The stars seem to be aligning for Air Force modernization during the Biden years. The new administration is seating a team to seasoned and like-minded acquisition officials who understand the intricacies of the service’s key investment programs. However, some initiatives are more urgent than others, so the service has identified six imperatives that will drive modernization over the coming years. The six imperatives are bolstering Space Force resiliency, optimizing battle management, defining next-generation air dominance, implementing moving-target engagement at scale, [ Read More…]

The clock is ticking to protect the electric grid from cyberattacks. Adversarial nations, terrorists, and criminal groups have been refining their techniques for years. Lloyd’s has warned a successful, coordinated intrusion could cost $1 trillion. Earlier this year, the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack showed even relatively modest attacks can be quite disruptive. The bipartisan infrastructure bill that President Biden signed on November 15 provides for substantial assistance. While beneficial, this assistance should be a small part of utilities’ decisions to make [ Read More…]

Wars are about seizing, holding, or conversely, liberating territory. This is true even for insurgencies such as the ones in Afghanistan and Vietnam. The greatest geostrategic crises of the past decade involved efforts by Russia and China to expand their control over nearby territories and seas. Russia seized Crimea and occupied parts of eastern Ukraine in 2014 and is once again massing forces along the Ukrainian border. Moscow has forged a military alliance with Belarus that creates a threat to the Sulwalki Corridor, the only [ Read More…]

The U.S. Army’s Futures Command is sponsoring a long-term exercise in testing new warfighting concepts called Project Convergence. Although often characterized as a sensor-to-shooter project it is really much broader, in effect heralding the return of military transformation. Military transformation originated at the turn of the century as a melding on new information technologies with joint teamwork, but then was aborted by the global war on terror. Now it is back with a similar focus, but more powerful technologies. In [ Read More…]

There is much enthusiasm among military planners these days for tapping into the innovations of the commercial sector. That’s fine up to a point, but a wholesale adoption of commercial technology without due consideration to dangers could lead to operational disaster. For instance, China’s military undoubtedly has a detailed understanding of how to intercept, jam and degrade commercial satcom signals. To take another example, the program office managing a recompete of the production contract for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle [ Read More…]

The Universal Postal Union (UPU), a specialized agency of the United Nations comprised of 192 member countries, plays an important role in international commerce. It sets the framework for rates and regulatory requirements for the international shipment of mail and postal packages. The Lexington Institute’s Paul Steidler spoke with the UPU’s Director General, Bishar Hussein, about the organization’s importance and its future. The discussion is here.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is leading an upbeat, audacious charge from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for the holiday season, also known as peak season. “We’re going to kill it,” he told The Wall Street Journal in outlining numerous investments and organizational steps USPS has taken since last year when mail and package deliveries were dismal for weeks. Similar comments have been made in other news interviews and speeches. The stakes are high for DeJoy and USPS. Without a dramatic [ Read More…]

Sierra Space, a subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), disclosed last month that it is partnering with Blue Origin to establish a privately owned and operated space station that it hopes will become the “premier commercial destination” in low Earth orbit. This is the latest step in the commercialization of space, and illustrates the central role that entrepreneurs are playing in opening the cosmos to private enterprise. Billionaires Eren and Fatih Ozmen, co-owners of SNC, view space as more than [ Read More…]

The Chinese hypersonic missile threat has made the United States rethink its missile defense approach. U.S. defense officials recognize that America’s missile defense capabilities, while formidable, are designed to track and shoot down traditional ballistic missiles and would struggle with hypersonic systems. MDA is looking at developing a specialized sensor constellation, called the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor system that will provide continuous tracking of both hypersonic and regular ballistic missiles. The HBTSS network will provide high-quality tracking and targeting [ Read More…]

It seems that one of the few things on which Democrats and Republics in Congress can agree is they want to put constraints on the U.S. technology sector. Members of both the House and Senate have put forth at least five bills directed at limiting how large technology companies operate. The most notable of these efforts is the American Innovation and Choice Online (AICO) Act. Rather than seeking to create a more open and competitive environment in online business, this [ Read More…]