A Conversation with Dominique Maudet 12/21/2010 - The Tiger helicopter has been used by the French military in their Afghan engagement. The operational role has been to work with two other helo types in providing crucial air capabilities for the French Army. The impact of operations has highlighted the significance…
Rethinking “Contingency” Operations By Heather Penney 12/6/2010 - With the deluge of media and congressional attention on the budget, deficit, and national debt, it is surprising that the connection between our current/future economic predicament and OEF/OIF has been conspicuously absent from the debate. According to the CRS, costs for OEF/OIF/GWOT…
An Update on the Osprey from New River (VI) An Interview With Corporal Warshek And Sergeant Fante 11/28/2010 - Second Line of Defense in late August 2010 talked to Osprey maintainers at New River Air Station. One theme, which was discussed, was the challenge of maintaining the aircraft in the…
By Dr. Richard Weitz (Credit: http://www.dawn.com) 11/05 /2010 - The Obama administration has decided to pursue a more “proactive” air campaign against the Taliban insurgents and Islamist terrorists operating out of the autonomous tribal regions of northwest Pakistan. Afghan border outposts come under constant attack by Taliban and Haqqani-affiliated insurgents…
By Richard Weitz One of the challenges General David Petraeus, U.S. Army, faces as the newly appointed commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan is the failure of past efforts to induce many of the Taliban guerrillas to defect and some of the Taliban leaders to negotiate a peace…
General Jean-Pierre Bansard LOGISTICS ON THE FRONT LINE (I) A few months ago, SLD sat down with General Jean-Pierre Bansard, in charge at the time of Logistics Organization within the MoD Chief of Staff, in order to gain a better understanding of the evolution of French support and logistics in…
Born in 1976 from a Franco-German initiative and deployed for the first time in a theater of operation last July, three French Tiger helicopters from the Pau-based "5e RHC" (5e Régiment d’Hélicoptères de Combats) are now part of the "Musketeer Task Force" deployed at Kabul airport (along with three EC725…
A Surge in Cost Per Troop The President has committed to a major new phase of the Afghan campaign. Although called a “surge,” it is much more of an expansion of the engagement. And with that expansion comes a significant demand for new resources to deal with the most neglected…
