The Coming of the F-35C and the Evolution of Carrier Strike Power: An Interview with Jim Gigliotti, Lockheed Martin Navy Program Manager

03/07/2015
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…

Building the Prince of Wales Aircraft Carrier: The UK Shapes a Second Large Deck Carrier for the UK Defense Forces

03/06/2015
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…

HMS Queen Elizabeth Will Begin Her Sea Trials in 2016

03/03/2015
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…

Managing Defense Supply Chains: Shaping A 21st Century Way Ahead

03/01/2015
2015-03-01 When the F-35 is discussed, subsumed in the discussion is the evolution of defense supply chains. The F-35 is built around global supply chains, and the digital systems by which the aircraft is built is rooted in a triangular relationship among the digital systems used by suppliers, the final…

Visiting the F-35 Final Assembly Line, Fort Worth

03/01/2015
02/26/2015: By Robbin Laird I had not visited the Final Assembly Line or FAL in Fort Worth since late 2012. Much has changed as the line has matured, and a line stood up in Cameri, Italy and one being built in Japan. The first Italian FACO F-35 rollout will happen…

“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…

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…