Islamabad, Pakistan: The Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies (CASS), Pakistan is going to host Seminar Titled “Global Strategic Threat and Response” in Islamabad on March 4 and March 5.
The Two-day seminar will cover important security issues faced by nations in a backdrop where rapid and unprecedented changes in technologies are forming a “New Tech Order” and survival of nations is dependent and conditional with their military and technologically superiority.
Emerging scene has brought a dramatic change in world politics and new threats are demanding new responses. The effects of these changes are also being felt in the South Asian region, which is characterized by a dynamic interplay of security, diplomatic and economic factors, reinforcing each other in an intricate nature of global competition.
Geopolitical positioning of Pakistan by having India, Afghanistan and Iran as neighbours, brings threats and opportunities both at the same time because this region is at the epicentre of competing political and strategic interests of superpowers.
There is no doubt that Global order is undergoing a paradigm change with several transformative and destabilizing transitions. New power centres, alliances, economies, technology controls and trade wars are realities that every nation has to accept.
Over-all world transformation has brought new threats and projection tools, such as Artificial Intelligence and cyber and aerospace domains.
seminar will cover important security issues faced by nations in a backdrop where rapid and unprecedented changes in technologies are forming a “New Tech Order”
Current situation also demands a paradigm shift in the conduct of ‘Next Generation Training (NGT). This requirement for training is already under-way in tech savvy countries, who have geared-up their force structure with the induction of qualified professionals, well conversant with technological advancements.
Today, nations understand that the transforming of the existing militaries into modern and efficient professional forces capable of handling technologies of the future would survive and Pakistan understands this point much better than any other nation because it had faced the brunt of proxy wars in region for decades.
The “Global Strategic Threat and Response” (GSTAR) seminar aims to create a comprehensive global forum seeking expert inputs and providing perspectives on core areas of research related to the changing balance of power, emerging technologies, aerospace employment, new modes of warfare and force postures.
The international seminar on “Global Strategic Threat and Response” is spread over two days and four sessions, each linked by a core theme. Reputed international and Pakistani experts from think tanks, academia, defence services, intellectuals and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) would attend this event.
The seminar would also be attended by several Air Force Chiefs from different countries will attract participants from the international as well as national institutions including foreign strategists, government officials, diplomats and other dignitaries.
Programme of the Seminar
Day I Session I: GLOBAL STRATEGIC REVIEW
Moderator: Air Marshal Waseem ud din (Retd), Director CASS
Welcome Remarks by ACM Kaleem Saadat (Retd), Former Air Chief, President CASS
Profile of Speaker:
Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Kaleem Saadat is President, Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies (CASS) and former Chief of Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force. During his service of 38 years, he has held operational, command and staff appointments. He has a Master’s degree in defence and strategic studies and is also a graduate of the Ecole Superiure de Guerre Inter Armee (ESGI) and Cours Superiure Inter Armee (CSI) at the Ecole Militaire at Paris, France. He was the member of directing staff at Air War College, Pakistan Air Force and Chief Instructor of National Defence Wing of the then National Defence College, now called the NDU, Islamabad. He is now Patron-in-Chief of Thinkers Forum Pakistan, of which he had been President and contributing writer for six years. He has also been the Patron of Pakistan Ex- Servicemen Association. He has keen interest in war, peace, airpower employment and development as well as global security and politics.
Title of Paper: Emerging New World Order
Speaker: Amb Cameron Munter (Retd), Former Ambassador of USA to Pakistan
Profile of Speaker:
Cameron Munter is a diplomat, academic, and executive who lives in New York. He was U.S. ambassador to Pakistan 2010-2012, and to Serbia 2007-2009. He served twice in Iraq (in Mosul and in Baghdad). In the course of three decades as a career diplomat, he was also NSC Director in the Clinton and Bush White Houses, and served overseas in Warsaw, Prague, and Bonn.
After retirement from the diplomatic service, he taught at Columbia Law School and Pomona College. He then became President and CEO of the EastWest Institute in New York, and there led extensive global track-two mediation efforts. He stepped down from that post in 2019 and now teaches and consults internationally.
Munter studied at Cornell and earned a PhD in history from Johns Hopkins. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Diplomacy, and serves on corporate and nonprofit boards around the world
Title of Paper: Regional Security Dynamics
Speaker: Amb Inam-ul-Haq (Retd), Former Foreign Minister
Profile of Speaker:
Inam-ul-Haq is a Pakistani career diplomat who has served as Foreign Secretary, the highest post of Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Pakistan as well as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan in the caretaker government of Muhammad Mian Soomro in the year 2007-2008. He also remained Minister of State for Foreign Affairs from June 2002 to November 2002. Mr. Haq served as Pakistan’s ambassador to Turkey, China and Permanent Representative to the United Nations before being appointed as Foreign Secretary. Mr. Inam-ul-Haq was the Chairman, Board of Governors at Institute of Strategic Studies, a leading strategic studies think tank in Islamabad. He also held the position of Chairman at Pakistan-China Friendship Forum. Inam-ul-Haq was the member, Board of Governors at Institute of Regional Studies, Islamabad. Being a seasoned diplomat, he was the Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the premier military academy, the National Defence University Pakistan. He frequently delivers lectures at the National Security Workshops.
