Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
Defense Acquisition Through 2012 Presentation to Jane’s Cityforum Defense ConferenceI have been asked to spend 15 minutes describing the “givens” of U.S. defense acquisition through 2012, meaning the things that we can assume with high confidence will happen.
I will divide my discussion [Read More...]
Buying Weapons: A Reform Agenda For The Next President Issue BriefOn July 9, 1861, as the Union mobilized to fight the Confederacy, the New York Times editorialized that the War Department was too corrupt to equip soldiers successfully: “It would seem as if some potent Spirit of Evil [Read More...]
FCS: The Logic of Future Combat Systems Research Study• The Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) program is a family of ground combat vehicles and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft tied together by a high-capacity wireless network. It is the centerpiece of Army modernization efforts, consuming about four percent [Read More...]
Air Force Radar Plan Imperils Troops Issue BriefWhat’s wrong with this picture? The Air Force plans to spend over a hundred billion dollars to buy 2,000 new fighters, but it can’t find the money to upgrade a handful of radar planes with better technology for [Read More...]
Missing Ingredient In Weapons Decisions: Common Sense Issue BriefMilitary expert Anthony Cordesman claims the Bush Administration has fielded “the worst wartime national security team in United States history.” That’s pretty harsh. LBJ and Nixon managed to squander over ten times as many American lives on a [Read More...]
Containing Iran: A Role For America’s Navy Issue BriefThe growing rift between the Bush Administration and Pakistan’s new government over how to deal with militants operating in tribal areas along the Afghan border is a reminder that America’s global war against terrorists depends heavily on the [Read More...]
Economic Security: A Decade Of Decline Issue BriefIt looks like the economic history of the Bush era is going to end much the same way it began: with the government struggling to prevent a recession from turning into a depression. The downturn in President Bush’s [Read More...]
Boeing Fights Back: How It Plans To Prevail Issue BriefWhen Boeing executives heard last week that they had failed to beat Northrop Grumman in any of the five selection criteria for the Air Force’s future aerial-refueling tanker, they were incredulous. Their reaction turned to anger when they [Read More...]
Tanker Competition: Northrop Won By A Wide Margin Issue BriefLast week Northrop Grumman and European partner EADS confounded expectations by beating incumbent Boeing for the contract to build the Air Force’s next-generation aerial refueling tanker. The initial contract will be for 179 modified wide-body jets, but eventually [Read More...]
The Role Of Party Politics In Shaping Defense Priorities Presentation to Army Leaders at the RAND Arroyo CenterThank you for the opportunity to be here tonight, discussing what may be the single most neglected factor in Army plans for the future.
That factor is politics — the process [Read More...]