By Robbin Laird Eight photographs from April 4, 2026, at Combat Village near Yuma, Arizona, document an AH-1Z tactics exercise with an unusual premise: the attack helicopter pilot as the person being recovered. The simulated personnel recovery exercise conducted by Maj. James Turner, an AH-1Z Viper pilot with MAWTS-1, turns…
By Robbin Laird A series of photographs taken on April 6, 2026 in the early weeks of Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course 2-26 documents an Osprey assault support tactics evolution in the desert near Yuma, Arizona. Taken together, the images tell a complete operational story: departure from the flight line,…
By Robbin Laird There is a seductive fallacy embedded in how we talk about military technology. Every generation produces its own version of it. The airplane will make armies obsolete. Precision strike will end the fog of war. Network-centric warfare will lift the battlefield veil permanently. Each claim, when it…
By Robbin Laird A photograph taken at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma on April 13, 2026, shows a Marine avionics technician from VMFA-251 connected to an F-35B cockpit via the aircraft’s Internal Communication System cable, a 600-inch tether that is, in many ways, a window into how the Marine Corps…
By George Galdorisi The conflict in the Middle East has reminded nations and navies of the importance of naval forces in ensuring that the global commons is relatively free of strife and that nations can trade freely and energize the global economy. The role of navies in ensuring the security…
By Robbin Laird In the climate-controlled briefing rooms of the Washington Beltway, military transformation is an elegant affair. It is presented on high-gloss slides through “The Center”that constellation of formal command organizations where authority, budget reviews, and the Washington consensus reside. In this world, the prevailing obsession is with acquisition…
By Robbin Laird Four photographs from the Anti-Air Warfare exercise during Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course 2-26 near Yuma, Arizona, document something that rarely gets captured together in a single set: not just a radar system deployed, but a radar system deployed survivably. The AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar standing…
Sailors signal to a CH-53K King Stallion helicopter, assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron (HMH) 461, during flight operations aboard San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD 24) June 11, 2026. Arlington is underway conducting Type Commander’s Amphibious Training, a military exercise designed to enhance mobility and integration…
