2013-11-04 By Robbin Laird The Italians were significant innovators at the beginning of the era of airpower. They continued throughout the history of airpower to innovate and with the launch of the F-35, they are proving to be innovators once again. Their facilities at Cameri provide support not only for…
2013-11-03 By Robbin Laird During my visit to Cameri in October 2013, I had a chance to visit the Cameri facility with Fred Napurano, the Italian Program In-Country Operations Lead for Lockheed Martin. Napurano is the key person interacting with Alenia Aermacchi (AAeM) to assist in the standup of the facility. The…
2013-11-03 Ed Timperlake, the editor of the Second Line of Defense Forum, visited this weekend with a father of a friend who had the distinction of flying no less than 37 B-17 combat missions over Europe. Ed reports that when he discussed his experience visiting with World War II veteran,…
2013-11-02 The Search and rescue exercise viewed in the video increases the collective interoperability between U.S. and Canada, ensuring better success in carrying out the challenging Arctic S and R mission. Units from Alaska Air National Guard, Alaska Army National Guard, U.S. Army Alaska to include multiple helicopters, multiple versions…
2013-11-02 As we have written elsewhere, the Russians are recovering their place in global affairs. Clearly, when one looks back on 2008, the actions against Georgia were the beginning of a more assertive Russian policy. A line in the sand was placed on NATO expansion, and neither the United States…
2013-11-01 By Robbin Laird During my trip to Italy in October 2013, I was able to spend two days at the Cameri F-35 facilities and to then discuss my visit with two senior Italian Air Force officials, intimately familiar with the program and the Cameri effort. I sat down with Lt.…
2013-11-01 By Robbin Laird During my October 2013 visit to Italy, I spent two days at the Cameri F-35 facility. While there, I had a chance to discuss the facility and the approach of the Italians with Debra Palmer, Lockheed Martin’s General Manager at the facility. Palmer comes from a military…
10/30/2013: The Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer DDG 1000 is floated out of dry dock at the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard. The ship, the first of three Zumwalt-class destroyers, will provide independent forward presence and deterrence, support special operations forces and operate as part of joint and combined expeditionary forces.…