Another Aspect of F-35 Culture Change: Building Out the Cameri Facility

11/03/2013
2013-11-03 By Robbin Laird During my visit to Cameri in October 2013, I had a chance to visit the Cameri facility with Fred Napurano, the Italian Program In-Country Operations Lead for Lockheed Martin. Napurano is the key person interacting with Alenia Aermacchi (AAeM) to assist in the standup of the facility. The…

Building Out an F-35 Fleet Sustainment Center in Italy

11/01/2013
2013-11-01 By Robbin Laird During my October 2013 visit to Italy, I spent two days at the Cameri F-35 facility. While there, I had a chance to discuss the facility and the approach of the Italians with Debra Palmer, Lockheed Martin’s General Manager at the facility. Palmer comes from a military…

The Italian Way of Procuring the F-35: Shaping a European Base for the Global Fleet

11/01/2013
2013-11-01 By Robbin Laird During my trip to Italy in October 2013, I was able to spend two days at the Cameri F-35 facilities and to then discuss my visit with two senior Italian Air Force officials, intimately familiar with the program and the Cameri effort. I sat down with Lt.…

The Zumwalt Leaves its Dry Dock

10/31/2013
10/30/2013: The Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer DDG 1000 is floated out of dry dock at the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard. The ship, the first of three Zumwalt-class destroyers, will provide independent forward presence and deterrence, support special operations forces and operate as part of joint and combined expeditionary forces.…