Apparently the Navy isn’t the only service that has trouble building projects with money from 2009’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Air Force planned on spending $15 million for three wind turbines to generate electric power for remote Alaskan radar sites. Sure, there have been the typical problems: each turbine’s cost …
Military
“OK…I’ll Bite: Why is Cutting the Defense Budget So Tough?”
So just what is it that makes cutting the defense budget so difficult? How much is objectively hard, and how much is subjective, due to pork, politics and precedent? John Nagl, of the Center for a New American Security, and I discuss the topic with Todd Harrison, of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, and Nora …
Iraq: Like a Serpent’s Tooth
We noted on Monday that there seem to be no plans for the Iraqi government to award U.S. troops a medal for ridding its nation of Saddam Hussein (Kuwait and Saudi Arabia did so following the 1991 Gulf War). Now comes word that Baghdad has decided not to give U.S. troops stationed in Iraq after this year the traditional immunity …
One in Three.
Thirty-four percent, to be precise. That’s how many veterans believe the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were worth fighting, according to a new and dispiriting – but not surprising – Pew Research Center poll. Americans prefer wars like the first Gulf War – 100 days of bombing, followed by 96 hours of ground combat, then a …
A Blueprint for the Pentagon’s Grim Reaper
One of Washington’s most influential think tanks – its ranks filled with retired and ex-soldiers – has bad news for its Army brethren still in uniform: you guys are going to take it on the chin in the coming budget battles. You too, Marines. “Ground forces will play a less central role in the projection of U.S. military power …
Shazam! Gomer Pyle Would Love This
It was just over a month ago that we noted the Marines are spending about $180,000 per bedroom in the new living quarters they’re building for their greenest troops at Camp Lejeune, N.C. Now the Los Angeles Times weighs in on similar pads opening up for West Coast Marines at California’s Camp Pendleton:
The two-person rooms, at
…
Combat Contracting 101
War-zone contracting is a complicated business, because the pressures of combat drive people – not to mention governments – to do things they might not otherwise do. Besides which, it’s boring to wade through all the fine print.
Case in point: a contract to train 80 Afghan wanna-be pilots in both flying and English. Raytheon …
“What’s This `Super Committee’ and Why Is the Pentagon So Scared Of It?”
There have been lots of rumbles rolling from Capitol Hill, the Pentagon and the White House about this so-called “Super Committee” of 12 lawmakers – officially the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction – designed to bring some fiscal order to the federal budget. It petrifies the Pentagon, and with good reason. John Nagl, of …
Best Military Obits of the Weekend
Journalists tend to disparage obituaries because many of them had to churn them out as young reporters. But few forms of writing are so rewarding. After all, unlike many stories, obits have a beginning, middle and an end. They trace the arc of the subject’s life, and try to put it into some kind of frame and perspective. It was a great …
Don’t Hold Your Breath, Iraqi Liberators
Over at Stars and Stripes, “Rumor Doctor” Jeff Schogol is wondering if the Baghdad government is ever going to get around to awarding U.S. troops medals for their role in ousting Saddam Hussein from power. After all, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia honored American troops with such decorations after they kicked Saddam out of Kuwait back in …
Special Forces Navy
You won’t learn much from the most interesting contract announcement the Pentagon made Thursday (click on it to enlarge). It’s for as much as $400 million to “develop, test, produce, field, and sustain a modern, clandestine, agile, adaptive, technically relevant, reliable, and operationally capable combatant craft system in support …
Report Examines “Worst Case” Scenario for the U.S. Military
The debt ceiling deal passed this summer contains a sequestration “trigger.” If the Super Committee fails to agree on a plan to meet its deficit reduction targets–or if Congress fails to approve the plan, the legislation stipulates that huge amounts of discretionary spending funds will be automatically sequestered–i.e., taken off …
Pilots’ Days Are Numbered
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oq4qah5LQ0&feature=player_embedded]
On a day when a U.S. drone apparently sent Anwar al-Awlaki to his eternal reward, check out this Northrop Grumman video of the Navy’s X-47B UCAS — Unmanned Combat Air System. Sometime in the next year or two, these things are slated to start test flights off …