Visiting the Headquarters of Fleet Base East: Shaping an Infrastructure for a 21st Century Fleet

09/19/2016
2016-09-19 By Robbin Laird On the Friday after the Williams seminar on air-sea integration, I had the chance to tour the headquarters of the Australian Navy’s Fleet Base East on Garden Island, Sydney. Garden Island is the largest historic naval area on Sydney Harbour, with use going back to the founding…

Transforming the Power Projection Forces for the Liberal Democracies

09/17/2016
2016-09-12 By Robbin Laird The period ahead could be a very deadly one for the liberal democracies. Ill-liberal powers whether they be states (Russia, China or Iran) or irredentist movements spouting 12th century values are clearly working to change the global order to their advantage. Many factors of power are…

The Brexit Challenge to European Defense: Italy Proposes a “Schengen of Defence”

09/17/2016
2016-09-17  According to the Italian Ministry of Defence, Italy is looking to expand European defense efforts in the context of the Brexit dynamic. Minister Pinotti, during a joint interview with Minister of Foreign Affairs Paolo Gentiloni to French magazine  "Le Monde", expressed her  hope that "a multinational European force based…

Becoming an F-22 Multi-Tasking Combat Aviator

09/14/2016
2016-09-08 The key to understanding fifth generation combat aviation is sensor fusion and the man-mashine working relationship built into the cockpit.  The F-22 started the  process; the F-35 continues it. At the heart of the new capability is moving from being a sequential multi-mission pilot directing the combat capabilities of…

F-35 and Aegis: Preparing For the Integrated Fight in the Extended Battlespace

09/14/2016
2016-09-14 Many years ago we wrote about the long reach of Aegis and the emergence of the offensive defensive enterprise. Combining Aegis with the new Joint Strike Fighter will enhance coverage and lead to a global honeycomb of defensive capabilities.  Originally designed as a Cold War tool to bolster fleet…

The Way Ahead for the RAAF in the Joint Forces Space and the Coming of the F-35: The Perspective of Air Commodore Kitcher

09/12/2016
2016-09-04 By Robbin Laird Prior to the Williams Foundation seminar on air-sea integration, I had a chance to sit down with Air Commodore Kitcher and to discuss the way ahead for the RAAF in the joint combat space. He is the Director General of Capability Planning in the RAAF. Air…