Building an 8,000-Hour Tactical Aircraft: 21st Century Materials Technology

08/03/2015
2015-07-27 By Ed Timperlake and Robbin Laird “Scientists dream about doing great things. Engineers do them” from the James Michener book Space. The quote originated from one of the legendary American Aeronautical Engineers, Jack Runckel who began with NACA before WWII and finished with NASA. As many history books state:…

Europe Reconsidering Itself

08/03/2015
2015-07-23  By Harald Malmgren In parallel to the Eurogroup-Greece imbroglio Europe has also found itself torn by other conflicting political and security priorities. Paramount for some European nations are the growing tensions with Russia. President Putin’s aggressive behavior in the Ukraine continues, and there are signs of intention to extend…

Next Steps in NATO Missile Defense

08/02/2015
2015-08-01 By Richard Weitz At the 2010 Lisbon summit, NATO decided to make missile defense a priority mission and committed to protect European populations and territory from missile attacks as well as their deployed armed forces. The NATO decision did not highlight any particular country as a threat but cited…

The U.S. Missile Defense Agenda in the Asia-Pacific Region: Australia and Beyond

08/02/2015
2015-08-02 By Richard Weitz The United States aims to avert regional conflicts and aggressive actions against its Asian allies and partners. Missile defense is a core component of this U.S. strategy in Asia, along with regional diplomacy (strengthening old alliances while building new friendships), economic initiatives like the Trans-Pacific Partnership,…

Preparing for the Next Phase of Asset Transparency: Global Operationally Sustainment Chains

08/01/2015
2015-07-20 By Robbin Laird We have heard a lot of the years about supply chains, getting more transparency in supply chains, building “smart” supply chains, driving “value” from the supply chain and things like “just in time delivery” to lower costs while having effective support. Of course, these civilian terms…

The Last Flight of the Q-F4: The F-4 No Longer Drones On

07/27/2015
2015-07-25  Lt. Col. Todd Houchins, 53rd Test Support Squadron commander, pilots the last 82nd Aerial Target Squadron QF-4 Phantom on Tyndall Air Force Base during the final take off, July 24. The QF-4 Phantom will travel to Holloman Air Force Base, N.M. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Javier…