Washington: If there is one thing the Pentagon takes really seriously, it’s making plans. It has contingency plans for its original plans and if all else fails, well, there’s a plan for that too. But as far as anyone knows, the U.S. is pulling out of Iraq by the end of this year. So when… Keep reading →

Washington: The rules of war are changing. Global conflicts kicked off by bombs and bullets in the past can now be started by the click of a mouse. While obviously not as simple as that, the White House’s nominee to oversee global strategic policy — including cyber policy — said today that a cyber attack… Keep reading →

Washington: On Capitol Hill, your committee is only as powerful as what it oversees. And with cybersecurity one of the biggest issues going nowadays, lawmakers are falling all over themselves to get a piece of that pie. Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member John McCain (R-AZ) made his play during today’s confirmation hearing for DoD’s… Keep reading →

Washington: Last week was a tough one for backers of the Navy’s aircraft carriers. During last Tuesday’s hearing of the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee, Chairman Randy Forbes (R-VA) asked point blank whether or not the sea service was looking to kill off parts of its carrier fleet. The official response from the heads of… Keep reading →

So how many aircraft does it take to move the world’s largest military force? Not as many as many as you would think, the Pentagon says. In what has at times seemed like a long-running bad joke, filled with terms like ‘floors’, ‘ceilings’ and ‘sweet spots’, the Pentagon has finally capped its strategic airlift requirement… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Lawmakers want the Pentagon’s intelligence shop to play nice with the rest of the intelligence community, and they have the program to do just that. Included in the Senate Armed Service Committee’s version of the fiscal year 2012 defense authorization bill, a Defense Intelligence Agency-led “pilot demonstration” program will allow the Pentagon to share… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: With the White House and Congress searching for defense cuts, a number of big-ticket Pentagon programs have been put under the microscope. With the recent release of two separate reports by the Defense Department and Congressional Budget Office, the Missile Defense Agency’s newest ballistic missile program could suffer. The SM-3 Block IIB missile will… Keep reading →