2016-03-16 By Robbin Laird The first of a two day conference on Air Power hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force featured a keynote presentation by the Minister of Defence. This represented her first major policy statement after the release of the White Paper and associated documents. For an American attending…
2016-03-15 By Robbin Laird Norway is in a unique position with regard to the future of the Arctic. The Norwegian High North is a key part of Norwegian territory and with decades of development of energy supplies on the Norwegian continental shelf has established approaches and procedures for the future…
2016-03-07 Developmental testing is a fact of life for operational fleets. As one test engineer commented during our visit to Pax River, “we continue to do developmental testing on the Super Hornet here at Pax.” And with more than 50,000 flight hours on the F-35 fleet and an operational squadron with…
2016-03-11 By Risk Intelligence Background The two countries are already fighting proxy wars in Syria and Yemen. In Syria, the Saudis are backing several of the rebel groups fighting Bashar al-Assad, who is receiving substantial support from Iran. This also, to some extent, applies to Iraq where Iran is supporting…
2016-03-10 By Robbin Laird When the first F-35 crossed the Atlantic from Cameri, Italy, to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, the plane had been assembled in Italy and had only 15 flight hours illustrating the confidence of Lockheed Martin and the Italian Government (and Italian pilot) in the maturity of the…
2016-03-06 By Robbin Laird The MAGTF and the USN-USMC team are working on shaping a 21st century approach to joint operations from the sea. There is a broader transformation of jointness being shaped by the evolution of the amphibious forces has escaped attention as precisely what it is – the…
2016-03-04 The HMAS Canberra is part of the Australian aid effort to Fiji to help in the wake of Cyclone Winston. According to the Australian Ministry of Defence: On Tuesday March 01, HMAS Canberra steamed towards cyclone devastated Koro Island to assist with the Fiji Government's disaster relief effort. Australian…
2016-03-09 By Kenneth Maxwell At 6am on Friday morning, March 4, 2016,, Brazilian armed federal police officers arrived at the home in the outskirts of São Paulo, of the former president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, better known to Brazilians and internationally simply as "Lula." On Tuesday of this week, the president of Oderbrecht, one of Brazil's largest…
