By Andrew McLaughlin The deployment of an RAAF P-8A Poseidon maritime ISR aircraft to the Middle East has concluded. The aircraft was deployed under the International Maritime Security Construct (IMSC) in September in response to the June shoot-down of a US Navy RQ-4A Global Hawk UAS by Iran, and subsequent…
By Robbin Laird The F-35 is termed a fifth-generation platform, but is better understood as a first generation flying combat system. Or a next generation capability or foundation for building a C2/ISR infrastructure for the integrated distributed force. Because the F-35 is being stood up worldwide with both the U.S.…
By Robbin Laird We had three different sets of presentations throughout the International Fighter Conference 2019 which discussed how the capabilities of the French, German and Eurofighter operating forces in. the years to come will evolve. Namely, the new Future Combat Air System, Rafale and Eurofighter modernization. But the core…
By Max Blenkin The big grey warships, the frigates and guided missile destroyers, may well be the star athletes of the modern Royal Australian Navy, but it’s always been the little ships which did most of the work. The numbers tell the story. Budget documents for 2019-20 show the Navy’s minor combatants, the patrol boat fleet and minehunters, achieved 4,098…
By Lieutenant Commander Kelli Lunt An Australian command task group element was based in a Japanese ship for the first time during a mine counter-measures exercise in Japan. Minehunters HMA Ships Diamantina and Gascoyne, together with a commander task group, participated in Exercise Hyuga Nada, a mine counter-measures exercise, off the coast of…
By Robbin Laird At last year’s International Fighter Conference, the team working on the Franco-German Future Combat System program provided an overview on the launch of the effort. At this year’s conference, the team provided an update on progress over the first year, and underscored key timelines into what was…
By Robbin Laird I have just returned from Berlin. I attended the International Fighter Conference 2019 and visited Checkpoint Charlie and shared thoughts with German friends of the thirty-year anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Both events had much in common – the Cold War is over but…
On October 15th and 16th, the JMSDF conducted bilateral exercise KAEDEX 2019-2 with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) in waters and airspace south of Kanto region. The exercise aims to enhancing the JMSDF’s tactical skills and strengthening relations with the RCN. In the exercise, two JMSDF destroyers, JS Shimakaze and JS Chokai, and…
