Loading Up Equipment: Seabees from the 31st Seabee Readiness Group load part of a Seabee table of allowance aboard a C-5 Galaxy aircraft at Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu. The TOA will support construction missions in Afghanistan. NMCB-4 provides infrastructure for the increasing number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
Credit: US Navy Visual News Service, 1/27/10
Location: Point Mugu, US
Dissecting the USCG Hatteras Rescue Operation
The impact of modernization on operations could not be clearer than in this case of rescuing a sailor at sea. Not only did the new mission systems and C4ISR assets play a central role in allowing the USCG professionals to save this man’s life, it would have been unlikely that either the effort or the joint team communication involved in the effort would have been possible. Here the redundancy of the new mission systems allowed the crew to operate in extremely challenging conditions.
Read More >>—General George Patton Jr.
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What's New
Lieutenant General Dubik on the Iraq Challenge: “It Is Not About Transition” (II)
Lieutenant General Dubik identifies the key principles for transition from the Iraq situation during his time in Iraq. He suggests some key lessons learned which provide a foundation for Afghanistan and to meet the continuing challenges with regard to Iraq in 2010 and 2011.
Read More >>General Nicholson on Using the Ospreys in Afghanistan: “We have done tactical inserts”
“If there’s any perception or notion that we’re babying or coddling the Ospreys, you need to come out here. We have done tactical inserts. In fact, when we went into Now Zad behind enemy lines at three in the morning, we used Ospreys, because they were the right platform for that mission, that long-distance carry.”
Read More >>Is the “Cold War” with China Becoming Serious? Placing the Cyber Conflict in a Strategic Context
China appears to be escalating its growing confrontation with the U.S. over Washington’s announcement of a $6.4 billion defense deal with Taiwan. Under a 1979 Act of the U.S. Congress, Washington is legally obliged to help Taiwan defend itself. The Chinese defense ministry has said that the recent deal will definitely and seriously disturb relations between the two countries.
Read More >>Cyberpoints Two:Measuring the Effectiveness of Military Recruiting in Cyber Careers
A good way to think of the effectiveness of military recruiting messages and websites is to think as a Mom-Looking-to-Help-Her-Teens. That is, imagine a Mom, likely a single Mom, trying to sort out good opportunities for her son or daughter for a potential Cyber Career…
Read More >>The War in Afghanistan: A View from Berlin
In the often-parochial policy debates inside the Beltway, it is often forgotten that US actions more than words have significance for its allies. Decisions by the Administration and Congress about key weapons programs –F-35, tanker, C-17 PBLs, etc – have decisive significance for allies as well.
Read More >>For more information about each publication, click on one of the following thumbnails
Towards Flexible Strategic Capability: The C5 Modernization Asset
Ashton Carter, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, gave approval for the LRIP (low-rate initial production) for the C-5 Reliability Enhancement and Re-Engining Program. This article provides an overview of this modernization effort and its strategic impact at a time when multi-mission capabilities need to be emphasized.
Read More >>General Hawley on: Why Weapons Systems Cost So Much – the 101 Version (Part Two)
There are three broad categories of cost – development, procurement and sustainment; each of which is driven by a different set of factors. While development and procurement costs attract the most attention from the media and from Congress, they account for just 40% of total weapons system cost.
Read More >>A new Civil War Is Brewing Over Aircraft Production
The economic battle for jobs and capital investment pits the Pacific Northwest against a rising challenger in the Southeast. (…) The Southern Aerospace Corridor’s business-friendly climate recently led Boeing, much to the disappointment of political and labor leaders in the Northwest, to select South Carolina as the site of a second assembly line for its 787 Dreamliner.
Read More >>Haiti: Redefining Port Security
The Haiti earthquake is an important reminder that the security of maritime ports is vital in order to maintain the logistics of aid and fast response in the wake of such a disaster.
