Summer Fury 21: 3rd Marine Air Wing Works Maritime Strikes

07/21/2021
by 1st Lt. Charles Allen MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. – (July 7, 2021) Marines with 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing begin Exercise Summer Fury 21 with a long-range maritime strike off the coast of Washington. Summer Fury is the largest Marine aviation exercise on the West Coast, and provides 3rd …

An Update on the Coming of the CMV-22B to the Fleet: July 2021

07/20/2021
By Robbin Laird Recently, I had a chance to talk with Captain Dewon “Chainsaw” Chaney, the Commander of COMVRMWING (or Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Wing). My last conversation was in April of this year, and the first one last year. With the CMV-22B to be first deployed on the USS Carl…

2nd MAW Marines Train with Finnish Air Force at Exercise ILVES

07/18/2021
By Robbin Laird Since 2018, the Marines have ramped up their efforts to train in the Nordic region and to operate in Cold Weather. With the Nordics ramping up their defense capabilities, and working greater integration with each other and with their North Atlantic partners, there are enhanced opportunities for…

HMLA-169 Long-Range Self Deployment: H-1s in the Indo-Pacific Region

07/18/2021
By 1st Lt. John Hardin and 1st Lt. Tess LaBossiere KINAWA, Japan. – Marines with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron (HMLA) 169 executed one of the longest maritime HMLA self-deployment flights in 1st Marine Aircraft Wing history during exercise Tiltrotor/Rotary Wing (TR/RW) 2107. TR/RW 2107 is a unilateral exercise at…

An Update on the French Navy: July 2021

07/16/2021
By Pierre Tran Paris - The French navy has “excellent relations” with the Australian navy, which shares the French view of the importance of the Pacific region, Admiral Pierre Vandier, navy chief of staff, said July 12. Australia is acquiring submarines and combat systems with “oceanic capability,” with an operational…

Looking Back and Looking Forward for the USMC: The Perspective of Lt. General Beaudreault, II MEF

07/15/2021
By Robbin Laird I first met Lt. General Beaudreault during my visit to II MEF in April 2021. I returned on June 29, 2021 prior to the General’s retirement in July. We discussed the evolution of the II MEF with the U.S. Navy and a recent agreement to shape a…

US And French Air Power ‘’Plug And Fight’’ Capability : Bearing the Fruit of Centuries of Cooperation

07/14/2021
By Murielle Delaporte On July 9th, the U.S. Air Force and French Air and Space Force Chiefs met, in the presence of the French Ambassador to the United States, for the commemoration of the 240th anniversary of the 1781 Revolutionary War victory at Yorktown. This joint celebration takes place three…

Logistics and Crisis Management in the North Atlantic

07/11/2021
By Robbin Laird Logistics is often viewed as the enabler of operations. But if one is designing the force to operate throughout an extended area of operations or an extended battlespace logistics capabilities are part of the definition of the art of the possible for crisis management. In a crisis,…