An Update on the Integratable Air Wing: A Discussion with the US Navy’s Air Boss

07/23/2020
By Robbin Laird Last February, I visited San Diego and met with Vice Admiral Miller, the US Navy’s Air Boss. During that meeting, we discussed a shift from what I call the integrated to the integratable air wing and its impact on innovation for the fleet and the joint force.…

Shaping a Way Ahead for the Triton: Enabling the Integrated Distributed Force

07/22/2020
By Robbin Laird During my recent visit to Jax Navy, I had a chance to talk with several members of the maritime reconnaissance patrol community about Triton. A particularly insightful discussion was with Joseph Opp, currently the Northrop Grumman Director/Site Lead for Triton at Jacksonville Navy Air Station, who has…

Australian F-35 Training: Upgrading the Simulators with Australian Domain Knowledge

07/17/2020
By Alisha Welch The software in the FMSims was upgraded to align with the latest Operational Flight Program. The four F-35A Full Mission Simulators (FMSims) currently operational at RAAF Base Williamtown have been successfully upgraded by local experts to support the continued build-up of pilot training at No. 3 Squadron…

The Seahawk in the Extended Battlespace

07/12/2020
By Robbin Laird During my visit to the maritime patrol reconnaissance community during the week of June 14, 2020, I had a chance to meet with the leadership of the HSM Weapons School, Atlantic based at Mayport. According to the US Navy’s description of the HSM Weapons School, Atlantic: To…

An Update on Japanese Air Power, July 2020

07/12/2020
According to an article on the Japanese Ministry of Defence website: The JASDF detects and identifies aircraft approaching the Japanese airspace with assets such as warning and control radars, and airborne early warning and control aircraft. By such means, the JASDF ensures the security of Japan’s airspace. When there is…

Inside the Capabilities of Textron’s ISR/Light-Attack AT-6E Wolverine

07/09/2020
By Todd Miller As has been widely reported, the conclusion of the Light Attack Experiment (LAE) resulted in orders for only a couple each of Sierra Nevada/Embraer’s A-29 Super Tucanos and Textron Aviation Defense’s Beechcraft AT-6 Wolverines. However, the USAF decision to be the launch customer of the AT-6E —…

Visiting the Seahawk Weapons School: Insights in the Way Ahead for the Fleet

07/08/2020
By Robbin Laird Living Inside the Beltway, one would clearly miss how to understand how the Romeo helicopter, a variant of the Seahawk helicopter, in expanding the envelope of fleet defense, was itself part of how one might reconsider the way ahead for the fleet. The Romeo is the successor…

The Standing Up of TOCRON-11: The Next Step in Building Out Kill Web Infrastructure

07/07/2020
By Robbin Laird For some, the shift from using kill web instead of the kill chain is a variant of wordsmithing. But it is not. I have worked on fifth generation aircraft since the mid-2000s and certainly understood what an impact a data rich aircraft flying as a fleet would…