By Pierre Tran Paris - Five options for the architecture of a planned Future Combat Air System were handed over in September to the authorities, marking a major step toward definition and development of an ambitious European project, Bruno Fichefeux, head of FCAS at Airbus Defence & Space, said Dec.…
By Robbin Laird With the strategic shift from the land wars to full spectrum crisis management, the sea services face the challenge of prioritizing maneuver warfare at sea. But it is impossible to execute maneuver warfare at sea if you have no fuel, or go Winchester with regard to weapons.…
By Robbin Laird To the casual observer, the Super Stallion and the King Stallion look like the same aircraft. One of the challenges in understanding how different the CH-53K is from the CH-53E is the numbering part. If it were called CH-55 perhaps one would get the point that these…
By Robbin Laird On November 17, 2020, a small number of journalists, most from the local Norfolk based media, flew from Norfolk Air Station to the USS Gerald R. Ford at sea, less than 100 miles off of the Virginia cost. We flew on the venerable C-2 Greyhound, but this…
By MC1 Jeff Troutman Off the Coast of Virginia, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) and its embarked Carrier Air Wing 8 are conducting the first-ever fully integrated carrier strike group operations for a Ford-class carrier, under the leadership and operational control of Carrier Strike Group 12. The operation also…
By Robbin Laird The day before we flew to the USS Gerald R. Ford, I sat down with Rear Admiral Meier, Commander, Naval Air Force Atlantic, in his Norfolk office, to discuss the way ahead for Naval Air Force, and the next generation large deck carrier. I would call it…
This launch sequence was viewed onboard the USS Gerald R. Ford at sea November 17, 2020. It also features the in-deck launch control officer.
In this slideshow and video, a US Navy fighter jet lands onboard the USS Gerald R. Ford during the cyclical operations training cycle as seen on a visit to the ship on November 17, 2020.
