By Robbin Laird Improving sustainment has been an ongoing major effort throughout the evolution of the tiltrotor enterprise. The Nacelle Improvement program (NI) is a major milestone in this effort. When discussing sustainment, an important metric is the mission-capable rate (MC). That rate – expressed as a percentage of total…
By Pierre Tran Paris – Airbus is taking more time to decide on the early stage of design for a European medium-altitude, long-endurance drone, with the industrial partners looking for a good fit with specifications, Guillaume Faury, chief executive of the aircraft builder, said Feb.15. “The preliminary design review (PDR)…
By Robbin Laird In my recent interview with LtGen Heckl, Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Command, and the Deputy Commandant for Combat Development and Integration, we went back to his time as the second squadron commander to have taken the Osprey into combat. He was an experienced CH-46 pilot…
By Pierre Tran Paris – It was thanks to information shared on a social media link of the Association of Defense Journalists, a press club, this correspondent suited up to attend the Jan. 31 French parliamentary hearing of François Michel, chairman of John Cockerill, a Belgian company which builds armed…
U.S. Marines with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron (HMH) 461 and 2nd Distribution Support Battalion (DSB), U.S. Navy Sailors with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Four, and animal packers with the U.S. National Forest Service hike to the site of a downed U.S. Navy MH-60S Seahawk to prepare it for recovery at…
By Pierre Tran Paris – There is confidence the European Union will find a way to beat Hungary’s blocking of a budget to provide €50 billion ($54 billion) of financial aid to Ukraine when the E.U. summit meets this week, a senior Ukrainian official said Jan. 30. “I am confident…
By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake In January 2024, we had a chance to do our final interview for our forthcoming MAWTS-1 book, namely with LtGen Davis. He was the CO of MAWTS-1 from 19 November 2004-7 July 2006 and had served as the XO for Col later MajGen Raymond…
By Robbin Laird Sarah White published a thoughtful piece on Real Clear Defense on 10 January 2024. Currently, I am in Europe where the NATO-Russian campaign in Ukraine is ongoing. She made a core strategic point that the overall effects from the war have a direct impact on the European…
