U.S. Navy Sailors simulate a ship-to-shore patient transfer using a MARTAC T-38 Devil Ray unmanned surface vessel (USV) in Aqaba, Jordan, March 9, 2023, during International Maritime Exercise 2023. The USV transferred a mannequin from the Gulf of Aqaba to land, marking the first time the unmanned platform has been…
By Pierre Tran Paris - The closed communications system of the F-35 posed problems for flying cooperative combat missions with the planned European Future Combat Air System (FCAS), Eric Trappier, executive chairman of Dassault Aviation, told French senators May 24. “Collaborative combat” consisted of close links between fighter jets, effectively…
By Robbin Laird As the U.S. Navy works its ability for distributed operations with integrated effects, how will the fleet be supported and sustained? One answer to that question is the major challenge of rebuilding the fleet’s maintenance infrastructure. Years of just-in-time maintenance, supporting wars of choice not wars of…
U.S. Marines with Marine Wing Support Squadron 371, Marine Aircraft Control Group 38, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW), set up and operate a forward arming and refueling point at the Laguna Node to refuel a F-35B Lightning II with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 225, Marine Aircraft Group 13, 3rd MAW,…
As Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., becomes the ‘Installation of the Future’, following the catastrophic damage from Hurricane Michael in late 2018, several advanced technologies are being used. Of those technologies, the ability to use ‘additive manufacturing’--also known as ‘3D printing’--to construct concrete buildings as part of the rebuild. 3D…
By Robbin Laird The Sir Richard Williams Foundation Seminar on 30 March 2023 focused on the way ahead with regard to deterrence of adversaries in the region, notably with both the behavior and the capabilities of the PRC in mind. The question of refocusing the role of the ADF in…
Capt. Daniel Clarke, 46th Test Squadron, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, explains the U.S. Navy Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis (COBRA) system, which flies over beach zones to detect minefields and obstacles. The 96th Test Wing and Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City, Florida, are working together to test this…
By Robbin Laird In my discussion with Commodore Darron Kavanagh, Director General Warfare Innovation, Royal Australian Navy Headquarters, he emphasized that one way to look at the contribution of maritime autonomous systems was in terms of the mission threads to which they contribute. As CDRE Kavanagh underscored: “One of the…
