2015-09-18 By Robbin Laird Air Marshal Geoff Brown retired on July 3, 2015 when Leo Davies became the new Air Marshal for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Although retired, no one would consider Geoff Brown retiring in any sense of the word. After having interviewed the current Air Marshal…
2015-09-19 By Robbin Laird © 2015 FrontLine Defence (Vol 12, No 4) The British invented carrier warfare – and now, with their new Queen Elizabeth Class of carriers, they are working their own version of the 21st century strike carrier. Using global lessons learned, they are reinventing the large deck…
2015-08-29 By Robbin Laird Prior to the Williams Foundation Workshop on Plan Jericho, I had a chance to sit down with the two co-directors of Plan Jericho in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in their offices in the Ministry of Defence. The co-directors led the afternoon session of the…
2015-08-28 By Robbin Laird When then Air Vice Marshal Davies was in Washington DC earlier this year, I had a chance to discuss with him his thinking about the way ahead for the RAAF and defense transformation. Air Vice-Marshal Davies highlighted that a key trajectory for force transformation was to…
2015-08-27 By Robbin Laird During my visit to Australia in August 2015, I had a chance to visit Royal Australian Air Force squadrons as well as interview senior RAAF officers, including the Air Commander Australia, Air Vice Marshal Turnbull. The role of the Air Vice Marshal is to command and…
2015-08-29 F-22s are flying in the Middle East. They are being joined by European based F-22s as well in Europe to work with the NATO allies. The F-22s have flown for many years in Red Flag with allies. Typhoon pilots have addressed their experience in flying with F-22 in Red…
2015-08-23 By Robbin Laird My last assignment when working at the Institute for Defense Analyses was supporting the staff for the 1995 Roles and Missions Commission. This Commission was headed by John White, who later was Deputy Secretary of Defense, and was formed to address a number of issues mandated…
2015-08-19 By Robbin Laird In my last piece based on my time with MARFORPAC and PACFLEET, I want to highlight some perspectives gained from talking with four members of the PACFLEET staff. I had a chance to talk with an learn for four senior members of the PACFLEET staff in…
