“The Plane is a Broker of Information”: A Conversation with Mike Skaff

02/25/2015
2015-02-25 By Robbin Laird The F-35 has entered aviation history at a juncture where information dominance is clearly recognized as the pivotal discriminator in 21st century air enabled defense operations. For the F-35, the cockpit design coupled with the breakthrough pilot helmet synergistically operating with the cockpit is a foundational…

The Launch of Plan Jericho: The RAAF Lays Down its Transformation Strategy

02/24/2015
2015-02-24 Earlier, we highlighted the coming of Plan Jericho to the Australian defense forces. As Air Marshal Brown noted on May 29, 2014: I intend to release Plan Jericho, the RAAF transformation plan, in early 2015. It will guide our force transformation, enabled by our new 5th Gen capabilities, over the…

Shaping an S-Cubed Combat Revolution: Preparing for the Coming Hypersonic Cruise Missile Threat

02/24/2015
2015-02-18 By Ed Timperlake “You know that stealth may be over-rated,” Admiral Greenert, the Chief of Naval Operations, recently noted during a speech at the Office of Naval Research Naval Future Force Science and Technology Expo, Washington D.C. “I don’t want to necessarily say that it’s over but let’s face…

The F-35’s Distributed Aperture System: An Update from Rolling Meadow and Sydney’s North Shore

02/24/2015
2015-02-22 The distributed aperture system or DAS is a key set of sensors on the F-35 which provides data for the fused cockpit system and the helmet display. In an interview which we did at Pax River with a USMC test pilot in the spring of 2010, it was clear…

Uk Government Invests in RAF Marham: Preparing for the F-35

02/22/2015
2015-02-22 According to a story on the UK Ministry of Defence website: The East of England will receive a further boost as the hub for the UK’s future combat aircraft fleet, with hundreds of millions of pounds invested to help prepare for the arrival of the UK’s first F-35B Lightning…

The USAF Warfare Center and Shaping the Future of the Combat Air Force: A Discussion with Major General Silveria

02/16/2015
2015-02-04 By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake We had a chance to visit the USAF Warfare Center at Nellis AFB on the 15th and 16th of January. On January 15th, we attended the ceremony for the arrival of the fifth F-35A at Nellis, but the first one fully configured for…