By CAPT (Ret) Christoper C. Misner, Senior Manager, Bell Strategic Pursuits The U.S. National Defense Strategy prioritizes the Indo-Pacific as a critical theater for national security. For naval and joint forces operating in that theater, an operationally limiting factor is the so-called tyranny of distance. Vast distances required to operate and…
By Robbin Laird In combat, reliability isn't just important. It's everything. Seconds count and missions hang in the balance. So it’s good news that Congress just made a $160 million investment in combat readiness with the Osprey Nacelle Improvement Program, which will keep America's most versatile aircraft in the fight.…
By Robbin Laird It may seem a strange candidate to blaze a path towards a more sustainable ready force or a "fight tonight" force but that is exactly the potential contribution of the CH-53K. You don't expect the Left Tackle of the offensive line to race down the field. But…
Recently, DVIDS. provided a story which highlights how reworking maintenance regimes can enhance the readiness of the MV-22. Frankly, this is a core theme which needs to be addressed across the ready force: how can we rework organaiatoxal and structural arrangements to enhance the readiness of the "fight tonight" force?…
By Robbin Laird I had a chance to talk with Chris Morton during the 2025 Navy League meetings held the first week of April 2025. Morton is the Aerospace and Defence Global Industry Director at IFS which is an enterprise software company. We discussed the arrival of maritime autonomous systems…
By Robbin Laird I am publishing a book later this year forcused on the paradigm shift in maritime operations. For this paradigm shift, the U.S. must get beyond a primary focus on the thirty-year shipbuilding plan. While the U.S. Navy and its allies focus on distributed capital ship operations, there…
By George Galdorisi One of the most frequently-read recent articles on this site is Mike Daum’s excellent piece: Infantry Wins Battles, Logistics Wins Wars: The Role of the Army’s ‘Little Navy’ in the Pacific. As the title implies, this piece is focused on the U.S. Army; however, two key statements universalize…
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…
