Archive for November, 2007

People love robots, and AFJ editors are no exception. So when we started on this issue’s cover package, the temptation to create our own virtual battle bot was irresistible. AFJ artist Chris …

In Afghanistan and Iraq, “battle bots” are spying, patrolling, securing and even “dying” in combat. Soldiers give their scout robots names, honorary “promotions” and “Purple Hearts.”

IRobot president Joe Dyer rightly points …

For all the valuable roles that private military con¬tractors are playing in Iraq, the end effect appears to have harmed, rather than helped, the counterinsurgency efforts of the U.S. mission in Iraq …

For its belated and hypocritical attempt to apply proper oversight of private security contractors. The public brouhaha stirred by the September Blackwater shootings in Iraq was a wake-up call for companies that …

When the industrial revolution of the early 19th century threatened the centuries-old caste of the English artisans by replacing man with machine, they rose up, allegedly led by a man named Ned …

The alliance could crumble if the U.S. becomes the COIN expert

Analysts on both sides of the Atlantic agree that the NATO mission in Afghanistan is a litmus test on the credibility …

Middle East nations rush to shore up sophisticated weapons stocks

Instability in Iraq, sectarian violence, Islamic extremism, ethnic rivalries, the rise of Iran and questions about America’s long-term commitment to the region …

For beating a $100 bil¬lion funding request drum without demonstrating that the service is serious about giving up its wanna-haves and prioritizing the must-haves.

The rhetoric throughout the Air Force Association’s annual …

Red Teaming makes open criticism normal in military culture

Openly critiquing one’s boss or his concepts is dicey. Such criticism carries risk and requires wisdom, as well as courage, to successfully transmit …

No one can accurately predict what the robot-inhabited battlefield of the future will look like in five, 10 or 20 years. But we can look at the technical history of military equipment …