Experts

Fellow

Michelle Kholos Brooks

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Security & Defense

Fellow

Max Brooks

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Crisis Management National Security

Fellow

August Cole

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Fellow

Steven Grundman

Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Fellow

Adam Hammer

Nonresident Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Content

Defense Industrialist

Oct 18, 2016

With GPS, failure is not an option.

By James Hasik

For all its dependency on GPS, the Pentagon has been quietly ignoring the potential vulnerabilities of GPS—until just about now. Raytheon’s new GPS Operational Control System (OCX) might just be the most troubled program the Pentagon is running. This June, OCX incurred a dreaded Nunn-McCurdy breach, when its projected costs were judged to have increased […]

Defense Industry Drones

Defense Industrialist

Oct 7, 2016

More rapidly remaking the military

By James Hasik

Rapid capabilities offices, incremental investments, and a wave of public entrepreneurship may signal some needed cultural change. Egypt is getting more MRAPs. As Defense Industry Daily reported Wednesday, the US Defense Department is sending a second batch of surplus armored vehicles—to match the 762 already sent—“to equip Egyptian soldiers tackling Islamist militants in the Sinai […]

Defense Industry Economy & Business

Defense Industrialist

Oct 3, 2016

One Huey replacement or two?

By James Hasik

The timing of the USAF’s RFI for new helicopters begs questions about its requirements and its relationship with industry. As Phillip Swarts reported for Air Force Times, on September 9 the US Air Force posted its request for information (RFI) for replacing several squadrons of UH-1N Hueys. As Jim McAleese related from the Air Force […]

Defense Industry Security & Defense

Defense Industrialist

Sep 27, 2016

Beyond the MAD-ness of the Airbus-Boeing rivalry

By James Hasik

In the long run, military requirements and funding may matter more than trade disputes. In a 574-page report last week, the World Trade Organization ruled that the European Union and several of its member states had failed to adjust their behavior on their subsidies to Airbus, after its last mammoth ruling on their subsidies to […]

Defense Industry Defense Technologies

Defense Industrialist

Sep 26, 2016

Applying an investor’s mindset to military aid

By James Hasik

Restricting US military aid may affect more than Israeli industry and the IDF. As has been widely reported, the United States and Israeli governments have come to a new ten-year understanding of how the former will subsidize the latter’s military spending. The new amount that the Obama Administration promises to submit annually to the US […]

Defense Industry Drones

Defense Industrialist

Sep 21, 2016

My strike fighter for a cooling line

By James Hasik

Lockheed Martin’s recent quality problem reminds us how challenging massively multinational development and production programs can be. Almost a squadron’s worth of Joint Strike Fighters, Courtney Albon wrote for Inside Defense, “may not fly for months.” As Colin Clark wrote for Breaking Defense, the US Air Force and the Royal Norwegian Air Force have suspended […]

Australia Defense Industry

Defense Industrialist

Sep 14, 2016

How to man the unmanned: A counterpoint

By Ian Fairchild

Unquestionably, the Air Force needs to retain experienced operators if the service hopes to remain the most powerful air force on the planet. The question of how to best do this surfaces in many areas. How to retain more women and minorities? How to retain more fighter pilots? Earlier this week, Defense Industrialist editor James […]

Defense Industry Drones

Defense Industrialist

Sep 9, 2016

Who should own the rights to the software in the JSF?

By James Hasik

The economics of intellectual property rights in weapon systems make for challenging managerial problems, and mandate some detailed legal work. Who owns the intellectual property rights to weapon systems? Who should? In a notable essay in Foreign Affairs on “The End of the Military Industrial Complex,” former Deputy Defense Secretary Bill Lynn once wrote of […]

Defense Industry Economy & Business

Defense Industrialist

Sep 8, 2016

How to man the unmanned

By James Hasik

With enthusiastic recruits, from all corners, and with a lot of cash. In the New York Times this past Tuesday, Michael Schmidt wrote of how the the US Air Force, “Running Low on Drone Pilots,” is turning to contractors to reconnoitre battlefields. Many of these are “former drone or fighter pilots who are making double or […]

Afghanistan Conflict

Defense Industrialist

Sep 1, 2016

On earnings and cash

By James Hasik

Do the compensation schemes for top management teams in the defense industry incentivize the right goals? Federal contracts lawyer Jim McAleese recently covered the briefing by Phebe Novakovic, CEO of General Dynamics, at the Jefferies Investors Conference on August 9. His first point: “General Dynamics’ senior team is paid based on ‘earnings and cash,’ which […]

Defense Industry Economy & Business
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