By Flying Officer Bronwyn Marchant The Royal Australian Air Force has successfully completed Exercise Red Flag Alaska 21-3, a two-week bilateral training exercise with the United States Air Force. The exercise, held from August 12 - 27, was an advanced large force employment activity aimed to optimise the integration of…
By Robbin Laird During a July 2021 visit to 2d Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW) I talked with LtCol J. Eric Grunke and LtCol Jessica Hawkins. Grunke just relinquished responsibility to Hawkins for the Marine Aviation Training Systems (MATS) ecosystem within 2d MAW; encompassing all aviation simulators and the necessary infrastructure. …
By Robbin Laird Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242 declares their initial operations capability (IOC) for the F-35B Lightning II on Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Aug. 25, 2021. VMFA-242 is the second combat-capable forward-deployed F-35B squadron assigned to 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. The importance of the F-35 and their…
By Robbin Laird In an article which I originally published on Breaking Defense on September 11, 2011, I recalled those events from the perspective of being in the Pentagon that day. That article follows: Early on the morning of September 11th, I had an appointment in the Pentagon with a senior…
Ohio National Guard members reflect on the events of 9/11 and how the attacks impacted the operational tempo for the organization. 09.08.2021 Video by Stephanie Beougher, Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Mann and Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Vega Ohio National Guard Public Affairs
When I visited MARFORPAC in 2014, it was the beginning of what the Obama Administration called the “Pivot to the Pacific.” But that really did not happen as the Russians seized Crimea, and the wars in the Middle East ramped up. Those demand sets still weigh heavily on the U.S.…
Soldiers from 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, Marines from the 3rd Marine Division and civilians conducted port operations for Exercise Talisman Sabre 21 on July 9-10, 2021, at the Port of Gladstone located in Queensland, Australia. This is the ninth iteration of Talisman Sabre, a large-scale, bilateral military exercise between…
By Matt Gonzales MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII In August, Marine Corps Systems Command led one of the largest command and control user evaluations since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. MCSC collaborated with the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, Navy and Coast Guard to execute Island Marauder…
