Most of the system that allows the president to launch nuclear weapons and to know what the enemy is doing with theirs is ancient. No one yet agrees what it must replaced with. And no one knows how much it will cost, although late last month the Congressional Budget Office issued an estimate of $77 billion.
By Colin ClarkThe long-awaited Pentagon report, which outlines the weapons systems capable of being modified for fielding in a post-INF world, has hit Capitol Hill.
By Paul McLearyWe explore the possibilities, from cutting-edge hypersonics and 1,000-mile cannon to repackaged Tomahawk cruise missiles and updated Pershing ballstic missiles.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.The head of Strategic Command must be very happy this evening, having learned that the Air Force is finally buying a new helicopter to guard America’s ICBM fields. The Boeing-Leonardo team won the contract to supply 84 helicopters.
By Colin ClarkThere’s no timeline, no cost estimate, and no certainty Trump’s proposed Space Force will even happen. Even the interim step of creating a Space Command is being dialed down, a significant policy shift.
By Colin ClarkSome 35 years after Ronald Reagan’s famous Star Wars speech, the Pentagon’s R&D chief said that space-based missile defenses are technically feasible and reasonably affordable.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.America’s nuclear deterrent is aging, with a half-dozen replacement programs on the horizon. But the young men and women who serve, Gen. John Hyten said, are better than ever: “They love this country. They want to defend this country. They go to work every day. They’re amazing — they’re smarter than we were, by far. They get motivated differently so you have to lead them differently, but their passion is just the same.”
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.- Air Warfare, budget, Congress, Global, Land Warfare, Naval Warfare, Networks / Cyber, Space, Threats
Podcasts, People. Breaking D Launches Inside The Loop
Here we go. TA DA! Our first podcasts, exclusive interviews with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein and Strategic Command’s Gen. John Hyten.
By Colin ClarkAfter years of missed deadlines, cost overruns and underperformance the Air Force has split the requirements for the troubled Joint Mission System program’s Increment 3, dividing them between the Coalition Space Operations Center and the National Space Defense Center. In a separate but apparently related action, the Air Force has also partnered with the nation’s spy satellite builder to create a new Space Situational Awareness satellite.
By Colin ClarkAir Force Gen. John Hyten has always wanted to spend time at the house he and his wife bought years ago in Colorado Springs — but he’s too busy with, among other things, alerts of missile launches around the globe, just in case one is US-bound. You’d think the former head of Space Command, now…
By Colin ClarkWith the Pentagon and White House increasingly worried about ballistic missile threats from “rogue” states and peer competitors, the Polish site is increasingly critical.
By Paul McLearyASSOCIATION OF THE US ARMY: After 30 years of trying, the head of Strategic Command believes the time and technology are finally ripe for satellites to track both ballistic missiles and emerging threats such as hypersonics. “I’ll talk about it with Congress over the next couple of weeks,” Gen. John Hyten told reporters here at…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: After two decades of decline, American electronic warfare is recovering, but not fast enough, says general-turned-congressman Rep. Don Bacon. What the military needs to do, Bacon said is to elevate the electromagnetic spectrum to an official domain of warfare — alongside land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace — and appoint general officers as EW…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
Faced with an improving Russian threat, the United States should deploy a serious space sensor layer to provide persistent birth-to-death tracking of missiles, including against the kind that rip through the air at low altitudes 20 times the speed of sound (hypersonics).
By Rebeccah Heinrichs