2014-07-23 By Robbin Laird During my latest visit to Second Marine Air Wing, I focused upon the USMC evolution of its use of the KC-130J. The Osprey has been a dramatic addition to the USMC and has made it the only tiltrotar assault enabled force in the world. What can…
2014-07-23 It is clear from much of the policy discussion surrounding the F-35 that it is difficult for folks to wrap their minds around what a global support structure might look like. What also makes the discussion difficult is to understand what a F-35 fleet deployed on national territories, on…
2014-07-14 By James Marconi, Military Sealift Command As RIMPAC heads into its underway phase off the coast of Hawaii, USNS Montford Point (MLP 1) tested its state-of-the-art sea basing capabilities 2,500 miles away in San Diego, as part of RIMPAC’s Southern California element. From July 8-10, Montford Point participated in…
2014-07-10 An Interview with Air Vice -Marshal John Blackburn AO (Retd). In an interview with Murielle Delaporte in May 2014, Air Vice-Marshal John Blackburn assesses the evolution of military logistics in Australia, which unique geographic circumstances are a challenge all in itself. Expeditionary by nature, the Australian Defence Force has…
2014-07-11 The Ultra Heavy-Lift Amphibious Connector (UHAC) begins to rotate on the beach, July 9, at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows on Oahu, Hawaii during a Marine Corps Advanced Warfighting Experiment. The AWE is the culmination of a decade of progressive experimentation conducted by the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL)…
2014-07-02 By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake When we wrote our book on the evolution of Pacific challenges and strategy with Richard Weitz, we focused on the core necessity to shape a modular and scalable force to provide for the kind of forward presence, which the US needed to operate…
2014-07-04 Logistic Support Vessel 2 – U.S. Army Vessel CW3 Harold A. Clinger, manned by a 163rd Transportation Detachment crew, got underway from its homeport at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on July 2 to conduct the first of eight surface lifts between Kaneohe Bay and Kawaihae Harbor in support of…
2014-06-15 by Robbin Laird The discussions of the USS America, although few and far between, have really focused on one of two issues: What it does not have, namely a well deck Or that it is an aircraft carrier at 50,000 plus tons and competes with the large deck carrier…