Shaping an Integrated Combat Capability: Leveraging F-35 Commonality

08/28/2014
2014-08-28 Earlier, in our discussion with Major Summa, the executive officer of VFMA-121, the first operational U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) F-35 Squadron, the aviator emphasized the impact commonality was already having. Working with the other service pilots provides an important window on where we want to go with the concepts…

A400M in Tanker Tests

08/28/2014
2014-08-28 According to a press release today from Airbus Defence and Space: The Airbus A400M new generation airlifter has performed successfully air-to-air refueling tests with a F/A-18 Hornet fighter. The tanker test campaign was developed in five flights in which the A400M performed 33 dry contacts and dispensed 18.6 tons…

Australia to Plus Up Tanker and Lift Fleet?

08/20/2014
2014-08-20 Earlier this year we published a Special Report on the modernization of Australian Air Power. The RAAF started by adding C-17s and then KC-30As, as there concern is range and sustainability both for the region their in and for global engagements. [caption id="attachment_62974" align="alignnone" width="300"] C-17 and KC-30A at…

The Complex Synchronized Ballet At Sea: The Strike Carrier in the Arabian Sea

08/15/2014
2014-08-15  The decision by President Obama to conduct, in official parlance, “military operations in support of humanitarian aid deliveries and targeted airstrikes in Iraq to protect U.S. personnel and interests, in response to activities conducted by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists” has brought the significance of…