Defense
Congress Pushes For Much-Needed Reforms Of The Foreign Military Sales Process (From RealClearDefense)
The U.S. is still the arsenal of democracy, providing well over $150 billion in security cooperation assistance to some 58 countries in 2021. One of the main avenues for providing friends and allies with needed military capabilities is the Foreign Mili ...
The Air Force’s AWACS Radar Planes Are Relics. Congress Needs To Speed Production Of Their Replacement. (From Forbes)
The Air Force's fleet of E-3 AWACS radar planes is on its last legs. The most decrepit aircraft will start heading to the boneyard this year, and finding spare parts for the remaining planes is becoming difficult. After all, the Boeing 707 jetliner on ...
Will The Contest Between UAS And C-UAS Capabilities Lead To A New Military-Technological Revolution? (From 1945)
Recent twenty-first-century wars suggest that the outcomes of future conflicts could be determined by the contest between unmanned aerial systems (UASs), also known as drones, and the means deployed to counter UASs (C-UASs). More than 30 nations have e ...
Next Generation Air Dominance Is A Must-Have For American Air Power–And RTX Is Uniquely Positioned To Play (From Forbes)
The US Air Force's Next Generation Air Dominance program is critical to assuring air superiority through mid-century. The crewed fighter at the center of NGAD is optimized for securing command of the air in heavily contested areas--like in and around C ...
Electronic Warfare Has Become A Defining Feature Of Future Conflict. Here’s Why. (From Forbes)
The biggest lesson coming out of fighting in Ukraine isn't about drones or artillery, it's about electronic warfare. Both sides are straining to control and exploit the electromagnetic spectrum, at a level of intensity not seen in previous conflicts. U ...
Five Reasons The Road To Revitalizing American Manufacturing Runs Through The Pentagon (From Forbes)
The Biden administration has launched a whole-of-government campaign to rebuild America's flagging industrial might. Many federal agencies are involved, but the Department of Defense could end up being the most important. America's military is a huge s ...
RTX Head Greg Hayes Says US Can’t Decouple From China But Can “De-Risk.” Biden Gets It, But Some Big Companies Don’t. (From Forbes)
RTX Chairman & CEO Greg Hayes recently told the Financial Times that US companies can't decouple from China--they rely too much on suppliers there--but they can reduce risks. The Biden administration seems to share that view. It has taken steps to ...
The U.S. Army Needs To Fix Its Remaining ‘Fires’ Gap (From 1945)
In recent years, the U.S. Army’s top modernization priority has been long-range precision fires (LRPF). As the war in Ukraine demonstrates, this was a prescient decision. But when it comes to addressing the need for an entirely new portfolio of fires s ...
The Navy’s Next-Generation Destroyer Looks Unaffordable. The Service Needs To Keep Improving What It Already Has (From Forbes)
The Navy wants to develop a next-generation destroyer 40% bigger than its existing Burke class. That isn't going to happen. The Congressional Budget Office estimates each of the next-gen DDG(X) destroyers would cost over $3 billion. Populating an adequ ...
Ten Design Features That Will Shape The Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance Program (From Forbes)
The Air Force is soliciting proposals for its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, which will develop a successor to the twin-engine F-22 fighter. Almost everything about the program is secret, but you don't need to be an aerospace engineer (l ...