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The Venezuelan Crisis: The Humanitarian Engagement

05/10/2019
By Ed Timperlake As the Guaidó forces on the streets of Venezuela were losing the tactical battle, a strategic defeat was rapidly approaching, that is until the president made an historic phone call to President Putin.  That call accomplished a most important objective: President Trump personally built new strategic maneuvering space,…

The F-35 and the Warlords: A Look Back and a Look Ahead

05/10/2019
We recently visited the Warlords at Beaufort MCAS. We had a chance to meet with the CO of the squadron and to watch flight demos at this year's airshow hosted by Beaufort MCAS. This gave us a chance to reflect back at the more than a decade of dealing with…

Shaping Direct European Defense Capabilities: Exercise Formidable Shield 2019

05/10/2019
The return of the Russians to a position of directly threatening Europe is not a return to the Cold War. Not only is Russia, not the Soviet Union with the Warsaw Pact, but the threat being posed is considerably different. Analysts have focused on the hybrid threat whereby Russia uses…

F-35 Distributed STOVL Operations

05/10/2019
A short video compilation showing U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II aircraft conducting distributed short take-off and vertical landing operations to simultaneously re-arm and refuel from KC-130J Hercules aircraft, as well as re-arm and refuel with MV-22B Osprey aircraft, at Laguna Army Airfield, Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona.  This training was…

Software Upgradeability and the F-35 Global Enterprise: The Australian Case

05/08/2019
In article published by Australian Defence and Business Review on their January-February 2019 issue, Andrew McLaughlin provided a look at how to think about the F-35 and its modernization process. The original title: "Building Data: Inside the RAAF's F-35 Mission Data Programming Capability" So, the first F-35s are here, the…

US F-16s Operating from Sweden in Trident Juncture 2018

05/08/2019
F-16C Fighting Falcons and support Airmen from the 480th Fighter Squadron, 52nd Fighter Wing, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, arrived at Kallax Air Base, Sweden, in support of Trident Juncture 2018. TRJE18 is the largest NATO exercise since 2015, with participation of more than 50,000 military personnel from 31 nations.  TRJE18…

Standup of New QRA Squadron at RAF Lossiemouth

05/07/2019
During a visit to RAF Lossiemouth in June 2016, Second Line of Defense visits the Quick Reaction Alert team based there. We focused on the question of the nature of the pyramid necessary to launch QRA ready aircraft. https://sldinfo.com/royal-air-force-operations-and-evolving-concepts-of-operations-shaping-a-triple-transition/ When I visited RAF Lossiemouth in June 2016, I had a…

Fighting Hyper Sonic Cruise Missiles at the Speed of Light: The Role of 21st Century Dambusters

05/07/2019
By Ed Timperlake Operation Chastise was the brilliant merging of weapon research and engineering with the undaunted courage of Royal Air Force Number 617 Squadron, forevermore known as the Dambusters. In order to attack the industrial might of Germany the RAF and a brilliant scientist worked together to develop a…