The Royal Netherlands Navy joint support ship HNLMS Karel Doorman is a very versatile ship. In the featured video (in Dutch) a boarding role for the ship is highlighted in providing for security at sea. In 2015, we discussed the ship and its role in an interview with the ship's…
On April 25, 2018, six aircraft from the 11th Fighter Wing arrive from Moron Air Base at Lithuania to participate in the Baltic Air Policing effort of NATO. An A400M from the base provided the support equipment for the Fighter Wing Eurofighters. This is the second time the 11th Wing…
For the fourth time the Portuguese Air Force assumed lead of the Baltic Air Policing mission. During the traditional ceremony at Šiauliai Airbase on May 2 a detachment of the Portuguese Air Force was handed over the symbolic key to the Baltic Airspace from the outgoing detachment of the Royal…
The first quarter of this year, with the Danish Air Force in the lead, the Italian Air Force contributed its Eurofighters to the QRA mission in the Baltics. As David Cenciotti noted in a March 14, 2018 piece on the mission: As part of the Task Force Air (TFA) 36°…
Brexit is a process which have a major impact on the UK and Europe for sure. And no matter what the Brexit negotiated outcome that will be sorted out between the EU and the UK, both continental Europe and the UK will have to find a way to work together…
RAAF Base Williamtown hosted one of the world’s largest cargo aircraft, an Antonov An-124 on Wednesday 2 May, and Thursday 3 May to deliver F-35A training equipment. The equipment – an F-35 Weapons Load Trainer (WLT) and Ejection Seat Maintenance Trainer (ESMT), unloaded and installed in the Australian F-35 Integrated…
By Robbin Laird I have spent last week in Norway and visited Bodø air base as well as Ørland airbase, home of the first F-35s in Norway. This week I visited RAF Marham, the Tornado and F-35 base, and RAF Conigsby, a QRA and Typhoon base and then yesterday Portsmouth to…
By Philip Butterworth-Hayes Time, they say, slows down the few seconds before a car crash. For close observers of the UK’s disentanglement from the European Union’s (EU) defence and security institutions, time has started to decelerate over the last few weeks. First came the reports of the Commission’s decision that…
