From Legacy Training to Training a Crisis Management Force: 5th Gen and the Kill Web

04/04/2019
By Robbin Laird An ability to actually have a kill web force requires the training to actually do it. Training will need to occur on two levels. First, in the live environment, working the physical pieces of operating ADA with Naval Systems with Air Systems and working the C2 architecture…

Luke’s F-35 5-year Anniversary

04/04/2019
Luke AFB is where the F-35 global enterprise has been launched. Pilots AND maintainers have been trained for the USAF and all the partner nations which have purchased the F-35A. They fly together — including flying each other's airplanes — and maintain together. When we use the term F-35 global…

Reshaping the Fleet in the Pacific: F-35Bs, Distributed Lethality and Unmanned Systems, and Allied Capabilities

04/03/2019
By Robbin Laird The kill web appraoch at sea is tapping into a number of key real world operational developments as well as new technologies which will enhance distributed operations and lethality. Three sets of new stories recently published although not linked in the press, clearly are linked in terms…

The Next Phase in Shaping an Integrated 21st Air Combat Force: The RAF Adds Wedgetail

03/24/2019
By Robbin Laird My visits to the UK and Australia over the past five years indicate growing working relationships between the two air forces but also that the significant rethink in Australia about shaping a fifth-generation combat force has clearly had its impact and resonance in the United Kingdom as…

Aussies Work Supply Chain Digitalization on the F-35

03/19/2019
According to a press release from BAE Systems Australia, the company is working with the Commonwealth of Australia to work supply chain innovations with regard to the F-35. Given Australia's role in regional support for the aircraft, this is an especially important effort. BAE Systems Australia and the Advanced Manufacturing…

The F-35 Engine Removal and Installation (R&I) Mobility Trailer

03/03/2019
The F-35 as a 21st century air platform has a number of innovations built into the aircraft and the overall air system to facilitate more effective maintenance and sustainability. One example is the Engine Removal and Installation (R&I) Mobility Trailer built in Australia for the F-35 global enterprise. According to the…

Australia and the F-35 Global Enterprise: Avalon Airshow 2019 Update

03/03/2019
Defence has signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin Australia and Lockheed Martin Corporation to ensure the effective long-term sustainment of the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter capability in Australia. The agreement includes intellectual property, technical data and software arrangements for Australia’s direct sovereign sustainment contracts with Lockheed Martin entities. The Minister for…

The Materialization of Plan Jericho: Building a Wingman for a 5th Generation Air Force

02/28/2019
By Robbin Laird I have been travelling to Australia and working with the Williams Foundation in Canberra for five years. I am now a research Fellow at the Foundation.  What I have found most fascinating about my time there and the journey of discovery of the RAAF is how they have…