It’s an ancient proverb about military snafus wrought by small oversights or neglect that has been recited in various forms for centuries. But the same thing, believe it or not, can still happen with the Pentagon’s 21st …
Weapons
Japan Threatens To Shoot Down NoKo Missile. Really
TOKYO – Japan knows just what to do if North Korea goes ahead with a thinly disguised test of a new ballistic missile next month: shoot the @#$! thing down.
Japanese Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka told Diet members Monday …
Up in the Mushroom Clouds Somewhere, Curtis LeMay Is Smiling
The directorate director at the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center Nuclear Capabilities Directorate’s Nuclear College has just announced he’s launched an advanced nuclear concepts course. (“Directorate director”? “Nuclear Weapons Center Nuclear Capabilities Directorate’s Nuclear College?” Department of Redundancy Department: your …
“We must allocate resources for contingencies like Iran. We’ll be looking to place emphasis on vital weapons, should the Iranians determine that a peaceful, nuclear-free existence is not in their best interest.”
Flipper Practices for Strait of Hormuz
Army General Martin Dempsey (right), chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, watches a bottlenose dolphin in San Diego on Monday. He was touring the Navy’s Marine Mammal Program with sailors from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile …
F-22 Crash: The Widow Sues
Jeff Haney’s widow has sued the builders of the Air Force’s hottest warplane, contending its defective oxygen-breathing system killed her husband in November 2010. Anna Haney has filed suit against Lockheed Martin, Boeing, …
Global Hawk: “Thar She Blow$!”
In a recent Battleland post, Mark Thompson noted the cost of a crashed Global Hawk: $72.8 million according to the Air Force. Some will automatically think that price equates to the unit cost for the drone. As they say, that’s …
War’s Strange Bedfellows
The Pentagon is buying helicopters for its Afghan allies from the same Russian-based company that’s also selling weapons to Syria that Damascus is using against its own people.
Rosoboronexport, Moscow’s official arms …
$80,175
Not Done With Mirrors
Life, and Death, on the Fringe
It was with great sadness Wednesday that I learned of the death of retired TOPGUN pilot Navy Captain Carroll LeFon, killed Tuesday morning when his jet crashed at Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada.
LeFon was better known
…
Caucus Belli
When the defense budget begins tightening, nervous lawmakers don’t circle the wagons – they set up a caucus. That’s what happened earlier this week as about a dozen lawmakers created the Congressional Mobility Air Forces …
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
…