The “Lead User” Approach to Transformation

07/16/2026 By Robbin Laird In the climate-controlled briefing rooms of the Washington Beltway, military transformation is an elegant affair. It is presented on high-gloss slides through "The Center"that constellation of formal command organizations where authority, budget reviews, and the Washington consensus reside. In this world, the prevailing obsession is with acquisition lists: which billion-dollar weapons systems to buy, when to field… Read more »

Seeing Without Being Seen: The AN/TPS-80 and the Survivable Radar Site at WTI 2-26

07/15/2026 By Robbin Laird Four photographs from the Anti-Air Warfare exercise during Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course 2-26 near Yuma, Arizona, document something that rarely gets captured together in a single set: not just a radar system deployed, but a radar system deployed survivably. The AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar standing in the desert scrub, the operations node concealed under camouflage… Read more »

“We Can’t Even Imagine”: Colonel Kate Fleeger on the CH-53K’s Unfinished Story

07/13/2026 By Robbin Laird Colonel Kate Fleeger took the helm of PMA-261, the Naval Air Systems Command program office responsible for the Marine Corps' heavy lift portfolio, in 2022. She arrived at a pivotal moment: the CH-53K King Stallion was moving out of its developmental phase and into full rate production, a transition that typically marks the point where a program… Read more »

Flight Deck Symphony: A Day in the Life of the USS Arlington

07/13/2026 Sailors signal to a CH-53K King Stallion helicopter, assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron (HMH) 461, during flight operations aboard San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD 24) June 11, 2026. Arlington is underway conducting Type Commander's Amphibious Training, a military exercise designed to enhance mobility and integration between the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy. The… Read more »

From Rheinmetall Slump to KNDS Retreat: Investor Sentiment Turns on European Defense

07/09/2026 By Pierre Tran Paris. KNDS, a Franco-German builder of land weapons, said July 1 it has suspended its announced flotation in Paris and Frankfurt, citing "market volatility" in the arms sector on European stock markets. The company told investors it was switching tracks just a week after launching a long-awaited initial public offering (IPO), backed by the French and German… Read more »

AST-3 at Twentynine Palms: The MV-22B and the Full-Spectrum Challenge

07/08/2026 By Robbin Laird On April 17–18, 2026, the high desert terrain around Twentynine Palms, California became the operational environment for Assault Support Tactics 3, one of the defining field evolutions of Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course 2-26. The photographs from those two days capture what WTI is at its best: a realistic, multi-domain test of how Marine aviation and ground… Read more »