The first two Australian fighters arrived at Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake in Alberta last week, and are expected to be ready for operations following some conversion work in the coming months. That work will include taking out the engines, ejection seats and targeting pods, which are being swapped with…
The Royal Australian Air Force has deployed a contingent of approximately 370 personnel to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada for Exercise Red Flag 19-1, which took place from 22 January to 15 February 2019. Up to 6 F/A-18A Hornet aircraft from Number 77 Squadron, an E-7A Wedgetail from Number…
We will have a chance to interview Air Marshal Davies next month when in Canberra for the latest Williams Foundation Seminar. Air Marshal Davies opened the airshow, an airshow which featured the announcement of the loyal wingman program, with his perspective on the key role of industry and partnering with…
“Germany's challenge is to recognize that history and geography have not disappeared as key factors shaping Germany’s prosperity and security; and that Germany needs as well to focus upon re-energizing the European project as well. If Germany became a nation isolated in a disaggregating Europe, Germany itself might disintegrate as a…
By Robbin Laird The build up of the Russian missile arsenal, short, medium and long range, with clear violations of INF limitations are designed less to create a so-called anti-access and area denial capability than an arsenal designed to make the recovery of classic conventional deterrence seem beyond reach in…
By Robbin Laird I have been travelling to Australia and working with the Williams Foundation in Canberra for five years. I am now a research Fellow at the Foundation. What I have found most fascinating about my time there and the journey of discovery of the RAAF is how they have…
By Richard Weitz Much of this month’s Munich Security Conference saw a reaffirmation of anti-Trumpism nostalgia. This culminated in the poignant silence in the hall that followed Vice President Mike Pence’s passing along President Donald Trump’s greeting to the delegates. But the European speakers did rally behind one good idea…
The recent news from Red Flag 2019-1 with regard to how the F-35 is teaming with other elements of an air combat force to deliver air superiority is hardly a surprise to readers of Second Line of Defense who have travelled with us over the more than a decade to…
