Osprey: a heavier medium-lift capacity

11/18/2010
An Update from New River (V) [download PDF of full report] An Interview With Lieutenant-Colonel Garcia on the Osprey in Iraq and Afghanistan 11/18/2010 - Lieutenant-Colonel Garcia discussed his time in Iraq and Afghanistan involving both rotorcraft and the Osprey. The tiltrotor craft was used differently in the two countries…

An Update on the Eglin F-35 Training Facility

11/18/2010
An Interview With Colonel Arthur Tomassetti 11/18/2010 - In October 2010, Second Line of Defense visited the F-35 training facility located at Eglin AFB. This is a return visit with the first report emanating from a January 2010 visit.  This report provides an update on progress at the training facility,…

“Fly Before Buy”

11/15/2010
The Air Force Tanker Decision: A ‘Fairer’ Way Forward By Michael W. Wynne,  21st Secretary of the Air Force Credit: KC-135, http://www.aviationexplorer.com 11/17/2010 - The Air Force is confronting a conundrum that in 1998, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) called a mandatory replacement program for the aging tanker fleet.  There…

F-35: “Fighting And Sustaining As A Team”

11/06/2010
Shaping a Fleet Sustainment Strategy For The Next Generation Fighter Pilots An Interview With General Art Cameron (Ret.), Director, F-35 Global Sustainment Customer Alignment, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company SLD, September 2010 11/06/2010 - During a visit to the Lockheed Martin F-35 facility in September 2010, SLD sat down with (Retired)…

Preparing for the Maintenance of the F-35 at Langley AFB

11/05/2010
An Interview with Senior Master Sgt. Steven Wehrle and Master Sgt. David Freeman 11/05/2010 - In September 2010, Second Line of Defense sat down with maintainers at Langley AFB to talk about F-22 experiences and preparation for the F-35.  As the maintainers described it, a significant cultural change was underway…

UAS: Shaping the Operational Real Estate

10/28/2010
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and the Future of the Amphibious Force By Vince Martinez Vince Martinez is a regular contributor to Second Line of Defense and is the President and Founder of Affinity Fidelis Consulting and Technologies; a defense consulting firm in Northern Virginia. *** 10/29/2010 - As the military…

The USMC and Expeditionary Logistics

10/27/2010
Reshaping and Incorporating New Capabilities An Interview with Lieutenant-Colonel Applewhite 10/29/2010 - Earlier this summer, Second Line of Defense talked about the most recent USMC logistics game and some of the conclusions that might be drawn from that wargame for USMC approaches to expeditionary logistics.  At the time of the…