A look at the changing focus on deterrence and defence in Australia seen through the optic of the Williams Foundation seminar held in Canberra on 30 March 2023. In this report, the major discussions of the seminar are highlighted and the challenges in the way ahead are the focus of…
By Robbin Laird To ensure enhanced survivability, the ADF is looking to more effectively distribute over Australian territory. But this makes logistical support for distributed forces a major strategic challenge. And with the changing threat calculus, the force needs to have greater endurance which requires enhanced sustainability. So how best…
U.S. Marines with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Training Squadron (HMLAT) 303, Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, train alongside Airmen with the Czech Air Force on the H-1 aircraft platform at Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton, California, Oct. 19, 2022. U.S. Marines and Czech Airmen train together…
Training during a battle drill exercise, part of Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) course 2-23, at K-9 Village, Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, April 1, 2023. WTI is a seven-week training event hosted by MAWTS-1, providing standardized advanced tactical training and readiness, and assists in developing and employing aviation weapons and…
U.S. Marines with 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines carry out platoon attacks during Stand-in Force Exercise on Okinawa, Japan, Dec. 11, 2022. SiF-EX is a Division-level exercise involving all elements of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force focused on strengthening multi-domain awareness, maneuver, and fires across a distributed maritime environment. This exercise…
USMC air assets assigned to Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One (MAWTS-1), operating from a forward arming and refueling point during Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) course 2-23, near Yuma, Arizona, April 1, 2023. WTI is a seven-week training event hosted by MAWTS-1, providing standardization advanced tactical training and…
By Robbin Laird In March 2020, I was visiting Western Australia including HMAS Sterling. I was there to visit the HMAS Rankin, one of the Collins class submarines homeported at HMAS Sterling on Garden Island. When I informed a senior U.S. Navy Admiral that I was going to visit the…
By Robbin Laird At the recent Sir Richard Williams Foundation Seminar held on 30 March 2023, Air Marshal Harvey Smyth, the Deputy Commander Operations, presented a UK perspective of the challenges facing the UK and her allies in the contentious 2020’s. I first met Smyth when he was the head…
