizon Journal brings to you innovation, debate, and articles about everything #security and #defense? 🛡️👉Don’t miss the latest and visit TDHJ's Linktree at buff.ly/5L3ufbh #TDHJ

💡Why 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 in #XR training? 🛡️With a salute from the Horizon, we welcome 𝗝𝗮𝗸𝗼𝗯 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗹 𝗨𝗵𝗹, 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗝𝗮𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀, and 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁-𝗠𝗮𝘅𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗵𝗮̈𝗻𝗲𝗹, and '𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘈𝘴 𝘈 𝘗𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺-𝘋𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘝𝘙 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨'! 🥽"Future #military operations training increasingly relies on virtual and mixed reality. Yet #stress - a central determinant of performance and resilience - is often treated as an assumed by-product of scenario intensity rather than as an explicit design dimension. 🧠Drawing on the #TrainOps and #EviS projects, this short essay introduces the 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨-𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 and outlines a three-layer pipeline that connects: 1. operationally grounded stress cues in #XR scenarios 2. robust #biosignal acquisition (e.g., heart rate, EDA, eye tracking), and 3. interpretable stress metrics and instructor dashboards." 👉 Read and share their article at buff.ly/WCISrbT #TDHJ #TMAF

🛡️𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 stands for change. The work we publish follows precise scholarly standards and helps define the current landscape, by assessing emergent technologies and elaborating on the past in all #security and #defence -related fields. 🔍 Contributors from around the world share their perspectives through our multimedia publication, relying on independent editorial policy. 📝 We welcome publications from all experts, practitioners, and professionals interested in sharing their opinion and increasing awareness and knowledge on security policy, #geopolitics and #law, #conflict and fragility, applied #military science and weapons #technology. For more information, visit our website tdhj.org Linktree buff.ly/7h4mieE #TDHJ

🛡️The Defence Horizon Journal publishes strategic analyses from researchers, experts, military officers, and more. However, its main goal is to foster a global debate on #security and #defense also by sharing research available on other international sources. 🚀Today, we focus on the article 'Products of patrons and producers: a sociotechnical approach to technological innovation and nuclear deterrence' by 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗱, a research scholar at the #Berkeley Risk and Security Lab of the #UniversityofCalifornia, published by #Oxford University Press. 🧑‍💻The impact of “emerging” technologies on #nuclear #deterrence has become a central focus in contemporary nuclear policy discourse and security studies literature. Yet, policy analysts and security scholars often treat these technologies as novel technical artifacts with immutable technological characteristics and predetermined strategic effects. This technologically deterministic approach overlooks the (often long) process of #innovation and the complex interplay among technological characteristics, strategic logics, and social factors that ultimately condition implications for deterrence. Drawing on #military innovation and science and technology studies literatures, this article proposes a sociotechnical analytical framework for assessing: (1) technological characteristics that inform innovation pathways (2) strategic logics that condition use and deterrence effects (3) social dynamics that mediate perception, development, and deployment. ⚡The framework is then applied to the case of #hypersonic weapons to illustrate how technical constraints, competing strategic rationales, and organizational factors resulted in a long, nonlinear innovation trajectory with context-dependent effects. 🛰️By affording greater nuance to conceptual understandings of how #technological innovation affects nuclear deterrence, the framework challenges dominant narratives that cast “emerging technologies” as disruptive singularities with intrinsic, positivistic strategic effects. It also illuminates proactive policy interventions to manage risks that could arise from technological innovation beyond hedging or competition. 📃Read Rand's article at buff.ly/yex9FsF 👉 Follow us for more #TDHJ #TDHJconnects

