The 2014 Miramar Air Show: The End of the CH-46 Era and the Beginning of the F-35B Transformation

10/15/2014
10/12/2014: F-35 Lightning II with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121 performing at the 2014 Miramar Air Show aboard Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif., Oct. 4. The show was noteworthy for marking both the end of an era and a beginning. The CH-46 flew at the air show at…

Defense of the Expeditionary Airfield: A Core USMC Competence

10/13/2014
10/13/2014: U.S. Marines attending Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) Course 1-15 conduct a Defense of the Expeditionary Airfield Two (DEAF-2) exercise which involves defending a forward arming refueling point site against simulated attackers at Bull Attack, Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range, Calif., Oct. 03, 2014. The DEAF-2 exercise supported WTI…

The Commissioning of the USS America, October 11, 2014

10/13/2014
10/13/2014: Second Line of Defense has followed the USS America in detail since it christening event. Now the ship has been commissioned and will prepare for its active duty role.  It will do so in a troubled world, where the Marines and sailors are likely to see difficult duty in…

A Look at the Eurozone After the Vote on Scottish Independence: More Fissures on the Way?

10/10/2014
By Harald Malmgren Eurozone politics are currently being reformulated as the result of a rise in right-wing economic nationalism sentiment and growing Euro-skepticism. In Germany, the FDP pro-market, conservative minority party had for decades been an important counterbalance to left socialist pressures in German economic policy.  Today, the FDP has…