100th F-35 on the Assembly Line

01/31/2013
2013-01-30 According to a Lockheed Martin Press Release: Assembly of the 100th Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F-35 Lightning II is well underway at the F-35 production facility here. [caption id="attachment_50376" align="alignnone" width="300"] Wing of 100th F-35 on the Fort Worth Assembly Line, January 2013. Credit: Lockheed Martin  [/caption] F-35 technicians…

Leveraging Amphibious Capabilities to Shape More Effective Global Capabilities

01/31/2013
2013-01-31 By Col. Bradley Weisz, Deputy Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group TWO, United States Fleet Forces Command, Little Creek, Virginia “I believe that our nation needs fast, austere and lethal expeditionary naval forces that can execute missions across the spectrum of conflict.  The Navy-Marine Corps team is that key.” In 2008, the…

Embedded GPS Could be Coming to Smaller and Smaller Systems

01/30/2013
2013-01-30 By Brett Davis Unmanned aircraft the size of hummingbirds could one day sport GPS navigation capability, according to Rockwell Collins, which is developing tiny GPS systems with DARPA. DARPA's Dynamics Enabled Frequency Sources (DEFYS) program has created tiny electronic oscillators that Rockwell Collins is testing on GPS radios. “Never…

Taiwan and Beijing: Part 2

01/30/2013
2013-01-30 By Richard Weitz In his inaugural address, Ma stated that there would be “no reunification, no independence, and no use of force.” During the campaign, Ma emphasized the need to revive the Taiwanese economy and advocated expanding social and economic ties with the Chinese mainland, including restoring direct communications, postal,…

Maritime Security Threats for 2013

01/29/2013
2013-01-29 The latest issue of Strategic Insights provides a comprehensive look at some of the key maritime security threats for 2013. The forecasts presented in the new issue look at two types of risks for – or threats to – maritime operations: direct and indirect threats Firstly, there are the direct…

The Challenge of Deterrence in the Second Nuclear Age: A Discussion with Paul Bracken

01/28/2013
2013-01-28 Recently, Second Line of Defense sat down with Professor Paul Bracken to discuss his new book entitled The Second Nuclear Age. https://sldinfo.com/paul-bracken-on-the-second-nuclear-age/ The book is an important statement of the challenge of deterrence in a proliferating nuclear world, one in which Americans see less value in nuclear weapons, but…