2017-10-14 The F-22 was labelled a "Cold War" aircraft by the last President and became a key target for Secretary Gates in terms of moving the USAF into a key role for supporting the ground forces, rather than providing for multi-mission air dominance for a much wider range of tasks,…
2017-10-14 The 4th Fighter Squadron (FS) ‘Fighting Fuujins’ and 4th Aircraft Maintenance Unit (AMU) received a first F-35A at Hill Air Force Base, Utah at the end of September. According to an article published in Air Forces Monthly: The latest Lightning II to arrive at Hill was tail number 5133. [caption…
2017-10-14 Many years ago, Second Line of Defense visited Eglin AFB prior to standing up of the F-35 training facility. Now that training facility has not only matured but is part of a global training network. Recently, Eglin saw a milestone achieved with the 500th F-35 pilot taking to the…
2017-10-14 As the first Queen Elizabeth class carrier has begun its two year period of sea trials earlier this year. Part of the preparation for operations is ski jump training for F-35B pilots. This training is being initially at Pax River where a ski jump test and training facility has…
2017-10-06 By Robbin Laird and Murielle Delaporte Canada has placed a priority on anti-submarine warfare in its NATO contribution. According to the Royal Canadian Air Force Chief of Staff, Lt. General Hood, “I am exceptionally proud of our ASW capability and when I couple it with the new advanced capability…
2017-10-07 By Robbin Laird With the significant operational tempo on the US tanker fleet and with the inability to replace the older KC-135s expeditiously, the KC-10s have become a workhorse of the USAF tanker fleet. Earlier some questioned the value of a larger tanker in doing the wide variety of…
10/10/2017: In September 2017, Sweden hosted Exercise Aurora, its largest military exercise in nearly 25 years. The exercise involved nearly 30 per cent of the Swedish Armed Forces, as well as troop contributions from NATO Allied and partner countries - which joined on a bilateral basis. The goal of the exercise…
2017-10-05 By Robbin Laird The USAF has seen more than a decade in which a primary function has been to support ground operations. The USAF has served as Fed Ex, a flying gas station, a strike and ISR server in the sky for various types of ground operations. The end…
