Defense
Army Plans For Reconnaissance Drones Misuse A Vital Asset
The only upside to the heavy burden that America's Army is carrying in Iraq is an abundance of money. Congress may not know how to deal with IEDs or save the marriage of a soldier deploying for his fourth . . .
Joint Fighter: The Case For Buying Competing Engines Is Weak
The biggest program in the Pentagon's weapons budget is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which will cost $338 billion -- a third of a trillion dollars -- to develop, manufacture and maintain. Current plans call for . . .
TSAT: Essential to Security
The Transformational Satellite Communications program, or TSAT, is a planned constellation of five communications satellites in geosynchronous orbit linked to thousands of portable terminals distributed . . .
Joint Radio: Vision Of A Transformed Force Slipping Away
When President Bush took office nearly seven years ago, his vision of how the military needed to change could be summed up in one word: transformation. Bush shared with many other observers a belief that . . .
Air Force Plan For Radar Planes Is Missing In Action
If there is one lesson U.S. defense planners should have learned from the frustrating campaign to take down Al Qaeda since 9-11, it is the need for better intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. The . . .
Congress Moving to Increase UN Support
Conflicts over the war in Iraq and turmoil at the Justice Department are obscuring a rare case of cooperation between the Administration and Capitol Hill. The White House has asked for greater support . . .
Why Do Navy Dept. Alumni Get The Pentagon’s Plum Jobs?
There was a time when the assignment of top jobs in the joint force resembled the workings of the congressional seniority system more than a merit-based selection process. Representatives from each of
IRAQ: The Consequences Of Retreat
Something happens to countries when they become empires (real or metaphorical). Over time their ruling elites grow so affluent and insular that they lose discipline, and abandon the habits that made . . .
Defense Logistics: Global Reach, Global Power (1)
With an award expected this summer for U.S. Transportation Command's major new procurement, DTCI, it is a good time to look at the progress the American military has made outsourcing and . . .
Air Show Ennui: There’s More Going On In Space
This is the week of the Paris Air Show, a glitzy excuse for aerospace executives and their government customers to network far from the prying eyes of politicians. Such contrived venues seldom produce any . . .