During our latest visit to Australia, the Second Line of Defense team had a chance to talk with the commander of the Air Mobility Group, Air Commodore Bill “K9” Kourelakos, during our visit to Richmond Airbase and with Group Captain Steve Pesce, Office Commanding 86 Wing, at Amberley Airbase. During…
Recently, Deputy Commandant of Aviation, Lt. General “Stick” Rudder testified before the Congress on the coming of the CH-53K and its importance to the USMC and its approach to combat operations. “This aircraft is mechanically and technologically amazing. It fits directly into the National Defense Strategy as far as heavy…
By Robbin Laird During my visit to Helsinki in February 2018, I had a chance to discuss the approach and modernization of Finnish Defense with Jukka Juusti, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence. The Permanent Secretary manages and supervises the activities of the Ministry of Defence together with the…
By Robbin Laird The US has introduced a new generation of combat aircraft. These aircraft are different from legacy aircraft notably, in that they are designed, crafted and built differently – they are software upgradeable, data rich military aircraft for 21st century forces. The challenge is to build out the…
2018-02-22 By Robbin Laird Without the composites revolution, it would be difficult to image an Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. Equally, without the composites revolution it would be difficult to envisage the successor to the CH-53E being able to lift three times more than its predecessor. The lift is a function of…
2018-03-02 By Robbin Laird According to an Airbus Defence and Space press release dated March 1, 2018, Belgium's decision to acquire the A300MRTT has highlighted. Madrid, 1 March 2018 – Airbus Defence and Space has received a firm order for an Airbus A330 MRTT Multi Role Tanker Transport from Europe’s…
2018-02-19 Recently, the UK Ministry of Defence signed an agreement with the US to support RAF C-17 heavy lift transport aircraft into the next decade. According to a story published on the UK Ministry of Defence website: The Foreign Military Sale agreement will provide support for the RAF’s fleet of eight…
2018-02-08 By Robbin Laird The S-92® helicopter was first delivered in 2004, and now, there are nearly 300 deployed worldwide by various commercial customers. What makes the S-92 notably of interest for students of military systems is that the S-92 is the first helicopter deployed with digital systems for monitoring…
