Washington: The Army’s strategy to close long-term readiness gaps stemming from its rush to rebuild war-torn equipment is falling woefully short of expectations, leaving service units to come up with their own solutions. The Army’s R3 initiative has been the blueprint for how the service plans to reset, retrograde and redistribute weapons, vehicles and equipment…
By Carlo MunozNew Army mounted system won’t play favorites when it comes to C5ISR, EW and A-PNT
The CMOSS Mounted Form Factor will facilitate tech insertion for new capabilities while co-existing with the Mounted Family of Computer Systems.
Washington: The Marine Corps is done paying for the past sins of the V-22 Osprey, commandant Gen. James Amos said today. The Osprey is now one of the most dependable weapons systems in the Marine Corps arsenal, Amos told attendees during his speech at the Center for Foreign Relations this morning. It has been battle…
By Carlo MunozWashington: The Marine Corps is eyeing a wide range of systems to augment the service’s radio network, thrown into doubt by the Army’s recent decision to cancel its main ground radio. These potential replacements are based on current communication systems, modified “on the battlefield” by combat units deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, James Craft,…
By Carlo MunozWashington: The White House’s decision to send U.S. troops to help the Ugandan military curb a violent separatist group had Washington buzzing last week. Many inside the Beltway feared the mission, in which American special forces would support Ugandan forces in their war against the Lord’s Resistance Army, could be a first step into a…
By Carlo MunozWashington: Army acquisition is facing the largest financial crunch since the infamous defense drawdown of the 1990s. To meet that challenge, service officials today rolled out a list of seven “commandments” it will follow to get the Army through these tough times. The problem is these “commandments” — increased focus on cost and schedule, increased…
By Carlo MunozWashington: The Army uses Native American tribe names as nicknames for its helicopters – Black Hawk, Kiowa Warrior and Lakota, for instance — but Boeing Co. officials at the Association of the United States Army’s annual convention in Washington are joshing that the service may want to start calling the company’s AH-64D Apache attack helicopter…
By Richard Whittle
Future inevitability of quantum computers is a security problem today
‘Store Now, Decrypt Later’ attacks must be thwarted now with Zero Trust cybersecurity.
July 4, 2010, was a bad day for Tyler Southern. He dreamed he was with his older brothers, playing sandlot football, running and laughing, horsing around just like they used to when they were together as kids in Jacksonville, Fla. In his dream, he was whole again. Then he awoke in his hospital bed at…
By Jori BellAs the war in Afghanistan passed its tenth anniversary this week, many news outlets repeated the frequently repeated claim that the conflict there has replaced Vietnam as America’s longest war. That is a questionable assertion. Even if you count only from the first “official” U.S. combat operations in Vietnam — the Gulf of Tonkin air…
By Otto KreisherThe Marine Corps is taking the use of unmanned air systems to the next level, deploying pilotless cargo helicopters to Afghanistan to test their ability to supply troops in the field without trucks facing the risk of deadly IEDs. The six-month demonstration of the feasibility of a cargo UAS in a combat environment will involve…
By Otto KreisherWith defense spending cuts looming, Pentagon leaders and their Beltway boosters are using strategy to stall. They argue that cuts must follow program changes that flow in turn from revised national security strategy. Cutting without a strategy, they say, means cutting foolishly and overburdening the shrunken force. So decide the strategy first and then make…
By Harvey SapolskyArlington, Va: The Navy and Marine Corps have a plan in place to squeeze more flight time from their older F-18 Hornets, and could use funding for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program to pay for it. Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, deputy assistant commandant for Marine Corps aviation, said today that the services plan to…
By Carlo MunozWashington: Millions in unspent reconstruction dollars could be left behind in Iraq and Afghanistan if DoD does not fix its contracting review process, a new Government Accountability Office says. The Defense Department’s acquisition office is facing a review backlog of nearly 58,000 contracts awarded to Iraqis between 2003 and 2010, according to the report. Of…
By Carlo MunozWashington: The fleet of up-armored, bomb-resistant vehicles DoD flooded onto the battlefield in recent years has saved the lives of untold numbers of American soldiers. Trucks like the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle and the up-armored Humvee have given U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan a significant edge. But getting these massive trucks off the…
By Carlo Munoz
Afghan War Lessons: U.S. Must Make Strategic Choices As Budgets Shrink
Americans paused recently to remember the tenth anniversary of 9/11. In years ahead they will remember and debate the wisdom of American policy and actions in Afghanistan. Far fewer will reflect on the significance of 10/7/2001; the date marking the start of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)-the U.S. and coalition attacks to wipe out Al Qaeda.…
By David Deptula