Defense
Missile Defense: A Common Kill Vehicle Will Improve Performance And Save Money
The Missile Defense Agency aims to develop a common kill vehicle (CKV) to address future ballistic threats in 2025 and beyond. A CKV will take many years to develop, but it will boost the capacity of missile defense systems to neutralize complex threat ...
Our Enemies Intend To Fight On The Ground And So Should We
For years now, the dominant meme in discussion of the future of U.S. national security, generally, and military forces, in particular, has been the challenge posed by adversaries using so-called asymmetric strategies and tactics. At the lower end of th ...
F-35 Fighter: Five Reasons Why Slowing The Pentagon’s Biggest Weapon Program Would Backfire (From Forbes)
The F-35 fighter program is unique in just about every respect, including the scale of resources required to bring it to fruition. Unfortunately, that scale makes it an easy target for those who would like to turn it into a bill-payer for other priori ...
DoD’s Acquisition Reform Initiatives Are Looking In The Rearview Mirror
Why is it so unbelievably difficult to reform the Department of Defense’s (DoD) acquisition system? There have been perhaps a dozen major Pentagon reform initiatives over the past several decades. Only a few have demonstrated any staying power much les ...
As FAA Relaxes Civilian Drone Rules, Military Drone Plans Falter (From Forbes)
The FAA's decision to loosen rules governing the operation of commercial and recreational drones in civil airspace is good news for a wide array of users. Political pressure helped to bring about the change. Ironically, though, political constraints ...
Chuck Hagel, American Patriot
Friday the 13th is, or was, Chuck Hagel's last day at the Pentagon. The nation's 24th defense secretary is being replaced by a very different sort of person -- a renowned intellect and shaper of policy no doubt, but not a product of the American heart ...
Obama’s AUMF: It’s His War Now
To date the debates and discussions over President Obama’s proposed authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) have focused on relatively insignificant issues. How much leeway should there be for the employment of ground forces? What should be ...
Arming Ukraine: Dubious Logic, Dangerous Consequences (From Forbes)
Every U.S. intervention in a foreign conflict begins with a series of rationales aimed at persuading voters that the move makes sense. Thus it is with Ukraine, where legislators and policymakers are debating whether to provide lethal military assistan ...
Superior Suppliers List Belies Myth Of Slow, Unresponsive Overpriced Defense Industry
Two days ago, the U.S. Air Force and Army released their second annual list of aerospace and defense companies that earned the title of superior supplier. The list is the product of the Pentagon’s Superior Supplier Incentive Program that was one of the ...
First An AUMF For ISIS And Then One For Russia
The focus in Washington today is on the imminent request by the Obama Administration for a Congressional authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) against ISIS. This will be the first time since the weeks following September 11 that Congress a ...