Title of Paper: Pakistan’s Challenges and Opportunities in Emerging World Order
Speaker: Amb Jalil Abbas Jilani (Retd), Former Foreign Secretary, Director CASS
Profile of Speaker:
Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani is the Director of Foreign Politics at the Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies. He has 38 years of bilateral and multilateral experience as a career diplomat, having served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Belgium, Luxemburg and the E.U, and Australia. Ambassador Jilani also served as the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, the top civil service official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A specialist in South Asian affairs, Ambassador Jilani has worked as Director General for South Asia and SAARC, Deputy/Acting High Commissioner to India and Director (India) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2018, the Government of Pakistan nominated Ambassador Jilani as member of the Experts and Eminent Persons Group (EEP) of the ASEAN Regional Forum and later in 2019, as member of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs. Most recently, Ambassador Jilani has served as a Senior Fellow at both the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).
Session-II Day I: EMERGENT TECHNOLOGY DEBATE
Moderator: Dr. Maria Sultan, DG SASSI
Keynote Speaker: ACM Sir Brian Burridge (Retd), CEO Royal Aeronautical Society, UK
Profile of Speaker:
Sir Brian Burridge is Chief Executive of the Royal Aeronautical Society. His earlier career included 10 years with Leonardo, a global high-tech manufacturer in the aerospace, defence and technology sectors. During that time, he chaired the innovation hub of the Defence Growth Partnership.
Earlier, Sir Brian spent a full career as a pilot in the Royal Air Force holding a front-line command at every level in the Service, including the national joint command in the 2003 Iraq war. He also spent several years in the UK Ministry of Defence in policy posts and left the RAF in 2006 as Commander-in-Chief Strike Command.
Sir Brian read physics and electronic engineering at Manchester University and holds an MBA from the Open University and two honorary doctorates. Previously a research fellow at King’s London, he is now a visiting professor at the University of Reading.
Title of Paper: The Growth of Technologies
Speaker: Gp Capt Lyle Holt, Director Plan Jericho, Royal Australian Air Force
Profile of Speaker:
An F-111 Strike and Flight Test navigator, Lyle’s professional joint and interagency experience spans naval aviation; maritime warfare; air combat; air mobility; flight rest; electronic warfare; joint effects and manoeuvre; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; command and control; remotely piloted aircraft; air and space defence; support to interagency and special operations.
His staff appointments include serving as the Staff Officer to the Vice Chief of the Defence Force.
Lyle’s operational experience includes: planning and managing Australia’s C-130 combat airlift and aero-medical operations; assisting NATO’s military support to Afghanistan’s 2009 Presidential and Provincial Council Elections; contributing to the planning of multi-national air operations; working in interagency teams to execute domestic operations; and Executive Officer to the Director General Operations, Headquarters Joint Operations Command.
Title of Paper: Weapons of the Future
Speaker: Dr. Filippo Neri Leonardo, President VirtuaLabs SRL, Italy
Profile of Speaker:
Dr. Filippo Neri received his Ph.D. in electronics engineering from Rome University, Italy, in 1969.
He began working in the mid-1960s with Selenia SpA (now Leonardo), where he became the head of the Tracking Radar Department. Dr. Neri also managed the development of many new radars based on advanced technologies and techniques, including the monopulse tracking antenna, coherent chain TX-RX, and frequency agility. In 1981 he was transferred to the electronic warfare (EW) division as EW systems manager.
Since 1985, Dr. Neri has worked for Elettronica SpA in Rome, first as the director of research and new products and later as the technical director, a position in which he promoted the development of the most advanced EW technologies and techniques. In particular, he contributed significantly to the implementation of the solid-state active antenna technology, presently applied both to airborne and naval ECM systems and to the Cross-Eye jamming technique implementation.
Dr. Neri has also written many technical articles that have been published by several publications, including the Journal of Electronic Defense, Military Technology, Gulf Defense Magazine, and Difesa Oggi. He is also the author of Introduction to Electronic Defense Systems, First, Second and Third Edition, published by Artech House.
Dr. Neri holds many international patents relating to inventions in both the Radar and EW fields. Presently, he is the president of Virtualabs SrL, a company fully dedicated to the Radar and EW Systems innovation where very advanced radar and EW prototypes are realized. He is a life member of the Association of Old Crows (AOC) and teaches radar and EW courses in many countries. Dr. Neri received many awards and recognitions for the work so far done both in Italy (e.g. “Maestro del Lavoro” from Italian President hon. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and “Commendatore” from Italian President hon. Giorgio Napolitano) and abroad (e.g. induction in the AOC EW Technology Hall of Fame).
