By Robbin Laird The last two International Fighter Conferences, 2018 and 2019, where very different from this one. And I am not just referring to the virtual nature of the conference. This fighter conference was less about fighters than about the changing context of airpower in terms of what enables…
Troops participate in Operation Varsity 20-04 at Ramstein Air Base, October 19, 2020. The exercise tested base response to various simulated emergencies and situations in various mission postures. RP, GERMANY 10.19.2020 Video by Airman 1st Class Daniel Sanchez 86th Airlift Wing/Public Affairs
By Pierre Tran Paris - KNDS, a Franco-German joint venture in land weapons, seeks a more streamlined management with the appointment of Philippe Petitcolin as chairman and Frank Haun as the sole chief executive, the French finance and defense ministries said Dec. 14 in a statement. The appointment of a…
By Robbin Laird, Marine Corps Air Station, New River. On December 3, 2020, during my visit to New River, I experienced flying in the cockpit of the Marine Corps's latest key air capability, the CH-53K. I was in the cockpit with LtCol Luke "Amber" Frank, the VMX-1 Detachment OIC. He…
By Robbin Laird I first visited 2nd MAW in 2007, at the beginning of the Osprey era. There I saw a small number of the aircraft on the tarmac and met with pilots and maintainers at the beginning of a long period of disruptive change, a period of change which…
By Peter Jennings Australia has a brilliant opportunity to shape US President-elect Joe Biden’s strategy for the Indo-Pacific in a way that will secure a major increase in American military power in the region. This will be a test of the Morrison government’s agility to move quickly to secure an…
U.S. Army Col. Kenneth J. Burgess, commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, talks about airborne operation with Italian Army Folgore Brigade after exiting a U.S. Air Force 86th Air Wing C-130 Hercules aircraft, under Covid-19 prevention conditions, at Nella Drop Zone, Altopascio, Italy, Oct. 15, 2020. The purpose of this…
By Kenneth Maxwell A decade after the Spanish Conquistadores toppled the Inca Empire (1532-34), an indigenous Andean prospector, Diego Gualpa, in 1545, stumbled onto the richest silver deposit in the world on a high mountain of 4,800 meters (15,750 feet) in the eastern cordillera of the Bolivian Andes. Here in…
