As the war in Afghanistan passed its tenth anniversary this week, many news outlets repeated the frequently repeated claim that the conflict there has replaced Vietnam as America’s longest war. That is a questionable assertion. Even if you count only from the first “official” U.S. combat operations in Vietnam — the Gulf of Tonkin air… Keep reading →

Washington: Another memorandum signed by two governments. Yawn. Well, usually. But when the Japanese government confirmed that it would now allow its air forces to refuel American warplanes as part of an agreement signed between the two countries last October it took on an entirely new meaning. The year-old pact between the Air Force and… Keep reading →

The French operational experience in and off of Libya has neatly dovetailed with that of the U.S. Marines and suggests a way forward for American thinking about littoral operations. With the decision of the U.S. national command authority to “lead from behind,” the Marines were almost inadvertently given a leading role. What “lead from behind”… Keep reading →

Washington: What was once science-fiction could become reality on the modern battlefield — cloaking technology that can make huge weapons virtually “disappear” — at least to sensors searching for them. British company BAE Systems will debut the system, known as ADAPTIV, 10 days from now at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference here.… Keep reading →

Robbin Laird, international defense consultant, has been in Paris interviewing French military officials about lessons learned in Libya. This is the first of two pieces he’ll do for Breaking Defense on what he’s learned. The Editor. A main point underscored by the French military was the impact of the political process on military planning. The… Keep reading →

London: French air forces flying strike missions in Libya against Gaddafi’s loyalists are not using detailed imagery and intelligence provided by US airborne surveillance aircraft, according to statements made today by French pilots involved in those sorties. Since the first day of NATO air strikes in Libya, French combat air crews have been struggling to… Keep reading →

The Department of Defense faces the prospects of additional budget cuts on a scale that would swamp all efforts to avoid change. If the congressional Super Committee fails to find an acceptable solution, the Pentagon would have to cut $600 billion. This would mean cutting up to $100 billion from the fiscal 2013 budget alone.… Keep reading →

America’s soldiers have learned a lot over the last 10 years, most of it the hard way, but that irreplaceable expertise could walk out the door in the coming drawdown if the Army doesn’t figure out how to manage its people better. Despite everything else that’s changed since September 2001, the ugly reality of 2011… Keep reading →

For any Westerner observer struggling to understand Chinese military developments — and let’s be serious, that’s most of us — Andrew Erickson is an indispensable resource. A professor at the Naval War College, Erickson has edited an influential series of books about the People’s Liberation Army, each volume based on close scrutiny of Chinese-language journals… Keep reading →

The next generation of smart grid may be deployed first by the military. The Department of Defense is the largest energy consumer in the US, and is facing many of the same challenges as the rest of the country with aging infrastructure and an increasing need to use renewable fuels. As the forces become more… Keep reading →