By Robbin Laird The CH-53k is moving forward as the US Navy has signed a contract for LRIP Lot 4. Germany punted on its heavy lift solution, but the CH-53K remains a core solution for the projection of German forces into the Baltic and adjacent neighbors in supporting enhanced defense…
By Robbin Laird During a visit to Naval Air Station, Fallon in November 2020, I had a chance to visit the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC). My visit occurred as the US Navy was hosting the 3rd iteration of a relatively new exercise called Resolute Hunter which is being…
By the Australian Defence Business Review The Royal Australian Air Force has declared an initial operational capability (IOC) of its Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighter capability. Just two years after the first two F-35As arrived in Australia, the RAAF now has 30 F-35As in service with 3SQN and 2 Operational…
By India Strategic New Delhi. The Government has cleared production and acquisition of 83 indigenous HAL-made Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas for Indian Air Force (IAF). The cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the apex authority on Defence, approved the deal January 13 for…
By defenceWeb The Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC) has started flying its fleet of Mirage F1 fighters, refurbished with assistance from Paramount Group company Paramount Aerospace, at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida. Tyndall Air Force Base (AFB) made history on 14 December as a unit of Mirage F1 aircraft…
By Robbin Laird Recently, I continued my discussion with Brendan Sargeant, the well-known and well-regarded Australian strategist about how best to understand the challenge posed by the regime of President Xi to Australia and the Indo-Pacific region. We focused on how he would characterize the nature and focus of the…
By Pierre Tran Paris - France should pull out of Mali. That is the French media message to the Macron administration, as fatalities rise in what is highlighted as a quagmire. The new year began with a deadly start, when a homemade road bomb killed Jan. 2 two French soldiers…
NATO air forces across Europe scrambled more than 400 times in 2020 to intercept unknown aircraft approaching Alliance airspace. Almost 90 percent of these missions - around 350 - were in response to flights by Russian military aircraft. This is a moderate increase from 2019. Russian military aircraft often do…
