The world’s biggest military contractor disclosed a change in leadership on Monday. Lockheed Martin Chairman & CEO Marillyn Hewson will relinquish her job to James Taiclet on June 15. Taiclet, currently Chairman & CEO of American Tower, is a former Air Force pilot who regularly is ranked as one of the nation’s top-performing corporate leaders. He has served on the Lockheed board since 2018, and Hewson urged his fellow directors to select Taiclet as her successor. Like Hewson, Taiclet is [ Read More…]

Until a few years ago, small unmanned aircraft had an effective operating radius of 50 miles or so because they were tethered to line-of-sight communications. Satellite links might have given them greater reach, but the necessary equipment exceeded their payload capacity. Boeing subsidiary Insitu has overcome that limitation by adapting lightweight SATCOM capability to its Blackjack unmanned aircraft–effectively turning Blackjack into a theater-range system. This has major operational implications, and it comes just as bigger, more expensive unmanned aircraft are [ Read More…]

The Navy just awarded a contract to manage, support and modernize its largest IT networks. In doing so, the Navy, in effect, made the decision to dismiss the two companies that have supported its IT efforts for decades, in favor of an entirely new entity. By removing nearly 30 combined years of institutional knowledge and experience in running these networks, the Navy is making a highly risky bet: that it can orchestrate the transformation of two networks within a mission-essential [ Read More…]

The United States is in a race against China to develop and deploy 5G networks. Potentially impacting the U.S.’s ability to compete is a recent federal district court decision that ordered Qualcomm, this country’s leading semi-conductor company to provide its customers, including rival Chinese telecommunications companies, with critical 5G intellectual property. The judge’s ruling against Qualcomm was based on faulty reasoning and was made despite a lack of concrete evidence of anti-competitive behavior. Fortunately, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals [ Read More…]

The U.S. has a grand total of one program in its entire military arsenal capable of intercepting long-range nuclear warheads aimed at America. It is called the Ground-based Midcourse Defense, and within ten years it is likely to lose its effectiveness against an evolving North Korean threat. The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency has responded by proposing a “next-generation interceptor” capable of defeating pretty much anything that Pyongyang can come up with. Only problem: it could take ten years (or longer) [ Read More…]

America’s competitive electricity markets, coupled with sensible regulation, have helped ensure that the United States has abundant, reliable and affordable electricity. That system is today threatened by the Green New Deal and, more immediately, by actions that numerous states have taken. The result is a growing chasm between what consumers pay for electricity and what it should cost. Competitive markets are also important for gauging when new energy investments are needed. Lexington Institute’s Paul Steidler has written a commentary for [ Read More…]

The Lexington Institute is hosting a Capitol Hill Forum about Postal Reform on Friday, March 6 at 12:00PM. We hope you will be able to join us. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS), though facing major challenges, remains vital to the American economy. USPS delivers 140 billion items annually. In fiscal year 2019, it had revenues of $71.1 billion and a net loss of $8.8 billion. While there is widespread agreement on the need for postal reform, there are many different [ Read More…]

If the coronavirus crisis pushes the U.S. economy into recession, President Trump would be unlikely to win reelection. So now is a good time to consider how a Democratic chief executive might change Trump’s defense posture. Based on longstanding beliefs about national security within the Democratic Party’s base, the shift would be significant. Domestic spending would likely eclipse defense outlays in the federal budget, and within the defense budget spending would tend to migrate away from weapons outlays. Renewed emphasis [ Read More…]

Flying can be a dangerous business, particularly for helicopters that spend most of their air time close to the earth. Low-level flying is even riskier in a degraded visual environment (DVE), which interferes with a pilot’s ability to accurately navigate, see the ground, and avoid obstacles. DVE is a major cause of aviation accidents costing hundreds of millions of dollars, and taking hundreds of military and civilian lives. But recent strides in the integration of advanced sensors, powerful computer algorithms, [ Read More…]

The heavy-lift helicopter that Sikorsky is developing for the U.S. Marine Corps has overcome early challenges and is on schedule for initial operational deployments in 2023. Called the King Stallion, the CH-53K is far more capable than the “E” variant currently serving with the Marines. It can deliver a heavily armored Joint Light Tactical Vehicle plus two tons of additional payload over 120 miles, and then return safely to the amphibious warship from which it originated. Its range can be [ Read More…]