2015-08-06 By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake When Secretary Gates decided to put the F-35B on probation and Senator McCain became his powerful echo chamber we responded at the time on the pages of Breaking Defense that these actions were misguided. We have spent many hours with the pilots, maintainers,…
08/04/2015: During a visit to Australia in August 2015, Second Line of Defense had a chance to talk with senior RAFF personnel about the operations in Iraq and Syria. There will be more to come as these interviews are completed, but a key point was that two new combat systems were…
2015-08-08 Recently an Italian 767 Tanker refueled an F-35 in the United States. This was the first time a foreign tanker has refueled an F-35. The Italian tanker also operates as part of the European Air Transport Command and can look forward to tanking not only Italian and US F-35s…
08/08/2015: A U.S. Marine landing support specialist and U.S. Army Soldiers attach a 1,000-pound cargo load to an MV-22 with a single-point hook during External Cargo Lift Training conducted by Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron-165 (VMM-165), Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force -Crisis Response-Central Command, in an undisclosed location in Southwest…
2015-08-08 Earlier, Second Line of Defense has raised the question several times about whether the execution of the Mistral deal made any sense in light of Russian actions in Europe. As Steve Blank noted in 2014: Whatever the logic of negotiating a deal with Russia in 2011, the strategic situation…
2015-08-03 By Robbin Laird The importance of manufacturing for national power and security is clear. The need to support a manufacturing renaissance is also clear for Americas’ future. And it remains a foundation for providing for American defense and security. No case is clearer than that of the Osprey. The…
08/05/2015: U.S. 5TH FLEET AREA OF OPERATIONS (May 28, 2015) Two F/A-18F Super Hornets launch from the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). Theodore Roosevelt is seen deployed in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, strike operations in Iraq…
08/05/2015 By Robbin Laird When addressing the question of the threat posed by Putin’s Russia, it is crucial to not do an in-itself assessment but look at the context within which Russian actions are occurring and their broader consequences. The industrial democracies are entering unchartered territory with the confluence of…
