2015-04-21 By Robbin Laird On April 8, 2015, I returned to Seville and visited both the Final Assembly Line and the training facility for the A400M. This was the first time I had visited the training facility but the third time I have seen the FAL. The program is ramping…
2015-04-14 By Robbin Laird Logistics is certainly the dark art or science of military capability. Indeed, one problem facing broader understanding of the centrality of logistics, notably expeditionary logistics in support of joint or coalition operations, is that the crucial role of logistics in operations is not viewed by politicians…
2015-04-20 By Robbin Laird Lt. General Robling recently retired as Commanding General, Marine Corps Forces Pacific (CG MARFORPAC) and is now serving as the CEO of PKL Services, Inc. (PKL), an aerospace services firm. PKL is headquartered in Poway, California, and throughout its now ten years of operation, has employed…
2015-03-22 By Robbin Laird UID and RFID technologies have been important enablers of change in the world of logistics. But one can be forgiven for confusing the technology with the outcome. The new technologies can provide sensor data on things in motion; the challenge is to turn that data into…
2015-03-15 The F-35 is not simply a replacement airplane; it is a 21st century air combat system embedded within a unique global enterprise. On the one hand, the commonality of the software on the F-35 allows for allies to develop missiles for "their" F-35s and have "their" missiles available for…
2015-03-10 In an interesting piece published in the Air and Space Power Journal, Dr. Robert C. Owen takes a look at how to rethink tanking support for deployed forces. We have focused in our book The Remaking of American Military Power in the Pacific and in various analytical pieces and…
2015-03-17 By Robbin Laird The introduction of new sensors into the supply chain has provided a solid basis for starting to think differently about how to manage the supply chain and the entire logistics custodial system. As Secretary Wynne underscored in his interview on the start of an industry, the…
2015-03-04 By Robbin Laird The F-35 program has been built around a very different manufacturing model for fighter jets, more modeled on what an Airbus would do than the more traditional station build approach. The F-35 is to be built on three final assembly lines (FALs)– Fort Worth, Cameri, and…
