The Army and Marine Corps are buying a successor to the venerable Humvee light truck that is more survivable, versatile and reliable. Called the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, it is a response to threats encountered fighting insurgents in Southwest Asia — threats likely to intensify in the future. The Marine Corps is so impressed with JLTV that it has decided to buy 15,000, enough to replace its entire Humvee fleet. The Army’s plan is to buy 49,000, but it has [ Read More…]

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the U.S. Army began an effort to re-invent itself in anticipation of changes in the political, operational and technological environments. The “Army After Next” (AAN) program was an effort to look into the future of warfare some 25 years in order to frame the major issues that would drive the design of the Army and its modernization efforts. Today, Army Futures Command (AFC) is attempting once [ Read More…]

A large portion of the U.S. defense establishment is operating under the mistaken belief that a future conflict involving a great or middle power in the Pacific will be a long-range missile duel. China is building a formidable conventional military with a heavy reliance on a mix of air and missile defenses and long-range conventional and nuclear missiles. There are growing concerns that large U.S. naval platforms, particularly aircraft carriers, will be excessively vulnerable if they attempt to enter the [ Read More…]

In the Pentagon’s planning for great-power conflict, Europe is generally considered an Army-Air Force arena, while East Asia is considered a Navy-Marine Corps arena. But the U.S. Army may have a bigger role to play in deterring Chinese aggression than most observers realize, because of its ability to deploy long range fires and defensive systems in the so-called “first island chain” near China. The Army has recently been stressing the importance of forward deployment and joint cooperation while developing a [ Read More…]

In the United States and worldwide, offshore wind power is fledgling, at best. Despite this the Governors of New York and New Jersey have made it the cornerstone of their states’ future electricity supplies and ambitious carbon reduction goals. This will lead to much higher electricity prices and a degradation in grid reliability. As such, both states should reconsider their emphasis on offshore wind. Lexington Institute’s Paul Steidler has written a commentary for RealClearEnergy about this topic here.

August 9, 2019 Meeting Governor Duncan, Postmaster General Brennan, Governors Williams and Stroman, thank you for this opportunity. I will be addressing the Universal Postal Union situation. For decades US businesses have faced a significant competitive disadvantage to China, and a handful of other countries, because of how the Universal Postal Union has structured the international mail system. Under the UPU, it costs 60 percent or less to send a small package from Beijing to the US than to send [ Read More…]

Critics of U.S. aircraft carriers have been warning for decades that the warships were becoming vulnerable to attack by long-range anti-ship missiles. The latest source of this threat is said to be China. However, the missiles aren’t of much use if Beijing can’t find-fix-track-target U.S. carriers. There are reasons to suspect it can’t. First, it would need to monitor millions of square miles of ocean for a target that is constantly moving. Second, Chinese over-the-horizon radars have poor resolution and [ Read More…]

Small ball is when a baseball team employs a strategy to grind out a run or two. It is particularly valuable for helping teams break out of slumps. On August 1, the Senate took an important step in overcoming the legislative slump on postal reform by confirming three new Governors to the U.S. Postal Service’s Board of Governors, giving the Board a quorum for the first time in five years. Paul Steidler has written a commentary for InsideSources about this [ Read More…]

Boeing has informed the Air Force it will not bid on a contract to develop the nation’s next ICBM, leaving only Northrop Grumman in the running. That won’t do: most of the nation’s relevant expertise resides within Boeing, and the nation’s nuclear deterrent is becoming overly dependent on Northrop. But Boeing says that Northrop’s acquisition of the biggest U.S. maker of large solid rocket engines un-balances the competitive landscape, so there’s no point in bidding. It seems the most viable [ Read More…]

Army Futures Command (AFC) was stood up on July 1, 2018. It achieved full operational capability on July 31, 2019. In that time, AFC has made some remarkable strides, particularly considering the U.S. Army’s inherent conservatism. Even before the location of the new command’s headquarters was established or a commanding officer selected, the Army organized eight Cross Functional Teams (CFTs) to advance the Service’s critical modernization priorities. The CFTs are beginning to produce results. Now, while continuing its modernization efforts, [ Read More…]