2016-04-09 According to an article on the UK Ministry of Defence website, the Ministry of Defence has announced contracts worth 167 million pounds to upgrade and build new facilities at RAF Marham, the future home of the UK F-35B Lightning II squadrons. The contracts, which will create 300 new jobs,…
2016-04-04 By Robbin Laird Air Vice-Marshal Gavin Turnbull is the Air Commander Australia. Air Command is the operational arm of the Royal Australian Air Force. The Commander is responsible for all operational Air Force tasks, and reports to the Chief of Air Force. The Air Commander raises trains and sustains…
2016-04-06 This report provides an update of the roll out of the F-35 as of March 31, 2016. The report is based on interviews with pilots, maintainers, testers and industrialists involved with the program. The F-35 is not a future program; it is here now. The Marines already have their…
2016-04-06 By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake During the OT-2 aboard the USS Wasp, a young British maintainer made a simple point about the F-35: Lt. Cdr. Kitchen from the Royal Navy commented during a round table aboard the Wasp in May 2015: “The F-35 can be surrounded by myth…
04/06/2016: The F-35 Heritage team at Luke prepares for the 75 Years of Air Power at Luke Air Force Base. Credit:56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs:3/31/16
2016-04-06 By Robbin Laird Air Commodore Steve “Zed” Roberton knows about airpower transitions. He led the transition in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) from F-111 to Super Hornet, Commanded the RAAF’s initial Air Task Group to the Middle East, where for the first time the RAAF took an integrated…
2016-03-31 According to a Joint Program Office Press Release, a new weapon has been added to the bow for the F-35 as the archer. An F-35C Lightning II launched its first AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) over the Atlantic Test Ranges on 23 March. Test aircraft, CF-05, cleanly released the 1,000-pound air-to-surface…
2016-04-01 By Robbin Laird During my March 2016 visit to Australia to attend the Airpower Conference on Multi-Domain Integration and the Williams Foundation Seminar on New Approaches to Air-Land Integration, I had a chance to meet with Air Marshal Davies throughout those sessions and then to meet at his office…
