Archive for November, 2011

How the Afghanistan invasion changed combat airlift

Shortly after 9 p.m. on Dec. 6, 2001, machine-gun fire erupted on the perimeter of Camp Rhino, Afghanistan. Capt. Mike Flatten, an Air Force officer …

Campaign burnished Europe’s leadership yet underscored spending shortfalls

A year ago, in an article published at the Center for European Policy Analysis, we argued that “some voices increasingly insist that the age …

Naval mines are China’s quintessential asymmetric ‘A2/AD’ threat

In a recent New York Times op-ed, Princeton Professor Aaron L. Friedberg focused on China’s asymmetric “anti-access/area-denial” strategies, operations and weapons that could neutralize …

With access to data, outside researchers can help guide cost-cutters

There’s been a lot of discussion recently about the challenges faced by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta as he works to manage the …

To the F-35 program for an apparently rousing start to sea trials for the Marine Corps’ B variant.

After two weeks and dozens of short takeoffs and vertical landings, the test aircraft …

To the Coast Guard for its inability to speak clearly.

Certainly, the other military services — and indeed, most complex organizations — labor under the handicaps of bureaucrat-speak and the fuzzy thinking …

Give reservists and guardsmen a true path to joint qualification

Active-duty officers have long been required to earn their joint qualifications before pinning on a flag officer’s stars; it’s time to help …

Planners cling to battle-tested doctrine, but the world is changing

Most American military specialists know about Stonewall Jackson and Ulysses S. Grant, but not many study the Duke of Wellington and his …

What the PLA’s language school says about China’s strategic direction

China watchers searching for clues to Beijing’s strategic direction generally look for changes in government policy, diplomatic liaisons or force realignment. Here’s …

To Leon Panetta for speeding up the effort to ready the Pentagon’s books for a proper audit.

In congressional testimony Oct. 13, the defense secretary called the Department of Defense’s plan for …