By Robbin Laird The first time I met Vice Admiral (Retired) Tim Barrett was at the 2016 Williams Foundation Seminar in which he addressed the evolving role of the Australian Navy in the transformation of the Australian Defence Force. He provided a keynote presentation to the August 2016 Seminar on…
By Robbin Laird On March 12, 2020 I had a chance to visit HMAS Sterling and to visit the HMAS Rankin, one of the Collins class submarines homeported at HMAS Sterling on Garden Island. When I informed a senior U.S. Navy Admiral that I was going to visit the Royal…
By Robbin Laird This week I have had the opportunity to visit Western Australia. I visited both the Henderson shipyard and HMAS Stirling, the Collins submarine base. I will write in detail about those visits and discussions at the two facilities in the near future. These visits when combined with…
By Robbin Laird At the upcoming Williams Foundation Seminar to be held on March 26, 2020, the role of autonomous systems in the evolution of the combat force is the focus of attention. Clearly, a key aspect of this evolution will be the role of maritime remotes within the maritime…
Since 2013 the Sir Richard Williams Foundation seminars have focused on building an integrated fifth generation force. Recent seminars have evolved from the acquisition of new platforms to the process of shaping and better understanding the environment in which the integrated force will prepare and operate. Moreover, they have highlighted…
By Robbin Laird For the past few years, I have been visiting Australia to participate in and to write the reports for the bi-annual seminars held by the Williams Foundation which focus on defense transformation by the ADF in a changing strategic environment. In the course of this work, it…
It is logical that the USMC which is focused on enhanced capability to perform distributed operations but to do so in an integratable approach are keenly interested in both digital interoperability across the force and the ability to command that force with agile C2. One of the elements in that…
By Robbin Laird The strategic shift from the land wars of the past two decades to preparing for the high-end fight is having a significant effect on the dynamics of change affecting the very nature of the C2 and ISR needed for operations in the contested battlespace. An ability to…
