21st Century Air Capabilities

06/18/2011
By Dr. Robbin Laird 06/18/2011 - 21st century air capabilities are built around the three “M”s.  The aircraft need to be multi-mission and manufactured to be significantly more maintainable than 20th century aircraft. The Three "M"s (Credit: SLD) In today’s world, the acquisition of aircraft in financially stringent environments favors…

An Update on the A330MRTT Tanker: May 2011

06/17/2011
06/17/2011: Antonio Caramazana, Head of Airbus Military Derivatives Program, provided an update on the A330MRTT Tanker at the Airbus Trade Media event in mid-May 2011. The 2010 update can be found in an earlier article on the website https://www.sldinfo.com/?p=9376.  In this article, the basic capabilities of the tanker were highlighted…

Insights from the TACC

06/16/2011
A Wrap Up Discussion with Captain Brockhoff 06/16/2011 - After an overview briefing and a visit to the Tanker Airlift Control Center (TACC) command center, Second Line of Defense sat down with Captain Brockhoff to focus on several items highlighted in the morning briefing. Captain Justin Brockhoff is the Chief…

Crafting Solutions at the TACC in Dialogue with USTRANSCOM

06/16/2011
The Planning Piece An Interview with Major Fuller [caption id="attachment_18862" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="Major Fuller During the SLD Interview (Credit: SLD)"][/caption] 06/16/2011 - Major Christopher Fuller of the Tanker Airlift Control Center (TACC) kicked off the roundtable by discussing airlift planning for missions into Iraq, Afghanistan and for humanitarian operations.  A…

An Update on the A400M Program

06/16/2011
06/16/2011: Cédric Gautier, head of the A400M program, provided an update on the program at the Airbus Trade Media event in mid-May 2011. [slidepress gallery='an-update-on-the-a400m-program'] Photo Credit: Airbus Military Gautier started by providing an overview on the aircraft itself.  He argued that this is “a new modern aircraft with modern…

Evolving Air Power Paradigms

06/13/2011
The Emergence of the Three Dimensional Warriors By Robbin Laird 06/16/2011 - As we look forward to the next decade of air power, the question of how best to understand the way forward is rooted in an understanding that past is not prologue.  The leveraging of new technologies in preparing…

An Update on the Evolution of the Tanker Boom

06/13/2011
Miguel-Angel Morrell Fuentes, Senior Vice President Engineering, provided an update of the evolution of the Airbus Military tanker technology during the Airbus Trade Media event in mid-May. 06/13/2011 - Although the company is working on elements for a next generation boom, the focus of the briefing was upon changes in…