By Pierre Tran Paris - France is due in November to arm its Reaper medium-altitude, long-endurance drone with the GBU-12 smart bomb, with the Hellfire missile to be fitted next year, a defense source said. The French Air Force arms the Mirage 2000 fighter jet with the GBU-12, said the source, adding,…
By Robbin Laird With the central role which crisis management will play for the US and its allies, a key area of change is in the area of C2. Distributed operations which will be an essential part of the strategic shift will require distributed C2. And C2 will have to…
According to a story published by the UK MoD website on May 31, 2019, the latest intercept was highlighted. The RAF jets scrambled yesterday (Thursday 30 May) to intercept two Russian SU-30 Flanker fighters, two SU-24 Fencer attack aircraft and an AN-12 transport aircraft flying off the north coast of…
In an article published on May 30, 2109, the Italian Ministry of Defence highlighted the importance of the Joint Stars 2019 exercise. Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta today visited Decimomannu (Sardinia) on the occasion of Joint Stars 2019, the Defence most important exercise "Over the last few years Joint Stars exercises have…
During Bold Alligator 2013, we interviewed an ADF officer about the coming of a new amphibious capability to the ADF. Second Line of Defense learned more about the Aussie transition with an opportunity to discuss the effort with an Aussie Army officer involved in Bold Alligator 2013. LtCol Bonavita is…
By Robbin Laird There is a clear recognition that an ability to actually have a kill web force requires the training to actually do it. In the live environment the focus will be upon working the physical pieces of operating air systems with distributed ground and naval capabilities. The challenge…
By Robbin Laird With the introduction of new communications and video technologies, military decision making has changed over the past twenty years. A significant point of change was the introduction of Rover which created what Secretary Wynne, under whose mandate Rover was introduced, referred to as the democratization of the…
By Robbin Laird I would argue that the US and its allies are not so much facing a great power competition. I would refer to it as a global contest between 21st century authoritarian powers and the liberal democracies. And on each side of the competition there is significant cross learning…
