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Angel Flight: Volunteer Pilots Help Medical Patients in Need

01/14/2019By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake In his seminal book, Democracy in America, the Frenchmen Alexis de Tocqueville, highlighted a key American trait which fascinated him – the volunteer instinct in support of the community. Americans of all ages, all conditions, all minds constantly unite. Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but… Read more »

UK F-35s Ready for Operations

01/12/2019In a Royal Navy article published on January 11, 2019, the announcement by the Minister of Defence of the operational readiness of the UK's F-35s was highlighted and discussed. Naval aviators can now fly the world’s most advanced fighter on front-line missions after the F-35 Lightning was declared operational. In front of a new hangar built specially to house the… Read more »

Avalon Airshow 2019: The Role of Victorian Industry in the F-35

01/12/2019Victorian industry in Australia is playing a key role in the Australian F-35 program, both in supporting their own jets and the global enterprise. In recent Defence Connect article by Stephen Kuper, January 10, 2019, its role was highlighted. Minister Pakula said, "The Australian International Airshow at Avalon is one of the premier events on our major events calendar and… Read more »

HMS Duncan: Warship at Sea

01/09/2019HMS Duncan, the sixth and most modern Type 45 destroyer, was the most complete at launch in October 2010. She is the first of the Type 45 class to be capable of deploying Harpoon and recently was featured in the UK's Channel 5 documentary 'Warship: life at sea" According to a UK MoD story published on December 28, 2018: HMS… Read more »

“The Sky Is The Limit”: Renewing France’s Space Capabilities

01/08/2019By Murielle Delaporte When the French minister of the armed forces, Florence Parly, visited the heart of space technology in Toulouse last September, she stressed how much space has become over the past years a key domain for national security. She noted that the Russian satellite Luch-Olymp had recently been engaged in not such a friendly action against Italian satellite… Read more »

First Australian Aegis Destroyer Integrates with US Navy’s Cooperative Engagement Capability

01/08/2019By Robbin Laird I visited the HMAS Hobart at Fleet Base East prior to its time conducting weapons and systems evaluations with the US Navy off of the West Coast of the United States. According to Andrew McLaughlin in an article published on January 7, 2019: The tests were conducted in conjunction with the US Navy at the vast Pacific… Read more »

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Report from the International Fighter Conference 2018: Perspectives on the Way Ahead with Airpower Modernization

11/28/2018This year’s International Fighter Conference held in Berlin provided a chance for the participants and the attendees to focus on the role of fighters in what we have been calling the strategic shift, namely, the shift from the land wars to operating in higher intensity operations against peer competitors. It is clear that combat capabilities… Download PDF Now »