History, Technology, Operations, and Strategy from American and German Perspectives

RSVP Required; email Lauren Schwartz

What are the capabilities and effects of advanced tank technologies in strategy, combat, and deterrence? What is the history of ‘tank’ technology and its capabilities (power, speed, protection, communication)? How do tanks affect international crises and diplomacy – costs and prestige? What is required for tank and armored vehicle readiness to enter combat? How do capabilities impact deterrence, questions of quality versus quantity; tactics and strategies; and suppliers? What are the possible impediments – weight, sophistication, costs, training, maintenance and logistics, threats by advanced defense technologies – and what are the effects on diplomacy?

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Program

Hybrid seminar; Friday, April 28 from 5 pm – 8 pm EDT

Conceptual Framework

Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, LT (ret.)

American Perspectives 

Peter B. Polk, LTC, AR (ret.)

 Austrian (Strudel) Dinner

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 Hybrid seminar; Saturday, April 29 from 9 am – 2 pm EDT / 15h-20h CEST

 German Perspectives

Dieter Arndt

Dirk Schultze

Breakfast and Lunch provided.

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About the Speakers

Dieter Arndt is a Berlin-based expert specializing in all aspects of security and defense. A former member of the German Federal Service with postings in Australia, Turkey, and at the Permanent Mission of Germany to UN HQ in New York, Arndt originally worked for Rheinmetall AG, the inventor of the 120mm Smooth Bore Cannon (on German Leopard Tank, and American Abrams Tank). Arndt holds an MA in Political Science from the LMU Munich.

Peter Polk, LTC., AR (ret.); is CEO of PierWater International. He served for 20 years in the U.S. Army, first as an Armor Office (land warfare and the integration of all means of combat); followed by work in Information Technology (IT) research and development (R&D) for the Joint Staff and the U.S. Secretary of Defense in new and emerging areas of IT research, such as artificial intelligence (AI), social network analysis (SNA), collusion detection, and large data analytics. Polk spent 15 years in the intelligence community working on large system data integration (cross-threshold data exchange) and in the development of IT systems to decrypt messages from bad actors. Education: Covenant College; MS, Naval postgraduate School, Monterey, Cal.; Command and General’s Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.

Dirk Schultze is a former West German Army Tank Commander who trained generations of crews on the Leopard 2 Tank.

Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, Ph.D., D.Laws, LT (ret.), Founding Director, Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD), Princeton University; Founding Chair, Liechtenstein Colloquium of European and International Affairs (LCM);  former. special assistant to the Commander, Austrian National Defense Academy, Vienna; and served in armored units.