Last week, Battleland broke the news that the Pentagon watchdog is chewing over the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. We’ve now got some more details from the Department of Defense Inspector General:
I asked why the …
Air Force
Surprise! Pentagon Watchdog Checking Out F-35 Program
The Department of Defense Inspector General’s March newsletter contains this nugget:
Joint Strike Fighter (F-35) Quality Assurance Assessment. The objective of this assessment is to assess the quality management system for the Joint Strike Fighter procured by DoD from Lockheed Martin Corporation. The assessments will be performed
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5. Revolutionary…Or Routine?
4. Keeping Track of the Drones
A Bright Shining Line
Those of us of a certain sell-by date recall John Paul Vann’s searing tale of Vietnam in Neil Sheehan’s A Bright Shining Lie.
The title resonates in light of recent screw-ups by the U.S. military, with the addition of one …
3. Finding the Right Targets
Some Pentagon Acquisition Successes: Yes, They Do Happen
Problems within the defense acquisition business are widely known and thoroughly documented, so the last thing I want to write is yet another article highlighting yet another failure. Been there, done that. Fortunately, there is …
2. The MQ-9’s Cost and Performance
Second of five parts (part one here)
Because of Reaper’s nature, unit-cost estimates can be tricky. Various media reports cite a per-unit cost from $4 million to $5 million. They are quite incorrect.
Because they are …
“Russia and China are committed to near-term and long-term modernization of their nuclear forces and have active production lines. In contrast, our nation has enjoyed an extended procurement holiday as we've deferred robust modernization of our nuclear deterrent for almost 20 years.”
1. Revisiting the Reaper Revolution
First of five parts
In a surprise move this year, the Pentagon has reduced spending for two aerial drones. A version of the RQ-4 Global Hawk will be relegated to storage to be superseded by more capable versions, and future …
Flying Blind: Defog of War
Surely you’ve been driving down the street when, though no fault of your own, your windshield fogs up and you suddenly find yourself driving blind. Now imagine you’re flying an F-16 on the verge of landing amid an air show crowd – not to mention lots of vintage airplanes – when your canopy cockpit fogs up.
That’s precisely …
About That Mistaken Shootdown: The Rest of the Story
