By Robbin Laird Nuclear deterrence is back on the agenda for NATO and the United States. The buildup of the Russian missile arsenal, short, medium and long range, with clear violations of INF limitations are designed less to create a so-called anti-access and area denial capability than an arsenal designed…
By Robbin Laird In my last article focused on CH-53K sustainment, I highlighted how the next generation digital aircraft reshape how sustainment is managed and executed. I concluded that “the CH-53K is a smart aircraft birthed in a digital age that is doing support and manufacturing differently. In other words,…
By Robbin Laird The Germans had a clear opportunity to acquire F-35s as their Tornado replacement aircraft and chose not to do so. Unlike other Tornado users, namely, Britain and Italy, the F-35 was put aside in favor of a new Eurofighter replacement option known as the Future Combat Air…
By Australian Defence Business Review Following the cancellation of its largest biennial air defence exercise – Exercise Pitch Black 2020 – because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the RAAF recently conducted a Virtual Pitch Black 2020 (VPB20) in order to at least partly meet its training objectives for the year. The…
The Japanese are reworking their defense capabilities to provide for enhanced perimeter defense. We projected this trajectory for Japanese defense policy in our book on Pacific defense published in 2013. According to the preface to the Japanese Ministry of Defence's overview of the way ahead for its defense programs: Japan…
By Robbin Laird The remotely piloted solution (Pegasus) versus a manned aircraft solution (Global 6000) for airborne SIGINT should take into account the coming of AGS to NATO. The NATO Air Ground Surveillance approach is built around a remotely piloted solution which dovetails nicely with such a solution for airborne…
According to the Australian Department of Defence in a press release dated August 13, 2020: "HMAS Canberra and embarked forces returned to Australia after successfully completing Regional Presence Deployment 2020. "The Australian Defence Force has embarked on a regional deployment to conduct exercises within Southeast Asia and Hawaii over the…
According to an August 21, 2020 release by Naval Air Station Patuxent River, the CH-53K sea trials went extremely well. A team of pilots and engineers from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (HX) 21 based at Naval Air Station Patuxent River recently completed a crucial series of sea trials of…
