The Department of Defense has scuttled the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS). In a memorandum signed last week, Defense Secretary Hegseth and Deputy Secretary Feinberg directed the “disestablishment” of JCIDS as part of an effort to streamline and accelerate acquisition. While the joint requirements process sounds very bureaucratic, this effort has the potential…
The U.S. Army’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense “Talon” interceptor inventory is unacceptably low, potentially leaving U.S. forces vulnerable in a future conflict. The service reportedly consumed nearly a quarter of its interceptors during the 12-Day War between Israel and Iran in June, and absent aggressive congressional intervention, it will take too long to replenish…
Each branch of the military needs at least two things to succeed: a clear mission and a sufficient budget. The U.S. Space Force so far has only one of them. The chief of space operations, Gen. Chance Saltzman, laid out the mission quite clearly in his “Space Warfighting – A Framework for Planners” earlier this…
In 1904, the British geographer and strategist Sir Halford Mackinder delivered a paper to the Royal Geographical Society in London titled, “The Geographic Pivot of History.” In it, he argued that control over the Eurasian heartland—what he called the “pivot area”—would determine the future of world power. His theory became foundational to modern geopolitical thought,…
Twenty years ago, an explosion occurred in professional baseball as traditional baseball scouts — relying on decades of personal experience — collided with data scientists bringing new approaches and technology into the evaluation of baseball players. There were raucous debates on which approach would reign supreme: human expertise or numbers and statistics? We now know…
The foundation of the military superiority of the United States, and therefore of our national security, rests on our investments in science and technology. As the Trump administration has set about slashing federal funding for science, the cuts to the Defense Departments core science and technology accounts are particularly troubling. We are in a long-term…
Taiwan concluded its annual Han Kuang military exercise on July 18, the 41st iteration and the most extensive in recent years. A review of the missions rehearsed, the hardware involved and the scope of the exercise demonstrates Taipei’s important but insufficient progress toward building defense capabilities essential to convincing Beijing that it should not launch…
Aerial combat has evolved from dogfights between high-speed, maneuverable fighters to duels among missile-armed aircraft at long range. In 2015, John Stillion presciently analyzed this transformation. His research demonstrated that victory no longer results from the fastest, most maneuverable fighter destroying an enemy in a dogfight. Instead, air combat today favors larger, less detectable aircraft…
The U.S. Air Force, once at the technological vanguard, has become burdened by decades of bureaucratic growth and failed weapons procurement. It is time for our leaders to make radical change. The Air Force must be broken up to meet the demands of 21st-century warfare. As America stares down the challenge of a potential war…
At the 2018 NATO summit, President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw from the alliance if the Europeans didn’t step up their defense spending. Given the anti-Europe comments that have emanated from members of Trump’s second administration, the summit now being held will likely be both more fractious and more consequential. Newly elected German Chancellor Friedrich…
