The Torch
Illuminating Security and Defence Issues
The Torch
Unmanned Systems Are Not Revolutionary (But Could Be)
8 May, 2025
Rather than revolutionizing warfare, unmanned systems have emerged as evolutions within the larger information revolution; advancements to be sure, but failing to render conventional militaries obsolete or dramatically reshaping force structures.
Canada’s Arctic Foreign Policy
26 March, 2025 | 00:06:00
CBC News Network's Chris Glover speaks with Arctic security expert Whitney Lackenbauer.
Department of National Defence
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Joint Operations Symposium (JOS)
14 May 2025 - 15 May 2025
Canadian War Museum. In-person by invitation only but virtual open to all. See link for registration. The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Joint Operations Symposium (JOS) brings together senior defence and national security leaders to examine specific operational challenges and explore potential solutions to ensure the CAF remains fit for purpose, ready for pan-domain operations and able to successfully deter and defeat threats to Canada, North America and Canadian interests abroad.
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
U.S. Space Policy
26 March, 2025
The proliferation of space debris and a lack of agreed-upon rules threatens the essential benefits of space for commerce and security.
How Trump uses disinformation in his trade war with Canada
26 March, 2025
Falsehoods about the terms of U.S.-Canada trade aim to shift American public opinion.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI)
Australia needs greater defence self-reliance, and extra funding
26 March, 2025
Two recent foreign challenges suggest that Australia needs urgently to increase its level of defence self-reliance and to ensure that the increased funding that this would require is available.
The UK’s nuclear deterrent relies on US support – but there are no other easy alternatives
26 March, 2025
Now that Washington is potentially an unreliable ally, the UK needs to revisit its nuclear strategy. But going alone is costly, and partnering with France poses its own risks.
As Europe rearms, Canada has what it needs. That can be the basis of a post-NATO alliance.
26 March, 2025
Canada is an energy and natural resources superpower in need of a new key ally.
Sweden and Finland want citizens to be prepared for war. Should Canada do the same?
26 March, 2025
As Russia's invasion of Ukraine approaches its third year, nearby Nordic countries like Sweden and Finland are preparing their citizens to survive during a military conflict. Should Canada be doing the same?
Unfit for Duty: It is Time to Rebuild the Canadian Armed Forces
26 March, 2025
Decades of government neglect and underfunding have left the Canadian Armed Forces a depleted, demoralized and nearly shattered force. The country is increasingly being ignored or even shunned by its traditional allies at a time when an increasingly dangerous world poses escalating national security risks. Canada must urgently rethink and rebuild its military to meet these challenges, safeguard its sovereignty and fulfill its obligations on the world stage, writes David Redman. In this clear-eyed assessment, the CAF veteran and crisis management expert sets out a pathway to renewal, explaining what the armed forces need to rebuild and how Canada’s political leaders – if they have the will and the intelligence – can make it happen.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI)
The beauty of an 80 percent solution: lessons from the RQ-7B program
26 March, 2025
As so often, the Australian Defence Force wanted the exquisite solution. It wanted uncrewed battlefield reconnaissance aircraft of a design that wasn’t operational anywhere and would achieve performance that other countries didn’t have.And the acquisition led nowhere—except to prompt a successful replacement effort that gave the ADF a powerful lesson in the merits of toning down requirements to get something that is good enough and can go into service fast enough.
Drone Wars: Developments in Drone Swarm Technology
26 March, 2025
“Drone swarms”, as defined by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), consist of coordinated systems of at least three and potentially thousands of drones that can perform missions autonomously with minimal human oversight. These swarms leverage swarm intelligence, mirroring biological patterns seen in groups of ants, bees, or birds, where decentralized rules create complex collective behavior.
The International Race To Lead In Quantum Technology
26 March, 2025
Over the last decade, as Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has increasingly developed, got public attention and critical scrutiny, another important technology has been developing without public attention. Now, Quantum Computing aims to use operations based on quantum mechanics to crack computational problems that were thought to be impossible to solve.
Factors Shaping the Future of China’s Military
26 March, 2025
China is experiencing rapid demographic change as young people are making up an ever-smaller share of the population. At the same time, China is seeking to modernize the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Trump Has Launched a Second American Revolution. This Time, It’s Against the World.
26 March, 2025
In ten dramatic shifts, the president has declared independence from the global system that America made.
Trump and Putin race to control the world’s next strategic outpost
26 March, 2025
Russia’s icebreakers embark on a mission to carve an economic lifeline for the Kremlin.