By defenceWeb Air Base 201 in Agadez, Niger. The United States Air Force (USAF) has begun intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations from its newly constructed Air Base 201 in Agadez, Niger. US Africa Command on 1 November said ISR operations are “in support of our partner forces and international efforts…
The Israeli Air Force is hosting a five day exercise in the south of the country involving over one thousand personnel from four nations, the US, Germany, Italy, and Greece. The IDF's F-35s are a key part of the exercise. Currently the IAF has 14 F-35 Adir aircraft and is…
By Robbin Laird During my most recent visit to Australia in October 2019, I have had the chance to visit the Chief of Navy’s Seapower Conference and to attend the latest Williams Foundation seminar. And along the way have held roundtables at the Australian National University, the RAAF’s Airpower Development…
By Robbin Laird Recently, I had a chance to visit Naval Air Station Patuxent River and to meet with Col Matthew Kelly, who is in charge of the V-22 Joint Program Office (PMA-275). I first met “Squirt” when he was an F-35B test pilot and indeed was selected as test…
By Robbin Laird Canberra, Australia I am currently in Australia supporting the next Williams Foundation Seminar on “Fifth Generation Maneuver Warfare.” I will be leaving next to go to Bahrain for a military conference there and will do a presentation on the shift towards a new approach to warfare by…
By Robbin Laird Over the past thirty years, the United States and its core allies have gone through three phases of innovation with regard to conventional forces. The first was air-land battle designed for the European theater and executed in the 1991 Iraqi War. The second was the innovations associated…
By Robbin Laird In today’s world, full spectrum crisis management is not simply about escalation ladders; it is about the capability to operate tailored task forces within a crisis setting to dominate and prevail within that crisis. If that stops the level of escalation that is one way of looking…
By Robbin Laird In my lifetime, the U.S. military has gone through three major phases of development. The first was the shaping of the force in the 1980s to deal with the Soviet threat to Europe and encompassed air-land battle. Hardwired networking was introduced and working ways to integrate forces…
