2012-09-04 By Robbin Laird I had the opportunity to visit the 33rd Fighter Wing on August 24, 2012. I first visited the wing in January 2010, and much of what I saw this month was aspirational in January 2010. Seeing pilots and maintainers populating classrooms, and planes on the tarmac, flying…
2012-08-23 In a wide-ranging interview with Christopher Thayer, Director, Contractor Operated Ships, Military Sealift Command, the role of his Directorate in the re-structured MSC was discussed as well as a new asset coming into the MSC fleet, the Joint High Speed Vessel. Mr. Thayer was appointed as the Director, Contractor…
06/26/12: Second Line of Defense’s Murielle Delaporte recently spent ten days with the French forces in Afghanistan on the ground. We interviewed her today by phone, just after her return to Paris. She returned on the same plane with the dead and wounded from the Taliban terrorist attack in Kapisa.…
by Robbin Laird In a series of articles for AOL Defense, I am going to look at several elements of re-shaping U.S. forces to enable an Asian pivot. And intend to look at several neglected aspects of a sustainable power projection force for the 21st century. The U.S. can afford…
6/11/12: By Robbin Laird One of the more interesting presentations at the Airbus Military Trade Media Brief 2012 was by the head of training at Airbus Military. Ian Burrett, Head of Training and Aircrew Operations, Customer Services, provided an overview of the approach and the standing up of the baseline…
6/8/12: We have focused earlier on what is in the baseline F-35 in terms of capability. https://www.sldinfo.com/the-baseline-f-35/ One aspect of the baseline aircraft which we did not focus on in that discussion was the common global language built into every manufactured aircraft which comes off the assembly line. Because the…
In our series on Bold Alligator 2012, we examined various aspects of littoral operations highlighted in the exercise. And we did so with the future evolution of such capabilities in mind. We will soon publish our analytical take on how to think differently with regard to littoral engagement in light…
5/5/2012 The Military Sealift Command is not the most visible element of the USN-USMC team, unless you are at sea and need their support. Whether support directly from the ships or from the air assets they fly to provide for vertical replenishment, the more than 100 MSC ships are the…
