ABOARD THE USS WASP: Putting the best face on a potentially grim future, the Navy’s top officer is telling his sailors that the active fleet will be about the same size in five years as it is now, despite recently announced plans to retire a bunch of ships early and to not build as many… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Over the next few years, Special Operations forces will gradually revert to the role that has been their bread and butter for much of their existence: training and assisting local forces around the globe to strengthen partners militaries. The global Special Operations presence will be large, some 12,000 troops around the world, according to… Keep reading →

ABOARD THE USS WASP: For the first time, Marine and Navy planners have melded a carrier strike group into the Marine Corps’ premiere amphibious operations wargame known as Bold Alligator. This appears to bridge what had appeared to be a growing divide between a Marine Corps eager to build more amphibious ships and a Navy… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Given earlier comments by the F-35 program head, today’s remarks by the acting head of Pentagon acquisition that “putting the F-35 into production years before the first test flight was acquisition malpractice,” isn’t really news so much as confirmation that senior Pentagon leaders know mistakes were made. Frank Kendall, who has been nominated to… Keep reading →

PENTAGON: One of the longest-running debates between the Air Force and the Army centers on close air support. Historically, the Air Force hates supplying CAS and doesn’t like buying or maintaining the planes that do it. But the white scarf boys wouldn’t let the Army do the job either, since it involved fixed-wing aircraft and… Keep reading →

If you thought the Republican primaries had turned ugly, wait till you see what it takes to win an Air Force contract nowadays. The feud between Hawker Beechcraft and Sierra Nevada Corporation over the Light Air Support contract has escalated from the usual appeals to the GAO up to a lawsuit, a freeze on the… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: A dramatic visit by UN inspectors to Iran amid rising international tension failed to get answers about whether Iran seeks the bomb. This raises concerns the Islamic Republic may be trying to delay tough economic sanctions against it rather than responding to the growing international suspicion about its nuclear ambitions. Iran tried to draw… Keep reading →

NATO HEADQUARTERS: After more than 15 years, NATO will finally grant approval to buy five Global Hawk Block 40s to help plug the gaps in the alliance’s intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance that grew so glaring during the Libya operation. In addition to that important news for the 28 nations that comprise NATO, the alliance will… Keep reading →

NATO HEADQUARTERS: The People’s Republic of China and NATO hold little known high-level consultations, usually twice a year. “We have had regular exchanges with the Chinese. They are not frequent,” James Appathurai, NATO’s deputy assistant secretary general for political affairs and security policy said yesterday. He mentioned the Chinese meetings in passing during a briefing… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon and White House are trying to have it both ways in the new national security strategy unveiled last week, and the department is looking to the National Guard and Reserve to help make that happen. The Pentagon nixed several missions from the U.S. military’s portfolio as part of the new strategy. The… Keep reading →