09/21/2015: From 31 August – 4 September, 2015, Exercise Joint Strike, the inaugural Amphibious Task Group (ATG) joint fires exercise, was conducted at the Beecroft Weapons Range, in the Jervis Bay area, New South Wales. Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force personnel from within the ATG conducted…
2015-09-18 By Robbin Laird Air Marshal Geoff Brown retired on July 3, 2015 when Leo Davies became the new Air Marshal for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Although retired, no one would consider Geoff Brown retiring in any sense of the word. After having interviewed the current Air Marshal…
2015-09-19 By Robbin Laird © 2015 FrontLine Defence (Vol 12, No 4) The British invented carrier warfare – and now, with their new Queen Elizabeth Class of carriers, they are working their own version of the 21st century strike carrier. Using global lessons learned, they are reinventing the large deck…
2015-08-29 By Robbin Laird Prior to the Williams Foundation Workshop on Plan Jericho, I had a chance to sit down with the two co-directors of Plan Jericho in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in their offices in the Ministry of Defence. The co-directors led the afternoon session of the…
2015-08-31 By Robbin Laird Earlier, I have interviewed the two most recent Commanders, first of the Air Lift Group, and then the Air Mobility Group. The shift in name was largely under the impact of the KC-30A tanker but reflected the Group’s expanded capabilities to provide for extended combat reach…
2015-08-28 By Robbin Laird When then Air Vice Marshal Davies was in Washington DC earlier this year, I had a chance to discuss with him his thinking about the way ahead for the RAAF and defense transformation. Air Vice-Marshal Davies highlighted that a key trajectory for force transformation was to…
2015-08-27 By Robbin Laird During my visit to Australia in August 2015, I had a chance to visit Royal Australian Air Force squadrons as well as interview senior RAAF officers, including the Air Commander Australia, Air Vice Marshal Turnbull. The role of the Air Vice Marshal is to command and…
2015-08-30 By Robbin Laird The Plan Jericho approach which the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has put in motion to shape a con-ops driven transformation process is built around the acquisition of new platforms, but then crafting ways for these platforms to operate and together in a joint manner to…
