Author Vago Muradian

In a new report by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, Lt. Gen. David Deptula, USAF Ret., the Institute’s dean, argues that 15 years of surging demand for remotely piloted aircraft for sensor and strike missions has “yielded a disjointed enterprise where effectiveness and efficiency are not what they could have been, or can be. With large wartime budgets dramatically shrinking, the military must make a host of important decisions regarding how best to meet valid requirements in a sustainable fashion.”

READ THE REPORT — In a new Atlantic Council report — “NATO and Trump: A Case for a New Transatlantic Bargain” — Amb. Alexander Vershbow, NATO’s former deputy secretary general, and Fabrice Pothier, NATO’s former head of policy planning, argue “that the Trump administration could be the catalyst for long overdue changes for the Alliance.” “The central recommendations are that firstly; European allies and Canada should commit to a concrete plan and a tighter timetable for increasing defense spending by the end of Trump’s term – through a NATO 2020 investment plan and an enforcement mechanism to hold allies accountable for their commitments. Secondly, the US and European allies should agree to a substantially enhanced operational role for the Alliance in the wider Middle East – including playing a greater role in training local forces in the Middle East, and agreeing on a common fund of up to one billion dollars to help support NATO’s contribution to the fight against terrorism,” the Atlantic Council wrote in a May 23, 2017, press release.

Hal Brands of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments writes “that although America’s alliances are a source of great geopolitical strength, the difficult reality is that shifts in global economic and military power have left many of America’s traditional allies with significantly diminished relative standing and capabilities. The monograph assesses the key trends that have marked this decline since the early post-Cold War era and discusses the increasingly severe strategic challenges this situation poses for American statecraft. It concludes with a series of practical recommendations for how the United States can manage its alliances amid ongoing changes in the global distribution of power, and how it can better position itself to compete in a global context in which its allies’ strengths-while still considerable-are not as great as they once were.”

In “Costs of Building a 355-Ship Navy,” Dr. Eric Labs, the senior analyst for naval forces and weapons at the Congressional Budget Office, estimates that construction costs to build a fleet of 355 ships would average $26.6 billion (in 2017 dollars) per year over the next 30 years, which is 60 percent more than what the Navy has spent on average over the past 30 years.