Archives
Recent
Aegis
Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has been struggling to find its role in a complex and changing security environment. Complicating this effort is the fact that most of European NATO’s military forces were oriented towards territorial defense of a Soviet conventional assault on Western Europe.
. . . Read more
Date:
8/22/2012
The death of Kim Jong Il has triggered the beginning of what may be a protracted filial succession crisis in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Were it not for that country’s possession of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles the death of one petty dictator and the prospective
. . . Read more
Date:
12/20/2011
Missile defense is coming to Europe. The initial pieces of the Obama Administration’s European Phased Adaptive Architecture (EPAA) are in place. The USS Monterey (CG-61), with the Aegis ballistic missile defense 3.6.1 weapon system and the SM-3 Block IA missile, is currently in theater. This is
. . . Read more
Date:
12/6/2011
Earlier this month, the U.S. Navy successfully tested its Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) consisting of an upgraded radar coupled with the advanced Standard Missile (SM) 3 Block IA against a simulated ballistic missile threat. The new SM-3 Block IA is the first in a series of improved
. . . Read more
Date:
4/26/2011
It looks like the U.S. Navy may not need to wait until the end of the decade to have a defensive system capable of coping with longer-range ballistic missiles launched by countries like North Korea. Earlier this week, the USS O'Kane guided-missile destroyer equipped with the Lockheed Martin Aegis
. . . Read more
Date:
4/15/2011
The administration’s current plan to deal with the growing threat from ballistic missiles is to develop missile defenses in four phases between now and 2020; each phase will have greater capability than its predecessor and will be deployed, it is hoped, in time to meet an evolving threat. Phase
. . . Read more
Date:
3/17/2011
With all the attention being given to reducing the cost of national defense, it is important to acknowledge the value of upgrading current platforms to provide them with additional capability and, hopefully, longer service lives. The Army has a program to upgrade its fleets of Abrams tanks, Bradley
. . . Read more
Date:
1/11/2011
One of the most important lessons not only of the Cold War but of the new conflicts beginning in the late 20th century is the value of collective military capabilities. NATO is the archetype of the way to pursue collective defense. First, there is the integrated military command structure. Second,
. . . Read more
Date:
6/4/2010
The chance exists that the Korean peninsula will be engulfed in war for the first time in nearly 60 years. North Korea’s deliberate sinking of a South Korean warship may have lit the fuse. In response, quite naturally, the Republic of Korea has cut off economic relations with its northern neighbor
. . . Read more
Date:
5/25/2010
While good for U.S.-Israeli relations and the defensive needs of a close U.S. ally, the Obama Administration’s decision to provide a rapid infusion of funding for the Iron Dome missile defense system is also an ominous sign that the security situation in the region continues to deteriorate. Hezbollah
. . . Read more
Date:
5/17/2010
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is continuing his crusade to transform the way in which the United States conducts national security affairs. The most revolutionary Secretary of Defense since Robert McNamara (and a much better one), Gates’ vision encompasses changing the way the Department of
. . . Read more
Date:
4/22/2010
Last weekend, NATO’s Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, told Europe’s NATO members that Europe risked becoming a paper tiger unless it invested more in its own defense. Struggling under the weight of the kind of social spending programs that the Obama Administration is determined to impose
. . . Read more
Date:
3/30/2010
A draft overview of the defense department's fiscal 2011 budget request highlights a handful of weapons programs as key to current and future military operations. The document was leaked last week, but media reports have only mentioned a small portion of its content. The chapter of the overview
. . . Read more
Date:
1/27/2010
Yesterday, Iran’s minister of defense fired a verbal shot across the bow of the United States, warning that his country could attack our warships in the Persian Gulf in the event of any attack upon Teheran’s nuclear facilities. The chance of such a confrontation rose rather sharply recently with
. . . Read more
Date:
1/20/2010