09/21/2016: The Chief of Army's Exercise 2016 was an invitation-only event held in Adelaide on Brisbane on 5 – 8 September 2016. The theme was ‘Redefining boundaries for the 21st century land forces’. According to the Australian Army: The Chief of Army’s Exercise provides the Australian Army, together with its national,…
2016-09-16 By Robbin Laird During the Williams Foundation seminar on Air-Land integration, a key speaker was Brigadier General Chris Mills, Director General, Army Modernization for the Australian Army. After his presentation, I had a chance to discuss with him his perspective on the way ahead of the Australian Army for…
2016-09-19 By Robbin Laird On the Friday after the Williams seminar on air-sea integration, I had the chance to tour the headquarters of the Australian Navy’s Fleet Base East on Garden Island, Sydney. Garden Island is the largest historic naval area on Sydney Harbour, with use going back to the founding…
2016-09-14 The F-35 has been operational with the USMC for more than a year, and this summer with the USAF. The US Navy is getting ready for the introduction of the F-35 and already sees it as a key element of and trigger fro what Navy leadership calls the kill…
2016-09-12 By Robbin Laird The period ahead could be a very deadly one for the liberal democracies. Ill-liberal powers whether they be states (Russia, China or Iran) or irredentist movements spouting 12th century values are clearly working to change the global order to their advantage. Many factors of power are…
2016-09-08 The key to understanding fifth generation combat aviation is sensor fusion and the man-mashine working relationship built into the cockpit. The F-22 started the process; the F-35 continues it. At the heart of the new capability is moving from being a sequential multi-mission pilot directing the combat capabilities of…
2016-09-04 By Robbin Laird Prior to the Williams Foundation seminar on air-sea integration, I had a chance to sit down with Air Commodore Kitcher and to discuss the way ahead for the RAAF in the joint combat space. He is the Director General of Capability Planning in the RAAF. Air…
2016-09-10 By Robbin Laird During the Williams Foundation seminar on evolving approaches to air-sea integration, Rear Admiral Mayer, the Commander of the Australian Fleet, focused on the concrete and specific challenges facing the evolution of the Royal Australian Navy as a key element of the joint force. He argued that…
