By Robbin Laird After learning about the International Flight Training School during my visit to Rome in November 2024, I was eager to understand more about Italy's innovative approach to shaping air power training. The opportunity came in October 2025, when I returned to Italy to meet with Italian Air…
The maneuvers in the war in Ukraine in the Fall of 2025 show several dynamics at once. The Russians are using attacks on civilian targets to undercut the will of the Ukrainian people to fight. But Putin has a significantly constricting economy and the threat of the Russian people becoming…
The battlefields of Ukraine are witnessing a technological revolution that is reshaping the nature of ground combat. While aerial drones have dominated headlines throughout the conflict, a new category of unmanned systems is quietly transforming military operations: unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). From experimental prototypes to mass deployment, Ukraine's ambitious push…
On April 28, 2025, at precisely 12:33 CEST, the lights went out across the Iberian Peninsula. What began as a voltage surge at a solar installation in Spain cascaded into a massive blackout affecting nearly 60 million people across Spain and Portugal, lasting approximately 10 hours in most areas. The…
By Robbin Laird The Sir Richard Williams Foundation's September 18, 2025 seminar posed a fundamental question that cuts to the heart of modern defense planning: How does a nation achieve "readiness at the speed of relevance" when the luxury of time may no longer exist? The presentations provided sobering but…
By Robbin Laird When the first T-7A Red Hawk trainer arrives at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph this December, it will mark more than just the introduction of a new aircraft. It represents the U.S. Air Force's acknowledgment of a decades-long training crisis that has quietly undermined pilot development: the service…
By Robbin Laird In a discussion at the Sir Richard Williams Foundation seminar on September 18, 2025, Air Marshal Stephen Chappell, Chief of Air Force, provided comprehensive insights into the Royal Australian Air Force's strategic direction and operational philosophy. Speaking to Air Marshal (Retired) Brown and an audience of defence…
In August 2025, Admiral Daryl Caudle assumed the role of the 34th Chief of Naval Operations, inheriting a U.S. Navy facing extraordinary pressures. From shipyard backlogs and workforce challenges to evolving threats in the Indo-Pacific, the service confronts demands that will test every aspect of its institutional capacity. To mark…
