Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
Gates Embraces F-35 Fighter, Stresses Program Progress
A casual observer of recent spending decisions made by defense secretary Robert Gates could easily conclude he is indifferent to military technology. He proposes termination of weapons programs and hiring of additional personnel with such regularity that the Pentagon seems [Read More...]
Dennis Muilenburg: The Future Arrives At Boeing Defense
Boeing made a smart, bold choice this week by elevating 45-year-old Dennis Muilenburg to run its huge Integrated Defense Systems unit. Muilenburg has been managing the unit’s sprawling services business, but he is best known within the industry for shepherding [Read More...]
One More Doubt About Unmanned Aircraft
We received a lot of positive comments about my August 18 brief suggesting that policymakers are a bit too enamored of unmanned aircraft. The brief argued that such systems would be far less effective against well-armed adversaries than they are [Read More...]
End Of Empire (III)
Every once in a while I stumble across an item that, while not directly related to national security, raises questions about our nation’s ability to maintain its standing as the world’s leading economy and culture in the years ahead. I [Read More...]
What Cutting F-35 Would Mean For America
The Pentagon’s decision to kill the F-22 fighter was barely public before proponents of other priorities began calling for cuts in the nation’s only other stealth fighter program, the F-35 Lightning II (also known as Joint Strike Fighter). Washington seems [Read More...]
AT&L: Carter & Kendall Put Emphasis Where It Belongs — On Technology
This year marks the 50th anniversary of a seminal lecture at Cambridge University about modern society by British scientist and novelist C.P. Snow. Snow argued that the elites running postwar society were divided into two distinct cultures: those who had [Read More...]
Asymmetric Threats: Not A New Idea
Although much of the jargon surrounding military transformation is being jettisoned in the current Gates counter-transformation, the concept of “asymmetric” threats continues to be widely used. In Bush-era usage, asymmetric threats were those aimed at areas where America was ill-prepared. [Read More...]
Military Not Tapping Full IW Potential Of JSTARS In Afghanistan
If new White House budget projections for the coming decade are correct — deficits averaging nearly a trillion dollars per year — then the joint force is going to have to get along with a lot less money. That means [Read More...]
Afghanistan: Graveyard Of Obama’s Domestic Agenda?
Whatever else you might say about George W. Bush, he stuck to his guns in Iraq. Despite abysmally low approval ratings and mixed results from the war zone, he never betrayed a willingness to accept defeat. Will Barack Obama do [Read More...]
Report: Disappearing Factories May Be Biggest Security Challenge
With the Obama Administration moving to put more emphasis on manufacturing policy, the Lexington Institute is releasing a report this week detailing just how severe the nation’s industrial decline has become. Here are some key facts you may not have [Read More...]