The Air Force has its first two Global Hawk drone pilots groomed from the ground up to fly drones, without ever having flown “real” airplanes first. It’s a new career field for the Air Force, and these guys are the first …
BattlelandAir Force
BattlelandAir Force
BattlelandNational Security
Bill Gertz Moves On
War and Peace. Army and Navy. Bill Gertz and the Washington Times. Some pairings seem a part of nature – but word comes that Gertz has left the full-time employ of the Washington Times, where he has covered defense and …
BattlelandIran
Persian Paper Tiger? Go Navy!
Less than three weeks ago, Iran’s army chief warned the screen door not to hit the stern of the USS John Stennis as it left the Persian Gulf. “I recommend and emphasize to the American carrier not to return to the Persian …
BattlelandForeign Policy
The Shah’s Ghost…
Those of you paying attention to international affairs a generation ago recall that Jimmy Carter’s decision to let the shah of Iran come to the U.S. for medical care created an anti-American firestorm back home in Iran. Has …
“When we talked about this in the government, the consensus was that [attacking Iran] would guarantee that which we are trying to prevent -- an Iran that will spare nothing to build a nuclear weapon and that would build it in secret.”
BattlelandJapan
Same Old, Same Old At Japan’s Ministry
TOKYO – Japan’s new Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka seems to have done the impossible: He’s gotten off to an even worse start than his predecessor, who was fired after just four months on the job.
Tanaka is to meet with …
BattlelandAfghanistan
Kind of Like Washing a Rental Car
The Army Corps of Engineers has just finished building new terminals at Afghanistan’s Shindand air base for $18 million. “This facility will play an important role as the coalition begins to move equipment and personnel out of …
New Dawn for Marines’ F-35B
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will announce Friday afternoon that the Marines’ F-35B fighter is being taken off “probation” and production will continue. It has been under intense scrutiny due to problems with its STOVL – short takeoff, vertical landing – capability that apparently are being fixed. Seeing as he’s heading …
BattlelandMilitary Personnel
General Fogleman: Back to the Future
Ron Fogleman (Air Force chief of staff, 1994-97) is the only member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to request, and take, early retirement over a matter of principle (see why here). That makes him pretty rare, and worth listening …
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We Don’t Know Precisely What It Means, Either
…the Navy awarded this $15 million contract (click on it to enlarge) Thursday. “The program seeks to maximize the financial value of the properties and leverage that value with private sector expertise to offset the cost of ongoing operations or obviate the need for capital investments,” the announcement says. Obviate the need for …
BattlelandMilitary Spending
Another Way to Cut a Trillion
This thing is beginning to snowball. Here’s Kori Schake penning a piece in the just-released Winter 2012 issue of Orbis, the quarterly journal of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, entitled Margin Call: How to Cut a Trillion From Defense. She doesn’t say it is going to be easy, and that it means real change:
The American
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BattlelandAfghanistan
Talking About Talking To The Taliban
It seems to be a hot issue, for reasons that aren’t completely clear. Everyone involved knows the U.S. has to come to some sort of accommodation with at least some elements of the Taliban, even if it has to begin in Qatar. …