Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
Joint Recovery Agency Perpetuates Myths About V-22 Now that defense secretary Robert Gates has delayed selection of a new combat search-and-rescue-helicopter, the joint force has to figure out how it wants to handle the mission in the future. Something needs to be done soon, because the Air [Read More...]
Tanker Wars: CEO Pick Elicits Puzzled Response The North American arm of European aerospace company EADS disclosed yesterday that chief executive officer Ralph Crosby would be succeeded by former NASA head Sean O’Keefe. Crosby will become non-executive chairman of the unit when O’Keefe takes over the CEO’s [Read More...]
KBR Federal Unit Gets A New Leader The military’s biggest overseas supplier of construction and warfighter support services has a new head. KBR, formerly the Kellogg, Brown & Root units of Halliburton, announced yesterday that it had appointed William C. Bodie as president of its North American [Read More...]
NRO Lauds Boeing Performance On Radar Spysat The biggest setback that Boeing’s defense business has encountered in this decade came when the government decided to scale back the company’s role in the Future Imagery Architecture (FIA). FIA was supposed to provide the next generation of imaging spy [Read More...]
The Age Of Robotic Combat Systems Has Not Arrived Issue Brief
Ever since Czech playwright Karel Capek introduced the concept of mechanical men in his 1921 drama,Rossum’s Universal Robots, prophets have been predicting the imminent arrival of machines that could take the place of people. Speculation about using robots [Read More...]
JSTARS Radar Planes Can’t Stay In The Fight Without Better Engines On September 30, Pentagon technology chief Ashton Carter directed the Air Force to fund new jet engines for the Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) fleet. The planes carry a unique radar that can track and image moving [Read More...]
C-5 Versus C-17: An Assessment Of Airlift Options This week’s conference of House and Senate appropriators to iron out differences on the fiscal 2010 defense budget provides a setting for the latest cliffhanger in a long-running story — whether the scrappy C-17 airlifter will survive, or finally cease [Read More...]
Missile Warning Satellite On Track, Say Insiders Multiple sources engaged in developing vital Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) satellites say that recent reports of setbacks are wrong. The first geosynchronous satellite in the planned constellation is on track for launch next year, they state, and two sensors from [Read More...]
Lockheed: Kubasik Promotion Tied To Gates Goals When Secretary of Defense Robert Gates visited the Texas plant where Lockheed Martin plans to assemble the F-35 joint strike fighter on August 31, he gave a big boost to the company’s most important program. Gates said the aircraft was [Read More...]
Osprey Belongs In The Combat Search And Rescue Mix Issue Brief
Few military missions are more dangerous than combat search and rescue (CSAR). Warfighters and noncombatants stranded in remote locations must be found and retrieved, often while enemies are doing their best to shoot down the rescuers. Sometimes those [Read More...]