The Trump administration has proposed that a Space Force “separate but equal” from the Air Force be established. This idea is widely opposed in the Pentagon and would likely waste billions of dollars while making the joint force weaker. Among other things, it would create new barriers to joint force cooperation, spawn a sprawling new bureaucracy, and reduce the incentives for other services to pay attention to space challenges. Congress should oppose the administration’s request for legal authorities to stand [ Read More…]

My name is Jayme Smaldone. I am the founder and chief executive officer of Mighty Mug, a small business based in Rahway, New Jersey. At Mighty Mug, we make the world’s most innovative – and globally patented drinkware. Mighty Mug grips when knocked, so you can avoid spills. We have worked incredibly hard and invested a great deal to create something new. We have spent upwards of a million dollars on patents and intellectual property (IP) enforcement. Like many businesses [ Read More…]

The great power competition is extending into space, making it necessary for the U.S. to consider new technologies that will protect its assets and its current lead in space. The president’s proposal for a Space Force earlier this summer included a statement that China and Russia cannot be allowed to make further gains in space at America’s expense. The importance of superiority in space is a theme that senior government officials have been emphasizing for years. China and Russia are already well [ Read More…]

The U.S. may be approaching a crucial decision concerning its military involvement in Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense James Mattis says U.S. activity there won’t end anytime soon. The question is, will President Trump stick with a plan that does not promise victory? Should the Administration choose to “pull the plug” on the Afghanistan mission, it will need to continue efforts to build the Afghan National Defense Security Forces into a professional security apparatus with the appropriate command and control, intelligence, [ Read More…]

It is a generally accepted view among Western foreign policy and defense elites that a new era of great power competition has begun. According to the new National Security Strategy: “After being dismissed as a phenomenon of an earlier century, great power competition returned. China and Russia began to reassert their influence regionally and globally… They are contesting our geopolitical advantages and trying to change the international order in their favor.” A central element of this new competition is the [ Read More…]

Lockheed Martin disclosed today that its board has approved the promotion of Michele Evans, 53, to lead the company’s Aeronautics unit effective October 1.  Evans will thus oversee the transition from development to production maturity of the Pentagon’s biggest weapons program, the F-35 fighter.  Lockheed generated over a quarter of its second-quarter revenues from the F-35, and expects to receive a steady flow of income on the effort for many years to come.  Evans has a multi-decade history with Lockheed [ Read More…]

There are many compelling reasons the U.S. is looking to expand energy exports, particularly liquefied natural gas (LNG). Close to home, LNG will help to strengthen the economies of many Caribbean and nearby countries. It will also provide significant environmental benefits by replacing highly polluting oil which is still used extensively in electricity generation. I discuss these matters in an Op-Ed for Investor’s Business Daily here.

If President Trump succeeds in creating a Space Force “separate but equal” from the Air Force, the latter service will lose its satellites, its ballistic missiles and many of its networks.  It will be mainly about “things with wings.”  But once the narrowed focus of Air Force modernization is established, it will become clear the service is buying new planes too slowly.  Its current plans for buying new fighters and tankers would result in most of the air fleet consisting [ Read More…]

The U.S. Army recently announced that it would locate the headquarters of its new Futures Command in Austin, Texas. Austin won out over Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Raleigh based on its score on six major criteria: proximity to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workers and industries; proximity to private sector innovation; academic STEM and research and development investment; quality of life; cost; and civic support. One of the features that sold the Army’s leadership on Austin was its “ecosystem” [ Read More…]

The Pentagon’s new Space Force will be largely carved out of the Air Force, leaving the latter service much diminished.  The Air Force won’t just lose its satellites, it will probably lose its ICBMs, its most valued networks, and a fair amount of its cyber expertise.  So Air Force leaders will need to organize the service’s scaled-back modernization program around what’s left of their core competencies.  Fielding a new tanker and bomber will remain central to service plans, but the [ Read More…]