Visiting Checkpoint Charlie: Veterans Day, Armistice Day, and the 30 Year Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

11/11/2019
By Robbin Laird I am in Berlin today for the International Fighter Conference 2019 which starts tomorrow. I took the opportunity to revisit Checkpoint Charlie. It is now a museum, but also a testament to the will of the West to defend liberal democracy against the Soviet Union. I often…

Supply Chain Vulnerabilities: “Losing Without Fighting”

11/10/2019
As John Blackburn has put it recently, if we do not pay much closer focus and care with regard to our supply chains, both civilian and military, we could find ourselves in the position of "losing with fighting." Air Vice Marshal (Retired) has focused much of his research and public…

Projecting Power with the F-35 in the Direct Defense of Australia

11/10/2019
By Marcus Hellyer One of the ironies of the current debate about how Australia should adjust its military strategy in light of the changing great-power balance in the Indo-Pacific is that many of the participants—regardless of their views on the future of US military power—make similar recommendations, namely, that Australia…

Indian Defense Minister in Moscow

11/10/2019
By India Strategic New Delhi. The 19th India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC) meeting, co-chaired by Defence Minister Mr Rajnath Singh and Russian Defence Minister General Sergey Shoigu was held in Moscow on November 6th. Defence Minister inspected the Guard of Honour at the Russian Defence…

European F-35 Milestones: November 2019

11/10/2019
By Andrew McLaughlin Two European JSF partner nations operators have achieved significant milestones with their F-35A Lightning II fleets. On November 6, Norway declared it had achieved an initial operational capability (IOC) of its F-35A following a testing deployment to Rygge Air Station, away from its Ørland Main Air Station…

Northrop Grumman Delivers 500th AN/APG-81 AESA radar for F-35

11/09/2019
Northrop Grumman has delivered its 500th AN/APG-81 fire control radar for the F-35 Lightning II. The Northrop Grumman AN/APG-81 active electronically scanned array is the cornerstone of the F-35s advanced sensor suite, providing unparalleled battlespace situational awareness that translates into platform lethality, effectiveness and survivability.  “As a principal member of the…