The incredible shrinking Army: NDAA end strength levels are a mistake

The incredible shrinking Army: NDAA end strength levels are a mistake
The incredible shrinking Army: NDAA end strength levels are a mistake

“Cutting Army end strength to only 452,000 soldiers locks in the service’s worst projections for recruiting, forestalling any possibility to achieve greater-than-predicted success,” writes Thomas Spoehr of the Heritage Foundation.

PLA patrols, missile launches ‘new normal’ for Taiwan

PLA patrols, missile launches ‘new normal’ for Taiwan
PLA patrols, missile launches ‘new normal’ for Taiwan

“In the future, Chinese missiles may well REGULARLY overfly Taiwan,” says China expert Dean Cheng. “Thereby increasing tension, increasing pressure on the island. All of which, in the CCP’s estimation, will make Taipei knuckle under.”

Esports and National Security: DoD should invest effort now to reap benefits in the future

Esports and National Security: DoD should invest effort now to reap benefits in the future
Esports and National Security: DoD should invest effort now to reap benefits in the future

Militaries can “learn from world-class players how they develop, train and practice the quick-twitch skills and reaction times needed for competitive gaming,” writes James Jay Carafano.

Biden Must Boost 2022 Budget To Counter China

Biden Must Boost 2022 Budget To Counter China
Biden Must Boost 2022 Budget To Counter China

The Army and Air Force are locked in battle over missions and the dollars that go with them. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs — an Army guy — has predicted a “bloodletting” with the Army the likely loser as the country grapples with how to manage the growing rivalries with China and Russia. Stopping…

Hits & Misses In Biden’s Interim National Security Guidance

Hits & Misses In Biden’s Interim National Security Guidance
Hits & Misses In Biden’s Interim National Security Guidance

“Seemingly gone is the naivety of the Obama era” about Russia and China, writes the Heritage Foundation’s Tom Spoehr in this op-ed. But the retired three-star general still sees some worrying woolly-mindedness.

Don’t Cut The Army In 2021

Don’t Cut The Army In 2021
Don’t Cut The Army In 2021

The post-COVID budget crunch – and the need to grow seapower and airpower for a Pacific contest with China – make it all too tempting to cut the Army. But that would be a grave mistake, warns retired three-star general Tom Spoehr.

Are The Days Of Manned Fighters REALLY Numbered?

Are The Days Of Manned Fighters REALLY Numbered?
Are The Days Of Manned Fighters REALLY Numbered?

The Observe and Orient steps of the OODA Loop are the heart and soul of dogfighting—the two most critical elements in the OODA sequence. No system in the world can touch a human’s ability to capture and process those tasks.   

Heritage To Congress: Pass A Defense Appropriations Bill

Heritage To Congress: Pass A Defense Appropriations Bill
Heritage To Congress: Pass A Defense Appropriations Bill

Congress must pass key defense spending bills to preserve our national security. Lawmakers should pursue legislative process reforms to ensure the defense budget is consistently passed close to the start of the fiscal year.

US To China: You Do NOT Control South China Sea

US To China: You Do NOT Control South China Sea
US To China: You Do NOT Control South China Sea

“Beijing’s approach has been clear for years,” Mike Pompeo says. “In 2010, then-PRC Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told his ASEAN counterparts that “China is a big country and other countries are small countries and that is just a fact.’ The PRC’s predatory world view has no place in the 21st century.”

COVID-19: Another Reason Why The Draft is Obsolete

COVID-19: Another Reason Why The Draft is Obsolete
COVID-19: Another Reason Why The Draft is Obsolete

Retaining the draft, a hallmark of American war since the Civil War, is of questionable practical value. A recent commission report recommended requiring women to register for Selective Service, the foundation of the draft. But from a practical and ethical standpoint many find the notion of drafting women to serve in front-line combat units abhorrent.…

China, COVID-19 and 5G; Golden Opportunity For The West

China, COVID-19 and 5G; Golden Opportunity For The West
China, COVID-19 and 5G; Golden Opportunity For The West

Wars and pandemics, great destroyers of the status quo, often generate enormous societal change. An outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease in the early 20th century, for example, gave the internal combustion engine a permanent lead over steam-powered automobiles. The First World War saw more improvements in aeronautical engineering and airplane manufacturing than the previous decade.  The…

Commandant: Marines ‘Not Optimized For Great Power Competition’

Commandant: Marines ‘Not Optimized For Great Power Competition’
Commandant: Marines ‘Not Optimized For Great Power Competition’

The new commandant says the Corps has to start “unshackling ourselves from previous notions of what war looks like and reimagining how Marines will train, how we will operate, and how we will fight.”

Two LPD Amphibious Ships Cut From 2020 Budget Plan

Two LPD Amphibious Ships Cut From 2020 Budget Plan
Two LPD Amphibious Ships Cut From 2020 Budget Plan

Are big, expensive vessels like amphibious ships and carriers too vulnerable in a long-range missile war with Russia or China?

Pentagon Approves Two-Carrier Buy As Fixes Continue to Navy’s Priciest Ship

Pentagon Approves Two-Carrier Buy As Fixes Continue to Navy’s Priciest Ship
Pentagon Approves Two-Carrier Buy As Fixes Continue to Navy’s Priciest Ship

Congress is evaluating the proposal to issue a $24 billion contract for the Navy’s next two carriers, as the service looks at months of work to fix ongoing problems with the Ford-class’s first ship.