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…
Intelligence Specialist 1st Class Samilynn Jordan and Capt. Michael Brasseur discuss Digital Horizon, a three-week unmanned and artificial intelligence event in Bahrain that involved 17 industry partners. 12.14.2022 Video by Petty Officer 1st Class Anita Chebahtah U.S. Naval Forces Central Command / U.S. 5th Fleet
U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey aircraft, assigned to Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One (MAWTS-1), lands during a ground threat reaction drill, in support of Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) course 2-23, at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, March 30, 2023. WTI is a seven-week training event hosted…
By Robbin Laird My colleague John Blackburn and I met with Air Vice-Marshal Darren Goldie, the Air Commander of the RAAF, in his office on 4 April 2023. One key element which we discussed was the growing significance of agile basing and operations as part of the evolving Australian deterrent…
U.S. Marines with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron (HMLA) 269 participate in a deactivation ceremony at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, Dec. 9, 2022. HMLA-269 deactivated in accordance with Force Design 2030 after 51 years of service. HMLA-269 was a subordinate unit of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing,…
