By Pierre Tran Paris - France, Germany and Spain said last month they had reached agreement to launch a long awaited development phase for a European future combat air system, but it has emerged there were still industrial and political issues to resolve. What has emerged is that the key…
By Robbin Laird BALTOPS 50 was begun on the anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 2021. It was first held in 1972 and is an annual military exercise, held and sponsored by the Commander, US Naval Forces Europe and operates in the Baltic Sea and the regions surrounding it. One can…
On April 8, 2021, the Williams Foundation held a seminar originally scheduled for last March. It was postponed as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. As Air Marshal (Retired) Geoff Brown, Chairman of the Williams Foundation put it in his prologue to the conference: "Since 2013 the Sir Richard Williams Foundation…
By Robbin Laird The development and incorporation of autonomous systems into the Australian fifth-generation force requires a close working relationship between defense industry and the Department of Defence and the services. But also requires meeting the challenge already seen with regard to the introduction of software upgradeable systems such as…
By Robbin Laird During late April 2021, I had the chance to visit II MEF at Camp Lejeune. This command is a key part of the overall effort to reshape the working relationship between the operational Navy and the USMC to enable integrated operations. The entire effort encompassed by Second…
By Robbin Laird In a press release today, it was announced: "The United States Marine Corps (USMC) has successfully demonstrated in flight testing a two-way connection between the AH-1Z Viper helicopter and a ground station using new Link-16 hardware and software." In the context of reshaping the current force in…
By Pierre Tran Paris - France last year won arms export contracts worth €4.9 billion ($5.6 billion), down from €8.3 billion in 2019, reflecting lock down and governments freezing military budgets in response to the pandemic crisis, Hervé Grandjean, spokesman for the defense ministry, said June 2. “This retreat is…
By Robbin Laird WGCDR Keirin Joyce noted: “All of the services see robotic autonomous systems as a significant part of the road ahead. It’s just that the services are getting after them differently.” At the Williams Foundation seminar held on April 8, 2021, each of the service chiefs provided their…
