7/9/12: by Robbin Laird Building new platforms in the 21st century is challenging. caroThe challenge in part is that it has been so long since new air platforms have been built that an entire generation has grown up as the recipients of the work of the 50s and 60s and…
By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake This year’s Farnbourgh Airshow is occurring at an interesting juncture in history. On the financial side, there is the Euro crisis, and various dynamics such as the fate of the Chinese and American economies. On the defense side, there is the end of a…
6/21/12: by Robbin Laird A key element of the F-35 decision by Norway was the acceptance of the integration of a new Kongsberg missile onto the F-35 itself. Through the development of the Naval Strike Missile (NSM), the Norwegian Armed Forces has established KONGSBERG and other Norwegian industry in the…
6/15/12: Next week, the new demonstration helicopter the X3 will be visiting the United States. Second Line of Defense will be there as the tour kicks off in Dallas Texas. SLD first saw the new helo at the Paris Air Show last year, and we are looking forward to catching…
6/8/12: The A400M is being built with the 21st century approach to fleet management in mind. Ranging from Unique Identification Tags built in, to multinational training, to providing for global support, the A400M has the advantages inherent in advanced manufacturing. As we argued earlier: It was clear notably with the…
06/7/12: by Bill Anderson The National Network for Manufacturing Innovation Take a drive through any industrial city across the United States. Take a good look at the shuttered factories behind locked gates that not so long ago manufactured quality televisions, clothing, shoes, automobiles and, quite importantly, critical military equipment to…
5/30/12: By Robbin Laird I am returning from the two-day event held each year at Airbus Military called the Trade Media Briefing. This one is of course TMB-12. This year, the trade press started in Madrid and then went to Toulouse to hear presentations on the state of play of…
5/30/2012 By Robbin Laird I had a chance to meet and talk with M. Ghazemy Mahmud, the editor of the Malaysian based Asian Defence Journal about his impressions of the recently completed A400M tour of Asia and perceptions of how the A400M would fit into Asian plans and thinking about…
