Carving a Path to a More Sustainable Ready Force: The Next Generation Heavy Lift Helicopter

07/10/2025
By Robbin Laird It may seem a strange candidate to blaze a path towards a more sustainable ready force or a "fight tonight" force but that is exactly the potential contribution of the CH-53K. You don't expect the Left Tackle of the offensive line to race down the field. But…

Training on Display at the Paris Air Show 2025: The M-346 and International Flight Training School

07/09/2025
By Pierre Tran Le Bourget, France - Visitors climbing up to the open cockpit of the Leonardo M-346 could see the two distinctive tilted and overlapping glass screens which delivered a head up display (HUD) for pilots flying the advanced military jet trainer. Steve “Jo Jo” Helmer, an engineering test…

The Defense Department Should Restore Cornell University’s Research Funding

07/07/2025
By Ed Timperlake Cornell University President Michael I. Kotikoff recently expressed serious concerns about the sudden freeze of federal research grants, particularly those from the Department of Defense. His statement reveals the troubling scope of this funding suspension and its potential impact on critical national security research. President Kotikoff's initial…

Chinese Bravado and Australian Sovereignty: A New Era of Strategic Competition

07/06/2025
By Robbin Laird I have been coming to Australia since 2014 and writing the seminar reports for the Sir Richard Williams Foundation bi-annual seminar reports. I have done so because of my deep commitment to the U.S.-Australian relationship but more generally because of my concern with the rise of multi-polar…

Ukraine’s Hybrid Operational Force Redesign Capability: Innovation in Modern Warfare

06/30/2025
Ukraine's defense of its homeland has demonstrated a remarkable evolution in modern military strategy, showcasing how a defending nation can leverage both established military doctrine and cutting-edge innovation to counter a numerically superior adversary. The Ukrainian approach represents a new paradigm in what we might call a hybrid operational force…

The Convergence of Strategic Vision and Operational Reality: From GBU-57 Development to Modern Air Supremacy

06/28/2025
By Robbin Laird The recent operations Midnight Hammer and Rising Lion represent the culmination of decades of strategic airpower investment, demonstrating how prescient weapons development from the early 2000s enabled decisive military options in 2025. However, these successes have exposed critical capacity limitations that require immediate attention to maintain credible…