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April 2012
Josh Rogin of The Cable recently reported that the Obama Administration may be about to reverse its decision not to sell new F-16s to Taiwan. Last fall, the administration, responding to repeated requests by the Taiwanese government asking for approval to acquire more advanced F-16 C/Ds to
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Date:
4/30/2012
With substantial cuts in end-strength looming for both the Active and Reserve Component of the U.S. military, it is not surprising that large reductions of military infrastructure also are becoming more plausible. As U.S. forces overseas are brought home and, in several instances, demobilized, the
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4/27/2012
In a move that surprised no one, the air and land forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee has voted to give the Army more money than it requested for heavy armor next year so that the service does not mothball the Lima Army Tank Plant. Lima is the only industrial facility in the
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Date:
4/27/2012
This week, the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) continued its efforts to reverse planned defense cuts. In a series of sweeping moves, the committee blocked the Army’s efforts to temporarily end production of the M-1 Abrams tank and Bradley fighting vehicle, mandated that the Navy maintain at
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4/26/2012
Robert J. Stevens last night informed Lockheed Martin's board of directors that he intended to retire as the company's Chief Executive Officer, and the board then voted to elevate his long-expected successor, Christopher E. Kubasik, to the CEO post effective January 1, 2013. Stevens will remain
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4/26/2012
In the fiscal 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Congress attempted to address a longstanding dispute between the Department of Defense (DoD) and industry over rights to the technical data related to major military equipment and systems. In its most innocent interpretation, the new
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Date:
4/24/2012
The continuous pressure from Pentagon policymakers on F-35 prime contractor Lockheed Martin to cut pension costs has finally borne fruit: workers at the fighter plant voted by a huge margin Sunday to go out on strike, citing proposed changes to pensions. Although the company offered members of
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4/24/2012
I have been trying to understand the concept of the hybrid threat and why the U.S. military, in general, and the Army, in particular, seems to act like a deer caught in the headlights by this problem. The hybrid threat consists of a set of adversaries ranging from nation-states through insurgents
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4/23/2012
Delta Air Lines has launched a deceptive campaign against the federal government's Export-Import Bank alleging a variety of offenses detrimental to U.S. airlines. The gist of its complaint is that Ex-Im, as it is called, helps finance exports of Boeing widebody commercial transports that might
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Date:
4/23/2012
There is a trite saying that the military always prepares for the last war. A better formulation would be that the military almost always prepares for the wrong war. For the entire duration of the Cold War, the military’s focus was on a Third World War that never happened. In fairness to the entire
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Date:
4/20/2012
Published public opinion polls are starting to reflect the possibility of a GOP sweep in the election contest this fall. There is now the distinct possibility the Republican Party will once again control the White House, Senate and House of Representatives at the same time. That power base would
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Date:
4/20/2012
You don't need a crystal ball to figure out what the next big threat to America's soldiers will be. It won't be improvised explosive devices or cyber attacks, because the Army is spending lots of money preparing for those challenges. The next big threat will come from the air. Why? Because after
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Date:
4/20/2012
The last time hostile submarines appeared off this country’s shores was during World War Two. The U-123 parked itself off New York City in January 1942 and began sinking ships. For months strollers along the boardwalk in Atlantic City watched as unescorted merchantmen burned. During the eight month
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Date:
4/19/2012
Facing severe budget cuts over the next decade, the U.S. Air Force faced some extremely difficult choices. More than the other services, the Air Force needs to modernize. The average age of its tanker fleet is 45 years, the strategic bomber force is 35 years and the tactical fighter fleet is around
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4/18/2012
An improbable debate has broken out in Congress over whether the Export-Import Bank should be reauthorized, and if so then on what terms. The bank is a federal agency set up during the Depression to provide loans and loan guarantees for U.S. exports when private-sector financing isn't available,
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4/18/2012
It appears that the Light Air Support program is the latest casualty of the Pentagon's notoriously complicated acquisition process. The program was supposed to acquire 20 small "non-developmental" aircraft for use by Afghan pilots in conducting reconnaissance and ground attacks against the Taliban
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4/16/2012
