Next year, I am publishing a book on the tiltrotor enterprise. I have been interviewing and engaging with Marines using the aircraft since 2007, the first time I flew on the aircraft. There seems to be a cottage industry of folks writing about the difficulty of flying the aircraft and…

By Robbin Laird I had a chance to visit Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Squadron (VRM) 40 the “Mighty Bison” on Oct. 29, 2024. Earlier, I visited West Coast squadrons at North Island, San Diego, but this was my first opportunity to visit the squadron at Naval Station Norfolk. This squadron will…

By Pierre Tran Paris – Companies around the world have noted the significance of the uncrewed surface vehicle (USV), or sea drone, as could be seen at Euronaval, an international trade show for every kind of military vessel and maritime kit, which ran Nov. 4-7. The market potential for the…

By Robbin Laird In writing our book on the maritime kill web, a key point we emphasized was that payload innovation was a key driver to enhanced and viable combat capability. Rather than focusing force design on next generation platforms, a key focus now was to focus on rapid insertion…

By Robbin Laird FLRAA is coming at the dawn of the age of autonomous systems. It is being crafted as a manned program to operate in the con-ops of formations that will operate in the world of combined arms operations of manned systems working with autonomous ones. The Army approach…

By Robbin Laird The Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) or the Army’s new tiltrotor aircraft is being designed to operate in a new world of combat, namely one in which autonomous systems will become significant players. I would argue indeed that when introducing new manned systems now and in the…

By Robbin Laird I have returned from Australia and the latest Sir Richard Willians seminar. In that seminar, we dealt with the challenge of how to enhance the ready force while investing in the future force. The modernization of the ADF is a case study in the clash between force…