2014-12-04 By Robbin Laird The Royal Australian Air Force is in the throes of significant modernization. As I wrote during my visit earlier this year to Australia about the process of change: The Aussies entered the 21st century with an aging Air Force. The silver lining in that difficult position…
12/09/2014: Australia’s Air Task Group (ATG) consisting of six RAAF F/A-18F Super Hornets, an E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft and a KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft continue to support Operation OKRA with missions in Iraq. The ATG comprises around 400 RAAF personnel who have deployed to the…
2014-12-01 By Ed Timperlake Previous Introduction 21st century warfare technologies concepts of operations and tactics and training are in evolution and revolution. At the heart of reshaping US and allied approaches to airpower and its evolution is the emergence of the F-35, the significant impact which a global fleet of F-35s…
2014-12-05 The first two aircraft landed onboard HMAS Canberra while alongside at Fleet Base East, Sydney in the build up to the ship’s commissioning. The aircraft flew from HMAS Albatross, Nowra to begin deck handling trials on the Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD). Although a significant step forward this is also…
2014-11-27 By Robbin Laird It is often stated that Western powers will not operate alone in future air operations. But to say this, and to do this effectively are two very different issues. At the European Air Group at High Wycombe, seven key European Air Forces have set up an…
2014-11-29 By Harald Malmgren Economics, politics and global threats are reinforcing a shift away from the globalism of the past thirty years and posing the possibility of a new phase of global development, in which nationalism returns as a clearer definer of the way ahead for the global system. It…
2014-11-25 By Robbin Laird Both the UK and Italy will operate a mixed Eurofighter and F-35 fleet. Both have operated the Tornado, which is reaching the end of its service life. Both will sort through evolutions of the Eurofighter to encompass some of the mission sets for Tornado as the…
2014-12-03 by defenceWeb Nigeria, long targeted as a potential customer for the Chinese/Pakistani JF-17 Thunder jet, is close to ordering one or two squadrons, according to reports from Pakistan. IHS Jane's Defence Weekly quoted a senior Pakistani Ministry of Defence official at the IDEAS 2014 exhibition in Pakistan as saying…
