You can’t make this stuff up: the Navy concedes the first vessel in its latest fleet of warships — the 18-month old USS Independence (not to be confused with the late aircraft carrier sporting the same name) — is suffering from “aggressive” corrosion. Both the Navy and the ship-builder say it’s no big deal, and to be expected when …
Weapons
Rebuilding the Pentagon for Tomorrow
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Always interesting to tussle with smart folks like Jim Glassman, Rudy DeLeon and Arthur Herman over the nuts (and we mean that in a good way) and bolts of Pentagon priorities and strategies, and how much we’re paying for them.
Robert Widmer Slips the Surly Bonds of Earth
Robert Widmer has achieved escape velocity. Never heard of him? How about the weapons he pioneered, ranging from the B-36 – the Air Force’s largest bomber – to the F-16 — its most nimble fighter — to the Tomahawk cruise missile?
Reports Sunday’s New York Times in an appreciative obit:
Mr. Widmer was so valuable to the
…
Droning On To a New Way of War
So the U.S. government — if not the military, then the CIA — is now using drones to kill suspected terrorists in at least six different countries — Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. Congress — the entity charged with declaring war, according to the Constitution — has basically green-lighted only the attacks …
If U.S. Wants to Steer Global Rules on Drones, It Needs to Dominate Global Sales
Financial Times story last week (US urged to rethink export controls on drones) re: Paris Air Show cites multiple US defense corporate sources complaining that unless the US Government lifts some of the restrictions, the world’s “insatiable appetite” for drones will be exploited by other nations’ military-industrial complexes. The …
Bravo Zulu, Mr. Secretary
Departing defense secretary Robert Gates is the 10th military chief I have covered since Harold Brown was running Jimmy Carter’s Pentagon. After a private dinner at the White House on Wednesday night, and a final ruffles and flourishes sendoff at the Pentagon on Thursday, Gates will fly off for his home in Washington state and never …
Kabul Hotel: Boom Service
Fascinating series of photographs of Tuesday night’s attack — and counter-attack — on Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel by Nazir Ekhlass, and posted on war blogger Michael Yon’s website.
Afghan War Just Got Cheaper
OK. It’s not much, but every little bit helps. Thanks to a new airspace access deal with Russia — with Russia! — a U.S. KC-135 refueling tanker was able to fly from Washington state to the big U.S. base in Kyrgyzstan via the North Pole last week. The Manas base in Kyrgyzstan is a major support hub for the war in Afghanistan. The …
Boeing Spins Like a Helicopter in Response to Leaked Spare Parts Audit
The Boeing Company made around $13 million in windfall profits off of selling grossly overpriced spare parts to the Army for its AH-64 Apache and Ch-47 Chinook helicopters, according to a 142-page leaked “For Official Use Only” audit conducted by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG). Of $23 million Boeing …
F-35 Bacon Bits
While the Pentagon stresses the need for new weapons to defend the nation, contractors — and their congressional representatives — know that the need for new armaments alone doesn’t keep them rolling off the assembly line. That takes jobs. Contractors aren’t being coy about it anymore. Check out this nifty map of the United States …
Was There an Anthrax Push into War With Iraq?
David Willman’s new book, The Mirage Man, dives deeply into the anthrax mailings that took place shortly after 9/11 and further panicked an already-distraught American public. He hones in on Dr. Bruce Ivins as the perpetrator, and details a strong case implicating the Army bio-weapons expert, who committed suicide three years ago as …
The New U.S. “Smalls” Air Force Over Afghanistan
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We’ve all seen the airplane-sized Predator and Reaper drones now flying and fighting over Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan and Yemen. They’re fairly big (the Predator has a 48-foot [15-m.] wingspan) and costly ($5 million each). But there are fleets of smaller and cheaper man-launched …
Defense Roundtable: “Show Me the Missions”
The New America Foundation’s sponsored debate over defense spending showcased two schools of American political thought entirely comfortable with allowing American power and influence to decline on the global stage.