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![Heritage: US Can Barely Handle Two MRCs; All But Air Force ‘Marginal’](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2015/02/Amphibious-operation-Exercise-Cobra-Gold-97-225x150.jpg)
WASHINGTON: The conservative Heritage Foundation has published an ambitious Index of Military Strength, which — not surprisingly — finds that the United States military is not beefy enough to manage the many threats it faces around the world. The core finding of the well-written analysis is that the US military could handle two major theater wars…
By Colin Clark![Rep. Randy Forbes Rips 2016 Request: A ‘Wish List’](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2013/02/rep-randy-forbes-with-soldier-53889810151287459500021458917106n-1361824962-225x150.jpg)
WASHINGTON: The Republican congressman who oversees the Navy actually likes Barack Obama’s 2016 defense budget — except for one small thing: It isn’t really a budget. “It would be almost a misnomer to call this a budget. It’s [just] numbers,” Rep. Randy Forbes told me this morning, in advance of tomorrow’s budget hearing. “If you…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.Multi-Domain Operations: Global C2 and Joint Operations
![The Biggest Thing Since Silicon: Raytheon’s Gallium Nitride Breakthrough](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2012/10/raytheon-patriotwallpaper800x600-225x150.jpg)
WASHINGTON: It’s been a big week for arms exports. But sometimes the big story isn’t what you think. While headlines have focused on the US government’s decision to allow limited exports of armed drones, arguably the most important export policy change involved a material called gallium nitride (GaN). “The gallium nitride story is an under-reported…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.![Sequestration: Don’t Believe All The Hype](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2015/02/Robert-Hale-former-DoD-comptroller-225x150.jpg)
Bob Hale regularly demonstrated his better qualities during testimony before Congress, delivering highly complex facts and judgments about the Defense Department’s spending and budgets to the public with a knowing humor delivered with the sort of gravelly voice you’d expect from one of those old country lawyers. Hale served as DoD comptroller from 2009 to 2014, and, before…
By Robert Hale![Are Missile Defense Lasers On The Verge Of Reality?](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2015/02/Afzal-Rob-LMCO-laser-fellow-225x150.jpg)
CRYSTAL CITY: In three years the US military could have a prototype laser weapon blasting out 300 kilowatts of energy, a jump that could ignite a revolution in missile defense, a Lockheed Martin engineer told me today, A 300-kw laser could kill cruise missiles. For comparison, that’s 10 times the power output of the Laser Weapons System…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.![Army Budget Boss: Threats, Uncertainty Reign](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2015/02/Dyson-LTG-Karen-Army-budget-IMG_1870-225x150.jpg)
ARLINGTON: No one knows what the 2016 budget is really going to be. In fact, no one can even plan properly for what it might be, the highest-ranking budgeteer in Army uniform made clear this morning. The uncertainty is coming at the Pentagon from two sides at the same time. On the demand side, there’s…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.Forward Observer: Technologies for 21st Century Security
![Lockheed Martin logo](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2023/06/Lockheed_Martin_logo.svg-b.png)
![Chinese Stole Anthem Data For HUMINT; Should Raise US ‘Hackles’](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2014/05/Gen.-Fang-Fenghui-PLA-general-staff-and-Gen.-Demspey-225x150.jpg)
The Chinese just walked out of Anthem’s enormous data warehouse (though without encrypting their data it might as well have been a troop of Girl Scouts) with personal data on a quarter of America’s population. Assuming that the pro forma outrage and denial is a confirmation of culpability, the People’s Liberation Army and its various subsidiaries will…
By John Quigg![Gen. Welsh Defends F-35 For Close Air Support; Hopes Summit Will ‘Reset’](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2014/07/Air-Force-Secretary-Deborah-Lee-James-225x150.jpg)
UPDATED: Sen. McCain SASC Spox Rejects Air Force Rationale For Retiring A-10 ORLANDO: Sequestration. Base closures. Readiness. Modernization. ISIL. Russia. The list of challenges faced by Air Force leaders is long. But none may be more intractable or politically difficult than retiring the A-10 “Warthog” close air support fleet. The Air Force has never really wanted to…
By Colin Clark![Air Force Chief Welsh Signals Shift To Modernization, AKA Weapons](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2015/02/Air-Force-Chief-of-Staff-Gen.-Mark-Welsh-225x150.jpg)
ORLANDO: More than half-way into his tenure as Air Force Chief of staff, Gen. Mark Welsh has shifted focus from the service’s airmen to its weapons, declaring today that “we must modernize the Air Force. This isn’t optional. We must do it. And It will be painful because we will have to make hard choices.” Welsh’s speech…
By Colin Clark
Nuclear modernization will receive at least $1.2 billion more this year than last year’s $23.5 billion if the president’s Defense Department budget request is approved. Modernization funding for nuclear weapons and their delivery systems comprise 4 percent of the defense budget and 0.6 percent of the Federal budget. These include : the Ohio-class submarine replacement program (ORP);…
By Peter Huessy