Standing Up European F-35 Sustainment Centers

12/13/2014
2014-12-13 The F-35 is not an airplane, but an air system. And one which will be global in character. Operationally, the impact of an integrated F-35 fleet will be significant. And no less so will be the global sustainment possibilities inherent in the program. The program has built in a…

Standing up the Luke AFB Pilot Training Center: A Key Enabler of the F-35 Global Operations

11/20/2014
2014-11-11 By Robbin Laird Standing up the Luke AFB Pilot Training Center: A Key Enabler of the F-35 Global Operations The F-35 is a global enterprise in the making. The impact of a global community of F-35 users on coalition operations will be very significant in shaping collaborative concepts of…

The Black Sea as a Flashpoint in Managing Maritime Security

11/19/2014
2014-11-19  By Risk Intelligence The Black Sea region has in the past 12 months been dominating maritime and political media reporting. [caption id="attachment_72342" align="alignnone" width="300"] Black Sea Ports. Credit: Risk Intelligence  [/caption] There have been key political issues in the Ukraine and in Turkey. There has been as well the re-emergence…

The A400M in Service with the French Air Force: Shaping A Solid Foundation for the Future

11/01/2014
2014-10-23 By Murielle Delaporte The French Air Force has activated its first 400M squadron. And it did not take much time for the new plane to be put to operational use. The A400M in the past months has been involved in various theater missions for Operations Barkhane in the Sahelo-Saharan…

USS America Arrives in San Diego: Enabling the Tiltrotar Assault Force

09/16/2014
2014-09-16  The arrival of the USS America in San Diego marks the completion of a two-month transit around South America from Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. America is the first ship of its class, replacing the Tarawa-class of amphibious assault ships. As the next generation "big-deck" amphibious assault ship, America…

Shaping an Integrated Combat Capability: Leveraging F-35 Commonality

08/28/2014
2014-08-28 Earlier, in our discussion with Major Summa, the executive officer of VFMA-121, the first operational U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) F-35 Squadron, the aviator emphasized the impact commonality was already having. Working with the other service pilots provides an important window on where we want to go with the concepts…