Rob Chambers, Orion production strategy lead & senior manager for systems engineering at Lockheed Martin, discusses the company’s Generation Beyond space-education initiative and its Mars Experience Bus during a May 9, 2017, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian, held during the 2017 Humans to Mars Summit at George Washington University in Washington.
Gal Papier, head of marketing and business development in the Land & Naval Division of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems’ Precision Tactical Weapon Systems Directorate, discusses the Spike LR2’s advantages over older missiles in the Spike family — including its extended range and ability to be launched from the ground or a helicopter — during an interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the 2017 Paris Air Show at Paris-Le Bourget Airport. Defense & Aerospace Report’s Paris Air Show coverage is sponsored by L3 Technologies & Leonardo DRS.
Magnus Nordenman, director of the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, discusses his takeaways from Exercise Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) 2017 during a July 11, 2017, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the think tank’s Washington headquarters. BALTOPS is an annual NATO training exercise in which ally and partner nations practice maritime-centric defense in the Baltic Sea. Fourteen countries took part in this year’s iteration, which ran from June 1-16, 2017, according to the US Navy.
In a new report published by the Center for a New American Security, Cmdr. Tom Shugart, USN, former CNAS senior military fellow, and Cmdr. Javier Gonzalez, USN, former Navy fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, examine the threat that China’s People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force poses to American military installations in the Asia-Pacific region. Using geographic, photographic and military-strategic data available in the public domain, the researchers were able to pinpoint potential targets of Chinese missile attacks. “The results of our modeling and simulation, which show the potential for devastation of U.S. power projection forces and bases in Asia, are deeply concerning – and a call for action,” they write.
In a new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies entitled “U.S. Military Spending: The Cost of Wars,” Anthony Cordesman, CSIS’ Arleigh A. Burke chair in strategy, makes the case for a paradigm shift in US defense-spending analyses. “For the last several decades, there has been little real effort to examine the costs of key missions and strategic commitments and the longer term trends in force planning and cost,” he writes. “Both the Executive Branch and the Congress have failed to reform any key aspect of the defense and foreign policy budgets to look beyond input budgeting by line item and by military service, and doing so on an annual basis.” The report goes onto to break down the answers to some of these previously unasked questions and add new context to the nation’s war-related spending.
In a new report from the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School for Government, written by Greg Allen and Taniel Chan on behalf of Jason Matheny, PhD, director of the US Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency, the authors propose a framework for developing policy for military and intelligence applications of artificial intelligence. “In this piece, we propose three goals for developing future policy on AI and national security: preserving U.S. technological leadership, supporting peaceful and commercial use, and mitigating catastrophic risk,” the project’s overview reads. “By looking at four prior cases of transformative military technology — nuclear, aerospace, cyber, and biotech — we develop lessons learned and recommendations for national security policy toward AI.” Learn more about the report here.
In this new report, Jerry Hendrix, PhD, senior fellow and director of the Defense Strategies and Assessments Program at the Center for a New American Security, and Lt. Col. James Price, USAF, a CNAS senior military fellow, trace the history and evolution of the bomber aircraft, from the pre-World War I era to the present day. ” The authors will introduce the theory, doctrine, and technology behind their development, as well as the performance characteristics and trends that combined to provide ever-increasing range, payload (or volume of fires), and most importantly the ability to penetrate constantly improving defenses,” the report’s preface reads.
On this week’s episode of the Defense & Aerospace Business Report podcast, taped from the Royal International Air Tattoo in the United Kingdom, and sponsored by Bell Helicopter, a Textron Company, we discuss ongoing US Defense Department confirmation and defense budget business on Capitol Hill, and the decision of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) to delay the legislative’s body’s August recess, the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) meeting in Silicon Valley, and more. This week’s guests include Byron Callan of Capital Alpha Partners, Steven Grundman of the Atlantic Council and Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Adam Jacoff, a robotics research engineer in the Intelligent Systems Division of the US Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, discusses the institute’s role in establishing standard test methods for “capabilities, operator proficiency, readiness” and more for robots — including drones — with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian during a June 29, 2017, interview at the British Embassy in Washington.
Jerry Hendrix, PhD, senior fellow and director of the Defense Strategies and Assessments Program at the Center for a New American Security, says the US should ideally have a “total inventory” of over 200 bomber aircraft to meet its strategic needs during a June 28, 2017, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. Hendrix also discusses “Higher, Heavier, Farther, and now Undetectable? Bombers: Long-Range Force Projection in the 21st Century,” a report he co-authored with Lt. Col. James Price, USAF, senior military fellow at CNAS. The interview was conducted during CNAS’ “Navigating the Divide” conference at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.