Military will be left incapable of carrying out protracted foreign occupations
Pentagon
U.S. Sends Guantanamo Detainees to Algeria Despite Fears of Persecution
There are still more than 160 detainees at Guantanamo.
Pentagon Sequestysteria
Ever since the Cold War ended, the Pentagon has been pushing to become more “flexible” and “agile,” to use two words frequently heard at Defense Department briefings and found burrowed into innumerable Pentagon …
F-35: Blade Bummer
The news that the Pentagon’s fleet of 51 F-35 fighters has been grounded because of a half-inch crack in one of its engine’s turbine blade is one of those problems that can truly be called a teething issue: it’s something that …
“Ages in which the dominant weapon is expensive or difficult to make will tend to be ages of despotism, whereas when the dominant weapon is cheap and simple, the common people have a chance. Thus, for example, tanks, battleships and bombing planes are inherently tyrannical weapons, while rifles, muskets, long-bows and hand-grenades are inherently democratic weapons. A complex weapon makes the strong stronger, while a simple weapon--so long as there is no answer to it--gives claws to the weak.”
— George Orwell, 1945
Sequestration is for Sissies: $6.9 Billion More for the F-22
Pentagon officials took to PBS and the Pentagon press room to warn Wednesday about the impending sequester’s impact on military spending.
“We’re really trying to keep on protecting the country and delivering the defense under …
“It had everything to do with 10 years of double-digit, year-over-year growth. There was no need to talk to each other. Everyone was happy. When we had a program that was bleeding, we cauterized the wound with money, because we had it. Expediency was the most important thing.”
— Brett Lambert, deputy assistant secretary of defense for manufacturing and industrial base, explaining Wednesday why communication between the Pentagon and its contractors has been lacking in recent years.
The Picasso of Procurement
Air Force Lieutenant Colonel – and occasional Battleland contributor – Dan Ward not only has a way with words. He is, according to his new The Comic Guide to Improving Defense Acquisitions, also the Picasso of …
With War Ending, When Should We Look for a Peace Dividend?
The defense budget has become such a pampered darling of the American political system that the most stringent budget scenario that most Republicans and Democrats are currently contemplating — the so-called “Doomsday” …
Sky King
Retired Air Force lieutenant colonel Dan Hampton flew nearly 4,000 hours – including 726 in combat – in an F-16 during his 20 years in the Air Force. (Battleland has flown about, um, one, including none in combat. Final brave …
Fire the Horse-Holders!
Battleland is always impressed with 20/20 hindsight, visual clarity of any sort being so unusual in the rarified circles at the top echelon of U.S. national security. Take the column in Friday’s Washington Post by physicist …
Leveraging
See where GOP candidate Mitt Romney has just released a roster of more than 300 retired generals and admirals who are endorsing him for President. They range from former Army general Tommy Franks, who commanded the invasions of …
Converting the Taliban
Air Force Major Matthew Brown served in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, as part of the Afghanistan-Pakistan (AFPAK) Hands counter-insurgency program during the final eight months of 2011. A one-time B-1 pilot, his main mission was …