The U.S. Army is currently running two separate competitions to develop next-generation armed reconnaissance and assault helicopters. The future of Army Aviation depends on both competitions producing world-class rotorcraft that can be fielded expeditiously. The Army’s Cold War recon helicopters, also known as scouts, had grown so decrepit that the service decided to retire them even though it lacked a replacement. Finding that replacement is now Army Aviation’s top modernization priority. As for the assault rotorcraft, the Army feels it [ Read More…]

In an era marked by the proliferation of lethal, long-range weapons, , the U.S. military is looking for ways of ensuring that its forces deployed within range of these new threats can operate effectively both in peacetime and in the event of a great power conflict. These so-called “stand-in” forces must not merely survive the attack but use their position to engage in decisive military actions from the outset of hostilities. A premier stand-in force already exists. This is the [ Read More…]

The U.S. Army is developing a family of long-range precision fires that will significantly expand its role in deterring Chinese aggression. Although China has traditionally been regarded as a problem for the Air Force and Navy, the Army’s future fires are an important addition to the joint arsenal. Five precepts are guiding their development. First, there is a recognition that new technology is enabling unprecedented reach and precision for ground-based weapons.  Second, there is an understanding that the more diverse [ Read More…]

The latest controversy to afflict the tri-service F-35 fighter program is concern that it might cost too much to operate. Operations and support, often called sustainment in military circles, is, in fact, a majority of the program’s life-cycle cost. However, like earlier controversies about the program’s production price and performance, the sustainment issue is more contrived than real. For starters, future cost projections are unprovable guesses based upon bogus estimates of year-by-year inflation into the 2060s. Second, the F-35 is [ Read More…]

The Biden administration will soon need to decide whether to sanction India for purchasing Russia’s S-400 air defense system. Doing so would be a big mistake. Washington has been working hard to build bridges to India, and now it needs New Delhi to participate closely with Australia and Japan in a quadripartite coalition to contain China’s regional ambitions. Any imposition of sanctions at this point would be counter-productive, especially if levied in response to India’s purchase of defensive systems such [ Read More…]

On October 7, Polish border troops reported being fired upon by their counterparts from Belarus. Tensions have also been rising on the border between the two countries as a surge of migrants has created a building humanitarian crisis simultaneously with the sensitive security situation. But these may be just the foreshocks of a much larger earthquake, a symptom of the extent to which Belarus has been more or less reabsorbed into the orbit of Russia. Without backing from Moscow, it is likely that [ Read More…]

Is the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) going to get away with it? On October 1, 2021, USPS reduced first-class mail delivery standards ensuring mail service will be slower than it has been since the 1970s. Senior citizens, rural Americans, and the poor are hardest hit. The USPS action has been widely criticized by business, labor, consumer, and other groups. The bipartisan Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), USPS’s regulator, was also highly critical of the proposal but unable to stop it since [ Read More…]

On October 4, three days after the U.S. Postal Service implemented degraded standards for first-class mail, ensuring delivery will be slower than in the 1970s, it announced it was getting into a new business: check cashing. The experimental service is taking place in four cities. Meanwhile, America’s leading progressives – Sens. Bernie Sanders and Kirsten Gillibrand, along with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – are pushing quite hard for full-fledged postal banking. The proposal will not benefit the poor and will detract [ Read More…]

Lockheed Martin Chairman & CEO James Taiclet has revealed a major change that is unfolding in his company’s corporate culture. The nation’s biggest defense contractor is moving to emulate the speed of innovation in the commercial digital world by embracing open architectures, agile software development, and 5G networking technology. It is no coincidence that Taiclet came to Lockheed from American Tower, where he was a leader in revolutionizing the telecom industry. Taiclet saw there the possibilities for accelerating change, and [ Read More…]

The on-again/off-again debate regarding the future of the aircraft carrier has been reanimated. The approximate causal factor is the proliferation of long-range precision-guided ballistic and cruise missiles. In response to the threat, the Department of Defense (DoD) has sought to develop new operating concepts and capabilities to improve both the lethality and survivability of its forces. A key element of the new approach is the deployment of so-called stand-in forces. There is no better stand-in capability than a Carrier Strike [ Read More…]