Air Combat Operations 2025 and Beyond: The Williams Foundation Seminar

05/24/2014
2014-05-14 In March 2014, the Sir Richard Willliams Foundation held a one-day seminar examining the future of air combat. Senior RAAF personnel, MOD personnel, two USMC aviators and the head of the Joint Strike Fighter program were among the presenters. The report addressed the overall impact of fifth generation aircraft…

The Return of Russia and the Challenge to European Defense: The Italian Contribution

05/14/2014
2014-05-14 By Robbin Laird Since the reunification of Germany and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the defense of Europe has been largely a politically managed affair.  The business at hand was shoring up the European Union and NATO arrangements to deal with the new situation, and to expand East as…

The GCE Drives USMC Aviation Innovation: Major Cuomo of the Infantry Officer Course Discusses the IOC’s Team Perspective

05/12/2014
2014-05-12 by Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake One of the reasons the USMC is in a key position to shape the future of military aviation is simply because of the growing interactivity between ground and air operations.  The Rover revolution and the revolution in air precision dropping are but two…

Re-shaping Ground Force Insertion: The USMC Leverages Tilt-rotor Technology To Continue to Innovate

05/07/2014
2014-05-07  by Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake The evolution of USMC concepts of operations under the influence of the proliferation of the numbers and experience with the Osprey has been significant. It is clearly to be anticipated that a similar experience will unfold, as the F-35B becomes part of the…

F-16 Pilots Train Alongside F-35 Pilots

04/25/2014
04/25/2014: F-16 pilots with the 419th and 388th Fighter Wings from Hill Air Force Base, Utah conducted air-to-air combat training alongside the F-35 Lightning II at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. This is the first time Hill F-16 pilots have trained along side the fifth generation F-35.  Hill AFB was…

Exercising a “Cloud-Enabled” Ground Force: Ospreys, F-35s and the Future of Ground Insertion Operations

04/20/2014
2014-04-20 Marines with the Infantry Officer's Course conducted a long-range raid on San Clemente Island, Calif., March 24. The Marines were lifted approximately 70 miles off the coast of southern California by Third Marine Aircraft Wing and East Coast aircraft. The Marines also used new technology to plan before boots…

F-35 Training at 33rd Fighter Wing

04/17/2014
2014-04-17 The F-35 training process started at Eglin but now the Marines are moving from Eglin to Marine Air Station Beaufort with the USN taking over the USMC facilities at Eglin. At Second Line of Defense we have regularly followed the standing up of the training processes for the F-35…

The F-35 Arrives at Luke AFB: Preparing for the Next Generation of Warfare

04/15/2014
2014-04-15 In a story published yesterday in the Arizona Republic, staff writer Paulin Giblin looked at the coming of the F-35 to Luke AFB. The title of his piece is appropriately: "Luke's New F-35 Redefines Warfare." Some excerpts follow: The new F-35 pilot-training program at Luke Air Force Base in…