By Robbin Laird Last year during my visit to Norway, I had a chance to visit several airbases and talk with a wide variety of Norwegian officers and defense officials. With the return of direct defense challenges to the Nordics, there has been a major shift to recapitalizing the force,…
The first 2 Dutch MQ-9 crews, hailing from the Royal Netherlands Air Force, made their first flights with the unmanned aircraft in the Unites States. The 306 Squadron at Leeuwarden Air Base is expected to begin operations with its own Reaper capability in 2020.
By Guy Martin The French Air Force has sent two Dassault Rafale fighter jets to the island of Reunion for training. The aircraft landed at Gillot Air Force Base on 14 January after a 13 hour flight. They were accompanied by a C-135FR aerial refueling tanker. They were due to…
HMS Duncan, the sixth and most modern Type 45 destroyer, was the most complete at launch in October 2010. She is the first of the Type 45 class to be capable of deploying Harpoon and recently was featured in the UK’s Channel 5 documentary ‘Warship: life at sea” According to…
By Robbin Laird I visited the HMAS Hobart at Fleet Base East prior to its time conducting weapons and systems evaluations with the US Navy off of the West Coast of the United States. According to Andrew McLaughlin in an article published on January 7, 2019: The tests were conducted…
During the exercise, the 24thMEU exercised its amphibious capabilities. In a story by Lance Cpl. Margaret Gale, 24thMEU, published on November 13, 2018, the mission was highlighted. Marines and Sailors from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit participated in exercise Trident Juncture 18 in Iceland and Norway during October and November,…
Marines and Sailors from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit participated in exercise Trident Juncture 18 in Iceland and Norway during October and November, 2018. Trident Juncture 18 was the largest NATO exercise held since 2002 and allowed for military forces to operate in a collective defense scenario.
By Robbin Laird Normally, the TLP is held in Spain at Albacete Airbase. We visited Albacete Airbase in 2016 and talked with Spanish Air Force pilots concerning their Eurofighter operations at the base. As we noted at the time: “Albacete flies a regular Quick Reaction Alert force to provide for…
