With the French Forces In Afghanistan: At Crucial Point of Transition

06/26/2012
06/26/12: Second Line of Defense’s Murielle Delaporte recently spent ten days with the French forces in Afghanistan on the ground.   We interviewed her today by phone, just after her return to Paris.  She returned on the same plane with the dead and wounded from the Taliban terrorist attack in Kapisa.…

China-Iraq Ties: Oil, Arms, and Influence

06/25/2012
6/25/12: By Richard Weitz Sino-Iraq relations will likely continue to strengthen in the near future. China, which imports more than half its oil, needs Iraqi energy, while Iraq, which continues to suffer from sectarian violence and an unstable political environment, depends heavily on China’s willingness to invest in the country…

Quickstep signs contract for even more advanced F-35 composites

06/25/2012
6/24/12: Quickstep Holdings has secured its second Long Term Agreement (LTA) with Northrop Grumman to manufacture parts for the international F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, allowing the company to manufacture more complex parts for the aircrafts. Quickstep, based in Perth, is an advanced composites manufacturer currently supplying…

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Stockpile Management: An Update

06/24/2012
6/24/12: By Richard Weitz On November 10, 2011, the Center for Science, Technology, and Security Policy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Hudson Institute Center for Political-Military Analysis and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) hosted a workshop to discuss the future of the Department…

Allies and the F-35: Getting on With It

06/24/2012
6/24/12: by Ed Timperlake A recent Heritage Foundation seminar focused on the F-35 and allies. The presentations were by Colonel Kevin J. Killea, 
United States Marine Corps, Dr. Robbin F. Laird, 
Co-Founder and Senior Analyst, Second Line of Defense and Anthony “Lazer” Lazarski 
Military Legislative Assistant, Office of Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK). The…

New Australian F-35 Facility

06/22/2012
Northrop Grumman F-35 Supplier Quickstep Opens New Facility BANKSTOWN, Australia, June 22, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ Northrop Grumman Corporation's largest F-35 Australian supplier--Quickstep Technologies Pty Ltd.--opened a new facility in Bankstown, Australia. Quickstep supplies composite skins and subassemblies for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter center fuselage that is…

The Norwegian F-35 Decision: Understanding the Impact of Weapons Integration

06/21/2012
6/21/12: by Robbin Laird A key element of the F-35 decision by Norway was the acceptance of the integration of a new Kongsberg missile onto the F-35 itself. Through the development of the Naval Strike Missile (NSM), the Norwegian Armed Forces has established KONGSBERG and other Norwegian industry in the…