The King Stallion as the latest major aviation addition to the USMC has come to MCAS Yuma in two major ways. VMX-1, the key Marine Corps operational test squadron, based at MCAS Yuma and they received their first King Stallion last June. This brought together all the key aricraft which…
The Australian Defence Force: Meeting the Modernization Challenges examines the Australian Defence Force's (ADF) modernization efforts in light of evolving geopolitical realities, particularly concerning China. The book analyzes the challenges of balancing immediate readiness with long-term force planning. The author incorporates interviews and presentations from the 2024 Sir Richard Williams…
I last visited the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center in Fallon, Nevada during the pandemic in 2020 during the Rear Admiral Brophy’s time in command of NAWDC. During that visit I became familiar with an important new pilot program in NAWDC which was quite different from the rest of the…
The first pillar of the Italian approach to airpower has been a clear commitment to the F-35 as a driver of change in shaping a fifth generation enabled force. The second pillar has been to build a facility to produce their own F-35s along with European allies and to place…
By Robbin Laird The Italian Air Force leadership saw early on that the F-35 was more than a next generation aircraft – it was a whole different way to look at airpower in the digital age and enabling multi-domain airpower. They committed to the aircraft and have built a fifth-generation…
I had the privilege of visiting Norfolk in the recent past and discussing the coming of the USS Gerald R. Ford with the first commander of Ford and then the commander of Naval Air Force Atlantic, Rear Admiral “Oscar” Meier. Last month, I had the chance to visit Norfolk once…
By Robbin Laird On 11 November 2024, I was in Rome and meeting with the Air Force Chief of Staff. Lt. General Luca Goretti. When I entered the building and walked to his office, the memory of my last visit to that office and with then COS Lt General Preziosa…
By Robbin Laird The U.S. faces a vastly different world than when it primarily focused on land wars post-9/11. Today it faces a multi-polar authoritarian world, with adversaries and competitors with both shared and competing interests, capabilities, and approaches to the use of military force to achieve objectives. With that…
