So wondering if you have what it takes to pilot one of those MQ-1 Predator or MQ-9 Reaper unmanned drones for the U.S. Air Force? Huh? Well, drones have pilots, just like more traditional aircraft. The only difference is the drone operator’s controls tend to be in some trailer – safely on the ground – far away from the drone …
Weapons
Alternate Translation: There’ll Always Be An England
Gordon England is highly regarded in defense circles, which is why he got space in Friday’s New York Times to detail how he thinks Defense Secretary Leon Panetta should trim Pentagon spending. Yet the op-ed page only said he “served during the administration of George W. Bush as secretary of the Navy and deputy secretary of …
“A-One, and a-Two, and a-Three…”
Pentagon Unveils Defensive Cyberwar Strategy
The Pentagon rolled out its new cyber-defense strategy Thursday, hyping it with the news that foreign hackers (from an unidentified country) invaded the computers of one of its (unidentified) contractors in March and pilfered 24,000 sensitive documents in one fell swoop.
Cyber-security is a Pentagon growth area, make no mistake …
Air Force Argument for New Bomber Bombs, Top General Says
Marine General James “Hoss” Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, just made a lot of enemies in the Air Force. Over breakfast Thursday, he made clear he finds the service’s push for a new manned bomber as a part of the U.S. nuclear triad less than convincing. “I’m known as a bomber-hater, I guess,” the nation’s No. …
Air Force: “A Quick Symphony of Planning”
As the war for Libya stretches into its fifth month next week, it’s easy to question the wisdom of entering into a conflict with as many caveats on it as this one. But there’s no questioning the gee-whizzedness of the Air Force’s initial strikes carried out by five bombers from bases in the United States. While that “quick symphony …
Rin Tin Tin Info: Now Off Limits
The Pentagon is cracking down on the data it posts on its websites. The latest example: the Army manual on its use of dogs. The 2005 version used to be public, but it has been scrubbed off Pentagon websites, according to Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists (although he managed to snare a copy, which you can …
A.Q. Khan’s Revelations: Did Pakistan’s Army Sell Nukes to North Korea?
Abdul Qadeer Khan is tired of being a scapegoat. The controversial father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb shared hi-tech secrets and equipment with a host of rogue regimes — including North Korea and Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya — earning himself international notoriety and a 2005 TIME magazine cover that dubbed him “the Merchant of Menace.” …
Naval Maneuvering
So the other day we mentioned the Navy’s woes with its latest boat buy, the 55-vessel, $37.4 billion, Littoral Combat Ship fleet. Two teams are each building their own version of the coastal corvette, and each has its own problem: the Lockheed team’s hull has cracked, and the Austal team’s hull is disintegrating in salt water. Austal …
Why the War Machine Keeps on Running
Villefranche, France.
The United States has always meddled in other people’s affairs. For those readers who think this statement is an exaggeration, I urge them to peruse the chronology of interventions compiled by the Congressional Research Service. This historical predilection for meddling, however, grew enormously in depth and …
“Look Ma — No Hands!”
Hate to feature two aircraft-carriers photos in the same day — it might go to the Navy’s head — but this second one warrants it. On July 2, an airplane landed on a flattop with no human involvement (except a pilot aboard for safety):
The test, conducted on USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), means the Navy is one step closer to
…
USA-Made Fireworks Over (or at least close to) China
Rumsfeld Redux: He Doesn’t Get It
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld emerged from the woodwork last week to warn Leon Panetta not to do the wrong thing. He should know; his stewardship of DOD was an almost unmitigated laundry list (should we say “snowflakes”?) of wrong things.
But I wouldn’t recommend Panetta take his advice. Rumsfeld has no idea of how to …