Defense
Tanker Wars: Why Northrop Grumman Thinks It Can’t Win
Last week, one of the two teams competing to provide the Air Force's future aerial-refueling tanker launched an unusual campaign to overturn the service's strategy for buying the plane. Northrop Grumman . . .
The Army Needs To Ensure Continuity Of Operations At The Radford Ammo Plant
The Army is in the process of recompeting the contract for a private company to operate and maintain what is the foundation of its ammunition supply chain, the Radford Army Ammunition Plant (RFAAP) in . . .
Army WIN-T Must Keep Evolving To Meet Warfighter Needs
When the U.S. Army marched off to war earlier in this decade, it took with it communications gear that was woefully inadequate for the demands of irregular warfare. Battlefield communications systems . . .
The Age Of Robotic Combat Systems Has Not Arrived
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 . . .
Osprey Belongs In The Combat Search And Rescue Mix
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 . . .
Democrat Views Of Defense Industry Are Self-Defeating
It is now 20 years since the Soviet Union began breaking up, removing the threat to American survival that spawned the modern defense industry. Industry fortunes have oscillated wildly in the post-communist . . .
Strategic Surprise and Tactical Warning: A Personal View
Thank you for inviting me here today and making such good arrangements for my visit. I am always happy to be in Denver, where I have lots of family and friends and have spent a great deal of time since . . .
Why Ten More C-17s Are Important To America
Debate is raging on Capitol Hill about whether to buy ten more C-17 military airlifters. It’s astonishing, given that the C-17 is perfect for “the wars we are in” as the Pentagon likes to say. Right . . .
Politics Will Decide The Outcome Of The Tanker Competition
The first thing to understand about the Air Force plan to buy a new aerial-refueling tanker is that it is just a tanker. A flying gas station. Either of the planes being proposed for the mission . . .
The All-Volunteer Force Is Becoming Unaffordable
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently cited an estimate that the United States accounts for nearly half of all global military spending. What he didn't mention was that since the current decade . . .