6/3/12: by Robbin Laird The ability of the United States to re-shape its forces for the post-Afghan military world will be difficult. But it is less about money, than about culture change. It is about failing to understand and generate support for the game changing technologies already entering the inventory…
6/1/12: by Ed Timperlake In a case of Just DON'T do it, the USAF charges backwards. For the USAF acquisition team which can not buy 12 Super Tucanos and get on with it, we have a new rumbling from the den of USAF acquisition. In effect, USAF acquisition says: We…
5/30/2012 By Robbin Laird I had a chance to meet and talk with M. Ghazemy Mahmud, the editor of the Malaysian based Asian Defence Journal about his impressions of the recently completed A400M tour of Asia and perceptions of how the A400M would fit into Asian plans and thinking about…
5/27/12: by Ed Timperlake Every fighter pilot has had or will have a moment in the air when the biggest indicator in the cockpit is showing how much fuel is left: the fuel indicator immediately can dominate the pilots attention and really focus thinking on where to immediately land. Fuel…
5/26/12: In a follow-up interview with Col Brad Weisz, Deputy Commander Expeditionary Strike Group TWO, we talked about the evolution of the ARG-MEU as seen from the ESG perspective. (To remind our non-USN and USMC readers, and ARG-MEU is the term used by the USN-USMC team to describe a core…
5/24/12 by Robbin Laird The visit to Spain and France to participate in the Airbus Military Trade Media Briefing provided an opportunity to look again at the evolution of the A330 multi-mission tanker and the A400M. 21st century air systems are designed differently from older military systems. This has been…
In our series on Bold Alligator 2012, we examined various aspects of littoral operations highlighted in the exercise. And we did so with the future evolution of such capabilities in mind. We will soon publish our analytical take on how to think differently with regard to littoral engagement in light…
The F-35 represents a new approach to the development, production, system and sustainment of a fleet of combat aircraft. Additionally, the F-35 takes an innovative approach to collaborative upgrades over the airframe and global fleet’s life cycle. Too often an understanding of the basic aircraft rolling out of production right…
