Royal Australian Navy Brings HMAS Sirius Back On-Line: Reinforcing Replenishment Capabilities

03/13/2017
2017-03-13  According to an article published on the Australian Navy website on March 13, 2017 and written by Lt. Todd Fitzgerald, the Australian fleet has brought HMAS Sirius back on line. The Royal Australian Navy’s replenishment capability is operating at capacity once again with HMAS Sirius back in the brine after four…

UK Invests in Scottish Airbases

03/03/2017
2017-02-25 Second Line of Defense has visited several RAF bases over the past few years. Last year, we produced a report on one of those bases, RAF Lossiemouth, which is to receive P-8s as well as to operate Typhoons. New operational capabilities will require significant upgrades to the base to execute their missions.…

The Transformation of Norwegian Defense: Germany, Norway and Submarine Acquisition

02/12/2017
2017-02-12 By Robbin Laird Last week, I attended an airpower conference sponsored by the Norwegian Air Force and held in Trondheim, Norway. The title of the conference was about the shaping of a fifth generation air force, but in reality the conference focused on multi-domain integration and defense transformation in the…

RAF Lossiemouth and the P-8: Center of Coalition Maritime Domain Awareness Strike Capability

01/27/2017
2017-01-27 Last year, in a visit to Norway, the UK Minister of Defence signed an agreement with Norway in the wake of Norway’s decision to procure the P-8. As we have written elsewhere about the P-8, it is a 21st century maritime domain awareness strike capability. https://sldinfo.com/the-arrival-of-a-maritime-domain-awareness-strike-capability-the-impact-of-the-p-8triton-dyad/ According to a story…

C-295W as Inflight Helo Refueler

01/17/2017
2017-01-17 The C-295 is an evolving lift and support aircraft. The W version has several enhancements to the legacy aircraft. In a Trade Media Briefing held on May 29 and 30 2013, Airbus highlighted the changes associated with the C-295W. According to Airbus Military: Featuring winglets and uprated engines as standard,…

Marines and Expeditionary Runways

01/14/2017
2017-01-14  According to a story published on December 23, 2016 by Cpl. Aaron Henson, Marines based at Iwakuni, Japan recently exercised their capabilities to employ expeditionary runways. U.S. Marines with Marine Air Control Squadron 4 Detachment Bravo, Marine Air Traffic Control Mobile Team, conducted aircraft landing zone training at Marine…