Defense Industry

The transition of the US military from focusing on counterinsurgency to deterring and defeating great-power rivals will require vigorous modernization of US and allied military capabilities. The United States must harness cutting-edge Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, while simultaneously developing new capabilities and operational concepts to employ these technologies in tandem with existing legacy systems.

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Defense Industrialist

Aug 11, 2016

A modest arms sale of obsolete aircraft to India?

By Danny Lam

There may be more to Lockheed’s made-in-India deal than first meets the eye. The US Air Force and those of other NATO countries are phasing out F-16s much sooner than anticipated. This implies that performance of F-35s has met expectations, and that there are no obvious show-stoppers to ramping up production as fast as budgets […]

China Defense Industry

Defense Industrialist

Aug 8, 2016

Don’t let pre-decisional become the enemy of good enough

By James Hasik

Early discussions between the military and industry are essential for finding financially sustainable ways of war. It’s a pretty big mess when the service secretary hasn’t heard about the latest procurement programs—which means that they’re maybe not really procurement programs. They’re at best, as Deborah James recently said with that awkward Washingtonian word, “pre-decisional.” As […]

Defense Industry Drones

Defense Industrialist

Aug 3, 2016

A Franco-Polish-German tank

By James Hasik

The Polish Defense Minister’s interest in a trilateral development program is sound in many dimensions. For Defense News today, Aaron Mehta, Pierre Tran and Jaroslaw Adamowski report how the Polish Army is edging closer to getting new tanks. During an interview back on July 22, Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz told the reporters that his […]

Defense Industry Europe & Eurasia

Defense Industrialist

Aug 2, 2016

How soon is too soon for new weapons?

By James Hasik

Historical perspective should inform the aims of the Pentagon’s Third Offset strategy.  RAND has just released a public version of its study War with China: Thinking Through the Unthinkable (hat-tip to Council member Byron Callan for bringing that to my attention). For the Army, which sponsored and took in the report last year, authors David Gompert, Astrid Cevallos, […]

Defense Industry Defense Technologies

Defense Industrialist

Jul 28, 2016

Dry powder on stormy seas

By James Hasik

Several large contractors’ quarterly results may indicate a state change in their treatment of investable cash. For about fifteen years now, defense contractors have been reliably generating piles of cash. What to do with all that money? Assuredly, as I wrote in 2013, something with an incentive behind it—and that hasn’t meant investment. Back then, […]

Defense Industry Security & Defense

Defense Industrialist

Jul 24, 2016

Starting with the answer in procurement

By James Hasik

The USAF’s plans for new close support aircraft show an unusual willingness to move out quickly. Earlier this week, the Atlantic Council and other institutions around Washington were briefed on how the Air Force plans a two-phased approach to the recapitalization of its close air support (CAS) fleet. In the next two years, the USAF […]

Defense Industry Economy & Business

Defense Industrialist

Jul 14, 2016

An Arrow II for Canada?

By James Hasik

The RCAF’s divergent commitments to NORAD and NATO suggest that none of the fighters on offer are quite right for its needs. Canada’s Department of National Defence has had quite a time over the past two weeks at both the NATO Summit and the Farnborough Air Show. The DND is now preparing to deploy 450 […]

Defense Industry Security & Defense

Defense Industrialist

Jul 8, 2016

Tony Stark never sued his customer

By James Hasik

How should the military relate to billionaires who don’t follow its playbook? At the NewSpace 2016 conference in Seattle last month, a questioner in the audience wanted an opinion about “Jeff Bezos, Yuri Milner, Paul Allen, Richard Branson and Elon Musk: all of these billionaires, instead of buying yachts, are investing in space.” As panel moderator Alan […]

Defense Industry Security & Defense

Defense Industrialist

Jul 7, 2016

“We do not agree that hindsight is required.”

By James Hasik

The Chilcot Inquiry usefully recalls the bureaucratic failures of the fight against IEDs. The Chilcot Inquiry, the official British government investigation of the Iraq War, convened in November 2009. Just yesterday, more than six years on, Sir John and his fellow commissioners—Sir Lawrence Freedman, Sir Roderic Lyne, Baroness Usha Prashar, and the late Sir Martin Gilbert—published their […]

Defense Industry Iraq

Bremain vs Brexit

Jun 29, 2016

The British Army of the Vistula

By James Hasik

Concerns about the implications of Brexit to European security may be overblown. At the beginning of last week, as everyone else in the commentariat was commenting, I resolved myself not to comment on Brexit. But after a flurry of articles about Britain turning inward, I want everyone to calm down. Just yesterday, US Secretary of […]

Defense Industry NATO

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