2015-04-29 John Blackburn retired as an Air Vice-Marshal in the Royal Australian Air Force in 2008 and has been involved in a number of strategic issues since then in Australia. He is currently the Deputy Chairman of the Sir Richard Williams Foundation, an Australian think tank focused on Air Power.…
2015-05-11 The Royal Australian Air Force has launched a transformation approach called Plan Jericho. The Chief of Staff has underscored that for this to work, the entire defense approach needs to embrace change under the influence of fifth generation warfare capabilities. Apparently, the Minister of Defence agrees with this approach.…
05/09/2015: At the end of March 2015, Second Line of Defense visited HMS Queen Elizabeth in Scotland. These photos were shot during the visit by the RN/RAF team and are credited to them. [maxgallery id="118173"] The first photo shows the ski jump on the flight deck for the F-35B. The…
05/04/2015: Brigadier General Scott Pleus, 56th Fighter Wing commander, Flies first Wing’s Training Sortie According to a story published on 3/19/15 by the 56th Fighter Wing: The 56th Fighter Wing officially began training new F-35 pilots today when the first student, Brigadier General Scott Pleus, 56th Fighter Wing commander, flew…
2015-04-29 The Royal Dutch Air Force (RNLAF) has selected the F-35 as its next generation aircraft. Indeed, the Norwegians and the Dutch are both planning to be an all-fifth generation fleet. Others might join them in Europe as well in this process. The Italian and the UK Air Forces will…
2015-05-01 Ed Timperlake, editor of the Second Line of Defense Forum, was the last speaker of the day prior to the wrap up of the Danish airpower symposium. The title of his briefing was “Early 21st Century Warfighting Trends: Technology, Training and Tactics,” and focused on the intersection of the…
2015-04-30 Dr. Robbin Laird was part of the last panel for the Copenhagen Airpower Symposium hosted by the Centre for Military Studies and the Williams Foundation on April 17, 2015. In his summary presentation, he looked at a number of changes affecting the evolution of airpower. One challenge facing airpower…
2015-04-30 Lt. Col. “Chip” Berke first met John Blackburn as a guest at the Williams Foundation Seminar in March 2014 on airpower. When Blackburn was putting together a follow-on event with the Centre for Military Studies in Denmark, he requested early on that Berke provide his insights into what the fifth…
