Iran shot down a $100 million U.S. Global Hawk drone near the Strait of Hormuz last week, which should be a wake-up call for anyone who thinks we have entered the era of drone warfare. Our drones, even the most capable, aren’t ready to face well-equipped adversaries. First, the drones have little capacity to protect themselves. Second, more and more countries are acquiring modern air defenses capable of tracking and targeting unmanned aircraft. Third, manned aircraft typically offer greater speed, [ Read More…]

The Putin regime has built a conventional military machine that is capable of posing a significant threat to its immediate European neighbors, including members of the NATO Alliance. Russia’s ability to challenge the West with conventional military power must count on a swift resolution, exploiting Russia’s local superiority before the full but distant potential of the West is brought to bear. As currently postured, NATO cannot successfully defend the territory of its most exposed members. To deter Russia from attempting [ Read More…]

The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle that Oshkosh Corporation is building for the Army, Marine Corps and special operations forces looks poised to transform the mobility and versatility of U.S. ground forces.  JLTV (as it is usually called) was conceived to provide the joint force with fast, resilient transport that can survive almost any kind of attack. It is flexible enough to support numerous battlefield roles, from fire support to unit command to evacuation of wounded. And it is very reliable, [ Read More…]

A new technological competition has begun, one in which America’s rivals, particularly Russia and China, may be ahead. This is the race to build and put in the field super-fast or hypersonic weapons and vehicles. Senior U.S. defense officials have publicly stated that Russia and China are ahead of us in this new arms race. In response to this threat, the Department of Defense (DoD), which has yet to deploy a single hypersonic weapon, has pushed the research and development [ Read More…]

The Trump administration’s plan to sell tanks, missiles and ground-launched air defenses to Taiwan embodies what might be called a strategic paradigm shift to empower the small island’s deterrence posture against an often-threatened Chinese invasion. While much existing discussion centers upon strengthening Taiwanese air, sea and undersea defenses, there also appears to be an unequivocal need for major land defenses. The existing air-sea emphasis is extremely important, yet there are certainly elements of this approach which invite further discussion about [ Read More…]

President-elect Trump did not wait until his inauguration before launching a campaign to drive down the price of the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program. On December 12, 2016 he tweeted that billions of dollars could be saved on the F-35 fighter program, and shortly thereafter he met with the CEO of prime contractor Lockheed Martin to press his case. Today, less than three years later, the cost of each fighter has fallen dramatically and much of the credit for that [ Read More…]

The U.S. Army is on an intensive quest for an array of new technologies with which to design and build new armored fighting vehicles, particularly a replacement for the long-serving Bradley. However much it might yearn for a new tank, the Army lacks the critical technologies that would justify the time and expense pursuing such an objective. Moreover, it doesn’t need to make the effort. The Army’s current main battle tank, the Abrams, is the tank of the future. Major [ Read More…]

How much of a discount do foreign-based shippers receive when sending mail and small packages (aka terminal dues items) to the United States? It is as much as 65 percent compared with U.S. domestic Postal Service customers. We thank renowned postal consultant Jim Campbell, who has been analyzing these issues for decades, for sharing the above information. The huge disparity and subsidies given to foreign shippers, particularly those from China which is classified as a Group 3 country, underscore the [ Read More…]

With or without China’s cooperation, the U.S. is poised to soon notch an important victory in the trade war against China and send a firm message that we will cut our trade deficit. Winners will include U.S. e-commerce businesses, manufacturers and retailers. A bizarre international shipping pact makes it far less expensive to send a small package from China to the U.S. than to send the same package within U.S. borders. Paul Steidler has written a commentary for InsideSources about [ Read More…]

The Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee has proposed language in the 2020 defense authorization act that would provide Elon Musk’s SpaceX with up to $500 million so that it can continue pursuing military launch contracts despite not receiving a competitive award from the Air Force last year to develop a launch vehicle. Three other providers, including two non-traditional ones, won awards. Chairman Smith’s proposed language is a bad idea. According to the Air Force, it would raise the [ Read More…]