2016-02-28 By Robbin Laird The need to operate at greater distance and to deal with a growing diversity of threats has highlighted the importance of ensuring an ongoing modernization effort to enhance that the industrial democracies have the capabilities to fight as a an integrated team in that battlespace. This…
2016-02-27 Remember the USAF's new Airbus tanker? It has been seen recently over the skies of Edward Air Force base. It did not just go away after being sidelined by the Boeing protest via the GAO route several years ago, it has become a staple of several allied air forces.…
2016-02-24 Recently, Defense News reported cutting edge thinking from the USAF in which manned aircraft flew with unmanned aircraft to shape a joint mission. AFRL, working with the Air Force’s test pilot school, has already demonstrated that this concept of teaming a manned with an unmanned aircraft is possible in a…
2016-02-25 As we look at the evolution of airpower, and its evolving role in military operations, we have argued that they can form the backbone for the insertion of force, properly calibrated, effects achieved and withdrawn. Evolving concepts of operations under the influence of technology are clearly changing the ways…
2016-02-18 We have discussed the evolution of Italian Airpower with senior Italian Air Force leaders. And the Italian reshaping of their airpower capabilities with the modernization of the Eurofighter and the building, deploying and integration of the F-35, both the the As and the Bs, is a key part of…
2016-02-08 On Feb. 5, the Italian Air Force’s first F-35, AL-1 with code “32-01” and markings of the 32 Stormo Wing landed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, at the end of the JSF’s first ever transatlantic flight. The aircraft was piloted by “Ninja,”an Italian Air Force test pilot, belonging to the Reparto…
2016-02-14 By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake The F-35 working with robotic elements and with new weapons can empower a distributed operations approach. This approach is being tested out at various centers of innovation within the U.S. military and will be synergistic with allied partners. Traditional assets, such as the…
2016-02-18 By Todd Miller Three weeks of intensive Red Flag aerial warfighting culminated 2-12-16. This first of four Red Flag exercises to be held in 2016 featured 39 units, 120 aircraft and 2400 personnel from three countries, the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Group Captain Philip Gordon, Air Expeditionary…
