The competition to produce the US Navy's carrier-based aerial tanker drone, the MQ-25 Stingray, has been whittled down to four companies: General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing. On Tuesday, the United States Naval Institute News service learned that Naval Air Systems Command had...

Read all of "General Atomics, Boeing, Northrop, Lockheed Will Bid To Produce Pentagon's MQ-25A Stingray Drone" »

Few strategic issues engender more debate than the future of the US presence in the Far East. Topping the list is what to do about the American bases on Okinawa. The US and Japan had ironed out an agreement on how to realign the bases...

Read all of "Keeping America in Asia" »

A number of long-term defense spending proposals have been circulating in Washington, such as the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. None, however, are based on proven methods of defense planning. In realistic defense planning, national security challenges drive force structure requirements: how many...

Read all of "How Much is Enough?" »

HBO's Battle for Marjah documentary is not worth your time. That is, most already know the war in Afghanistan can't be won. But there is no political will to end it. However, as a working metaphor for that dilemma, the documentary is fine....

Read all of "The Battle for Marjah -- a short review" »

Richard B. Andres Paul McNiel On February 2nd, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair made cyber security the first item in his Annual Threat Assessment report to the US Senate. Coming on the heels of Chinese cyber attacks on Google, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's...

Read all of "Deterring Chinese Cyber Militias with Freedom Militias" »

The Pentagon's long-awaited Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) is out. By law, the major defense strategy must look forward 20 years and delineate how the U.S. will structure its armed forces. The QDR is supposed to outline the Pentagon's threat assessments, military strategy, force structure, and...

Read all of "Planning for the Future? Examining the Pentagon's 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review" »

Many senior members of the U.S. military, defense officials, members of Congress, and analysts have long-warned of the growing fighter gap facing the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps and its implications for U.S. national security. A fighter gap is essentially a deficit between...

Read all of "U.S. Fighter Gap: Myth or Reality?" »

Congress is back in session and completing work on the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization and appropriations bills. The Senate defense appropriations bill will be marked up this week. While few expect any tough votes if the defense appropriations bill arrives on the Senate floor...

Read all of "Obama Veto Threat vs. Congress: Why Members Care About Joint Strike Fighter Engine Competition" »

On April 6, 2009 Secretary Robert Gates announced a swath of cuts to defense procurement programs. According to an article in the Financial Times titled Gates takes axe to top weapons projects in US, "Robert Gates, US defence secretary, yesterday unveiled a sweeping overhaul of...

Read all of "Alternatives for Defense Spending" »