Read More >>General Burke and “Operation Unified Response” in Haiti: Towards a Normalization of Airfield Operations
With all the traffic we were always cognizant of the fact that if anything happened to the runway, we would be out of business. During the initial stage of the operation, the airfield was the center of gravity. With that in mind the oversight was critical, compelling us to lean forward to ensure the viability of the only avenue to provide aid and assistance early on.
Read More >>Haiti Relief as a Case Study: Seabasing and JLOTS in Action
Sea bases are assembled out of resource pools available to joint force commanders, and they’re tailored for specific missions. So if you look at Haiti, I think the first thing down there was the USS Truman carrying helicopters. The Truman effectively went down there as a transport deck to get some vertical lift assets in there. The 22nd MEU on the USS Bataan instantly back loaded.
Read More >>Lieutenant General Dubik on the Iraq Challenge: “It Is Not About Transition” (II)
Lieutenant General Dubik identifies the key principles for transition from the Iraq situation during his time in Iraq. He suggests some key lessons learned which provide a foundation for Afghanistan and to meet the continuing challenges with regard to Iraq in 2010 and 2011.
Read More >>Dissecting the USCG Hatteras Rescue Operation
The impact of modernization on operations could not be clearer than in this case of rescuing a sailor at sea. Not only did the new mission systems and C4ISR assets play a central role in allowing the USCG professionals to save this man’s life, it would have been unlikely that either the effort or the joint team communication involved in the effort would have been possible. Here the redundancy of the new mission systems allowed the crew to operate in extremely challenging conditions.
Read More >>General Nicholson on Using the Ospreys in Afghanistan: “We have done tactical inserts”
“If there’s any perception or notion that we’re babying or coddling the Ospreys, you need to come out here. We have done tactical inserts. In fact, when we went into Now Zad behind enemy lines at three in the morning, we used Ospreys, because they were the right platform for that mission, that long-distance carry.”
Read More >>Is the “Cold War” with China Becoming Serious? Placing the Cyber Conflict in a Strategic Context
China appears to be escalating its growing confrontation with the U.S. over Washington’s announcement of a $6.4 billion defense deal with Taiwan. Under a 1979 Act of the U.S. Congress, Washington is legally obliged to help Taiwan defend itself. The Chinese defense ministry has said that the recent deal will definitely and seriously disturb relations between the two countries.
Read More >>Cyberpoints Two:Measuring the Effectiveness of Military Recruiting in Cyber Careers
A good way to think of the effectiveness of military recruiting messages and websites is to think as a Mom-Looking-to-Help-Her-Teens. That is, imagine a Mom, likely a single Mom, trying to sort out good opportunities for her son or daughter for a potential Cyber Career…
Read More >>Why The Great Firewall of China is Crumbling? Tunneling The Great Escape!
Powerful social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube remain blocked in China. China will have to concede defeat much sooner than it realizes in its war against the free access to global information.
Read More >>The Impact of the Georgian War
Ron Asmus’s latest book, A Little War That Shooked the World, is a stern reminder of the reversibility of history, and the continued prospects for conflict in Europe that can affect the boundaries among states: “We had come to believe that war in Europe had become impossible and that we had constructed an elaborate and effective European security system that had locked in a new Cold War piece once and for all. And my thesis here is that that system failed.”
Read More >>Evolving Allied Perspectives
A very serious and thoughtful British Ministry of Defense assessment of evolving strategic trends provides an insight into allied views of the changing strategic environment.The report stresses that evolving “conflict is hybrid in character.” Twenty-first century threats are becoming more asymmetric in nature. They also acknowledge that Britain has limited resources, stating that it is “punching above its weight.”
Read More >>The UK Armed Services: Competing for a Declining Budget
Only if the Services in the UK rediscover their “Purple” selves will they be able to present a coherent and stronger front against the coming storm. (…) Any sensible observer can see what happens when the Services are divided: witness the assault on the Royal Navy which started several years back, a hit which at the time the RAF watched with something approaching gleeful satisfaction…
Read More >>