Title of Paper: The Future of Military Airpower
Speaker: Col Dr. John Andreas Olsen, Norwegian Defence Attaché UK & Aviation Security Expert
Profile of Speaker:
Col Dr. John Andreas Olsen, Norwegian Defence Attaché UK & Aviation Security Expert
John Andreas Olsen is a colonel in the Royal Norwegian Air Force, currently the defence attaché to the United Kingdom. His previous assignments include tours as director of security analyses in the Norwegian Ministry of Defence; deputy commander and chief of the NATO Advisory Team at NATO Headquarters, Sarajevo; dean of the Norwegian Defence University College; and head of the college’s division for strategic studies. He was a visiting professor at the Swedish National Defence University from 2008 to 2019. Olsen is a graduate of the German Command and Staff College and has a doctorate in history and international relations from De Montfort University, a master’s degree in contemporary literature from the University of Warwick, and a master’s degree in English from the University of Trondheim. Dr. Olsen has lectured worldwide, received several awards and published many books, including Strategic Air Power in Desert Storm (2003); John Warden and the Renaissance of American Air Power (2007); A History of Air Warfare (2010); Global Air Power (2011); Air Commanders (2012); European Air Power (2014); Airpower Reborn (2015); Airpower Applied (2017); and The Routledge Handbook of Air Power (2018).
Day II SESSION I: THE CHANGING NATURE OF FUTURE WARFARE
Moderator: Air Marshal Ashfaque Arain (Retd), Director CASS
Keynote Speaker: Lt Gen David A Deptula
Profile of Speaker:
Lt Gen David A. Deptula, USAF (Ret.), is the Dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies in Arlington, Virginia, and also a Senior Military Scholar at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He was the principal attack planner for the 1991 Operation Desert Storm air campaign; commander of no-fly-zone operations over Iraq in the late 1990s; director of the air campaign over Afghanistan in 2001; twice a joint task force commander; and was the air commander for the 2005 South Asia tsunami relief operations. He is a fighter pilot with more than 3,000 flying hours–400 in combat–including multiple command assignments in the F-15. He was as the Air Force’s first three-star chief of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), where he transformed America’s military ISR and drone enterprises. He is a sought-after commentator around the world as a thought leader on defense, strategy, and information age operations.
Title of Paper: The Role of Aerospace Power in South Asia
Speaker: AVM Faaiz Amir (Retd), Former VC Air University
Profile of Speaker:
Air Vice Marshal Faaiz Amir (Retd) has served in Pakistan Air Force (PAF) for over 35 years. He has been a distinguished professional of PAF and commanded the prestigious Combat Commanders School of Pakistan Air Force. He also served as commandant of the National Security College of National Defence University (NDU). He possesses high command and management skills along with the advanced academic background. Most recently, AVM Faaiz Amir (Retd) has also served as the vice chancellor of Air University.
Title of Paper: Hybrid Warfare
Speaker: Lt Gen Aamir Riaz (Retd), Former President National Defence University
Profile of Speaker:
Lieutenant General Aamer Riaz was commissioned in a Distinguished Battalion of Frontier Force Regiment in 1984. He is a graduate of Command and Staff College, Quetta and National Defence University, Islamabad. In addition, he holds a Masters Degree in Science & War Studies from Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad and Diploma in Defence and Strategic Studies from University of Malaya, Malaysia. His varied command, staff and instructional experience includes Brigade Major of Independent Mechanized Brigade Group, Commanding Officer of Frontier Force Regiment, Chief of Staff, Commander Independent Infantry Brigade Group, and General Officer Commanding of Division and Commander of two different Corps. On the instructional side, he has been on the faculty of School of Infantry and Tactics and Command and Staff College, Quetta. He remained President of National Defence University, Islamabad from December 2018 to October 2019.
Title of Paper: Cyber Warfare
Speaker: Jorge Sebastiao, Chief Technology Officer Huawei Middle East & European Union
Profile of Speaker:
Jorge is an international ICT speaker, seasoned managed services, cloud computing, cyber security, blockchain, big data, AI, IoT and ICT innovation professional. He has over 30 years of ICT experience, covering, innovation, architecture as well as risk management, compliance, auditing, certification, business continuity and disaster recovery. He has also served in diverse sectors including telecom, oil and gas, financial, government, defense, healthcare, and education. He architects practical and business focused solutions.
