Italians Continue Their Flight Path Across the Atlantic: 2nd and 3rd Italian Built F-35s Arrive at Luke AFB

05/26/2016
2016-05-26 Earlier, we were at Pax River on February 5, 2016, when the first F-35 arrived from Italy and performed the first trans-Atlantic crossing of an F-35. We wrote at the time: On Feb. 5, the Italian Air Force’s first F-35, AL-1 with code “32-01” and markings of the 32 Stormo Wing…

Continued Progress on Missile Defense

05/26/2016
05/26/2016: The Missile Defense Agency, U.S. Pacific Command, and U.S. Navy sailors aboard USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) successfully conducted a flight test involving the launch of a medium-range ballistic missile target from the Pacific Missile Range Facility located on Kauai, Hawaii. The flight test, designated Flight Test Other-21 (FTX-21),…

Vietnam Offers US Modest Arms Sales, But Major Strategic Opportunities

05/26/2016
2016-05-26 By Richard Weitz Obama’s just completed his trip to Vietnam, the first of his presidency. The US President discussed trade and investment, economic and energy development, human rights and democracy (the main area of disagreement in the joint presidential news conference), academic exchanges and humanitarian assistance, and of course…

Reshaping Operational and Training Approaches: Airpower Led Combat Innovation

05/22/2016
2016-05-19 By Robbin Laird We have argued throughout the discussion of fifth generation aircraft that the transition was about the re-norming of airpower. It was about reshaping airpower as airpower leads a broader transformation of US and allied combat forces to prevail in 21t century environments and to meet 21st…

RAF’s Airbus Tanker at Pax River: Working with the F-35B

05/21/2016
2016-05-21 The F-35 has already worked with the Aussie A330MRTT known as the KC-30A at Edwards. Now the RAF has flown its Voyager to Pax River to work with the F-35B as well. Both the F-35 and the KC-30A are being bought and operated by multiple allied air forces, and…

Leveraging the RAF Marham and RAF Lakenheath Strategic Opportunity: The USAF and the RAF Shape 21st Operational Capabilities

05/20/2016
2016-05-18 With the RAF and the USAF setting up four squadrons of aircraft between them at two nearby RAF bases, there is a clear opportunity to shape a common sustainment solution. And the impact of so doing could be significant on the North Sea neighbors, namely, the Danes the Norwegians…