Technological Innovation, the US Third Offset Strategy and the Future Transatlantic Defence

The French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS) is one of the main independent European Think Tanks on geopolitical and strategic issues.

IRIS, a public-interest association created in 1991, is a French think tank on geopolitical and strategic issues. It is the only international think tank to have been set up as a totally private initiative in an independent approach. IRIS activities can be divided into four fields: research, organisation of events and meetings, publishing and training.

The Armament Industry European Research Group (Ares Group) was created in 2016 by The French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS), who coordinates the Group. The aim of the Ares Group, a high-level network of security and defence specialists across Europe, is to provide a forum to the European armament community, bringing together top defence industrial policy specialists, to encourage fresh strategic thinking in the field, develop innovative policy proposals and conduct studies for public and private actors.Abstract:

The United States’ Third Offset Strategy was a step-change in military innovation offering the likelihood of strategic change in capability, designed to enable the US to maintain global hegemony in an era of great power competition. As of late 2016, the response of the EU was still uncertain, yet the way Europe would react to TOS would deeply shape US-EU relations, perhaps impacting the transatlantic security and defence policy. The authors of this record stressed the importance of a common European response in order for it to be pertinent to the US.

• Primary Source

IRIS: ARES – Armament Industry European Research Group http://www.iris-france.org/ares/

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