2015-03-13 By Robbin Laird I have had the opportunity to track the evolution of the Osprey from seeing a small number of planes on the tarmac at New River to watching it mature and revolutionize the assault force. It is clear that the F-35B will have a similar trajectory with…
2015-03-20 By Robbin Laird During my first visit to the Final Assembly Line of the F-35 since 2012, I was able to visit the line and see a number of changes. I also had a number of interviews which provided updates as well. The first interview with Dr. Mike Skaff,…
03/15/2015: CAMERI, ITALY, March 12, 2015 According to a press release issued at the time of the roll out, the importance of the follout of the first F-35A from the Cameri facility. History was achieved today when the first Italian F-35A Lightning II rolled out of the Final Assembly and…
2015-03-04 By Robbin Laird The F-35 program has been built around a very different manufacturing model for fighter jets, more modeled on what an Airbus would do than the more traditional station build approach. The F-35 is to be built on three final assembly lines (FALs)– Fort Worth, Cameri, and…
2015-03-03 By Robbin Laird After having visited along with Ed Timperlake CVN-78, Fallon and having talked with Rear Admiral Manzir, the head of Naval Warfare, I had a chance to sit down with Jim Gigliotti during my plant visit to Fort Worth in late February 2015. Gigliotti is Director, F-35C…
2015-03-07 The US and Japan are reworking their defense relationship. Australia and Japan are reworking their defense relationship. Now the UK and Japan are building one. The first UK-Japanese foreign and defense ministerial meetings were held in January 2015 in Tokyo. According to a story on the UK government website…
2015-03-06 The Royal Navy is building two large deck aircraft carriers. This ship and the USS America are two ships built specifically with the F-35B in mind. The Queen Elizabeth will have its sea trials next year, and construction is moving apace on the Prince of Wales. According to a…
2015-03-03 One of the three large warships which will operate the F-35 is the HMS Queen Elizabeth. The ship is being completed and will begin its sea trials next year. It is the largest warship which the United Kingdom has ever built and incorporates several innovations which we will focus…
