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WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama today outlined a careful commitment of US forces to Iraq, pledging to watch any “mission creep” as he sends an initial 300 special operations advisors to gauge the strengths, weaknesses and cohesiveness of Iraq’s security forces as they battle the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The U.S., Obama…
By Colin ClarkWASHINGTON: The careful diplomatic stagecraft behind President Barack Obama’s recent European visit to celebrate the 70th anniversary of D-Day and to rally the Western alliance against Russia’s aggression in Ukraine was all but swept aside by strong new currents in geopolitics. While Obama talked tough in Poland to reassure NATO’s vulnerable eastern members, Russian President…
By James KitfieldWith AI and computer vision, almost any platform can be autonomous
The use of computer vision and perceptive autonomy can have a profound impact on speeding the Observe, Orient, Decide and Act (OODA) loop.
WASHINGTON:The Air Force really, really doesn’t want to offer any new details about its Long Range Strike bomber. In light of last Friday’s comments by the new head of Air Force acquisition, Bill LaPlante, to the effect that the new RFP for the Long Range Strike bomber would be out in “days,” I dug around…
By Colin Clark
We don’t often run such items but the info graphic below nicely summarizes the art and history of psychological operations, though it doesn’t touch on the newer aspects of the art — social media and data mining. (After all knowing details of your target audience — age, sex, location, etc. — and influencing its actions…
By Colin Clark
Punching through clogged networks to reach soldiers: Time Sensitive Networking
New platforms such as OMFV and FLRAA will depend on Time Sensitive Networking to get data through.
Multi-Domain Operations: Global C2 and Joint Operations
CAPITOL HILL: “Failure to launch” isn’t a metaphorical concern when you work on nuclear weapons. That’s why the director of the Navy’s euphemistically named Strategic Systems Program (SSP) is a worried man. What has Vice Adm. Terry Benedict worried is something neither he, nor the Navy nor the entire Defense Department directly control. It’s the…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
WASHINGTON: The F-35 is barely out of the stable and hasn’t been ridden hard yet, but the Pentagon is already beginning work on the next generation of improvements to the Joint Strike Fighter, with a close eye on the Chinese J-20 and J-31 stealth aircraft — and other capabilities. Frank Kendall, the Defense Department’s…
By Colin Clark
Enterprise-wide training: the Army’s $3.5B program for multi-service combat readiness
The competition for Warfighter Training and Readiness Solutions will bring together training networks, combat training centers and live ranges across the DoD enterprise.
WASHINGTON: Some 45 football fields and gear worth $5 billion. That’s how much excess inventory and storage room the Defense Logistics Agency has sold or destroyed since the height of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it’s not finished. DLA’s first sale of surplus equipment to local businesses in Afghanistan is scheduled for next…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
WASHINGTON: “Dear Congress: Please stop helping us. Sincerely, the Pentagon.” That’s a form letter the Defense Department might do well to buy in bulk. It’s not what every administration official thinks every time a legislator comes up with an unsolicited bright idea, but when it comes to the thorny thicket of the military acquisition system, Congress’s…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
CAPITOL HILL: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor isn’t physically absent from here yet, but he is close to politically dead after last night’s stunning political defeat by a little known Tea Party supporter from the southern Virginia constituency. I spoke to half a dozen close watchers of defense politics this morning and all but one…
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WASHINGTON: In the emotionally charged debate over the Army National Guard, the “don’t cut our Guard!” side has been much louder than the pro-cuts camp. That’s why it’s interesting to read this pretty low-key letter from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel defending the cuts. The simple fact it’s Hagel’s signature on the letter speaks to the…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
CAPITOL HILL: The House Appropriations Committee bucked the trend today, voting 23 to 13 to retire the beloved A-10 Warthog ground attack plane. Both the House and Senate Armed Services committees have voted to save it. While HASC and SASC are the authorizers who set defense policy, it’s the appropriators who vote the money to…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
ARLINGTON: In the race to replace the Navy’s controversial Littoral Combat Ship, the leading contender seems to be…. a better Littoral Combat Ship. That’s the clear implication of what we’ve been hearing from Navy leadership, and it’s clear from press briefings today that LCS contractor Lockheed Martin feels pretty confident it can do the job.…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
CRYSTAL CITY, Va: As the Defense Department continues to pressure companies to share the load in this time of shrinking budgets, Lockheed CEO Marilyn Hewson told reporters today her company will boost internal research and development spending 5 percent from its current level of $700 million. “We continue to invest in our porfolio because we…
By Colin Clark
LATVIAN EMBASSY, WASHINGTON: “We are neighbors of Russia and we have always been realists,” Ambassador Andris Razans told me. “Sometimes we might be characterized as alarmists, troublemakers, etc., but I think we are realists.” Even as President Obama exchanges tense words with Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of today’s D-Day anniversary ceremony, many Americans and…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
How military GPS is revolutionizing warfare and thwarting emerging threats
BAE Systems’ NavStorm™-M now provides advanced, tailored solutions for everyone in the M-Code space.
