Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
Northrop Grumman’s New Headquarters Is Just One Step In A Corporate Transformation As I predicted in January, Northrop Grumman has decided to move its corporate headquarters to Northern Virginia. The most likely location is the same office park where General Dynamics headquarters sits astride the Capitol Beltway near Tysons Corner, but at [Read More...]
Army Decides To Kill “Missile In A Box” Weapons Program After Spending A Billion Dollars The Army Systems Acquisition Review Council decided on April 22 to kill the Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS) at the urging of Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli, even though the service had spent a billion dollars on the program [Read More...]
Development Of Revolutionary Army Radio Nears Completion Development of the Army’s revolutionary Ground Mobile Radio (GMR) is 95% complete, and is entering government testing to verify its performance features. GMR is the leading edge of a family of “software-defined” radios that can easily switch among various modes [Read More...]
U.S. Spy Satellite Program Could Be Undermined By Flagging Demand For Rocket Motors Amy Butler of Aviation Week & Space Technology reported last week that the super-secret National Reconnaissance Office will be launching new spy satellites over the next two years at the highest rate since the Reagan era. Butler quotes NRO director [Read More...]
EADS Returns To The Tanker Race — With Pentagon Help Issue Brief
The European Aeronautic, Defense & Space Company (EADS) is back in the race to supply the Air Force with a next-generation aerial refueling tanker, announcing on April 20 that it would once again bid a modified version of [Read More...]
What The Navy Wants In Its Next-Generation Ballistic Missile Submarine The most important weapon system in the U.S. arsenal isn’t an aircraft carrier or a long-range bomber. It is the Trident ballistic-missile submarine, designated SSBN in naval nomenclature (“SS” for submarine, “B” for ballistic missile, “N” for nuclear propulsion). The [Read More...]
Govt. Negotiators Seek Price On Next Lot Of F-35s Far Below Official Cost Estimates Government representatives negotiating terms for a fourth production lot of F-35 joint strike fighters are pressing prime contractor Lockheed Martin to deliver the most common variant of the plane at a price far below the level predicted in official cost [Read More...]
Economic Future Of Wisconsin Town Hinges On Which Littoral Combat Ship The U.S. Navy Selects Sometime this summer an anonymous panel of Navy weapons experts will decide the economic future of a struggling town in rural northeastern Wisconsin. Marinette, Wisconsin is the home of the shipyard building the Lockheed Martin version of the Littoral Combat [Read More...]
Lack Of Protected Satellite Communications Could Mean Defeat For Joint Force In Future War In the years since the Cold War ended, the U.S. military has become heavily dependent upon satellite communications to maintain its global connectivity. Without such links, it would be difficult for the military to operate in a coordinated fashion or [Read More...]
The F-35 Will Cost About What An F-16 Costs Issue Brief
With the best of intentions, Congress and the Obama Administration have implemented a series of acquisition-reform measures that are making the problem worse. Efforts to clarify the cost of programs are sowing confusion. Efforts to reduce risk are [Read More...]