-
Apr 10, 2021
The U.S. Navy’s director of air warfare did taxpayers a big favor last week when he opined that there is no need for a new class of light aircraft carriers.
That half-baked...
-
Apr 3, 2021
Shortly after President Trump took office in 2017, the U.S. Army certified to Congress that upgrades of its CH-47F Chinook heavy lifter were a high priority for which funding had...
-
Apr 2, 2021
Providence, Rhode Island-based Textron is emerging from the global pandemic in good shape. Its commercial lines, such as Cessna and Beechcraft airplanes, are poised for a strong...
-
Mar 30, 2021
The island of Taiwan, home to the Republic of China, occupies a pivotal position in Washington’s Sino-centric defense strategy.
Geographically, Taiwan is the anchor of the...
-
Mar 23, 2021
Every few years or so, national media rediscover that the F-35 fighter is the Pentagon’s costliest weapons program. Then, predictably, they get all of the facts wrong. Know...
-
Mar 16, 2021
The F-35 fighter being bought for three U.S. military services and a dozen allies is going through one of its periodic rough patches with the political culture.
Although the price of...
-
Mar 11, 2021
Contrary to what you may have heard, Republicans and Democrats do not disagree on everything. When it comes to the growing economic challenge posed by China, they seem to share...
-
Mar 9, 2021
Collectively, these ten indicators support the assessment of the late Senator John McCain that the F-35 is destined to be “the greatest combat aircraft in...
-
Mar 2, 2021
President Biden’s defense team is reworking the Pentagon’s fiscal 2022 budget request to reflect the new administration’s priorities. The biggest challenge is...
-
Feb 27, 2021
Last week I participated in an online panel about modernizing the U.S. strategic arsenal sponsored by the Advanced Nuclear Weapons Alliance. ANWA, as it is called, is one of the few...
-
Feb 20, 2021
In January the U.S. Department of Defense sanctioned Chinese civil-aviation manufacturer COMAC due to concern that it shares technology with the People’s Liberation Army.
The...
-
Feb 17, 2021
In December the world’s biggest military contractor, Lockheed LMT -0.8% Martin, disclosed plans to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne AJRD -0.4%. Aerojet is...
-
Feb 13, 2021
When the Clinton administration first conceived the notion of a “joint strike fighter” in 1995, it was the ideal solution to a host of military challenges.
The basic idea...
-
Feb 10, 2021
The U.S. remote sensing industry is in grave danger of being wiped out by foreign competitors. Known in military circles as geospatial intelligence, the industry’s products are...
-
Feb 6, 2021
President Biden made good on one of his campaign promises this week by extending the last Cold War arms control agreement still in force for another five years, to...
-
Feb 3, 2021
There is a widespread perception in our political culture that progressives, or as we used to call them, liberals, are opposed to military spending.
Having participated in the...
-
Jan 30, 2021
There’s a longstanding ritual among defense contractors and pundits when a new president takes office. They try to convince the incoming administration that their priorities...
-
Jan 27, 2021
Joe Biden never has been much impressed with plans to protect the United States against attacks by long-range ballistic missiles.
During the Reagan years, he fought proposals to...
-
Jan 23, 2021
Domestic conditions in the U.S. over the last year have been so poor—a pandemic, a recession, an insurrection—that a casual observer could easily conclude the Trump years...
-
Jan 20, 2021
It is now a year since the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Michael Gilday, roiled the waters in Washington by proposing that his service receive a bigger share of the...
-
Jan 14, 2021
The arsenal of democracy may not be dead, but it is definitely dying. That’s the message I got from perusing the Pentagon’s 2020 assessment of U.S. industrial...
-
Jan 9, 2021
The Air Force’s fleet of heavy bombers has grown decrepit with age. The 158 aircraft remaining in the fleet—down nearly 50% from the 290 that existed when the Cold War...
-
Jan 6, 2021
President-elect Biden has signaled that his administration will review the U.S. nuclear posture with an eye to revitalizing strategic arms control negotiations and potentially...