The Navy-Marine Corps Team Looks to Unmanned Surface Vehicles to Enhance ISR Capabilities

06/26/2018
By Captain George Galorisi and Dr. Scott Truver As the USN-USMC team shapes its way ahead with regard to the Expeditionary Strike Group, several new capabilities have come to that force.  First there was the Osprey; then their was the F-35; and next up will be the coming of the…

The Coming of the F-35 to the UK: Working Through the Challenges

06/26/2018
By Robbin Laird During my visit to RAF Marham in May 2018, I had a chance to visit once again and to meet with senior RAF and Royal Navy personnel responsible for the standup of F-35 capability on UK soil. MoD is building new facilities to support the jet, and…

The Brits Work Sustainment for Their Combat Aircraft: Tornado as the Stepping Stone

06/25/2018
By Robbin Laird The UK MoD, the RAF and its industrial partners have been at the cutting edge in finding a path to enhanced combat aircraft availability through the evolution of its approach to performance based logistics. It has been and is a journey, one which started with parts support,…

Night Tactics Training at WTI-2-18

06/25/2018
U.S. Marines with Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 prepare an MV-22 Osprey for takeoff during night tactics training in support of Weapons and Tactics Instructor course 2-18 at Short Takeoff Vertical Landing expeditionary airfield in Dateland, Ariz., April 9. [maxgallery id="118074"] WTI is a seven-week training event hosted…

Unmanned Air Systems at MAWTS-1: The Training and TPP Challenge

06/23/2018
By Robbin Laird There is probably no single air platform more affected by the transition from the strategic shift from counter-insurgency to the high-end fight than unmanned aerial systems. These systems have come to the fore during counter-insurgency operations and have provided significant persistent surveillance for the ground forces. They…

The European Political Crisis: The Impact of Germany

06/22/2018
By Harald Malmgren Next week the European Union will hold a key summit. But that summit is being defined by and overshadowed by the political changes throughout key European states. The crisis in Germany is especially central to the fate of the summit. In late May and in the early…

Shaping the UK Carrier Strike Group: The Perspective of Commodore Andrew Betton and Col. Phil Kelly

06/22/2018
By Robbin Laird During my visit to Portsmouth, England and to RAF Marham in early May 2018, I visited senior Royal Navy and defense personnel involved in the standing up of the UK carrier strike capability. After my morning briefings with the Royal Navy with regard to preparing the carrier…

The Certainty of Uncertainty: Brazil and Its Fall Presidential Elections

06/22/2018
By Kenneth Maxwell With the Presidential election in Brazil due this October the country remains profoundly split between uncompromising extremes. And the political scene remains highly uncertain. Hovering in the background is the figure of the ex-president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, better known as Lula. He is…