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.
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.
Cmdr. Javier Gonzalez, USN, former Navy fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, and Cmdr. Tom Shugart, USN, former senior military fellow for the Center for a New American Security, discuss “First Strike: China’s Threat to U.S. Bases in Asia,” their new report published by the Center for a New American Security on the risk of Chinese missile-based attacks on US military installations in the region, during an interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. The interview was held on June 28, 2017, during CNAS’ “Navigating the Divide” conference at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.
Grant Stapleton, Malloy Aeronautics’ director of sales and marketing, and Mark Butkiewicz, SURVICE Engineering Company’s applied technology operation manager, update Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian on the status of Malloy’s Hoverbike program, the nuts and bolts of the new TRV-50 iteration of the vehicle and the outlook for Malloy’s manned Hoverbike during the Autonomy & Innovation Across the Defence, Security and Civil Sectors – Demonstration event at the British Embassy in Washington on June 29, 2017. Malloy is also developing a version of the Hoverbike for the US military.
Gen. Hawk Carlisle, USAF Ret., president and CEO of the National Defense Industrial Association, and former commander of the US Air Force’s Air Combat Command, says the US needs to make it easier for other countries to “Buy American,” that the US Defense Department needs to speed up delivery of key capabilities to the warfighter, that “tempered expectations” are needed with respect to the defense budget, and more during a July 6, 2017, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at NDIA’s headquarters in northern Virginia.
Patrick Turner, NATO’s assistant secretary general for operations, says that the use of nuclear weapons “always is strategic,” no matter how small they might be, during a June 26, 2017, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Turner’s view comes as some analysts worry that Moscow is developing strategies to use tactical nuclear weapons small enough to avoid a strategic nuclear retaliation. Turner also discusses Afghanistan, improving logistics, deterring Russia, and the perennial need to maintain readiness in case any “collective defense situation” emerges in Europe.
Amb. Sorin Ducaru, assistant secretary general for emerging security challenges at NATO, discusses the alliance’s cyber priorities, strategy and efforts, characterizes the global threat environment as a combination of new and classic challenges, and discusses the battle against disinformation during a June 26, 2017, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.