A major overhaul is coming in software for missile warning
Space Systems Command’s FORGE program is the first, major missile-warning software modernization effort in 20 years.
Richard Whittle, in addition to being a regular contributor to Breaking Defense, is a senior scholar at the Wilson Center. He is writing a book on the Predator, the first armed drone. In an earlier incarnation, Rick once accompanied the late congressman Charlie Wilson to Pakistan for a visit to the Afghan mujahedeen. The Editor…
By Richard WhittleAs 2013 hurtles towards us, Breaking Defense has asked the experts on our Board of Contributors to forecast the key defense issues of the coming year (click here for the full 2013 forecast series). We kick off the series with this essay from Rachel Kleinfeld, founding president of the aggressively progressive Truman National Security Project.…
By Rachel KleinfeldRising Republican star Sen. Kelly Ayotte said her “libertarian” and “isolationist” Senate colleagues who would cut defense spending to help solve the budget deficit have abandoned the principles of conservative icon Ronald Reagan. Speaking at the conservative American Enterprise Institute late Wednesday afternoon, the junior Senator from New Hampshire said that “with the issues that…
By Otto KreisherWASHINGTON: In lawless, inaccessible regions of the world, drone strikes are America’s least-worst option for pursuing terrorists, a panel of experts agreed today — and many of the civilians whose deaths are blamed on US drones were actually killed by local factions on the ground or never existed at all. “They are actually our least…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.A year has passed since Congress passed and President Obama signed into law the Budget Control Act-the legislation mandating sequestration. Funding cuts that once seemed politically remote now loom large for leaders increasingly anxious about the impact $1.2 trillion in automatic budget reductions will have upon their respective districts and states. An estimated two million…
By Mackenzie EaglenSan Antonio: The Pentagon’s intelligence leader said today that the U.S. has tracked and killed half of al Qaeda’s top 20 leaders this year, leaving only one of the terrorist group’s original leaders alive. Al Qaeda operatives “feel besieged by the U.S,” said Defense Undersecretary for Intelligence Mike Vickers. The persistent U.S counter terror efforts…
By Colin Clark
Insights on digital transformation following successes on B-21 and Sentinel
Customers and employees are experiencing the ‘Butterfly Effect’ of digital transformation from key national security programs.
Washington: A number of sophisticated shoulder-fired missiles looted from Libyan armories have already been smuggled out of the North African country and we don’t know where they’ve gone, a top U.S. general said today. Africa Command chief Gen. Carter Ham said his organization picked up “worrying indicators” that some of the unaccounted for Libyan stockpiles…
By Carlo MunozPresident Obama’s new counterterrorism strategy reflects a profound misreading of the nature of the global transnational threat. If we follow this strategy for a few years we will be right back where we were on September 10, 2001. The new blueprint misses what should be the primary goal of U.S. counterterrorism strategy: to prevent the…
By James Jay CarafanoWASHINGTON: Lawmakers want the Pentagon’s intelligence shop to play nice with the rest of the intelligence community, and they have the program to do just that. Included in the Senate Armed Service Committee’s version of the fiscal year 2012 defense authorization bill, a Defense Intelligence Agency-led “pilot demonstration” program will allow the Pentagon to share…
By Carlo Munoz
Retired Lt. Gen. Deptula: Drones Best Weapons We’ve Got For Accuracy, Control, Oversight; Critics Don’t Get It
Dave Deptula, the first general charged with overseeing drones and the Air Force general in command of the Air Operations Center when the first Predator fired a Hellfire missile, steps right into the debate about whether death by drone is moral, legal or qualitatively different from other weapons that strike from afar. He says drone…
By David Deptula