Large-deck nuclear-powered aircraft carriers will be a key part of the Navy’s force structure for the next half-century, at a minimum. The primary reason for this is the remarkable adaptability and flexibility of the carrier air wing. When the current, evolving air wing is married to the functional improvements embodied in the new Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN), the result will be an advanced military capability of unparalleled flexibility, mobility, effectiveness, efficiency, and reach. The ability to tailor the carrier air wing [ Read More…]

A recent essay in RealClearDefense proposes that the pending re-compete of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program is an opportunity to pursue electrification of the Army’s tactical vehicle fleet. It also proposes introducing other recent automotive innovations into the fleet, which the authors describe as outdated. There’s nothing wrong with experimenting how to make the Army “greener,” but this proposal is fraught with danger. First, most commercial automotive technology is too fragile to function in combat environments. Second, recharging [ Read More…]

One of the biggest myths about the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is that its financial problems would be largely eliminated if it did not have to “prefund,” i.e., set aside money and invest it, for its generous retiree health benefits program. Even comedian John Oliver spoke extensively about this during a May 2020 HBO segment. Prefunding is synonymous with saving and investing for retirement. It is a responsible, time-tested, and essential practice to ensure today’s more than 600,000 postal employees [ Read More…]

Information is the common currency of successful economic, healthcare and national security policies. One type of information that could have a decisive impact on a nation’s well-being is geospatial intelligence (GEOINT), the exploitation of Earth imagery and other geospatial information. Think of Google Maps. While governments build and deploy specialized GEOINT sensors, the trend is to acquire the majority of GEOINT information from commercial providers at lower prices. There is a race to develop the commercial sensors and analytic systems [ Read More…]

Joe Biden has seldom been a big supporter of homeland missile defenses during his long political career. However, as president he will have to make decisions about how to deal with the growing nuclear threat from North Korea, and the imminent emergence of long-range hypersonic weapons on the strategic landscape. Doing nothing is not an option. At the very least, the new administration will need to upgrade the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, the only operational defense the nation currently [ Read More…]

Although the Trump administration isn’t likely to be remembered fondly by most historians, some U.S. institutions actually benefited from the 45th president’s tenure. A case in point is the Army, which ended the Obama years with declining readiness and a faltering modernization program. Today, the Army is aiming to achieve the highest rate of readiness in two-thirds of its brigade combat teams. The Army’s fiscal 2021 procurement budget is up 60% from four years ago, and the R&D budget is [ Read More…]

The abysmal decline in mail service at the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has created significant hardships for millions of Americans. And the situation could get even worse: as of January 15, USPS is no longer under court order to report its weekly mail performance, that is the percent of mail delivered on time. USPS should announce a plan no later than March 1 to restore mail service to at least its June 2020 performance levels. Whether compelled by court order [ Read More…]

The U.S. Navy has emerged from the Trump era with a complex plan for retooling its fleet of warships. The undersea pieces of the plan are necessary and widely supported. The surface pieces have encountered resistance on Capitol Hill. Legislators are particularly skeptical about plans for a successor to DDG-51 destroyers and unmanned warships. The unmanned vessels don’t cost much and could be a valuable force multiplier, but the case supporting a new “large surface combatant” appears to repeat mistakes [ Read More…]

In a year where the Department of Defense struggled to address a global pandemic, uncertainty at home, and multiple security challenges abroad, the F-35 program stands out as a success story. The aircraft continues to provide exceptional capability for three U.S. Armed Services and more than a dozen foreign operators. In the face of COVID-19 slamming their supply chains on the home front, the F-35 industrial team still managed to produce a near-record 123 fighters. 2020 also saw the roll-out [ Read More…]

On January 12 the Department of Defense released its 2020 assessment of U.S. industrial capabilities. It is alarming compendium of decay that signals FDR’s arsenal of democracy is on its last legs. From shipbuilding to machine tools to semiconductors, the sinews of American economic and military strength are gradually draining away to other nations, particularly those in East Asia. The notion that America could surge military production in response to an emergency today the way it did in World War [ Read More…]