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The Way Ahead in European Defense Industrial Co-operation: The French Perspective with the FCAS as Incubator

01/26/2023By Pierre Tran Paris - A project for a future combat air system (FCAS) backed by France, Germany, and Spain has sparked close interest elsewhere in Europe, the French armed forces minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said Jan. 23. “There are other European nations knocking at the door,” he told the Association des Journalistes de Défense, a press club, when asked about… Read more »

Sweden’s Journey in the Re-Imagining of Nordic Defense

01/24/2023By Robbin Laird Of the four Nordic countries, Sweden faces the longest journey towards a new regional defense approach — but also has an opportunity to undergo significant, smart transformation for a modern era that sees it finally join the NATO alliance. It has the longest journey due to its unique and long tradition of neutrality in European defense, and… Read more »

The CMV-22B Comes to the Carrier: From COD to Fleet Con-Ops

01/22/2023By Robbin Laird The CMV-22B has been bought by the U.S. Navy as a replacement for the C-2A Greyhound aircraft to provide for the carrier on-board delivery mission for the large deck carrier fleet. The numbers of the aircraft ordered for this mission are 48 and are sized to provide for the mission projected for peacetime conditions and derived from… Read more »

Shaping a Way Ahead for Airpower for Integrated Fleet Operations: The Perspective of the Navy Air Boss

01/18/2023By Robbin Laird Recently I visited San Diego and had chance to discuss with Vice Admiral Whitesell the work the Navy is doing in terms of introducing new capabilities and training for high-end operations. The Navy is introducing new capabilities onboard the large deck carriers, focusing on new concepts of operations captured in part by the notion of distributed operations… Read more »

Japan’s Defence Modernization Accelerates

01/16/2023In our 2013 book on Pacific defense., we argued that Japan would expand its defense perimeter in response to Chinese and Russian evolving defense and foreign policies. We argued that they would take advantage of U.S. defense modernization programs, notably the Osprey and the F-35 programs, to do so. We also argued that longer range strike and defense maneuver capabilities… Read more »

Amphibiosity Within the Pacific Reset

01/15/2023We will publish interviews from San Diego and Hawaii this year along with interviews in Australia looking at the recalibration, reset, and re-thinking of Pacific defense. One aspect is the question of the role of amphibiosity in that effort. We will return this in those discussions. But for now, here are some looks at RIMPAC 2022 and the amphibious raid… Read more »

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The Australian Defence Force Faces Its Future in the Direct Defense of Australia

10/11/2022With the looming defence strategic review launched by the new Labour government, the Williams Foundation seminar held on September 28, 2022 looked at the challenges facing the ADF and the nation in shaping a defence policy shaped not by a peacetime mindset but one attuned to a global order in conflict. Download PDF Now »

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Ensuring European Sovereignty in Producing High-Performance IR Sensors

01/13/2023By Pierre Tran Paris – A 10-strong European consortium is launching a four-year, €18 million ($19.8 million) project to select a common chip foundry to build next generation infrared sensors… Read more »

FCAS Update: January 2023

01/09/2023By Pierre Tran Paris – A European project to build a future combat air system (FCAS) was as significant as the launch of Airbus, builder of commercial airliners some 30… Read more »

The Russo-Ukrainian War After One Year: A Central and Eastern European Perspective

01/04/2023By Robert Czulda Looking back before the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war, few had assumed that the Kremlin would make such a lunatic move. Then when Russian tanks and aircraft… Read more »

The Next Phase for the CH-53K: Ramping Up Production

01/02/2023By Robbin Laird In my assessment of USMC transformation over the past twenty years, I highlighted the coming of the CH-53K as part of the next phase. “As the Marines… Read more »

Remembering Back to January 2022: The F-35 Comes Closer to Russia

01/01/2023Thursday 6 January 2022 was a historic day for the Royal Norwegian Air Force. On this day, Norway’s new F-35s officially took over the QRA mission, ending the F-16 fleet’s… Read more »

Abraham Lincoln Flight Ops, September 2022

12/27/2022A T-45C Goshawk training jet, assigned to the “Eagles” of Advanced Jet Training Squadron (VT) 7 is seen training on the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). Other… Read more »

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Project Convergence 2022

01/25/20231st Cavalry Division participated in Project Convergence 2022, an experiment offering opportunities to access future warfighting strategies, including how the All-Service and Multinational Force can work together to detect and… Read more »

Keen Sword 23

01/23/2023For the first time, Naval Medical Forces Pacific (NMFP) supported exercise Keen Sword at Camp Foster in Okinawa, Japan, Nov. 17, 2022. NMFP personnel setup an expeditionary medical facility and… Read more »

Exercise Active Shield 2022

01/20/2023U.S. Navy Interior Communications Electrician 1st Class Nathan Cobb, technical services manager, Hidenori Uchiyama, lead technician, with Armed Forces Network Iwakuni, and U.S. Marine Corps explosive ordnance disposal technicians assigned… Read more »

Pacific Angel 22-4

01/18/2023U.S. Air Force Airmen from various units around PACAF, along with members of the Timor-Leste Defense Force, participated in Exercise Pacific Angel 22-4 in Baucau, Timor-Leste, Sep. 12-17, 2022. BAUCAU,… Read more »

Autonomast System

01/16/2023U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Science and Technology Office hosted the Singapore Ministry of Defense, Future Systems and Technology Directorate sponsored demonstration of an Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) featuring the AUTONOMAST system… Read more »

Vigilant Storm 23

01/02/202351st Fighter Wing’s F-16’s joined with Indo-Pacific Command B-1B bombers and Republic of Korea F-35A’s in a combined training flight over the Korean Peninsula as part of Vigilant Storm 23,… Read more »

USS Gerald R. Ford Replenishment at Sea

12/16/2022The first-in-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) completes a replenishment at sea with USNS Medgar Evers, Nov. 2, 2022. 11.02.2022 Video by Petty Officer 1st Class Ryan… Read more »

SLD BOOKSHOP

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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 here or on a number of booksellers as well, such as Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

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Operation Southern Discovery

01/24/2023A Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster has airdropped supplies with a combined weight of 10,470kg to Bunger Hills in Antarctica on 15 December 2022. The stores airdropped include water… Read more »