Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
Joint Radio Plan Needs Hedges Against Future Failure
During the late 1990s, at the height of the dot.com boom, the U.S. military was seized with an enthusiasm for networked warfare and all things digital that produced a series of big “system-of-system” development programs. Two of those efforts, the [Read More...]
Tanker Fallout: Charges Of U.S. Protectionism Are Wrong, But May Reveal A Hidden Agenda
The European media are in an uproar today following Northrop Grumman’s decision to pull out of the Air Force’s tanker competition. Much of the commentary accepts at face value the charge made by Northrop and European aerospace conglomerate EADS that [Read More...]
Acquisition Reform Backfires; Northrop Makes The Rational Decision
Northrop Grumman’s leaders hated pulling out of the Air Force’s tanker competition on Monday. Having spent four years and $200 million positioning their team to be a credible contender, company leaders desperately wanted to fight and win. But they simply [Read More...]
Bottom Line On The Alternate Engine: A Waste Of Money
Issue Brief
Three U.S. military services are developing the F-35 joint strike fighter to replace their aging cold war aircraft and those of allies. The program is performing well in tests, but the key to its success is holding down [Read More...]
As Threats Lose Urgency, Defense Spending Is Harder To Sustain
Ten years ago, I was invited to participate in a RAND Corporation project on the presidential transition. Each of the major presidential candidates sent a senior national-security advisor to brief the RAND panel, laying out their contending views of what [Read More...]
The F-35 Fighter Program Is Doing Fine. Really.
A journalist friend of mine left a message on my voicemail this week requesting comments on the “continuing implosion” of the F-35 joint strike fighter program. The drumbeat of negative stories about the program has become so persistent that many [Read More...]
Boeing’s New Entry In The Tanker Competition Lands Squarely On The Northrop-Airbus A330
The Boeing Company released details of its proposed next-generation tanker on Thursday that underscored just how tough it will be for Northrop Grumman to prevail in the next round of competition. Every feature of the Boeing plane seems calculated to [Read More...]
F-35 Alternate Engine: Legislators Cast Doubt On Their Own Approach To Projecting Weapons Costs
What’s wrong with this picture? Last year Congress approved tough acquisition reform legislation with the support of top defense authorizers in both chambers. To enforce greater realism in projecting weapons costs, the legislation directed policymakers to rely on estimates provided [Read More...]
Search And Rescue: Another Blow To U.S. Air Power?
Issue Brief
The U.S. Air Force is at the lowest ebb in its 63-year history. Although its capabilities still far surpass those of other air services around the world, it is gradually using up the arsenal it acquired during the [Read More...]
Defense Business Cycles: Timing Is Everything
Seventeen years ago, I found myself riding the Washington Beltway through Tyson’s Corner with one very happy defense executive. He was the chief financial officer of General Dynamics, and he had just sold his company’s fighter plant in Fort Worth [Read More...]