Learning from Colonel Spaid: The Osprey’s Indispensable Role Across Two Decades
Colonel Wes Spaid’s journey with the V-22 Osprey spans nearly two decades, from flying the first…
Read More »Marine C2’s Shift from Enduring Bases to Expeditionary Hubs: A Perspective from Steel Knight 2025
The Marine Corps has long understood that the character of warfare is shaped not merely by…
Read More »A Decade of Strategic Analysis: My Australian Defence Research (2014-2025)
This month, my latest book on Australian defence has been published. Fight Tonight Force: Combat Readiness…
Read More »From Victory Forgotten to Lessons Unlearned: Desert Storm, Strategic Drift, and the Combat Pilot Training Revolution
Lieutenant General David Deptula’s Forbes piece marking the 35th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm examines how…
Read More »The H-1 Helicopter’s Digital Revolution: HMLA-267 Leads Marine Corps into Distributed Aviation Operations
The Marine Corps has long understood that the character of warfare is shaped not merely by…
Read More »How to Characterize the U.S. Intervention in Venezuela: Bold Global Geopolitical Move or Neo-Imperialism?
The Trump Administration’s intervention in Venezuela is certainly dramatic and controversial. But what I find fascinating…
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Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) have moved in just a few years from a conceptual “loyal wingman” idea to concrete flight testing, down‑selects, and multi‑service adoption, with 2025–2026 shaping up as the period where the United States proves whether it can actually field affordable combat mass at speed. Across the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and now the Army, CCAs are evolving into a family of large, jet‑powered uncrewed systems, tightly linked to manned platforms and backed by a growing budget, a more incremental acquisition strategy, and intensive experimentation with autonomy and manned‑unmanned teaming. The U.S. Air Force remains the pacing service in the United States for CCA development, having launched the first formal program in 2023 and moved it into early operational prototyping during 2025. In August 2025,...