For the first time in history, the Navy launched a jet-powered, fighter-sized unmanned aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier Tuesday.
The Navy’s latest slogan is “a force for good.” The launch of the X-47B may be “a …
BattlelandDrones
BattlelandDrones
BattlelandNational Security
The Value of Advertising
Atlantic Media, publisher of the magazine by the same name, announced Tuesday it will launch Defense One this summer, “a digital-first media platform designed to help defense leaders navigate the unprecedented transformation of …
USAF Missileers: Ready, Willing and Able
Last week, the Associated Press reported that 17 missile launch officers were “benched” from performing ICBM alert duty. In a scathing email, Lieut. Colonel Jay Folds blasted his troops for what he perceived as subpar performance …
BattlelandNuclear Weapons
Obama-Friendly Think Tank Ponders a Nuclear-Armed Iran
President Obama has said he will not let Iran get a nuclear weapon. So why did the Center for a New American Security, the think tank most closely associated with staffing Obama’s Pentagon, issue a report Monday called If All …
BattlelandMilitary Mental Health
An Easier PTSD Diagnosis
Being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder could get easier following the upcoming annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association where the group’s fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) …
BattlelandMilitary Spending
Army Renovating Safe House for Victims of Abuse
Given the spate of recent stories of women allegedly assaulted by members of the U.S. military, it’s nice to see the Army moving out on plans to renovate “a Safe House which will be used as a shelter for victims of domestic …
“I Rest Easily Knowing That I Spoke Up”
Last autumn, I wrote a letter about the troubling ripple effect that “immoral and dissolute” commanding officers have in today’s Navy, based on my personal experience.
The Naval War College Review recently published it, …
Dust Boom
Marines fire an M777 A2 howitzer during exercises at Twentynine Palms, Calif., April 26.
BattlelandLogistics
Strategic Seaporks
The Government Accountability Office is out with a briefing entitled Defense Logistics: The Department of Defense’s Report on Strategic Seaports Addressed All Congressionally Directed Elements.
Back when Battleland was just …
$555,600,000
— The maximum value of a contract the Air Force announced Monday, here, that it is awarding to Northrup Grumman for “Global Hawk modernization.” That’s more than a half-billion dollars for a not-very-old RQ-4 spy drone. “The tasks on each delivery or task order will fall into, but are not limited to, the following categories: management, including program, business and technical areas; engineering efforts, including configuration management, data management, reliability, availability & maintainability, and related areas of concern such as technical refresh, diminishing manufacturing sources, etc.; studies and analyses; design, development, integration, test and evaluation; retrofit requirements; and integrated logistics support.” Truly: the sky is the limit.
Three Takeaways from the Kermit Gosnell Trial
A Philadelphia jury on Monday convicted abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell on three counts of murder and one count of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of three babies and one adult patient at his inner-city clinic. The case, …
O.J.’s Excuses: 5 Claims in The Juice’s New Defense
The glove didn’t fit the first time, but O.J. has had a tougher time defending his innocence in the more recent Vegas memorabilia case
BattlelandSpace
“Ground Control to Major Tom…”
For those of a certain age, David Bowie’s 1969 classic Space Oddity is a song for the ages. Now, at last, it has been performed where Bowie pretended to do it: from outer space, by International Space Station commander Chris …