2016-02-10 By Richard Weitz U.S., Japanese, and South Korean diplomats are pushing Russia and China to adopt a hardline in response to the recent DPRK nuclear and missile tests. This pursuit is likely to be in vain, though fortunately Seoul and Washington have more direct options that they can pursue.…
2016-02-12 According to an article published by our partner defenceWeb, Egypt is to receive both Mistral class ships later this year. The Egyptian Navy will take delivery of its two Mistral class landing helicopter dock (LHD) vessels in June and September this year from French shipyard DCNS. According to AFP,…
2016-02-04 By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake Pax River is the home of a key F-35 Integrated Test Force (ITF), which is focused on various aspects of the sea services F-35Bs and F-35Cs. The ITF test regime is on the airframe, and flying characteristics in modes both symmetric and asymmetric,…
2016-02-04 By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake Our visit to the Pax River Integrated Test Force (ITF) concluded with an interview with two members of the British contingent of the ITF, along with a senior U.S. test engineer — which, in itself, was a demonstration of how the ITF works as…
2016-02-08 The week prior to the first transatlantic flight of the F-35, this one done by an Italian pilot, a USAF pilot became the first pilot to fly 500 hours on the F-35. According to an article by Airman First Class Ridge Shan, 56th Fighter Wing, and published February 3,…
2016-02-04 By Ed Timperlake and Robbin Laird In a visit to Pax River on January 8, 2015, we had a chance to talk with members of the Integrated Test Team at Pax River, which includes Marines, Navy, Brits and civilians as well as contractors. This team is wringing out the…
2016-02-07 The UK MoD has been a pioneer in services contracts and outsourcing those contracts over the years. The Public Financing Approach or PFI may not be the quickest way to put in place an acquisition and support system. but the UK government uses the approach to leverage the private…
At 1430 on February 5th, the first Italian made F-35A flew into the pattern at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Maryland and touched down. Known to all Naval Aviators as “Pax” this historic flight of an Italian fighter pilot, wearing his cold water survival suit, flew the single seat, single engine F-35A…