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.
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…
RAAF Base Williamtown is home to the tactical fighter element of the Air Combat Group and the Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) element of Surveillance and Response Group. RAAF Base Williamtown is at the centre of a multimillion-dollar infrastructure modernisation and upgrade program in order to better support the…
The F-35 fleet emerging in the Pacific is the 21st century version of the US Navy's World War II "big blue blanket." With the Japanese expanding their F-35 fleet and adding the B to its As, training with the USS America is a natural evolution of the collaborative effort. As…
By Robbin Laird In the last article on the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), I looked at one key building block which enhances both the ops tempo of the strike package on the USS Gerald R. Ford as well the flexibility of the weapons packages which can be moved…
The UK is clearly in a period of significant strategic change. The twin impacts of COVID-19 and BREXIT are enough to assure that. With the significant impact of the new aircraft carrier driving significant change with regard to air-sea integration, an evolution we have spent considerable time engaged in with…
