2015-09-19 By Robbin Laird © 2015 FrontLine Defence (Vol 12, No 4) The British invented carrier warfare – and now, with their new Queen Elizabeth Class of carriers, they are working their own version of the 21st century strike carrier. Using global lessons learned, they are reinventing the large deck…
2015-09-19 In June, the French Air Force received its 7th A400M. The aircraft delivered to France was the 13th production aircraft of 174 currently on order Then this month, the Royal Air Force received its 7th A400M. [caption id="attachment_80698" align="alignnone" width="300"] MSN 24, the 7th RAF A400M. Credit: Airbus Defence…
2015-09-18 By Edward Timperlake and Robbin Laird Initially, we had talked with Joseph Kassab in July 2014 about the situation in Iraq for the Christian minorities. We followed that up with a follow-on interview on the evolving Iraq situation in early June 2015. Then at the end of August 2015,…
2015/09/18 By Chris MacLean In a thought-provoking commentary in this edition of Front Line Defence, retired Major-General Doug Dempster talks about the importance of “quality” as an equal, if not the most important, piece of the defence procurement puzzle. His comments bring to mind the challenges faced by media publishers. Defence…
2015-08-29 By Robbin Laird Prior to the Williams Foundation Workshop on Plan Jericho, I had a chance to sit down with the two co-directors of Plan Jericho in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in their offices in the Ministry of Defence. The co-directors led the afternoon session of the…
2015-08-31 By Robbin Laird Earlier, I have interviewed the two most recent Commanders, first of the Air Lift Group, and then the Air Mobility Group. The shift in name was largely under the impact of the KC-30A tanker but reflected the Group’s expanded capabilities to provide for extended combat reach…
2015-08-28 By Robbin Laird When then Air Vice Marshal Davies was in Washington DC earlier this year, I had a chance to discuss with him his thinking about the way ahead for the RAAF and defense transformation. Air Vice-Marshal Davies highlighted that a key trajectory for force transformation was to…
2015-08-30 By Robbin Laird The Plan Jericho approach which the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has put in motion to shape a con-ops driven transformation process is built around the acquisition of new platforms, but then crafting ways for these platforms to operate and together in a joint manner to…