💡What if a shift to a prepositioned sustainment from physical hardening toward economic denial could actually help surviving a high-intensity conflict during its opening weeks? 🛡️With a salute from the Horizon, we welcome 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹 𝗞𝗶𝗱𝗱, 𝗞𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻 𝗢𝗹𝘀𝗲𝗻, and 𝗠𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗵𝘂𝗹𝗮 𝗕𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘄𝗮𝗷, and their article "𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘦: 𝘙𝘦𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩-𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘵"! 🚢"Traditional #military prepositioning relies on large, fixed depots or contracted #sealift ships; these concentrate valuable 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦́𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘭 into a small number of targets vulnerable to precision strikes in a Western #Pacific #conflict. ⚙️This paper argues that surviving high-intensity conflict requires 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗮𝗹. Suppose a distributed architecture, designated as the Agile Maritime Array (#AMA), that embeds military containers within the vast excess capacity of #commercial #shipping already transiting regional trade lanes, supplemented by dispersed hardened land nodes. The system derives #survivability from three properties: • dispersion reduces the payoff of striking any single node • movement complicates #targeting • commingling with commercial freight creates ambiguity between military and civilian cargo. 🪖 Using a kinetic model of #missile penetration, hit, and #lethality probabilities alongside a game-theoretic targeting analysis, we show that equalising the missile cost per TEU across storage venues 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁 #𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 📈 Findings indicate that #dispersion, #mobility, and cost imposition together outperform concentration or hardening alone in sustaining forces during the opening weeks of conflict." 👉 Read their article on TDHJ at buff.ly/Zj4nKln #TDHJ

💡Learn more with #TDHJ about #defense & #security! #TDHJlearn Which international body administers the Chemical Weapons Convention and conducts inspections to verify compliance?

💡What does it take to provide the 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 ethics education to military personnel during their training? 🛡️With a salute from the Horizon, we welcome 𝗝𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘀 𝗣𝗹𝘂𝗶𝘀, 𝗝𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗢𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻, 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝘀𝗵𝘂𝗶𝗷𝘇𝗲𝗻-𝘃𝗮𝗻 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗻, 𝗣𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗢𝗹𝘀𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗿𝗻, and "𝘔𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘌𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘌𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘛𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺-𝘐𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘉𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥𝘴"! 🇳🇱 "𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰𝘀 education is an important aspect of #military training. As military personnel may face difficult ethical dilemmas, the competence to handle them correctly is crucial. Currently, there is a desired transition within the #Dutch military from a rule-based ethics education (functional) 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗲-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 (aspirational), placing greater emphasis on character building rather than rules and order. 🔑At the same time, #ethics and ethics education are influenced by changing contexts, such as contemporary technological developments in #warfare. However, currently it remains unclear what the effectiveness of ethics education is and to what extent it integrates both these developments. This empirical study investigated the individual experiences of the participants of a specific ethics course, the 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗘𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰𝘀 (#𝗧𝗖𝗠𝗘), as a contribution to a larger study on the effectiveness of ethics education in the Dutch military." 👉 Read their article on TDHJ at buff.ly/q0aooRX #TDHJ #TMAF

⛰️ Three Days. One Shared Mission. The Future of Mountain Warfare. 🇵🇱 The 7th Mountain Warfare Congress in Zakopane has concluded — three days of strategic perspectives, operational insights, innovation and professional exchange. Six key takeaways: 🎯 The battlefield is changing. Drones, autonomous systems and Multi-Domain Operations are reshaping mountain warfare. 🎓 Training must adapt faster. Battlefield lessons must translate into realistic training, leadership development and updated tactics. 🚀 Innovation must become capability. Technology only matters when it delivers operational effectiveness. 🤝 Interoperability is essential. National expertise must become collective strength. ❄️ Arctic readiness goes beyond survival. Human performance, logistics and sustainment determine combat effectiveness. 🇺🇦 Ukraine reminds us that adaptation is decisive. Learning and implementing change at operational speed is a capability in itself. The Defence Horizon Journal (TDHJ) is proud to have helped facilitate this important professional dialogue through our Congress moderator, COL (GS) Matthias Wasinger. Our sincere gratitude to the NATO Mountain Warfare Centre of Excellence for its trust and outstanding organisation — and to every speaker, panel chair and participant for sharing their expertise. At TDHJ, we believe the exchange must continue beyond Zakopane. We welcome your insights, research, operational experiences and lessons learned. The Congress may be over. The challenges are not. And neither should the conversation be. ⛰️ From peaks to partnerships. From lessons to capabilities. From discussion to action. #MountainWarfare #NATO #Interoperability #DefenceInnovation #TDHJ @NATO @mw_coe

