Re-crafting the Weapons Enterprise: A Core Strategic Necessity

12/19/2011
12/09/2011 In late November, Second Line of Defense continued the dialogue with Professor Mark Lewis, former Chief Scientist of the USAF, on the emerging opportunities and challenges facing the country in fielding 21st Century capabilities.  Here the focus was upon the need to shape a weapons enterprise built around 5th generation…

Misplaced Blame: The Politicization of Counterfeit Electronics

12/14/2011
12/14/2011 - By Leonard Zuga and Michael Pecht After more than a decade of neglect, counterfeit electronics has become a high profile issue, thanks to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee’s investigation of counterfeit electronic parts in military weapons systems and the proposed U.S. Senate Bill S.1228, known as the…

The Evolution of Maritime Robotic Systems

12/09/2011
12/09/2011 - In a wide ranging discussion with General Heinz, former PEO of the F-35 program and now head of Maritime Systems in I Robot (and working for the former head of NAVAIR, now the COO of I Robot), the current state of Maritime Robotic systems was discussed as well…

A Russian Perspective on the Evolving Military Aviation Market

11/12/2011
11/12/2011 Aero3A News and Communications Agency has provided an interesting interview with Alexei Fedorov President of IRKUT Corporation which gives a sense of his views on the evolving military aviation marketspace.  These questions and responses were prepared for the forthcoming Dubai Air Show. What are perspectives of IRKUT Corp on…

While the USAF Waits for Its New Tankers

10/26/2011
10/26/2011 Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) crews started flight training on their first A330 MRTT with Airbus Military instructors at the Airbus Military Getafe facilities in Spain yesterday 25th October. This will allow the crews to qualify for Air Logistic Transport and Air-to-Air Refueling with pods and boom. Col Pilote…

Enhancing and Defending Air Mobility

10/11/2011
10/11/2011 U.S. and allied forces have relied significantly on various air mobility assets in Iraq and Afghanistan and protecting these assets  has been crucial to mission success. Awareness of threats is a precondition for dealing with them. Coping with various manpads threats to air assets is a significant and constant…