For years, a bevy of national security, cybersecurity, energy, and other experts in important government agencies have strongly and clearly warned about the cataclysmic dangers facing America from cyberattacks on the electric grid. Hostile nation-states and others could wipe out electricity in large parts of the country for weeks or longer, leading to widespread death, economic chaos, and other upheavals. So how come this issue is seldom discussed at major political forums or a topic of kitchen table conversations? A [ Read More…]

The U.S. Air Force’s C-130 transport has remained versatile and relevant for seven decades through the timely implementation of upgrades to the original airframe. Today, it is time for another such upgrade: an enhanced vision system to amplify the value of digital head-up displays. The enhanced vision system overlays an image of surrounding terrain and obstacles on top of the symbology generated by the displays. It enables pilots to peer through fog, smoke, snow and other obscurants to see precisely [ Read More…]

The Army appears fixated on fielding transformational capabilities. At the same time, it must be sure that the other armored fighting vehicle fleets can be effective in future high-end fights. The way it is doing this is through a series of planned upgrades. Perhaps the perfect example of the ability of the value of smart upgrades is the M1A2 Abrams main battle tank. Since it was first deployed in 1980, the Abrams has undergone continuous modification and upgrades in response [ Read More…]

Predicting the priorities of a new presidential administration is risky business–especially when it hasn’t even taken office yet. However, President-elect Biden has a long and fairly consistent track record on defense, so when it comes to weapons programs some of the calls are easy to make. For instance, the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine is critical to assuring effective nuclear deterrence, a strategy Biden has embraced since he first entered the Senate. The B-21 bomber, designed for both nuclear and conventional [ Read More…]

Joe Biden and his likely incoming administration must make a basic decision about how they will deal with the large and financially troubled U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Option one is to continue, even accelerate, House Democrats’ policy of belligerence toward Republican Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. Option two is to recognize the reality that DeJoy is likely to remain as Postmaster General for the next few years and that he is a potential ally for overdue holistic postal reforms. Conciliation is [ Read More…]

Drones or unmanned aerial systems (UAS), particularly small ones, are proliferating on the battlefield. They also pose a growing threat to the homeland. The drones themselves and the tactics for employing them are becoming more sophisticated. Small drones require different counters than larger ones that resemble aircraft. They are harder to detect, track and engage. Over the past decade, the military has fielded lots of stop-gap solutions. Industry is working on many more, some extremely sophisticated. Now, the Pentagon is [ Read More…]

The U.S. arm of Airbus Space & Defense reorganized last summer to bid for classified intelligence work. An early target reportedly will be the opportunity to sell commercial imagery to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). But such work is highly sensitive, and there are questions that Airbus will need to answer. Why would NRO hire a state-subsidized foreign company that has done extensive harm to the U.S. aerospace sector? Why would NRO hire a company that has conducted space business [ Read More…]

Winning the race to deploy hypersonic weapons will be one of the most important achievements in U.S. national security of the 21st Century. For the U.S. and its allies, hypersonic weapons are more than a counterbalance to Russia and China. They hold out the prospect for fundamentally undermining competitors’ massive investments in so-called anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities. The Department of Defense has put together a well-thought-out and funded program to provide all Services with hypersonic weapons. Equally important, the aerospace [ Read More…]

The U.S. Postal Service reported that on November 2 it delivered 89.59% of ballots on time to election officials. These figures have been reported daily since October 24 to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Figures in the accompanying chart for outstanding ballots come from the U.S. Elections Project with the University of Florida. Wisconsin and Florida figures are from today, November 3.

President Trump has been a friend of the domestic aerospace sector during his first term, increasing Pentagon weapons outlays and promoting overseas arms sales. However, a second Trump term could be problematic if he tries to decouple from China, withdraws from NATO, or ends U.S. membership in the World Trade Organization. Such moves could make it harder for companies like Boeing to compete with foreign rivals. As president, Joe Biden wouldn’t do any of those things, but he would be [ Read More…]