LexNextThe Lexington
Policy Blog
- Four Reasons Why Hybrid Electric Drive Would Be Good For The Navy’s Future Frigate (From RealClearDefense)
The U.S. Navy is moving ahead to acquire a new frigate or FFG(X). Last year, it awarded five contracts for conceptual designs to Austal USA, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Fincantieri Marine and Huntington Ingalls. The U.S. Navy has made it quite apparent that it is looking for a highly capable, multi-mission combatant but that it wants it [ Read More…]
- Paul Steidler
- How America Subsidizes China’s Mail Thanks To The UN Postal Union (From The Daily Caller)
China has gained a competitive advantage over U.S. manufacturers, retailers and e-commerce companies through its special treatment by the United Nations-affiliated Universal Postal Union (UPU). The Trump Administration should maintain its strong stand with the UPU to fix this situation. Lexington Institute’s Paul Steidler has written a commentary for The Daily Caller about this topic here.
- Daniel Gouré, Ph.D.
- The Artillery Systems That Could Be Futures Command’s First Big Success (From RealClearDefense)
Long-range precision fires is and must be the Army’s number one modernization priority. The goal is to both out-range and out-mass hostile fires. Greater range alone will not be enough to ensure survivability. U.S. Army artillery must be able to overmatch our enemies at every echelon, to do so, mobility is also required. Army artillery units need to be able [ Read More…]
- Navy Stealthy Columbia Subs Launch First Patrol in 2013–With New Missile Variant (From Warrior Maven)
The Columbia-class successor to U.S. Navy Trident submarines is the centerpiece of plans to modernize America’s nuclear deterrent. Delivery of the first of twelve boats will occur in 2027, with the first operational patrol in 2031. Columbia will be the stealthiest warship ever built, thanks to unprecedented levels of quieting necessary to assure it cannot be destroyed in a surprise attack. It will also begin its patrols with an advanced variant of the Trident II (D-5) missile, which has an [ Read More…]
- Why Raytheon May Be The Biggest Winner In The Pentagon’s New Missile Defense Plan (From Forbes)
The Trump Administration’s plan to expand U.S. missile defenses is complicated, but one common thread that runs through it is the pervasive role played by Raytheon. The Massachusetts-based military contractor seems to be involved in every facet of the missile defense architecture, from radars to interceptors to networks. And now that the Pentagon wants to take a close look at adding space-based sensors and weapons to that architecture, Raytheon’s footprint could grow even bigger. The company says on its web-site [ Read More…]
- The Amphibious Warfare Force: America’s First Line of Defense
Executive Summary Click here to read the full report as a PDF. The return of great power competition and the emerging focus on multi-domain operations has altered the role of the Marine Corps and amphibious warfare fleet. New potential conflict scenarios involving China, Russia and others demand that U.S. policymakers count on the amphibious fleet as a joint asset. The Amphibious Ready Group/Marine Expeditionary Unit (ARG/MEU) will be able to play a unique role in the first days of any [ Read More…]
- Preventing The Mother Of All Power Outages (From RealClearEnergy)
A major report by the Department of Homeland Security warns about catastrophic power outages, such as those that would occur from an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack. For too long, policy makers have ignored such warnings and action is overdue. Lexington Institute’s Paul Steidler has written a commentary for RealClearEnergy about this topic here.
- Trump’s Strategic Vision Is More Coherent Than His Critics Imagine (From Forbes)
News coverage of President Trump is so reflexively negative that many observers think he has no ideological core. In fact, he not only has a a firm foundation of convictions concerning America’s place in the world, but those convictions are consistently reflected in the policies he espouses as president. For instance, Trump believes that every country is out for itself; that peace can only be sustained through strength; that strength arises first and foremost from a robust economy; that every [ Read More…]
- A Recapitalizing Sealift Fleet Is the Nation’s Most Important Military Program (From RealClearDefense)
While the U.S. may be on its way to restoring the erstwhile preeminence of the military, those forces are primarily located in the United States. In the event of a conflict with a major power or even rogue regional actor, it will have to project most of that power thousands of miles to Europe, the Middle East or Asia. Once deployed, those forces will need to be sustained by a steady flow of supplies. For that, there needs to be [ Read More…]
- New Navy Amphib Assault Strategy: “Mother Ships” Launch Small Boat Attacks (From Warrior Maven)
The U.S. Marine Corps continues to evolve its amphibious warfare plans in response to changing threats and technological opportunities. Lexington Institute Senior Fellow Kris Osborn lays out the key features of the emerging plan, including unmanned combat systems and next generation ship-to-shore connectors, here.
- U.S. Postal Service: The Mother Of Government Shutdowns (From InsideSources)
The Postal Service faces major liquidity challenges which could disrupt and shut down its operations. The effects would be quite severe, as history as shown. Lexington Institute’s Paul Steidler has written a commentary for InsideSources about his topic here.
- Why The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Plan Leaves The U.S. Unprotected From Russian Missile Attack (From Forbes)
President Trump today unveiled a new Pentagon missile-defense plan that is more robust than what he inherited from the Obama Administration. However, in one key respect it is unchanged: the United States will not attempt to defend its homeland against large-scale nuclear attacks originating in Russia. It will rely instead on the threat of retaliation to deter nuclear aggression by Moscow. In other words, the U.S. will devote more resources to defending against small nuclear attacks by Iran or North [ Read More…]
- The F-35 Fighter Is A Success. So How Do We Keep It Ready & Reliable For The Next 50 Years? (From Forbes)
The F-35 fighter program has successfully completed developmental testing, and begun entering the military fleets of three U.S. services and a dozen allies. It is a highly survivable, versatile warfighting system that will preserve U.S. air superiority through mid-century, but now the military needs to implement a support framework that can keep the aircraft ready and reliable at an affordable cost. New aircraft always cost more to sustain than mature ones, and there are plenty of opportunities for saving money [ Read More…]