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Policy Blog
- Staying Watchful And Alert On America’s Electric Grid Security (From RealClearEnergy)
With the United States having faced serious warnings and threats of cyberattacks to its electric grid over the past five years, there might be a tendency to think all is well given that a major attack has not created havoc. While some progress has been made on U.S. electric grid security, now is no time for complacency. For the sake [ Read More…]
- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
- As Army Chief McConville Prepares To Depart, His Service Is In Its Best Shape In Decades (From Forbes)
The U.S. Army is in great shape today–well-trained, ready for combat, and increasingly equipped with the best weapons in the world. A lot of the credit for this goes to General James McConville, who served first as the Army’s Vice Chief and then as the Chief of Staff during the Trump and Biden years. McConville is retiring from military service [ Read More…]
- Daniel Gouré, Ph.D.
- Ukrainian Rearmament Will Require A Lot Of Help From The U.S. (From RealClearDefense)
It is time to start thinking about how to rearm Ukraine after the current conflict ends. Even if Ukraine is successful in completely ousting Russia from its territory, an era of peace will not necessarily ensue. It is more likely that a hostile border with Russia will emerge, like that between North and South Korea, or between Israel and several [ Read More…]
- Defense Industry Dodges A Bullet In Debt Compromise (From Forbes)
The debt-ceiling compromise that the House of Representatives passed this week is good news for the defense industry. Not only is the Pentagon being funded at the level President Biden requested for 2024, but there is a good chance that supplemental appropriations for assisting Ukraine will raise weapons outlays higher. Military outlays are the largest component of federal discretionary spending, and weapons programs are politically easier to cut than personnel or readiness. So the fact that the Pentagon’s investment accounts [ Read More…]
- Joint Light Tactical Vehicle: Why Militaries Everywhere Want The JLTV (From 1945)
Much of the reporting on the war in Ukraine and the rearmament of NATO has focused on major fighting platforms such as main battle tanks, artillery systems, and air defenses. There is intense demand for Abrams tanks, HIMARS rocket artillery, and Patriot air defenses. There is also a lot of interest in and sales of other military platforms, particularly tactical vehicles. One system that is popular not only in Europe but globally is the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, or JLTV. With its [ Read More…]
- Comments To Postal Regulatory Commission On Need For Public Inquiry Docket On U.S. Postal Service’s Delivering For America Plan
The Lexington Institute opposes the U.S. Postal Service’s Motion for Reconsideration of Order No. 6488 (“USPS Motion”), filed in this docket on May 5, 2023. Moreover, the Lexington Institute strongly supports the Postal Regulatory Commission’s creation of this public inquiry docket on the Delivering for America (“DFA”) plan. Recent events have shown how essential it is that the Postal Regulatory Commission probe and be kept informed of major developments with the DFA plan. On April 27, 2023, in a two-year [ Read More…]
- The U.S. Navy Desperately Needs Large Amphibious Warships (From 1945)
The new force design the Marine Corps is pursuing comes at the expense of its ability to support the Administration’s strategy of integrated deterrence. The Corps’ current focus is on the least likely scenario, a major war with China across the Western Pacific. Biasing the structure of the Marine Corps to a single high-end scenario undermines the Corps’ ability to support the needs of a peacetime presence and crisis response, and portends especially serious issues for its amphibious warfare fleet. [ Read More…]
- E-7 Wedgetail Successor To AWACS Is A Must-Have For The Joint Force, The Sooner The Better (From Forbes)
The Air Force’s fleet of 31 E-3 AWACS radar planes is rapidly descending into obsolescence. The service should have begun a replacement program decades ago, but we are where we are: a successor based on Australia’s Wedgetail was announced in April of last year. The first two prototypes of a planned 26-aircraft buy should be delivered by 2027, with the rest entering the fleet by 2032. The joint force cannot do without the new planes, because at this point no [ Read More…]
- GSA Court Case Could Negatively Impact All Future Defense Contracting
The Department of Defense (DoD) has been making serious efforts to take advantage of advances in private sector logistics to improve the way that defense goods are warehoused, organized, and distributed. A major part of this effort has centered on consolidating disparate transportation activities into large multi-year contracts that can reduce costs and improve efficiency. One of the most innovative of these is the Defense Freight Transportation Services (DFTS) contract. Awarded in 2016 by the U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) to [ Read More…]
- China’s Threat To U.S. Pacific Territories And How Washington Should Respond
This testimony was presented to the Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs, Committee on Natural Resources, U.S. House of Representatives, on May 16th, 2023. Chairwoman Hageman and Ranking Member Fernandez, thank you for the opportunity to appear before the Subcommittee today to address an issue of the utmost importance to the sovereignty of the United States and the integrity of our Pacific territories and insular areas: countering the malign influence of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). As the first-ever [ Read More…]
- Urgent Military Need For ‘Affordable Mass’ Can’t Wait For A New Generation Of Smart Munitions (From Forbes)
The U.S. military owns the most capable weapons in the world. However, there is a downside to being so capable. Advanced weapons are costly, so it is very expensive to accumulate large stocks. That presents a dilemma for military planners, who know that in a major war with China, U.S. forces might need to attack 100,000 aimpoints. Current U.S. supplies of precision munitions would begin to run low after hitting only a fraction of that number of targets. BAE Systems [ Read More…]
- Ukraine, Taiwan Challenges Spur Efforts To Strengthen Munitions Industrial Base (From Forbes)
There was a time, not so long ago, when the notion of a federal industrial policy was anathema in some circles. You know, “government picking winners and losers.” At least when it comes to America’s military, that attitude is now out the window. Congress and the Biden administration are making multiple moves to bolster the industrial base, especially with regard to munitions, by doing business more thoughtfully. This will greatly assist Washington in arming Ukraine and Taiwan. I have written [ Read More…]
- Ten Reasons It’s Time To Kill GE’s Unneeded Fighter Engine (From Forbes)
Only months after the Pentagon disclosed it would not be buying a new engine for the tri-service F-35 fighter, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall is signaling he wouldn’t mind if Congress were to keep funding the program. Any such move would be a waste of taxpayer money at a time when the level of federal spending has already led to a budget impasse in Washington. The F-35 does not need a new engine to meet future performance requirements, it simply [ Read More…]