By Robbin Laird Recently, I finished a study of the new build offshore patrol vessel and the shaping of a new template for shipbuilding in Australia. This is the first of three new build ships for the Australian Navy and for the Australian Defence Force. Next is the ASW frigate…
Spain, France and the United Kingdom will take up NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission starting in May, guarding the skies over the Baltic region for the next four months. The three NATO Allies are replacing air force detachments from Belgium and Poland which have protected the airspace of NATO’s three Baltic Allies…
By Australian Defence and Business Review The US Department of Defense defines the Suppression of Enemy Air Defence (SEAD) mission as that which ‘neutralizes, destroys or temporarily degrades surface-based enemy air defences by destructive and/or disruptive means.’ The so-called ‘Endless Wars’ in the Afghan and Iraqi theatres have seen US and allied air forces operating…
By Robbin Laird During my last meeting with Vice Admiral Miller in San Diego, we discussed the way ahead with regard to the air wing as it become integrated into a wider kill web concepts of operations. In that conversation, we highlighted the shift as one from building an integrated…
By Greg Mapson In mid-2018, the Chinese navy conducted one of the largest mine warfare exercises in living memory, involving some 60 minelayers and minesweepers, aircraft and submarines practising laying and countering live mines. This unprecedented exercise, supported by some of China’s top scientists and mine development specialists, increased the already growing…
With the coming of the USS America amphibious assault ship, the USN/USMC team has significantly greater flexibility to shape a task force tailored to a wide range of missions and capable of working with a variety of diverse fleet assets. A case in point is the operation of the Expeditionary…
By Robbin Laird One of the changes facing the emergence of the kill web force is recognizing that it is already here. The current situation reminds one of Molière’s famous line spoken by his main character in his play on social relations in 18th Century France: “My faith! For more…
By Robbin Laird In a continuing discussion with the digital interoperability team in USMC Aviation’s Headquarters, we focused on the challenge of building beyond specific platform upgradeability to make these platforms selectively interoperable with similarly configured platforms. What the team highlighted was that with a platform by platform approach, one…
