By Robbin Laird Recently, the Department of the Navy released, on March 16, 2021, its unmanned systems campaign framework. As Admiral Gilday, Chief of Navy Operations, commented in his forward to the document: As the Navy adapts to an increasingly complex security environment, it is imperative that we understand what…
By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake There has been public discussion of the state and fate of NATO over the past few years. One European leader energized the discussion by referring to NATO as “brain dead.” But underlying the political exchanges of the past few years, there has been real…
By Robbin Laird The CMV-22B is an essential part of the evolving air wing on the large deck carriers. The process of shaping this new capability is part of the overall transformation of the large deck carrier and its role in the evolving capabilities of the U.S. Navy and its…
By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake When 2nd Fleet was stood up in 2018, it was not the case of it being re-established. It was an older name but was being stood up in a new historical and military context. It was being stood up in the context of the…
By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake The standup of both Second Fleet in 2018 and Joint Force Command, Norfolk in 2019 have had very similar goals: how to enhance the combat capability of the entire allied maritime force in the North Atlantic? From this point of view, these are not…
By Flying Officer Bronwyn Marchant Four Air Force pilots on the first F-35A Lightning II operational conversion course to be run in Australia completed their first flights at RAAF Base Williamtown on February 2. The pilots began their training in January after graduating from the Introductory Fighter Course at No.…
By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake Last Fall, 2nd Fleet hosted the 2020 version of Black Widow, an Atlantic-focused USW exercise. But to be completely accurate, although the term ASW is most commonly used, what we are discussing is undersea warfare. USW is an integrated fight against all undersea threats,…
The Green Knights pioneered the standup of an operational F-35 squadron. They have been operating from Japan for the past four years. Capt. Anneliese Satz, a pilot assigned to the “Green Knights” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121, is seen working with Japanese Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) service members…
