2014-03-21 Recently, the Williams Foundation in Australia held a seminar in Canberra on the future of air combat. In particular, the seminar focused on the impact of fifth generation technologies and was built around a central set of presentations by operators of the impact of fifth generation aircraft on the evolution…
2014-03-21 by Robbin Laird After The Williams Foundation seminar, I sat down to discuss with one of the organizers of the seminar, Vice Air Marshall (Retired) John Blackburn his take on the questions, which posed to the seminar and how he thought those answers, were generated. The core questions, which…
2014-03-07 By Robbin Laird I have spent the past week in discussions with the staff of the US Pacific Air Forces or PACAF. I was able to sit down with Hawk Carlisle, the Commander PACAF towards the end of the week to pull a broader picture together from those conversations and…
2014-03-18 By Ed Timperlake A recent news event triggered some thinking about the challenges of working within constrained waters. The news event was that the USS Tuxtun was crossing the Dardanelles en route to the Black Sea. According to a Russian news source (with a video contained within of the…
2014-03-18 While attending the Williams Foundation Seminar on Air Combat Operations: 2025 and Beyond, Dr. John Lee of the Kokoda Foundation provided a base line brief on how to understand the Chinese challenge, military and non-military to the region. The contribution of Aussie airpower and associated military capabilities was to…
2014-03-18 During a visit to PACAF at the end of February, Second Line of Defense had a chance to talk with General Hawk Carlisle and members of the PACAF staff about the evolving approach to the Pacific Area of Operations. Lift and tanking assets are key elements of the flying…
2014-03-14 By Robbin Laird During my visit to Australia, I have had a chance to visit No. 33 Squadron, at Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Amberley in the state of Queensland. The Squadron operates the KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT). My mentor and guide for my day at the…
[slidepress gallery='visiting-the-wedgetail-squadron-at-williamtown-raaf-base-australia'] 2014-03-07 The Aussies entered the 21st century with an aging Air Force. The silver lining in that difficult position is that as the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) began to modernize, they could do so within the context of new 21st century capabilities. The process really began by…
