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The Afghan-Pak Logistics Challenge in 2012

01/25/2012
[caption id="attachment_12920" align="alignleft" width="150" caption=" "][/caption] By Dr. Richard Weitz 01/25/2011 - The success of U.S.-NATO operations in Afghanistan depends on logistics capabilities and security. It is crucial to have secure and effective lines of communication through which supplies can reach the foreign contingents assigned to the International Security and…

BF-6 and BF-8 Land at Eglin AFB: The F-35 Moves Forward

01/25/2012
01/17/12 During Second Line of Defense visits in mid-January 2012 to the participants in Bold Alligator, we were able to focus on the meaning of the arrival of the new USMC F-35Bs to Eglin AFB.  Col. Arthur TOMASSETTI, vice commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing, Air Education and Training Command,…

Viewing the First F-35 Night Flight

01/25/2012
01/25/2012 The first night flight in the history of the F-35 Program was completed Wednesday, January 18, 2011 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Piloted by Lockheed Martin Test Pilot Mark Ward, AF-6, an F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant, launched at 5:05 p.m. PST and landed after sunset…

USAF Background Paper on the Light Air Support Decision

01/25/2012
01/25/2012 by Ed Timperlake We are publishing a USAF background paper currently circulating on the Hill.  It validates everything we have written on Second Line of Defense for more than a year about the LAS competition. The USAF is circulating a paper on the Hill that clearly lays out for…

An Iran-Centric Crisis?

01/24/2012
By Dr. Harald Malmgren 01/23/2012 - Iran is threatening to close the Straits of Hormuz.  Newly tightening financial sanctions on Iran’s banks and its central bank are suffocating credit for Iran’s fuel imports and oil exports.  Inside Iran there are widespread frantic efforts by businesses and people in the streets…

An Update on F-35 Manufacturability: The Global Perspective

01/22/2012
01/22/12 In a recent Inside the Navy report from Jason Sherman, it was reported that LRIPs 7 and 8 are to increase their orders by 40%. (Jason Sherman, “LRIPs 7, 8 to jump 40%,” Inside the Navy (1/09/12). The key driver in this upsurge is foreign orders.  Mentioned in the…

Off Probation and Into the USMC Inventory: F-35Bs at Eglin

01/22/2012
01/21/2012: F-35B Turns a Page BF-6, BF-7 and BF-8 are now at Eglin AFB and are USMC owned aircraft. As Col. Tomassetti, Deputy 33rd Wing Commander has underscored: Now we can stop talking about what we can do and start showing what we can do.  We move out of the…

Reintegrating Taliban Fighters

01/20/2012
[caption id="attachment_12920" align="alignleft" width="150" caption=" "][/caption] By Dr. Richard Weitz 01/20/2012  There is widespread international support for reintegrating lower-level Taliban foot soldiers who may have joined the insurgency for money or other non-ideological reasons. Inducing many of these “accidental guerrillas” to leave the insurgency is a reasonable goal since neither…