July 10, 2012 With the delivery of four Lockheed Martin [NYSE:LMT] F-35 Lightning II aircraft since June 29, an important milestone was achieved as the Department of Defense now possesses more operational-coded F-35s than test aircraft. A total of nine F-35s have been delivered for the year, giving the DOD a…
July 10, 2012 F-35 program accrued the highest number of test points in single month during June, an accomplishment indicative of the program’s ongoing maturation. Additionally, for the 18th consecutive month the F-35 test program remained ahead of plan. As of June 30, the F-35 Lightning II 5th Generation multirole…
7/9/12: by Robbin Laird Building new platforms in the 21st century is challenging. caroThe challenge in part is that it has been so long since new air platforms have been built that an entire generation has grown up as the recipients of the work of the 50s and 60s and…
By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake This year’s Farnbourgh Airshow is occurring at an interesting juncture in history. On the financial side, there is the Euro crisis, and various dynamics such as the fate of the Chinese and American economies. On the defense side, there is the end of a…
07/6/12: by Richard Weitz A team of Russian defense analysts at the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) in Moscow have produced the most comprehensive and comprehensible study of the Chinese defense industry in any language. In Shooting Star: China’s Military Machine in the 21st Century, Mikhail…
7/5/12: by Richard Weitz The Russians are increasingly concerned with Chinese nuclear forces and their growth. The recent U.S. release of a paper by Russian General Viktor Yesin, a former chief of staff of Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces, on “China’s Nuclear Potential,” which calculates that China probably has between 1,600…
7/4/12: On Tuesday, June 26, 2012, the Hudson Institute hosted a lunchtime talk of former senior military officers and civilian national security policy makers to discuss security developments in Europe and Afghanistan. Among the guests were Lieutenant General (retired) Jean-Patrick Gaviard, French civilian strategists Olivier Zajec and Murielle Delaporte, and…
7/3/12: by Robbin Laird During the U.S. tanker competition, one journalist made the comment that this was simply a competition about a gas station in the sky. This comment revealed only partial understanding of what a modern air tanker can bring to operations. The A330 MRTT tanker as a fleet…
