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Defense Industrialist

Oct 20, 2014

Can Coastal Artillery Backstop the Navy?

By James Hasik

Yes, but there are hard ways and easy ways for an army to stand up new capabilities.   The question of coastal artillery was all over the trade press last week, starting with a speech by Defense Secretary Hagel at the AUSA meeting. Hagel noted that for a century after 1812, the US Army protected American ports with a […]

China Japan

Defense Industrialist

Oct 15, 2014

A Nobel Prize for Procurement

By James Hasik

  Jean Tirole’s award in economics reminds us that defense procurement is a deeply challenging business problem.   For me, it’s a great week when a procurement theorist wins a Nobel Prize. Fairly, Jean Tirole of the University of Toulouse won the 2014 Prize in Economic Sciences mostly for his extensive and wide-ranging work in regulatory […]

France

Defense Industrialist

Oct 6, 2014

A JDAM for Human Rights

By James Hasik

Major Mariam al Mansouri’s exploits are an unintended benefit of a looser arms export regime.   Arms sales bear a bad reputation for mortgaging global political sensibilities to domestic economic interests. But as a diplomat in Washington reminded me over dinner last week, to have influence, one must be willing to talk. As sociologist Ori […]

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

Defense Industrialist

Oct 3, 2014

Assimilating Disruption, or Offboarding Innovation?

By James Hasik

Big defense contractors’ reactions to start-ups may be more proactive than we suppose.   In a speech at the Air Force Association (AFA) meeting in Maryland last month, Chris Chadwick, CEO of Boeing Defense & Space, spoke of his company’s enthusiasm for incorporating innovative ideas into old products. In effect, he endorsed—as a CEO from Boeing just […]

Drones Technology & Innovation

Art of Future Warfare

Oct 1, 2014

The future of unknown conflict

By Atlantic Council

The Atlantic Council introduced Dave Antony as a nonresident fellow for the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security on October 1st, where he will be working on the “Art of Future War” project. The event, moderated by August Cole, the project’s director, featured everything from 3D printers to flying drones which served as the backdrop […]

Conflict Security & Defense

Defense Industrialist

Sep 28, 2014

Is the Armored Vehicle Industry Shifting Away from the United States?

By James Hasik

Russian threats and US economizing may be driving the business north and east.   Earlier this month, investors’ website the Motley Fool called the recently-announced alliance between France’s Nexter and Germany’s KMW the possible “birth of a European tank-building superpower” and “General Dynamics’ new challenger”. All the same, in a recent essay for the Lexington Institute, Dan Gouré argues that General […]

Central Europe NATO

Defense Industrialist

Sep 27, 2014

How to Stiff-Arm Transatlantic Economic Integration

By James Hasik

Rosa DeLauro’s HR 5581 is a very bad bill indeed.   Last week, the Wall Street Journal carried a long story—”German Firms Go on U.S. Buying Spree”—about the $70 billion they have spent this year acquiring businesses in the United States. That figure is second only to Canadian activity–another $77 billion so far—and indicates just how economies on […]

NATO Security & Defense

Defense Industrialist

Sep 24, 2014

Three JLTVs, Three Strategies

By James Hasik

Different displays of similar vehicles reveal the structural heterogeneity of the defense industry.   At this week’s Modern Day Marine show at Quantico, the three companies vying for the US Army and Marine Corps’ Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) contract brought splashy displays. Walking the floor and reading the brochures, it was easy to see how […]

Defense Industrialist

Sep 22, 2014

Taking Jointness Too Far

By James Hasik

The GAO’s review of the 2005 BRAC sharply indicts consolidation for consolidation’s sake.   Almost everywhere but in Congress—and in the towns around the gates of garrisons—interest in another Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round remains high. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wanted a round in 2013. In his valedictory interview this year with Defense News, Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale insisted that […]

Art of Future Warfare

Sep 22, 2014

Call of Duty Writer and Director Dave Anthony Named Nonresident Fellow at Atlantic Council

By The Atlantic Council

The Atlantic Council today named acclaimed writer and director Dave Anthony as a nonresident fellow in its Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security. Anthony is best known for his pioneering work on the blockbuster Call of Duty video game franchise. In 2010, he wrote and directed Call of Duty: Black Ops, which remains the best-selling […]