⛰️ Three days. One mission. The future of mountain warfare. 🇵🇱 The 7th Mountain Warfare Congress in Zakopane concludes with clear lessons: 🎯 Adapt to Multi-Domain Operations and emerging threats. 🎓 Turn battlefield lessons into realistic training. 🚀 Transform innovation into operational capability. 🤝 Strengthen NATO interoperability. ❄️ Build genuine Arctic readiness. 🚁 Integrate UAS and counter-UAS into mountain operations. 🇺🇦 Ukraine's experience reminds us: the ability to adapt rapidly is a military capability in itself. Our sincere thanks to all speakers, participants, our Polish hosts and the NATO Mountain Warfare COE team — and our audience! Our success will be measured not by what we discussed, but by what we do next. The Congress ends. Our mission continues. #MountainWarfare #NATO #Interoperability #DefenceInnovation @NATO @mw_coe

🚁⛰️ Drones are changing mountain warfare. Are our tactics keeping pace? Our final panel at the 7th Mountain Warfare Congress 🇵🇱 explored UAS training, contested operations, counter-UAS and tactical mobility. Technology matters. Training, integration and adaptability make it operationally effective! #MountainWarfare #NATO #TDHJ @NATO @mw_coe

🚁 In mountain warfare, protection must keep pace with the force! ⛰️ At the 7th Mountain Warfare Congress 🇵🇱, Piotr Tłuszcz (Da Orffo Automotive) and Rodolfo “Tito” Sosa (MOOG) present mobile, modular counter-UAS capabilities. Mobility + protection = operational effectiveness! #CounterUAS #NATO #TDHJ @NATO @mw_coe

🚁 Controlling the heights is no longer enough. We must defend the airspace above them! ⛰️ At the 7th Mountain Warfare Congress 🇵🇱, Federico Aina and Luca Munaretto of AQUILA explore counter-UAS solutions for mountain warfare. Detect threats. Protect forces. Adapt faster! #CounterUAS #NATO #TDHJ @NATO @mw_coe

🚁 Flying a drone is one thing. Operating it under enemy pressure is another! At the 7th Mountain Warfare Congress 🇵🇱, Vlado Rehlicki of ORQA explores UAS operator training for contested environments. 🎯 Train for disruption. Adapt under pressure. Accomplish the mission! #MountainWarfare #UAS #NATO #TDHJ @NATO @mw_coe

🚁 Technology alone doesn't win battles. Tactics and training make the difference! At the 7th Mountain Warfare Congress 🇵🇱, COL Italo Giacomo Spini 🇮🇹 explores unmanned systems, evolving TTPs and the NATO MW COE's planned 2027 course. ⛰️ From innovation to operational effectiveness! #MountainWarfare #NATO #TDHJ

❄️ Arctic readiness means more than surviving the cold! Our panel at the 7th Mountain Warfare Congress 🇵🇱 connected lessons from #CORE26 with #training, #sustainment, #interoperability and human #performance. ⛰️ Survival is essential. Combat effectiveness is the mission! Next: Unmanned Systems! 🚁 #NATO #TDHJ @NATO @mw_coe

❄️ In Arctic operations, the human factor is decisive! At the 7th Mountain Warfare Congress 🇵🇱, Dr Anna West explores extreme cold protection and human performance. ⛰️ Advanced equipment matters. But mission success depends on soldiers who can perform! #ArcticOperations #NATO #TDHJ @NATO @mw_coe

❄️ Mountain warfare expertise doesn't automatically mean Arctic readiness! At the 7th Mountain Warfare Congress 🇵🇱, OF-4 Roberto Fernández Blanco 🇪🇸 explores lessons from CORE26. ⛰️ Lessons identified become lessons learned only when something changes! #ArcticOperations #NATO #TDHJ @NATO @mw_coe

❄️ Surviving the Arctic is essential. Remaining combat-effective is the mission! At the 7th Mountain Warfare Congress 🇵🇱, OF-3 Mikael Aikio 🇫🇮 explores Arctic readiness and survivability. ⛰️ Prepare early. Train realistically. Stay mission-ready! #ArcticOperations #NATO #TDHJ @NATO @mw_coe

❄️ Arctic readiness cannot be improvised! At the 7th Mountain Warfare Congress 🇵🇱, OF-5 Fredrik Andersson 🇸🇪 explores how to prepare mountain forces for Arctic operations. ⛰️ Train realistically. Adapt early. Build readiness together! #MountainWarfare #ArcticOperations #NATO #TDHJ @NATO @mw_coe @SAF_SwedArmFor