2013-04-19 Airbus broke ground April 8, 2013 on a final assembly facility at Mobile’s Brookley Aeroplex. The facility – dedicated solely to the production of A320 family aircraft – will employ 1,000 people at full production, deliver its first Mobile-made planes in 2016 and is expected to become the nucleus…
2013-04-18 The F-35 as a fleet is a key foundational element for the future of US power projection. The F-35 has been designed from the ground up to provide for interconnected ISR and strike capabilities which can be leveraged as a fleet to enable more effective use of U.S. and…
2013-04-15 Robbin Laird My family and I will be participating in an event honoring the B-17 crews this summer in France. In preparing for the event and my presentation on the B-17, I have had the chance to read through many books, and diaries of participants or analysts of the…
2013-04-08 Recently, we released a report on what we are calling a 21st Century weapons enterprise. We are focusing on the impact of new relationships among 5th generation aircraft, weapons and robotics, which can reshape how platforms operate together and how strike is delivered. At the heart of the change…
2013-04-01 By Robbin Laird and Murielle Delaporte Recently, we attended a christening of a new class of US Navy ships called the Mobile Landing Platform. As we looked at the ship from San Diego Harbor, the big gaping hole in the middle is where the change has come: The ship…
2013-03-30 By Scott C. Truver The U.S. Coast Guard has in place ambitious programs that will revitalize the U.S. cutter force to meet the daunting requirements of the 21st Century. Three highly capable cutter classes are underway in March 2013. First, the Legend-class high-endurance National Security Cutters (NSCs) have been…
2013-03-27 Singapore is poised to be the first user of F-35Bs buying them to operate largely from land bases. The significance of the deployment flexibility has not been lost on Singapore. The forthcoming decision will add Singapore to three other members of the B working group, namely, the USN-USMC, the…
2013-03-24 Similar to Italy, Japan is going to build a FAL similar to what Italy has built, according to Jane’s. According to Jon Grevatt in an article posted on 3/22/13: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is preparing to invest billions of yen to construct an assembly line to support its licensed…
