From Legacy Training to Training a Crisis Management Force: 5th Gen and the Kill Web

04/04/2019
By Robbin Laird An ability to actually have a kill web force requires the training to actually do it. Training will need to occur on two levels. First, in the live environment, working the physical pieces of operating ADA with Naval Systems with Air Systems and working the C2 architecture…

Reshaping the Fleet in the Pacific: F-35Bs, Distributed Lethality and Unmanned Systems, and Allied Capabilities

04/03/2019
By Robbin Laird The kill web appraoch at sea is tapping into a number of key real world operational developments as well as new technologies which will enhance distributed operations and lethality. Three sets of new stories recently published although not linked in the press, clearly are linked in terms…

An Aussie Perspective on Red Flag 19-1

03/31/2019
By Jenna Higgins As March rolls around, so ends another Exercise Red Flag Nellis (RF-N); an annual, month-long international exercise held at Nellis Air Base, Nevada. During our joint #highintensitywar series with From Balloons to Drones, Dr Brian Laslie explained how Exercise Red Flag was created by the United States…

Preparing for Red Flag 19-2

03/25/2019
The role of the US warfighting centers at Nelllis, Fallon and Yuma MCAS have become increasingly significant as the US and the allies shape a new appraoch to Warfighting — the kill web. The recent RAND report on the US dealing with adversary forces continues their long tradition of taking…

The Next Phase in Shaping an Integrated 21st Air Combat Force: The RAF Adds Wedgetail

03/24/2019
By Robbin Laird My visits to the UK and Australia over the past five years indicate growing working relationships between the two air forces but also that the significant rethink in Australia about shaping a fifth-generation combat force has clearly had its impact and resonance in the United Kingdom as…

Japan and the Coming of the Osprey

03/24/2019
The Japanese along with the USAF and the USN are trained to operate the Osprey at the USMC’s New River Air Station. The increased number of aircraft and partners is providing a welcome challenge to the Marines at New River. In a recent visit to 2nd MAW, the training role…