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Think tanks demonstrably play a role in diplomacy. Not long ago, the idea of think tank diplomacy would have provoked scepticism, but the nature of diplomacy has changed from a state-centric club to a polylateral network characterised by a diversity of actors and communication methods. As organisations producing independent intellectual outputs to influence public policy, think tanks engage in at least four diplomatic functions: negotiation, communication, information-gathering and promoting friendly relations in international affairs. Case studies show that think tanks both directly perform diplomatic functions and act indirectly as facilitators of diplomacy: as metaphorical hired guns, charm offensive, witnesses and safe space; as a school for diplomats, personal trainers, chief knowledge officer and wise council. Think tanks need to overcome obstacles including resource constraints and relationships with policy-makers to reach their full potential in contributing to diplomacy.

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For the past couple of decades, the U.S Army has made significant efforts to improve the maintenance practices on its aircraft. Studies conducted on condition-based maintenance (CBM/CBM+), reliability centered maintenance (RCM), and many other tools have revealed positive, tangible benefits for the Army. However, a lack of change has caused the Army to continually struggle with operating and sustainment (O&S) costs. This paper aims to analyze the benefits and practicality of applying techniques from the commercial Maintenance Steering Group (MSG) methodology into the U.S Army's maintenance culture. MSG-3 is the current iteration that aims to maximize the accumulated data and optimize scheduled maintenance and sustainment activities. The outcomes of implementing such techniques should be applicable to both current and future platforms of U.S Army rotorcraft and significantly reduce O&S costs while refusing to sacrifice readiness and reliability.