2014-07-08 Second Line of Defense visited 2nd Marine Wing in late June 2014, and we covered the VMX-22 change of command. As part of this effort, we sat down with the departing commander, Col. Michael Orr and with the newly appointed commander, who had been serving as the Executive Officer…
07/04/2014 By Robbin Laird Last year after attending the Airbus Military Trade Media briefing, I looked at what the promise the A400M provided to users and the marketplace. Journalists who attended were given the opportunity to fly the aircraft for more than an hour. Francis Tusa, the well-known British journalist…
2014/7/03 The F-35 is both cause and consequence of change in US and allied air power. The first Second Line of Defense publication, which addressed this, was called The Renorming of Air Power and the title was crafted to capture the interactivity between the new aircraft and new concepts of…
2014-06-29 By Robbin Laird Recently, I have had the chance to visit the USS America, interview with Ed Timperlake the head of the Military Sealift Command and to spend several days with Second Marine Air Wing, including watching the change of command for VMX-22. We will have several pieces coming…
07/03/2014: The A400M was originally conceived of in a world where lifters were trucks to carry cargo and troops from point A to B. This world has totally been transformed by operations in the past decade, during which the A400M was being developed and readied for its roll out into…
2014-07-02 Two F-35B aircraft flew in close formation for the first time in short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) mode, also known as Mode 4, on Feb. 11, 2014, at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station. Recently, we talked to instructors at MAWTS about their work with the F-35 at Yuma Air…
2014-06-20 On June 12, 2014, Second Line of Defense visited the USS America at the Ingalls Huntington shipyard in Pascagoula Mississippi. The ship is to leave mid July for its initial homeport of San Diego and will travel around South America and visit along the way. In addition to VIP…
06/27/2014 On June 27, 2014, the VMX-22 or Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron Twenty-Two had its change of command at New River Marine Corps Air Station. The squadron began with the introduction of the Osprey into Iraq. It has migrated under Col. Orr to build upon the success and…
