BattlelandMilitary Spending
There is not much policymakers in Washington can agree about lately. As evidenced by the lack of a Congressional budget resolution to fund the government that is on a continuing resolution autopilot, to the Super Committee’s failure to agree on what to cut, it is hard to find bipartisan consensus.
This is especially startling …
BattlelandSpecial Operations
Turns out the coolest Navy SEALs, those belonging to SEAL Team 6 (or the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, as they are officially known) need special training to operate in the cold.
BattlelandAfghanistan
So just how close to the tipping point – that’s the phase heard most over the past several days – is the U.S.-led military mission in Afghanistan? Not close, according to the Obama Administration. Remember, this was the “good …
BattlelandWeapons
Second of five parts (part one here)
Because of Reaper’s nature, unit-cost estimates can be tricky. Various media reports cite a per-unit cost from $4 million to $5 million. They are quite incorrect.
Because they are …
BattlelandIntelligence
BattlelandAfghanistan
Air Force Lieut. Colonel John Darin Loftis, who was killed Saturday inside the Afghanistan interior ministry, was a father of two. He spoke to his mother three days before he died, on his 44th birthday. A proficient speaker of Pashto, one of the common local languages in Afghanistan, he’d been given a Pashto name during an earlier …
BattlelandAfghanistan
Once again from Kabul, Time’s John Wendle:
The growing divide between Afghan soldiers and their mentors has already been stretched to the breaking point after six days of violent and deadly protests over the Koran burning …
“Russia and China are committed to near-term and long-term modernization of their nuclear forces and have active production lines. In contrast, our nation has enjoyed an extended procurement holiday as we've deferred robust modernization of our nuclear deterrent for almost 20 years.”
BattlelandMilitary Women
The next Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) will be named for Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), who recently resigned from Congress so she can concentrate on healing after an assassination attempt last year. This news was …
BattlelandWeapons
First of five parts
In a surprise move this year, the Pentagon has reduced spending for two aerial drones. A version of the RQ-4 Global Hawk will be relegated to storage to be superseded by more capable versions, and future …
BattlelandAfghanistan
Saturday’s killing of two U.S. military officers inside the highly-protected Afghan Interior Ministry in Kabul by a Taliban-allied shooter is an apt microcosm of the decade-long conflict. The Pentagon was quick to label the …
BattlelandMilitary Mental Health
This is a hard post to write. It is with deep sadness and conflicted feelings that I have learned about the controversy on PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) diagnoses at Madigan Army Medical Center. I want to defend my former …
BattlelandNational Security
Drones are one of the most exciting innovations to come along in warfare in the last 20 years. But as we saw when the Pentagon recently decided to ground part of its new Global Hawk fleet in favor of Eisenhower-era U-2 manned …
