RAF Tanker Visits South Africa

11/03/2015
2015-11-02  By Guy Martin Military aviation enthusiasts in Cape Town and Pretoria last week had the opportunity of seeing a Royal Air Force (RAF) Voyager (Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport) aircraft. Airbus Defence and Space officials are promoting the type to the South African Air Force to meet potential VIP,…

A Dominant 21st Century Fighting Force: The Role of the Large-Deck Carrier

11/02/2015
2015-11-02 By Ed Timperlake and Robbin Laird Fifty years ago, 1965, in Bancroft Hall at the United States Naval Academy, Plebes (freshmen) were required when making a very loud announcement to a gathering of fellow Midshipman to began with the alert-“attention world, attention world.” It was a time when some…

Test Firing of F-35 Gun

11/02/2015
2015-11-02 F-35 test pilot Maj Charles “Flak” Trickey fires the first aerial gun test burst of the GAU-22/A 25mm gun from F-35A aircraft AF-2. The video shows the aerial gun test, which will provide operational F-35A pilots the ability to engage air-to-ground or air-to-air weapon targets, in addition to beyond…

A Syrian No Fly Zone?

11/02/2015
2015-11-02 The Russian intervention in Syria represents strategic change for the region. Now Russia is backing the sovereign government of Syria, and any U.S. actions in the North of Syria would now come into conflict with both normal UN practice and possible Russian retaliation. In other words, the Russians are…

Royal Air Force Operations and Evolving Concepts of Operations: Shaping a Triple Transition

11/02/2015
2015-10-28 By Robbin Laird During my visit to Europe in October 2015, I had the chance to visit with senior RAF officers and to discuss RAF operations as well as the double transition with Typhoon modernization as well as the introduction of the F-35. For the RAF, it is really…

The Next Step in the USMC F-35 Modernization Path: The First F-35B Student Pilot

10/31/2015
2015-10-31 Until now, Marine Corps pilots flying the F-35B have been second tour pilots. That is, they are pilots with flying backgrounds and with combat experience. Now the Warlords at Beaufort Air Station have their first tour pilot coming to fly the F-35B. We will now see what Lt. General "Dog"…