Ashton Carter is the U.S.military’s chief weapons buyer. Judging from what he said yesterday at The Heritage Foundation about saving money in the defense budget, his job is about to get much more complicated if the Obama Administration gets its way by trying to reduce the federal budget deficit on the backs of those in …
Weapons
The Stunt For Red October
For the first time in history, a Russian submarine will be engaging in war games with NATO subs next month. “Apart from honing their skills, the naval rescuers on the games will certainly contribute to mutual confidence between the sides,” Russian analyst Vladimir Yevseyev tells The Voice of Russia news service. “This, in turn, …
Deciphering Obama’s Pentagon Remarks
President Obama was sharpening his Pentagon ax in remarks at a town hall meeting in northern Virginia earlier today. Defense contractors hang on every word when the government is in a cutting mood like this. They’re eager to adopt any strategy to blunt the impact of the coming cuts on their programs. So let’s look at what the President …
That’s Why They Call It a Bomber
White House to Pentagon: Cough Up More Money for Deficit Reduction
Just this week, Department of Defense (DoD) officials informed Congress that 95 weapons programs have increased in cost, to the tune of $64 billion. A primary driver of these cost increases: production cuts and the loss of economies of scale. Programs affected include the Marine Corps’ Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, the Air Force’s …
Surprise! Weapons’ Costs Continue to Rise
They’re called “SARs” inside the Pentagon, and they’re not referring to what the doctors called severe acute respiratory syndrome nearly a decade ago. Nope, these are the Pentagon’s quarterly reports on how well the military is doing at buying weapons. The latest SARs – it stands for Selected Acquisition Reports in the Pentagon – …
U.S. Still Darkening Libyan Skies
OK….as the stalemate grinds on in Libya, maybe we should discard the charade that the U.S. stopped playing an active role over Muammar Gaddafi’s nation since it handed off control of the operation to NATO a couple of weeks ago.
Here are a couple of numbers to keep in mind:
— U.S. warplanes are flying one out of every three …
On Passover, we give thanks for these rockets
President Obama called Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Monday to mark the start of Passover. Netanyahu said thanks for the call — and the rockets, according to a White House readout of the call.
The United States is sending $205 million to Israel specifically for “Iron Dome,” a high-tech rocket and mortar defense system to help …
The Strange Case of the (Nearby) But Missing F-22s Over Libya
So the Air Force’s latest and greatest warplane – the $412 million per copy F-22 – has now been MIA in Iraq, Afghanistan and – most surprisingly – in imposing the no-fly zone over Libya. How come? Especially when it was already in the neighborhood on the eve of that conflict? It raises a whole new version of the so-called …
Incoming: Reviewing the Previewing of the Review
The Pentagon is forever reviewing everything — from lead-free bullets (a more environmentally-friendly way of killing) to improving chow for America’s ever-expanding Army (on a per-capita BMI scale, of course). But the biggie – for the past generation of Pentagon denizens – has been the QDR, or Quadrennial Defense Review. It’s …