The F-35 in History: A Day for Col. Tomassetti to Remember

07/20/2011
07/20/2011 - The second of many F-35s (they are several on the line in Fort Worth getting ready to go with 10, 11, 12, 13 likely to be delivered this month) arrived today at Eglin AFB. Maj. Joseph T. “OD” Bachmann (Marine Corps) piloted the aircraft, known as AF-8, to…

Fifth Generation Aircraft and 3 Dimensional Warfare

07/19/2011
Or, How to Build the Honeycomb 07/19/2011 - The F-22 and F-35 have sophisticated sensors and self defense capabilities, which, in and of themselves, when combined with stealth enable these aircraft to become true game changers.  But in and of themselves is not where the real game changing capability comes…

Shaping the F-35 Maintenance Approach

07/18/2011
The View from Pax River 07/18/2011 - In mid-June, the Second Line of Defense team visited Pax River and received overviews on various aspects of the test program.  One of those aspects was shaping the maintenance approach. [caption id="attachment_21442" align="alignleft" width="191" caption="Craig Paramore (Credit: SLD)"][/caption] During our visit to Pax…

Preventing the Next Private Sector Cyber Security Breach

07/18/2011
By Dr. Richard Weitz 07/18/2011 - In rolling out its new cyber defense strategy, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn revealed that a foreign intelligence agency stole 24,000 files from a major U.S. defense contractor this March. Lynn added that this incident was just the latest example of how, during the…

An Update from Eglin on the Arrival of the F-35

07/17/2011
07/17/2011 Col. Arthur Tomassetti provided an update on July 15, 2011 regarding the F-35 at Eglin, the day after the F-35A arrived as an operational aircraft at Eglin. Col. Tomassetti is the vice commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing which serves as the home to the Joint Strike Fighter Integrated…

South Sudan’s Independence

07/14/2011
07/13/2011 By Richard Weitz On July 9, the Republic of South Sudan became the world’s 193rd independent country. A moving independence ceremony, attended by many of the world’s leaders, occurred at the new country’s new national capital of Juba. In a welcome development, the Republic of Sudan, the new country’s…