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Britain, Germany and the Way Ahead in European Defense: A May 2025 Update

05/17/2025 By Pierre Tran Paris - Britain and Germany have pledged to boost military spending in response to Russia’s bloody advance on Ukraine and uncertainty about U.S. defense efforts in Europe, sparking questions on how those funds will be found and what the rearmament drives will yield. Those two allied nations have highly distinct public attitudes to arms manufacture and the… Read more »

From Reykjavik to Riyadh: Trump’s Strategic Pivot to the Middle East

05/16/2025 President Donald Trump has outlined a dramatic foreign policy shift during his recent address in Saudi Arabia. The speech signals what appears to be a fundamental realignment of American priorities in the Middle East and potentially reshapes the global balance of power. A New Vision for the Middle East Trump's address presented a markedly different vision for the region than… Read more »

The Osprey Evolution: From Assault Aircraft to Multi-Mission Platform

05/15/2025 An interview with Major Sean Timothy Penczak, Operations Officer with VMM-162 By Robbin Laird The MV-22 Osprey has come a long way since its early days as a novel tiltrotor aircraft. What began as a specialized assault platform has evolved into an incredibly versatile multi-mission aircraft capable of transforming Marine Corps operations. In an interview held in his office at… Read more »

A Paradigm Shift in Maritime Operations: Autonomous Systems and Their Impact

05/14/2025 The paradigm shift in maritime operations involves moving away from concentrating power in capital ships to distributing capabilities across a network of assets. Distributed Maritime Effects (DME) are the effects created by this distributed force, often independent of or supplemental to traditional capital ship operations which are increasingly focused on distributed maritime operations. The book highlights the move from traditional… Read more »

Keeping USMC H-1s Ready and Relevant for Today’s Crisis Management Response

05/13/2025 The Marine Corps Aviation Association (MCAA) 2025 Symposium is going on this week from May 12 through the 15h in Dallas Texas. We are publishing a piece highlighting the role of one of the somewhat undervalued aviation capabilities which the Marine Corps operates today, namely the H-1 helicopters. By Allen Grinalds In the opening hours of Operation Iraqi Freedom, one… Read more »

Lula in Moscow and Beijing: Coming to Terms with the Multi-Polar Authoritarian World?

05/13/2025 By Kenneth Maxwell The three major Brazilian newspapers in their editorials had nothing good to say about Lula’s presence in Moscow for the 80th anniversary parade on Red Square celebrating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in WW2. The Brazilian President and his wife, Rosângela (Janja) Lula da Silva, joined Vladimir Putin, President Xi Jinping of China, and Captain Ibrahim… Read more »

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Enhancing and Accelerating the Integrated Force: An Operational Perspective

10/07/2024 On September 26, 2024, the most recent seminar of The Sir Richard Williams Foundation was held. It was entitled: “Enhancing and Accelerating the Integrated Force: An Operational Perspective.” This seminar focused on how the force in being or the ready force was focused on improving its capability, its survivability and lethality for the fight tonight.… Download PDF Now »

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An Update on French Defense: May 2025

05/09/2025 By Pierre Tran Paris – There have been few national orders for French military aircraft and space systems since the start of the year, following a drop of a third… Read more »

Modernization and Innovation at the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing: A Conversation with Major General Swan

05/07/2025 By Robbin Laird During my latest visit to 2nd Marine Wing, I had a chance to talk with Major General Swan, Commanding General of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (2nd… Read more »

Shaping a Way Ahead for the MV-22: A Modernization Path

05/06/2025 By Robbin Laird V-22 modernization efforts are essential to enable the Osprey to remain in service for the next thirty years. One important ongoing effort is the Nacelle Improvement Program.… Read more »

The Paradigm Shift in Maritime Operations: Expanding the Impact of Capabilities for Distributed Maritime Effects

05/04/2025 By Robbin Laird At the recent Navy League meetings held during the first week of April, I had a chance to talk with several companies and analysts about the evolution… Read more »

Celebrating 15 Years of Publication: Highlighting the Release of The Emergence of the Multi-Polar Authoritarian World

05/03/2025 By Robbin Laird We have been publishing for several years. This is our 16th year of publication. We started as a single Franco-American website, and now we have three, two… Read more »

The Paradigm Shift in Maritime Operations: What Potential Role for Future Tiltrotor Systems?

04/24/2025 By Robbin Laird In my forthcoming book on the paradigm shift in maritime operations, I focus on the importance of pairing distributed capital ship operations with the capabilities that air… Read more »

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VMM-363 MCCRE

05/16/2025 U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B Ospreys assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 363, Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) 24, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW) perform joint training with 2nd Battalion, 1st… Read more »

U.S. Marines with VMGR-252 Cold Weather Training

05/14/2025 U.S. Marines with Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 252 participate in a cold-weather training exercise alongside the Royal Canadian Air Force’s 436 Transport Squadron at 8 Wing/Canadian Forces Base… Read more »

Sea Strike: Exploring Future Naval Operations

05/12/2025 A collaborative effort between Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific and Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, Sea Strike is a future-oriented film designed to showcase the U.S. Navy’s ability to… Read more »

US and Japanese joint Training

05/09/2025 Service members assigned to U.S. Forces Japan work together with Japan Self-Defense Forces to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region. JAPAN 01.17.2025 Video by Matthew Hilborn Defense.gov Read more »

F35 Test Force Conducts Trials Aboard Japanese Destroyer

05/07/2025 The F-35 Patuxent River Integrated Test Force executed a developmental test program aboard the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force multifunctional destroyer JS Kaga during sea trials in the eastern Pacific Ocean.… Read more »

Aircrews Practice Combat Offload Method C

05/05/2025 U.S. Airmen with the 61st Airlift Squadron, out of Little Rock Air Force Base, perform a combat offload method C to remove training pallets out of a C-130J Hercules aircraft,… Read more »

FARP Exercise for F-35

05/02/2025 U.S. Marines conduct a forward arming and refueling point exercise at Camp Davis South on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, April 10, 2025. Following its $28 million overhaul,… Read more »

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The Second Line of Defense team provides high quality publications with regard to key global strategic developments. You can purchase these on a number of booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo.

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Shaping a Way Ahead for U.S. Air and Space Forces

03/04/2025 The Department of the Air Force faces a crisis. Decades’ worth of insufficient budgets has slowed essential modernization, necessary capacity and key personnel investments. Air Force and Space Force leaders… Read more »

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