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July 2011
For far too long, the commonly held image of U.S. electronic warfare (EW) capabilities is that of an adjunct to the real warfighters, the kinetic platforms and systems. Now, the world in which EW was nothing more than a supporting capability is over. Recent conflicts have underscored the centrality
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7/28/2011
The senior leaders of the U.S. military have finally said enough is enough. You cannot wear out the military by requiring that it fights two, even three wars over a decade, conduct countless out-of-area deployments, maintain forward presence around the world, provide humanitarian assistance in dozens
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7/27/2011
Many U.S. companies trying to open businesses in China have learned the hard way what it is like to deal with state-sponsored capitalism where the rules constantly change and the only real goal of the Chinese is to gain access to technology, capital and markets. Since Deng Xiaoping opened up his
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7/26/2011
Just when you thought General Electric's unneeded extra engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was about to bite the dust, here comes Bloomberg L.P.'s government research arm to confuse the issue. Last week BGov, as it is called, put out a short study stating the Pentagon might save billions
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7/26/2011
Responding to intensifying Congressional pressure, including a hold on the nomination of William Burns to be her deputy, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has promised a decision by October 1 on Taiwan’s request to buy 66 new F-16 fighters. For more than five years, Taiwan’s request for the additional
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7/25/2011
In case anyone missed it, the Cold War ended two decades ago. I mention this because there are parts of the Washington bureaucracy and regulatory schema that are still mired in Cold War thinking and restrictions. As a result, it is more difficult than necessary to pursue sensible policies and costs
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7/22/2011
The U.S. Army is funding a program called Common Infrared Countermeasures (CIRCM, or "kirkem") to provide better defenses for its helicopters against heat-seeking missiles. The basic idea is to use a compact, low-power laser to jam the sensor in hostile missiles so they lose contact with the helicopter
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7/22/2011
Over the last decade, Bloomberg News has emerged as the dominant news-gathering enterprise in the United States. It has gradually surpassed the Associated Press in influence while eclipsing perennial also-ran Reuters. Many reporters have left well-known outlets such as Forbes and Time
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7/21/2011
Proposals for deep cuts in military forces are swirling through Washington. Among the ideas being put forward just for the Sea Services are to reduce the number of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers from 11 to 9 and delay the start of the next Ford class aircraft carrier, cancel the next generation
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7/21/2011
The U.S. Army has been seeking a successor to the OH-58 Kiowa reconnaissance helicopter for over a decade, and it has been a frustrating experience. The first attempt, called the RAH-66 Comanche, was canceled after it ran up $7 billion in development bills on a design that was too costly and complicated.
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7/20/2011
U.S. defense spending has gone through a series of “boom and bust” cycles since the Korean War began in 1950. The typical way that downturns in defense spending are addressed is by reducing procurement, cutting personnel and eliminating or not modernizing infrastructure. Already the knives are out
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7/20/2011
Over the past several years, the Pentagon has canceled the Navy's next-generation cruiser and destroyer, the Air Force's most capable new fighter, the Army's future family of networked combat vehicles, and the Marine Corps' successor to Cold War amphibious vehicles. It has also stretched out the
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7/19/2011
The U.S. defense budget is in danger of being swamped in a tsunami of debt and deficit reduction plans. Proposals for massive defense cuts are proliferating. There is the Simpson-Bowles Commission, the Paul-Frank proposal and, most recently, the plan put forward by Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn that
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7/19/2011
The Obama Administration has a troubling habit of pursuing policies that make sense individually but when taken together are at the very best contradictory and at the worst produce dysfunction. In the Middle East the White House says to some despots that they must go but are silent with respect
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7/18/2011
Last week was in many ways a typical week for the U.S. Air Force. Aging F-15 and F-16 fighters developed during the Nixon Administration conducted combat and training missions, supported by KC-135 tankers built in the 1950s. Airborne surveillance was provided by E-3 AWACS radar planes that debuted
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7/18/2011
Pentagon insiders say the race to succeed Deputy Secretary of Defense Bill Lynn in the Pentagon's second most important job has narrowed to three contenders: Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Ashton Carter; Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michelle Flournoy;
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7/15/2011
One of the most powerful tools in the government’s arsenal for shaping and even controlling individuals, organizations and corporations is the power to write the regulations that implement laws. Lawmakers pass laws that sound good in press statements or on the floor of the House or Senate. But when
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7/15/2011
Let’s be honest. The current U.S. defense program is underfunded, even at over $500 billion a year in the base budget and another $100 billion plus in contingency expenses. A large, active, modern military is very expensive to maintain. The U.S. military suffers from a number of particular problems
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7/14/2011
The Navy's long-range plan for its undersea warfare fleet is overdue for an update. The current plan contains major gaps that could leave the undersea fleet unable to maintain an adequate level of forward presence or cope with emerging adversaries such as China. First, the service has failed to
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7/14/2011
The past 20 years has been a tale of near-continuous decline for the ex-Soviet military. Once it was the largest military force on the planet. Of late it has fallen to a mere shadow of its former self. So low have the fortunes of Russia’s conventional military fallen that it was barely able to defeat
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7/12/2011
As if the defense industry did not already face enough uncertainty, a new challenge has emerged to further complicate the plans of corporate executives. Activist investors such as longtime corporate raider Carl Icahn and Relational Investors CEO Ralph Whitworth are pressuring under-performing military
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7/12/2011
NATO is more active today than it has been at any time in its 62 year history. Some 40,000 non-U.S. troops, most from NATO member countries, are operating in Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). In addition, NATO countries have been engaged in a three month
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7/11/2011
How many hundred-year-old laws are there critical to U.S. national security in the 21st century? Only one: the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 also known as the Jones Act after its sponsor, former Senator Wesley Jones. It was promulgated at a time when unionization and protections for workers were just
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7/8/2011
On July 6 the Center for American Progress (CAP) issued a policy paper entitled "Sensible Defense Cuts" that provided recommendations for saving $400 billion in defense spending through 2015. Some of the recommendations really are sensible, and the authors clearly are correct in their view that
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7/8/2011
The slow erosion of British military power, like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, is an important lesson for national leaders in this country. Once a mighty empire with fleets deployed in many oceans and an Army on which the sun never set, Britain is now reduced to a middling power that is
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7/7/2011
BAE Systems, Inc. scored a major coup in the defense industry's Washington lobbying wars yesterday when it disclosed that it had hired star operative Erin Moseley as its next Senior Vice President for Government Relations. Moseley is one of the most energetic and well-connected players in the sector,
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7/7/2011
Most of the public reporting on the military’s use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) focuses on the big birds. The size of some airplanes, UAVs such as the Predator and Global Hawk can travel long distances, stay in the air for a long time and carry relatively heavy payloads. A derivative of the
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7/6/2011
As the final mission of the Space Shuttle approaches, a feeling of sadness and regret hangs over the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Despite protestations by senior political appointees that the space agency has an exciting future, most of us sense it isn't so. NASA's signature
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7/6/2011
Most of the discussion of the problems associated with the Pentagon’s campaign to take work away from the private sector and give it to government employees and facilities, what is termed insourcing, has focused on the impacts on large corporations. Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have
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7/5/2011
One of the eye-opening features of the three month old NATO air campaign in Libya is the hollowness of the world’s premier military alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Let’s be honest, this is not a major conventional war against a capable adversary. The real challenge for NATO
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7/1/2011