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Defense Industrialist

Oct 28, 2017

Aerospace revelations: What could possibly go wrong?

By Steven Grundman

The Four Horsemen in the Book of Revelations, let us recall, are no cowpokes but terrible harbingers of the end of times, each marked by the color of the horse he rides to summon a hardship which by degrees is more cataclysmic than the last. Holding that allusion in mind, I use the seasonal tradition of AerospaceDefenseChain to harvest my critical thinking about the things that could possibly go wrong and turn to doom and dust today’s happy outlook on the second century of aerospace. Put differently, “How could we screw this up?”

Defense Industry Economy & Business

Defense Industrialist

Oct 3, 2017

The military implications of Catalonian secession—an update

By James Hasik

assuming that Catalonia was admitted to NATO, what would the newly independent country contribute? At the 2014 Strategic Foresight Forum at the Atlantic Council, Anne Marie Slaughter of the New America Foundation opined that an independent Catalonia would do a fine job of defending itself. After all, Catalonia is a country of over 7 million people, with more than $300 billion in GDP. Spending just 1.6% of that—well below the widely-ignored NATO threshold, of course—provides over $4.5 billion annually. y de-emphasizing the military forces that any landlocked country will have, and instead steering investments towards those it is comparatively positioned to provide, Catalonia could punch above its weight in European political affairs.

Defense Policy Eastern Europe

Defense Industrialist

Sep 13, 2017

An EU air force is impossible; Fortunately, it’s not necessary.

By James Hasik

To rebuild robust air forces, Europeans should just get back to basics. Early last month, as David Cenciotti of the Aviationist reported, A-10Cs of the Maryland Air National Guard were again practicing landings and take-offs from stretches of highway in Estonia, though with occasional casualties amongst the roadsigns. About a year prior, it was A-10Cs of the […]

Defense Industry Defense Technologies

Defense Industrialist

Aug 30, 2017

An EU navy is impossible; Fortunately, it’s not necessary.

By James Hasik

To rebuild robust naval forces, Europeans should think less like Americans, and more like Russians. As I noted yesterday, Brexit has opened all sorts of talk about the future of British and European military activities. To continue the argument today, let’s tack towards naval matters. In “All the Queen’s Ships” (Proceedings of the US Naval Institute, January […]

Defense Industry European Union

Defense Industrialist

Aug 29, 2017

An EU army is impossible; Fortunately, it’s not necessary.

By James Hasik

To rebuild robust land forces, Europeans should think a little like Americans, a little like Russians, and otherwise for themselves. Shortly after the Brexit vote last June, those-in-the-know in Europe started calling for a renewed effort at a common European military force. A year ago this month, General Vincenzo Camporini, former head of the Italian general staff, told […]

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Defense Industrialist

Aug 17, 2017

Can defense industrialists work with Trump?

By James Hasik

Whatever opprobrium the president is owed, his administration’s more important initiatives deserve attention. Donald Trump’s twin business advisory panels have collapsed. Members of both the Manufacturing Council and the Strategy & Policy Forum had been resigning quickly, and according to today’s Wall Street Journal—“CEOs Scrap Trump Panels”—they voted yesterday just to disband. At first, the president […]

Defense Industry Economy & Business

Defense Industrialist

Aug 4, 2017

How to be like Ike

By Steven Grundman

Project Solarium as a model for assessing defense-industrial policy It is hard not to read a pretext for protectionism into the Executive Order President Trump signed last month under the ponderous title, “Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States.” And yet, the Administration also has gone […]

Defense Industry Economy & Business

Defense Industrialist

Jul 31, 2017

Maybe not so rare after all

By James Hasik

As the long term prognosis for the rare-earths business shows, the administration should move carefully in “strengthening supply chain resiliency.” On 21 July, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on “assessing and strengthening the manufacturing and defense industrial base and supply chain resiliency of the United States.” Within 270 days, the departments of defense, commerce, […]

China Defense Industry

Defense Industrialist

Jul 24, 2017

“The whole network needs to mesh in wartime”

By James Hasik

Avoiding despair about military radio communications is the first step towards robust solutions. The US Army may be taking a knee in its pursuit of modernizing its battlefield radio communications. After fifteen years of pursuing its Warfighter Information Network Tactical (WIN-T) program, the service seems to be reconsidering the specifics of its path towards robust, on-the-move […]

Defense Industry Security & Defense

Defense Industrialist

Jul 10, 2017

You can’t call the cavalry on two percent

By James Hasik

In a two-percent world, American plans against landward threats to Poland might be limited to aircraft, cruise missiles, and marines. For if the US government proportionately spent what European governments spent, there would be no cavalry riding to the rescue.

China Defense Policy
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