In the early hours of a spring morning in 2024, a beaten-up Soviet-era propeller plane taxied to a halt on a rural Ukrainian runway. Two unlikely warriors emerged from the cockpit, a 56-year-old pilot who had learned to fly as a hobby before the war, and a 38-year-old former auto…
Picture a weapon with the same range and payload as a Tomahawk cruise missile, but instead of cruising at Mach 0.7, it screams across the sky at Mach 7. This isn’t science fiction. It’s the reality of hypersonic weapons, and America stands at a critical decision point that could reshape…
By Robbin Laird The U.S. Marine Corps’ latest heavy-lift helicopter, the CH-53K King Stallion, represents far more than an evolutionary step from its predecessor. In an interview on July 22, 2025, Col Kate Fleeger, Program Manager, H-53 Heavy Lift Helicopters Program at NAVAIR, underscored that the CH-53K embodies a fundamental…
When disaster strikes remote locations or when rapid force projection becomes critical, few aviation combinations prove as versatile and effective as the KC-130J Super Hercules and MV-22B Osprey tandem. It is a bit like Batman and Robin in operation. As LtGen (Retired) Heckl noted in my books on the tiltrotor…
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its fourth year, the conflict has fundamentally transformed modern warfare, with drones emerging as a significant force on the battlefield. Now, Germany is leading an ambitious initiative to translate these Ukrainian innovations into a comprehensive defensive system along NATO’s eastern border—a 1,850-mile “drone wall”…
The world’s power structures are undergoing their most profound transformation since the end of the Cold War. From the laboratories developing artificial intelligence to the missile ranges testing hypersonic weapons, a new kind of competition is emerging, one that threatens to make traditional notions of security, diplomacy, and national strength…
By Robbin Laird In an interview I did in Norfolk last year with Commander Mason Fox and his team. Fox is the Commander of Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Squadron (VRM) 40, the “Mighty Bison.” In that interview he underscored a key point which is rarely noted in discussions about the way…
Australia faces one of the world’s most daunting maritime surveillance challenges. With responsibility for approximately 10 percent of the world’s ocean surface and 59,700 kilometers of coastline, the Australian Maritime Border Command (MBC) has long struggled with the fundamental problem of insufficient assets and manpower personnel to effectively monitor such…
