The Williams Foundation March 2018 Seminar: A Look at the Shift to Preparing to Fight and Prevail in High Intensity Warfare

02/12/2018
2018-02-09 The Williams Foundation will continue its series of examining the transformation of military forces by looking at the challenges of the shift from the land wars to higher tempo, high intensity operations. According to The Williams Foundation, the focus of the seminar is as follows: Most Air Force and senior…

Shaping a Way Ahead for Rapid Evolution of Air Combat Power and Its Impact On the Joint Command Authority

02/11/2018
2018-02-09 By Robbin Laird and Edward Timperlake Late last year, we published an interview with Secretary Wynne where he proposed an innovative way ahead on evolving air combat capability. https://sldinfo.com/redefining-the-next-generation-fighter-aircraft-build-out-air-combat-capability-by-shaping-a-21st-century-version-of-the-century-aircraft/ We want to revisit this discussion to highlight key elements of the proposal, which are important in and of themselves…

The Combat Effect of the Super Tucano: A Tortured Acquisition Saga Gone Good

01/26/2018
2018-01-19 By Robbin Laird When have you read a positive review of our combat experience in Afghanistan from the Pentagon’s Inspector General? Not a common experience for sure, but very recently, the IG underscored a significant advance in how the battle in Afghanistan is going forward. “Less than two years…

21st Century Military Power: Changing the Hard and Soft Power Calculus

01/19/2018
2018-01-12 By Robbin Laird The US military has been focused along with core allies in fighting counter-terrorism land wars for more than a decade, which represents a defining generation of combat experience for the joint, and coalition force. There has been significant combat learning in shaping new approaches to counter-terrorism…