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Defense Industrialist

Apr 17, 2014

It’s Time for a Backup to GPS.

By James Hasik

The recent failure of GLONASS and sightings of Russian navigation jammers in Crimea are cause enough for concern. If you’re not a space geek, you probably didn’t notice the total failure of the Russian satellite navigation system early this month. And if you’re not an electronic warfare geek, you probably didn’t notice those Russian satellite […]

Defense Industrialist

Apr 15, 2014

The Disruptive Democratization of Space

By James Hasik

Tiny satellites are diffusing remote sensing capabilities around the world The Americans have reconnaissance satellites. The French, Belgians, Spanish, and Greeks share some reconnaissance satellites. The Russians have their reconnaissance satellites. The Ukrainians have Google Earth. It’s not the same thing, but right now, it the best they’ve got. But as technology and the market are developing, […]

Space Technology & Innovation

Defense Industrialist

Apr 10, 2014

More engineering, less lawyering, please.

By James Hasik

What We Need from General Dynamics in the AMPV Competition The drama continues in the US Army’s effort to replace its longest-serving armored vehicles, the M113s. General Dynamics is threatening to complain to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) that the mobility standards required and the technical data provided in the competition are inadequate to […]

Defense Industrialist

Apr 1, 2014

How the MH 370 Tragedy is Selling P-8As

By James Hasik

Boeing’s latest patrol plane is performing brilliantly in the Indian Ocean Normally, no good can come to a manufacturer from the crash of an airplane it built. And it’s true that Malaysian Airlines’ missing plane is a Boeing 777. But the tragedy must be put in context, as the 777’s safety record to date has […]

Defense Industrialist

Mar 30, 2014

American Gas—Just Not on American Ships

By James Hasik

Congressman Garamendi’s plan to ship natural gas to Europe on American-built tankers would be bad industrial policy On CNN.com last week, Congressman John Garamendi of California argued that the “Russian incursion [into Crimea] may be opportunity for U.S. mariners”. He wants to export American natural gas to Europe, but he wants to mandate that it travel […]

Ukraine

Defense Industrialist

Mar 25, 2014

Did NATO Rearm Russia?

By James Hasik

Arms sales to Moscow have been more embarrassing than alarming, but it’s time to stop. Now that Ukraine has surrendered Crimea after the most perfunctory fight, attention has turned to what the Russian Army might invade next. Estonia? Molodova? In the latter case, SACEUR worries that they Russians will just drive through Kyiv on the way. Perhaps […]

Ukraine

Defense Industrialist

Mar 12, 2014

Is the FD-2000 an Albatross or a Raptor-killer?

By James Hasik

How Chinese missile marketing poses three very different theses about Chinese strategy The Hurriyet Daily News reported yesterday that enthusiasm has begun to wane amongst local subcontractors in CPMIEC’s proposed sale of FD-2000 anti-aircraft missile batteries to Turkey. CPMIEC has been blacklisted by the US government under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act, and Turkish firms […]

Defense Industrialist

Mar 7, 2014

Productivity before platforms

By August Cole

For the Pentagon, reducing the cost of big systems will be only half the battle. In technology, as in air-to-air combat, speed can be everything. Yet even as fifth-generation fighters such as the F-22 push the aeronautical envelope, America’s military is struggling to keep up with a disorienting worldwide acceleration of technological development that it […]

Defense Industry Economy & Business

Defense Industrialist

Mar 6, 2014

How NATO Can Help Rebuild Ukraine’s Defenses

By James Hasik

Ukraine is the world’s fourth-largest arms exporter. That isn’t useful right now against Russia, but it may be someday. News from Crimea over the past month has been endlessly surprising, but often missed is a surprising industrial fact: Ukraine currently ranks as the world’s fourth-largest arms exporter. The local industry had a blowout year in 2012 […]

Ukraine

Defense Industrialist

Mar 4, 2014

For Faster R&D, Restore Rivalry and Realism.

By James Hasik

In AvWeek, Bill Sweetman pines for another Polaris program. Here’s how to recapture the magic.  In last week’s issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology, Bill Sweetman observes (“Does the Pentagon give contractors an incentive for slow R&D?”) how the same US Defense Department that had put a nuclear submarine to sea with sixteen long-range nuclear-tipped ballistic […]

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