In many ways, for critics of LCS this evolution was as inevitable as it was self-evident. As more hulls were pier-side speaking truth than PPT illuminating briefing rooms, expectations would have to change to stay inside the lines of credibility. Dreams of stopping the run and pivot to building a better…
5/26/12: In a follow-up interview with Col Brad Weisz, Deputy Commander Expeditionary Strike Group TWO, we talked about the evolution of the ARG-MEU as seen from the ESG perspective. (To remind our non-USN and USMC readers, and ARG-MEU is the term used by the USN-USMC team to describe a core…
by Richard Weitz Russia and China conducted their first official bilateral naval exercise (variously referred to as “Maritime Cooperation 2012” and “Sea Interaction 2012”) from April 22-27 in the Yellow Sea near Qingdao, China. The exercise was a genuinely mixed operation, in which both countries made major contributions to the…
5/24/12 by Robbin Laird The visit to Spain and France to participate in the Airbus Military Trade Media Briefing provided an opportunity to look again at the evolution of the A330 multi-mission tanker and the A400M. 21st century air systems are designed differently from older military systems. This has been…
5/23/12 By Robbin Laird As the Euro zone is re-shaped, it will have a major effect on Europeans and defense. Defense and national forces are a key part of sovereignty and expression of what a nation believes and seeks to defend. The Euro zone countries face a major question because…
5/23/12 The Black Swan of the Arab Spring in 2011 whose effects are still unfolding coupled with the Gray Swan of an abrupt entry of Iran as a nuclear power will create a very fluid situation for the Middle East in 2012. Preparing to constrain, contain and attack anticipated Iranian…
5/23/12 This photo was taken on May 22, 2012 in Toulouse at the Airbus facility. In one shot, one can see, the A400M (Grizzly 3), the third UAE tanker being prepared for conversion, and the unique Airbus transporter to work with among other things the A380 otherwise known as the…
In late 2010 a collision between a Japanese Coast Guard (JCG) vessel and a Chinese fishing trawler in a disputed maritime area in the East China Sea saw Sino-Japanese relations enter into a deep freeze from which they are still recovering. The dispute itself, over not only a large maritime…
