2015-02-09 by defenceWeb Embraer on February 3 performed the first flight of its new KC-390 military transport. Test pilots Mozart Louzada and Marcos Salgado de Oliveira Lima and flight test engineers Raphael Lima and Roberto Becker flew the aircraft for 1 hour and 25 minutes, evaluating flying qualities and performance."This…
2015-02-08 By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake The first day of our visit to the USAF Warfare Center was defined by the arrival of the first F-35 specifically for the Weapons School. The arrival of the Block 3 aircraft is the first of several which allow the Weapons School to…
2015-02-07 By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake During our visit to the USAF Warfare Center we had a chance to sit down with Lt. Col. Benjamin “Bach” Bishop, the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron director of operations, to discuss his experience with the Operational Testing of the F-35, and the…
2015-02-06 Secretary Hagel participated in the recent NATO ministerial at NATO headquarters, and spoke about how he saw the challenges facing the Alliance. He highlighted the cross-cutting impact of three threats: Russian seizure of Crimea and threats to the North; terrorism at home in the NATO territories; and combating ISIL…
02/06/2015 Second Line of Defense attended the ceremony for the arrival of the first F-35A to the USAF Weapons School on January 15, 2015. There are already 4 F-35As here with the test wing, but this is the first full up IOC template F-35A, which will be put through its paces…
2015-02-04 By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake During our visit to Nellis AFB we had the chance to sit down with Col. Ted “Vader” Dempsey, the Commander of the Nevada Test and Training Range. According to a local Georgia paper (in a piece published in March 2014) which highlighted Dempsey’s…
02/02/2015 By Robbin Laird During my trip to Australia last year, I had a chance to visit two new squadrons within the Royal Australian Air Force: the Wedgetail and KC-30A squadrons. Both are part of the transformation of the RAAF into a powerful, integrated medium weight air force capable of…
2015-02-02 By Ed Timperlake "We are entering an era where American dominance in key warfighting domains is eroding, and we must find new and creative ways to sustain, and in some areas expand, our advantages," Hagel said in a memo to Pentagon leaders announcing his innovation initiative. Hagel noted that while the…
