Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D

Tanker Wars: EADS Can’t Break Even Without Government Subsidies There has been a lot of loose talk recently about the possibility that Airbus parent EADS might bid in the latest round of tanker competition even without former partner Northrop Grumman in order to establish a bigger “footprint” in the [Read More...]
Pentagon Officials Deride F-35 Cost Story, Say Reporter Using “Shaky Math” On April 7, InsideDefense.com reporter Jason Sherman produced a sensational story on cost growth in the Pentagon’s biggest weapons program titled, “Exclusive: DoD Warns Congress JSF Costs Could Skyrocket To $388 Billion By Summer.” It was the latest in a [Read More...]
Inside Defense Rebuts Lexington Criticism Of F-35 Story — But Not Very Convincingly InsideDefense.com has issued an update of the F-35 story referenced in my blog posting earlier today, dismissing my criticism as “flat wrong.” In an April 9 posting on its web-site, it tells readers “Defense consultant and Lexington Institute head Loren [Read More...]
Boston Globe: Sen. Brown Abandons Campaign Platform For The Pleasures Of Pork Today’s Boston Globe contains a well-crafted story by defense correspondent Brian Bender about the decision of newly-elected Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown to abandon the principles on which he campaigned to buy a prime cut of Pentagon pork. The program in [Read More...]
EFV Is The Only Option That Accomplishes The Mission While Protecting Marines Rumor has it that senior political appointees in the Department of the Navy want to make a point about acquisition reform by killing the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV). Apparently the fact that taking such action would also end up killing [Read More...]
Republicans Discover Afghan Political Culture — Eight Years Too Late A growing chorus of conservative, meaning Republican, commentators are complaining about the behavior of Afghan president Hamid Karzai. They object to widespread corruption in his government and a drift toward anti-Americanism in his rhetoric and actions. Some of these conservative [Read More...]
Northrop Backed Into Shipbuilding, And It Can Back Out Issue Brief A recent story in Defense News by respected naval analyst Christopher Cavas has investors speculating about the future of Northrop Grumman’s Avondale shipyard near New Orleans. The yard faces a bleak business outlook due to weak demand from [Read More...]
“V” For Versatility: Osprey Reaches For New Missions Issue Brief After a long wait, the joint force is growing accustomed to using the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor in operational missions. However, it will probably take a good deal longer before Osprey missions become routine, because no military force has [Read More...]
Tanker Wars: What EADS Really Wants In Order To Bid Again There were numerous media reports last week that Airbus parent-company EADS might bid alone against Boeing in the Pentagon’s pending tanker competition. It’s a tough call for EADS managers, because the company’s prospects have dimmed significantly since partner Northrop Grumman [Read More...]
Future Of Air Force Electronic Aircraft Fleet Up In The Air During the Cold War, the U.S. Air Force acquired a diverse fleet of electronic-surveillance and intelligence-gathering aircraft based on the Boeing 707 transport (the same airframe used for the KC-135 aerial-refueling tanker). The best known of these is the E-3 [Read More...]
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