2017-01-08 By Robbin Laird As Mark Lewis, the former Chief Scientist of the USAF, has warned repeatedly, high speed weapons, notably hypersonic ones, are on the way and will be part of the evolving threat environment. As he wrote in 2010: Aerospace engineering is ultimately about pushing the boundaries, and…
2017-01-05 By Paul Bracken, Yale University The most interesting thing about the second nuclear age is that it actually came about. It wasn’t supposed to happen, at least according to most political science theory. What was supposed to happen after the cold war was a reinvigorated global nuclear nonproliferation regime,…
2017-01-07 By Robbin Laird A simple news release highlights the evolving USN-USMC combat team as a key step forward in shaping the combat infrastructure for the sea base which can support evolving capabilities for the assault force. According to a press release from the USMC dated January 6, 2017: The…
2017-01-14 According to a story published on December 23, 2016 by Cpl. Aaron Henson, Marines based at Iwakuni, Japan recently exercised their capabilities to employ expeditionary runways. U.S. Marines with Marine Air Control Squadron 4 Detachment Bravo, Marine Air Traffic Control Mobile Team, conducted aircraft landing zone training at Marine…
2017-01-14 It is a new year and a new plane has arrived at the Orléans-Bricy airbase in France on January 6, 2017. This is the 11th A400M for the French Air Force. http://www.defense.gouv.fr/air/fil-d-actualite/le-11e-a400m-se-pose-sur-le-tarmac-de-bricy As the squadron commander for the A400M noted in our 2015 interview: One of the key advantages of…
2017-01-14 ŠIAULIAI, Lithuania On 5 January 2017, NATO’s Baltic Air Policing (BAP) mission entered its 43rd rotation since its beginning in 2004. After four months of leading the mission, France handed over the symbolic key to the Baltic Airspace to the Netherlands at the traditional ceremony held at Šiauliai Air Base. The…
2017-01-09 A subtle but important contribution of shaping a global F-35 system is the US services and core allies deploy similar high-end warfighting capability at the SAME time. This means that there is collective learning of higher end warfare shared across the services and the coalition partners built in. When…
01/12/2017: MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, California (January 10, 2017) Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121, an F-35B squadron with 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, departed Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, transferring to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Jan. 9, 2017. The first location to receive the Marine Corps' F-35B,…
