2012-09-18 by George Talbot For Mobile, Ala., the announcement on July 2, 2012 that the city would be the site of a $600 million, 1,000-worker assembly plant for Airbus aircraft seemed to prove the point that persistence pays off. The city in 2011 lost its bid to become the assembly…
2012-09-17 By Richard Weitz The Japanese government continues to allocate approximately one percent of the country’s GDP to the military, a fairly low level compared to most countries. But the enormous size of Japan’s economy means that even this formula generates one of the largest defense budgets in the world.…
2012-09-17 In a wide ranging discussion with Lt. Col. Christian Harshberger, Commanding Officer of VMM 365, the Blue Knights, shortly after his return from Afghanistan. He was a CH-46 operator prior to entering the V-22 world a couple of years ago. In January of 2009, Lieutenant Colonel Harshberger reported to…
2012-09-16 By Robbin Laird During my visit to Eglin AFB on August 24, 2012, I had a chance to continue my ongoing conversation with Deputy Commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing, Col. Tomassetti. In previous visits, Tomassetti showed me the plan, then the buildings being constructed, the classrooms being formed,…
2012-09-14 by Secretary Wynne, 21st Secretary of the USAF It is great to hear the excitement in the voices of the testers and the latest operators of the fifth generation fighters. They reflect the hope for the future of air dominance that the requirements community and the design engineers intended…
2012-09-13 By Richard Weitz Japan’s relationship with China, burdened by history and intermittent geopolitical disputes, is complex, made ever more so by the PRC’s meteoric rise in recent years. Coinciding with Japan’s “lost decade,” China enjoyed rapid industrial growth during the 1990s and is becoming the world’s second-largest economy according…
2012-09-13 By Richard Weitz Japan’s support for Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom stimulated further efforts to restructure both the legal and organizational dimensions of the country’s national security policies. This was driven by the clear need to enhance Tokyo’s ability to respond to internal and external security threats…
2012-09-11 By Richard Weitz Unlike in Europe, where the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Warsaw Pact ushered as a new era, the Asia Pacific region did not experience an abrupt phase transition during the late 1980s and 1990s. From Japan’s perspective, the demise of the…
