I last visited the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center in Fallon, Nevada during the pandemic in 2020 during the Rear Admiral Brophy’s time in command of NAWDC. During that visit I became familiar with an important new pilot program in NAWDC which was quite different from the rest of the…
The first pillar of the Italian approach to airpower has been a clear commitment to the F-35 as a driver of change in shaping a fifth generation enabled force. The second pillar has been to build a facility to produce their own F-35s along with European allies and to place…
By Robbin Laird The Italian Air Force leadership saw early on that the F-35 was more than a next generation aircraft – it was a whole different way to look at airpower in the digital age and enabling multi-domain airpower. They committed to the aircraft and have built a fifth-generation…
I had the privilege of visiting Norfolk in the recent past and discussing the coming of the USS Gerald R. Ford with the first commander of Ford and then the commander of Naval Air Force Atlantic, Rear Admiral “Oscar” Meier. Last month, I had the chance to visit Norfolk once…
By Robbin Laird On 11 November 2024, I was in Rome and meeting with the Air Force Chief of Staff. Lt. General Luca Goretti. When I entered the building and walked to his office, the memory of my last visit to that office and with then COS Lt General Preziosa…
By Robbin Laird The U.S. faces a vastly different world than when it primarily focused on land wars post-9/11. Today it faces a multi-polar authoritarian world, with adversaries and competitors with both shared and competing interests, capabilities, and approaches to the use of military force to achieve objectives. With that…
By LtGen Steve Rudder (Retired) The Ukraine employment of Unmanned Surface Vessels (USV) in attacks on the Russian Black Sea Fleet represents a window into the lethality of swarming and autonomous unmanned surface vessels. Because of their small radar cross-section, high speed, and agile maneuverability, USVs are likely going to…
By Robbin Laird The Marines in focusing on EABOs have two key lift assets which can deliver autonomous systems payloads to an EABO and to do so with the reduced signature goal which has been highlighted by LtGen Heckl. Maritime autonomous systems can be delivered to an EABO via an…
