The Coming Chinese-Pakistani Threat to India

06/12/2012
6/12/12: By Robbin Laird In a recent issue of Force magazine, an Indian colleague provided an insightful analysis of a key axis point where the combined Chinese-Pakistani threat could combine to pose a significant strategic challenge to India. In their article: Can Siachen Spring the Next Surprise? Pravin Sawhney and…

Monitoring the Gulf Of Hormuz: A New Option

06/12/2012
6/12/12: We have written about the potential for the new dirigible (M1400) and its innovative sensor integration capabilities on board (Blue Devil 2). But several capabilities of this program leap off of the page. If the program was measured in a realistic manner, for example, ISR delivery equivalencies, this would…

Sierra Nevada Sues the USAF: Super Tucano Showing Up in Afghanistan?

06/12/2012
6/12/12: By Ed Timperlake In the same week that Second Line of Defense’s own Murielle Delaporte returned from Afghanistan with the dead and wounded from a recent Taliban terrorist attack on the French forces, a lawsuit was filed against the Secretary of the US Air Force. https://www.sldinfo.com/with-the-french-forces-in-afghanistan-at-crucial-point-of-transition/ How are these…

Multi-National Training: The Entry into Service of the A400M

06/11/2012
6/11/12: By Robbin Laird One of the more interesting presentations at the Airbus Military Trade Media Brief 2012 was by the head of training at Airbus Military. Ian Burrett, Head of Training and Aircrew Operations, Customer Services, provided an overview of the approach and the standing up of the baseline…

The Future of Iraq: Sunnis and Shiites

06/10/2012
6/10/12: By Richard Weitz Wielding power in a country so easily divided by competing allegiances and identities has never been easy. Although Iraqis’ nationalist sentiments are strong, the nation faces the challenge of overcoming major internal divisions. These include sectarian tensions between the majority Shiites and the minority Sunnis, ethnic…

Enabling the Global F-35 Fleet: Shaping a Common Logistical Approach

06/08/2012
6/8/12: We have focused earlier on what is in the baseline F-35 in terms of capability. https://www.sldinfo.com/the-baseline-f-35/ One aspect of the baseline aircraft which we did not focus on in that discussion was the common global language built into every manufactured aircraft which comes off the assembly line. Because the…

New Dawn 2012: Iraq Without the U.S. Military

06/08/2012
By Richard Weitz Today’s Iraq is an aborted democracy that falls considerably short of the original U.S. goal of creating an attractive democratic, prosperous, ethically mixed country that partners with the United States to maintain regional stability and security. Iraq’s political leaders cannot cease feuding, wary investors hesitate to make…

A400M: The Fleet

06/08/2012
6/8/12: The A400M is being built with the 21st century approach to fleet management in mind.  Ranging from Unique Identification Tags built in, to multinational training, to providing for global support, the A400M has the advantages inherent in advanced manufacturing. As we argued earlier: It was clear notably with the…