By Robbin Laird During my visit to Denmark in October 2018, I had a chance to visit Fighter Wing Skrydstrup and my host for the day was “SON” Pedersen a 727 Fighter Squadron F-16 pilot and Electronic Warfare Office. He has around 1600 flight hours on the F-16 with 400…
By Robbin Laird During my recent visit to Denmark, I had the chance to visit the Royal Danish Air Force fighter base at Skrydstrup. Squadron 727 and Squadron 730 are both located there and are currently flying F-16s but getting ready for a transition to the F-35. According to the…
By Andrew McLaughlin The RAAF’s first F-35A engineering officer, SQNLDR Nathan Draper, has been recognised by the US with the awarding of a Meritorious Service Medal for his significant contribution to the establishment and sustainment of the Australian training, maintenance and engineering effort at Luke AFB in Arizona. Now a…
Belgium is a key member of the European Participating Air Forces (EPAF) group which has flown F-16s for three decades. Denmark, Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands and Portugal are the members of the EPAF. In a recent visit to Denmark, a key leader of the Royal Danish Air Force explained the importance…
Second Line of Defense has followed the UK thinking, construction, and initial trials and preparation for operations by the new UK carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth throughout its life to date. The carrier will have a major impact on UK defense and how the forces will evolve over the next…
By Robbin Laird During my most recent visit to Denmark, I had a chance to visit Royal Danish Air Force bases in the Jutland area. This provided an opportunity to discuss the transition from an F-16 to an F-35 force as well as other changes involving connectivity and decision-making systems…
No media team has followed the birthing and growth of the F-35B more than the Second Line of Defense team. We started with the standup at Eglin AFB. We followed the efforts at Yuma and the departure of the first combat ready squadron to Japan and their initial use in…
The RAAF has taken delivery of its ninth F-35A Joint Strike Fighter and the first to be taken on strength by its first operational flying unit to fly the jet, No 3 Squadron. F-35A A35-009 was delivered to Luke Air Force Base, Arizona where it was accepted by 3QSN in…