I used to work for the man who was the first to try and kill the V-22 Osprey, then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. Both have proved to be very hard to kill. Both have withstood an onslaught of negative press that undoubtedly would have killed lesser men or weapons systems. Both have risen from
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Date:
4/16/2012
The NATO juggernaut is rolling forward to next month’s summit in Chicago. A key theme of the summit will be improvements to the Alliance’s capability to defend its members and meet evolving threats. NATO has promised concrete deliverables in Chicago including a long-term capability strategy for
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Date:
4/13/2012
There's an old saying about Washington that no political issue there is ever fully resolved. You may think it's done, but then it resurfaces in a new form and the fight goes on. So it appears to be with the alternate engine, the extra propulsion system for U.S. fighter jets that teammates General
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Date:
4/12/2012
A naval vessel has always been a complex instrument of war. Whether a sail-powered ship-of-the-line, coal-fired dreadnaught, oil-burning battleship or a modern nuclear-powered submarine or aircraft carrier, they have been a challenge to build, operate and fight. In addition to the growing complexity
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Date:
4/12/2012
The private sector has a number of techniques, called best practices, which they routinely employ to reduce costs and boost performance. A number of these have to do with supply chain management. One of the key reasons that the globalized economy works and companies such as Walmart makes a profit
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Date:
4/11/2012
It is seven months before election day and President Barack Obama finds himself in an increasingly precarious position. He is unable to get to 50 percent in the Realclearpolitics polling averages of either his job approval
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Date:
4/11/2012
This November will mark the 80th anniversary of one of the most disturbing military assessments ever uttered by a western leader. On November 10, 1932 Britain's de facto prime minister Stanley Baldwin said the following in a parliamentary debate about military policy:
I think it is well
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Date:
4/11/2012
In his now infamous "open mike" moment with outgoing Russian President Dimitry Medvedev, President Obama expressed the not too surprising idea that he would have greater negotiating flexibility after the November elections. It is assumed that the President was addressing the subject of missile defenses,
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Date:
4/10/2012
The Department of Defense spends as much on materiel maintenance as the whole world spent last year on smart phones. Over a third of that is depot-level maintenance, the most challenging repairs and overhauls of military systems. As the phrase implies, depot-level maintenance is performed in specialized
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Date:
4/10/2012
The U.S. Air Force recently announced that it was going to reissue a request for proposals for the Light Air Support (LAS) aircraft. This was supposed to be a relatively simple, off-the-shelf aircraft that could be used by U.S. allies such as the fledgling Afghan Air Force. To allow enough time
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Date:
4/9/2012
On April 2, the 1st Sustainment Command, CENTCOM, Port of Ash Shuaiba, Kuwait announced with some pride that the last vehicle to leave Iraq, an MRAP, had been loaded aboard a ship bound for the United States. Built in 2008 by BAE Systems, this Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle is not
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Date:
4/6/2012
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is about to release guidance to the entire federal government on what approach or methodology it should employ when conducting business case analyses (BCAs) to determine whether to use the private sector or government workers to perform a task. At a time
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Date:
4/5/2012
When a soldier or marine leaves his or her vehicle in a war zone, they become "dismounted." The Iraq and Afghanistan wars quickly became dismounted wars, and our defense apparatus found the ways and means to turn the individual warfighter into one of the most effective weapons systems in our arsenal.
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Date:
4/4/2012
The U.S. Navy has just released its new 5 and 30 year shipbuilding plans which reflect the challenges facing the Navy. The resources available to support shipbuilding are declining even under the Navy’s overly optimistic scenario. Budget pressures are so intense that the Navy proposes reducing the
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Date:
4/3/2012
One of the signature elements of the acquisition reform program instituted by the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and his then Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, Dr. Ashton Carter, is the application of the management concept and strategy known as “Should Cost.”
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Date:
4/2/2012
BB&T Capital Markets senior equity analyst and vice president Jeremy W. Devaney was one of the first observers to warn that budget sequestration would probably be implemented as mandated in last year's Budget Control Act. In this assessment for the Early Warning blog, Devanvey explains the political
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Date:
4/2/2012
The defense industry is awakening to the reality that the sequestration provisions of the Budget Control Act may actually be triggered in January. If Congress fails to compromise on a way of heading off sequestration, then the Pentagon's base budget -- already shrinking due to other provisions
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Date:
4/2/2012