A Double 7 for the A400M: French and UK Air Forces Ramp Up

09/19/2015
2015-09-19  In June, the French Air Force received its 7th A400M. The aircraft delivered to France was the 13th production aircraft of 174 currently on order Then this month, the Royal Air Force received its 7th A400M. [caption id="attachment_80698" align="alignnone" width="300"] MSN 24, the 7th RAF A400M. Credit: Airbus Defence…

Looking Back and Looking Forward in 21st Century Warfare: Air Marshal (Retired) Geoff Brown Looks at the Evolution of Airpower

09/19/2015
2015-09-18 By Robbin Laird Air Marshal Geoff Brown retired on July 3, 2015 when Leo Davies became the new Air Marshal for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Although retired, no one would consider Geoff Brown retiring in any sense of the word. After having interviewed the current Air Marshal…

New British Carriers: Working with the USN-USMC Team to Redefine the Air-Enabled Insertion Force

09/19/2015
2015-09-19 By Robbin Laird © 2015 FrontLine Defence (Vol 12, No 4) The British invented carrier warfare – and now, with their new Queen Elizabeth Class of carriers, they are working their own version of the 21st century strike carrier. Using global lessons learned, they are reinventing the large deck…

The Challenge for Independent Defense Journalism

09/18/2015
2015/09/18 By Chris MacLean In a thought-provoking commentary in this edition of Front Line Defence, retired Major-General Doug Dempster talks about the importance of “quality” as an equal, if not the most important, piece of the defence procurement puzzle. His comments bring to mind the challenges faced by media publishers. Defence…

The Co-Directors of Plan Jericho: Group Captain Rob Chipman and Group Captain Jake Campbell Discuss the Way Ahead for the RAAF

09/17/2015
2015-08-29 By Robbin Laird Prior to the Williams Foundation Workshop on Plan Jericho, I had a chance to sit down with the two co-directors of Plan Jericho in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in their offices in the Ministry of Defence. The co-directors led the afternoon session of the…

A Discussion with the Australian Air Chief: Air Marshal Davies Discusses Iraq, Plan Jericho and the Way Ahead

09/12/2015
2015-08-28  By Robbin Laird When then Air Vice Marshal Davies was in Washington DC earlier this year, I had a chance to discuss with him his thinking about the way ahead for the RAAF and defense transformation. Air Vice-Marshal Davies highlighted that a key trajectory for force transformation was to…