Day II- SESSION II: FORCE POSTURING FOR THE FUTURE
Moderator: AVM Sohail Malik (Retd), Director CASS
Keynote Speaker: Lt Gen Nasser Janjua (Retd), Former National Security Advisor
Profile of Speaker:
Lt General Nasser Khan Janjua, HI (M), is a former National Security Advisor. General was commissioned in 1977 in infantry. In 2007 he was Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), then he was posted as GOC of the 17th Infantry Division. From 2007–08, Major-General Janjua took participation in combat operations in Swat and oversaw the Rah-e-Haq in 2007. In 2011, General was appointed as the Chief of General Staff at the GHQ in Rawalpindi. In 2012, General was appointed as the president of the National Defence University where he also served on the teaching faculty and instructed courses on war studies and political science. In 2013General was commander Southern command, Quetta. After his retirement from Oct 2015 till June, 2018 he was appointed as National Security Advisor to the PM.
Title of Paper: Force Posturing for Industrially Independent and Dependent Countries
Speaker: Gen Philippe Steininger (Retd), Military Adviser to the President of CNES (French space agency)
Profile of Speaker:
Philippe Steininger joined the French air force in 1980. He graduated in 1982 as an engineer in aeronautics and received his wings of fighter pilot in 1984.
As a fighter pilot, he participated to several overseas operational engagements in the Middle-East, Africa and the Balkans and took the command of a combat squadron.
In 1999, he was appointed to the Joint Staff in Paris as the United-States and Canada Desk Officer before joining in 2002 the Armed Forces General Inspectorate.
Philippe Steininger was commanding officer of Cazaux Air Base from 2004 to 2007, and later, head of the NATO/EU Branch of the Delegation for Strategic Affairs, French Ministry of Defence, between 2007 and 2009. From 2009 to 2013, he served in Paris in the cabinet of the Secretary general for defence and national security, being charged with preparing the high-level defence committees.
Back in the Air force, General Steininger served as deputy commanding officer, then commanding officer, of the Strategic Air Command in charge of nuclear deterrence.
In 2015, General Steininger was appointed Deputy Secretary General for defence and national security. In this position, working under the authority of the Prime minister, he was involved in a wide range of defence and security issues. In 2018, he joined the CNES, the French national space agency, as military adviser to the president.
Title of Paper: Next Generation Training
Speaker: Air Cdre Simon Edwards, Assistant Chief of Staff Capability Delivery, Royal Air Force
Profile of Speaker:
Air Commodore Simon Edwards joined the RAF in 1990. He is Qualified Flying Instructor on the Tucano and Central Flying School trophy holder. Thereafter, he was promoted to Squadron Leader (2001) and posted to Headquarters Strike (now Air) Command, as the desk officer the RAF’s Urgent Operational Requirements. A return to the front line followed, flying C17 with 99 Squadron at RAF Brize Norton. Promoted to Wing Commander in 2005, he attended the Joint Services Command and Staff College at Shrivenham, completing the advanced course alongside a Master’s degree in Defence Studies. He then worked in the Ministry of Defence (2006), within the Directorate of Joint Capability. He was subsequently selected to command 99 Squadron and returned to the C17 and RAF Brize Norton. During his time in command the Squadron was almost entirely dedicated to the support of UK and Allied forces in Afghanistan, including an unprecedented level of aeromedical evacuation flights. A return to the Ministry of Defence followed, this time as Chief of Staff (Strategy) within the Air Staff.
He graduated from the Royal College of Defence Studies, in July 2017 and won the Bon Oeuf trophy. He then worked as a Senior Policy Adviser in the National Security Secretariat before attending the Higher Command and Staff Course at Shrivenham, graduating in April 2018. He has now returned to Air Command on promotion to Air Commodore, as an Assistant Chief of Staff in the Capability area. His responsibilities include Programme Director for the UK Military Flying Training System and the Senior Responsible Owner for the A400M Airlifter programme.
Title of Paper: Role of PAF in Sustaining Deterrence
Speaker: Air Marshal Javaid Ahmed (Retd), VC Air University
Profile of Speaker:
Air Marshal Javaid Ahmed (Retd) is presently serving as VC Air University. He was director ‘Policy and Doctrine’ at Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies (CASS), Islamabad. He holds a Masters Degree in Defense & Strategic Studies from Air War College (AWC) and a Master’s Degree in War Studies from National Defense University (NDU), Islamabad. In his 40 years of commissioned service as a fighter pilot with Pakistan Air force, the Air Marshal flew several fighter aircraft and served in senior command and staff assignments. These include command of the prestigious Combat Commanders School (CCS), an operational Base, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Plans), Chief Project Director (CPD) of the JF-17 fighter production program and command of Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) KAMRA. His specialist areas of research include analysis of aerospace development policies, doctrine formulation and implementation strategies. In recognition of his meritorious services, the Air Marshal has been decorated with Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, Sitara-i-Imtiaz and Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Military).
