For a twist on the usual end-of-year stories (you know, stentorian voice intones on MOST IMPORTANT STORIES of the year and everyone goes to sleep right after realizing how right the editor is) we decided to let our readers declare the top stories by the single expedient of who clicked on which stories.
1. AI Slays Top F-16 Pilot In DARPA Dogfight Simulation
It’s not too much of a surprise that the top story of 2020, by the redoubtable Theresa Hitchens, is about one of the hottest topics in defense: can artificial intelligence defeat a human pilot. Sure, there’ll be arguments about whether the game was rigged, how it was rigged, whether the human pilot was freed to do all the miraculous things a human can do when lucky and gifted, but the fact is that the human pilot got wiped.
2. Chinese ‘Students’ Keep Getting Arrested At Key West Navy Base
In something of a surprise, the number 2 story of the year was a little thing Paul McLeary put together, knitting bits and bobs from various sources about activities by “Chinese students” who were turning up at US military bases. Now, everyone knows the great power game is once again in play and China really wants to win. They’ve got more people to throw at the problem than anyone ever imagined before and this seems to have been one of the more intriguing uses of their human talent pool.
3. Navy To Congress: Here’s Your F-35C Carrier — How Do We Pay For It
4. Major Submarine Contractor Drops Navy Missile Tube Biz
5. Navy Rushes To Get F-35s on USS JFK; Other Ford Carriers Wait Their Turn
Stories 3, 4 and 5 of 2020 were all Navy stories by Paul McLeary, because the Navy was the hottest service for news this year. Getting carriers ready to fly and work with F-35s was a major focus, partly because we helped make it one through Paul’s coverage.
6. War With Iran Could Be Sharp & Short With Fifth Gen Aircraft: Deptula
If there’s any doubt about the efficacy and popularity of op-ed pieces, let it be dashed here. Dave Deptula’s thoughts about how fifth generation aircraft could help make a (relatively) quick thing of a war with Iran came in at number 6.
7. Army Releases The Kraken To Protect Foreign Fire Bases; ‘I’d Like To See The Taliban Try To Attack This Place’
The most surprising occupant of the Top 10 was a 2013 (!!!!) piece by David Axe, about the Army’s Combat Outpost Surveillance and Force Protection System (nicknamed “Kraken” after the mythological sea monster because of its many technological extensions.) A big spike for a story done seven years ago about a forever war that America supposedly doesn’t care much about anymore. Could this be a Reddit pickup?
8. US Navy Rushes Its Sub-Hunting Helicopters To India, Eye On China
Paul McLeary scoops up number 8 with a piece about the great power rivalry between the US, India and China, as we rushed sub-hunting helos to India to help keep tabs on China’s expanding sub fleet.
9. A-10: Hey Air Force, There’s More to Survival than Hiding
Coming in at number 9 is another popular op-ed piece, this time by A-10 pilot Brian Boeding who argues that his plane really is the bees knees when it comes to providing REAL Close Air Support.
10. OMFV: The Army’s Polish Bridge Problem
Finally, in grand fashion, Mr. Army (Sydney Freedberg) wows with his coverage of a strategically important and almost completely overlooked issue, the challenges of building a modern armored vehicle (the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle) that provides up-to-date protection, fire power and space for passengers while still being light enough to cross relatively flimsy bridges that cross central Europe’s many rivers.
The list is an impressive marker of the breadth of topics we cover as we chronicle the strategy, policy and politics that decide the weapons America and its allies buy, and how we use them. You picked the stories, dear readers. Isn’t it a relief that not one of those stories dealt with electoral politics or COVID-19 in the United States! Happy 2020.
