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 …
Procurement
“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 …
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 …
Kinder, Gentler War
In the Pentagon’s continuing quest to destroy without hurting, Boeing announced this week that its CHAMP microwave-burst weapon successfully rendered electronic targets useless without wounding anyone.
“We turned science …
Making All Our Troops Bulletproof
Shoot, move, communicate. This was the clear, succinct analysis given by an Army major when asked to describe the key components of a military mission.
In three words, the major illustrated the reality of modern war theatres …
Empire of the Sunset
Exploding Budgets
The government is set to spend $640 billion on nuclear weapons and related programs over the next ten years.
If you didn’t know that, you are not alone. No one has put together a reliable estimate of these future budgets – …
$240 million
The Navy’s New Class of Warships: Big Bucks, Little Bang
The Navy’s new Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is not only staggeringly overpriced and chronically unreliable but — even if it were to work perfectly — cannot match the combat power of similar sized foreign warships costing only a …
Sky-High WiFi
If civilian passengers can now get the Internet on airplanes, shouldn’t troops be able to get it on the battlefield?
The Air Force has just awarded Northrop Grumman a $20 million contract to do just that, by adding new …
Cloak Blade: First It Was Octo-Mom – Now It’s Octo-Rotor
The Pentagon has unmanned aerial vehicles coming out its ears. Flying in the wake of the Predator and Reaper drones are all kinds of joystick gizmos. Cloak Blade is one of the latest.