If you take the Administration’s word for it, the most recent defense budget represents a sober-minded and far-thinking strategic shift from the Middle East to Asia, creating a smaller, high-tech force oriented increasingly towards inter-state conflict and deterrence. Many are even comparing the Pentagon’s current vision with that of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld,…
By Mackenzie EaglenModernizing military simulation with open systems architecture
Best-of-breed common models and architecture enable virtual training and testing with the same data in a cyber-resilient posture.
WASHINGTON: The Navy sails on the cusp a new “golden age” of seapower despite the fact that it will have one of the smallest fleets in recent history, a top service leader believes. While actual ship numbers have dropped, the Navy has roughly the same number of large warships — cruisers, destroyers and aircraft carriers…
By Carlo MunozThe Department of Defense is on the defensive nowadays, with everybody braced for cuts. The Army already has marching orders to reduce its manpower from the current 565,000 active-duty personnel to 520,000, and no one expects it to stop there. But some Army leaders are looking past the lean years and planning how to build…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.With the regular Army shedding personnel to fit in ever-tighter budgets, the U.S. Army Reserve is positioning itself as a low-cost way to keep skilled, experienced veterans associated with the military. The plan, in a nutshell: If you can’t keep ’em in the regular Army, keep ’em in the Reserves. Today, only 9 percent of…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.Washington: The White House’s decision to send U.S. troops to help the Ugandan military curb a violent separatist group had Washington buzzing last week. Many inside the Beltway feared the mission, in which American special forces would support Ugandan forces in their war against the Lord’s Resistance Army, could be a first step into a…
By Carlo MunozWashington: The first of up to seven new Army units, created to train and help foreign militaries will be operational by the next fiscal year. The first of these “Regionally Aligned Brigades” will be assigned to Africa Command, but will be stationed in the continental United States, according to British Army Col. Andrew Dennis, attached…
By Carlo Munoz
BAE Systems’ LR-PGK: The Superior Anti-Jam Solution
Going the distance to defeat emerging jam threats.
Washington: The balance between the Army’s resources and its commitments is “precarious” even as the number of soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan declines, because the total size of the Army is going down at the same time. If the demand for troops continues to drop as planned, Army leaders say they should be able…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.No matter who wins the presidential election in 13 months, massive cuts in defense spending are inevitable. The Service Chiefs are already under pressure to come up with billions of dollars in spending cuts. We have arrived at a critical turning point in the history of the Republic, a point where organizing, planning and spending…
By Doug MacgregorWashington: In the last few days one thing has become crystal clear: the Obama administration — from the Pentagon to the Situation Room to OMB — has decided America cannot sustain defense cuts that go beyond the currently planned $450 billion. We knew the Pentagon felt this way ever since a carefully masked “senior Pentagon…
By Colin ClarkThe Pentagon brass, civilian suits, contractors, and lobbyists are jockeying for position in the fight for the status quo in anticipation of Mr. Panetta’s arrival in the Office of Secretary of Defense. Yet, senior leaders do so at their own peril. This is not Leon Panetta’s first Washington rodeo. He has seen this Potomac movie…
By Doug Macgregor
Panetta’s Frenzied Rhetoric Will Not Stop Decay of US Forces
Until Tuesday Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta had been describing Pentagon budget cuts beyond the $450 billion over 10 years he and President Obama have already committed to in apocalyptic terms: “doomsday,” “catastrophic,” and “shooting ourselves in the head” to describe any cuts in the Pentagon’s budget. But on Tuesday, a new Leon Panetta was…
By Winslow Wheeler