The Danish Navy warship ‘HDMS Absalon’ patrols one of the busiest sea routes in the world, where more than 120 ships were attacked by Somali pirates last year.
The world’s shipping is being held to ransom by a band of Somali pirates in battered launches. As yet another new president tries to take control of the failed state, perhaps it’s time we stopped playing nice and took…
Netherlands shipbuilder Damen manufactures the boats that keep navies and coast guards up-to-speed
worldwide. A near-century old success story, theirs is a contribution to a local tradition stretching back even further.
Some say they’re a useful force for good, others say they’re an ungovernable hindrance undermining the good work of government troops. Either way, private security firms are playing an important part in conflicts around the…
Work is fun, literally, for Italian firm Zamperla, which has been making fairground rides big and small since the 1960s for places
ranging from Coney Island to Pyongyang. Monocle fastens its seatbelt.
The ship that leaves from South Africa for St Helena has a practical purpose – it’s the only means of reaching the isolated island. But the ‘RMS St Helena’ is also a place where time stands still – harking back to the…
From vital but sobering screen documentaries to a captivatingly introspective US instrumentalist and the story of a besotted auteur, the premier cultural offerings of early 2021 seem to reflect
a meditative mood. But…
The world’s second largest container transporter, the Mediterranean Shipping Company, has managed to sidestep the global slump in trade by diversifying into pleasure cruises.
Germany is planning to build an innovative frigate that will be able to fight sustained wars against drug lords and pirates – or just help keep the peace. But it’s not only at sea that new designs and technologies are…
The new president of Somalia, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, has a lot to contend with: pirates, a humanitarian disaster and deadly rivals. But is he the man to revive the failed state? We meet him in Nairobi during a round…
How do you persuade a Somali pirate to release his hostages or rebel kidnappers to let their abductees go? We meet the negotiators out to fix the world in 2011.
An interview with the rear admiral in charge of an anti-piracy operation in the Horn of Africa, plus a round-up of the latest arms deals and military news around the world.
On deployment far from its home port of San Diego, the diminutive USS Freedom carries far greater weight than its size suggests: as the apex of US naval technology, its success or failure will decide the future of American…
The Italian fleet’s newest flagship, ‘Cavour’, is on an unusual mission. The privately funded aircraft carrier is travelling more than 34,000km to Africa and the Middle East to promote Italian industry and to show it comes…
The continuing fight against piracy in the Horn of Africa, led by three international military coalitions, Poland's plans to modernise its Air Force, and the consequences of Japan's decision to relax its strict defence…