2013-02-20 by Col Bradley E. Weisz (USMC) Humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HA/DR) operations are a core element, which the US military is tasked to do. It is also a key part of exercising forward presence and for shaping the kind of domain knowledge essential to global operations. In the last 5 years,…
2013-02-19 When the brutal Tsunami hit Japan in 2011, the devastation was significant. The threat from leakage of the nuclear plants was ever-present. The challenge of restoring Japan in the face of significant damage was a daunting one. Earlier we have looked at the challenge of shaping resilient organizations and the…
2013-02-18 Colombia has battled the FARC for a considerable period of time. The FARC operate in the jungles of Columbia and operate in the East and Southeast of the country. The armed forces' participation in counternarcotics operations associated with the FARC is aimed at penetrating one of the areas of…
According to a Lockheed Martin Press release: FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 15, 2013 [caption id="attachment_50938" align="alignnone" width="300"] CF-6 First Flight Photo by Angel DelCueto Carroll Credit: Lockheed Martin[/caption] The first Lockheed Martin production model F-35C carrier variant, known as CF-6, flew its first sortie Thursday. Upon delivery later this year,…
2013-02-16 by Col. Bradley Weisz In December of 2009, President Barack Obama ordered the build-up of an additional 30,000 U.S. forces to Afghanistan in support of the 8-year-old war officially known as Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. The primary objectives for this large troop surge were to reverse the Taliban momentum that…
With the North Korean nuclear weapons test a keen reminder of the challenges of the 2nd nuclear age, the need to get missile defense right is increasingly pressing. https://sldinfo.com/the-challenge-of-deterrence-in-the-second-nuclear-age-a-discussion-with-paul-bracken/ [caption id="attachment_50869" align="alignnone" width="200"] PACIFIC OCEAN (Feb. 13, 2013) A Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block 1A interceptor is launched from the guided-missile…
2013-02-13 Major challenges are provided to the modern state by trans-national forces, among the most powerful of which is trans-national crime. http://sldinfo.wpstage.net/emerging-alliances-for-the-21st-century-part-vii/ The bad guys can innovate more rapidly with the use of modern technology, can the states which acquire technology more slowly, and tend to be more hierarchical than a…
2013-02-11 According to a Lockheed Martin Press Release: EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., Feb 11, 2013 [caption id="attachment_50815" align="alignnone" width="300"]Maj Ryan 'Gunner' Reinhardt flight testing the F-35A at Edwards AFB. Credit Photo: Lockheed Martin [/caption] An F-35A Lightning II conventional takeoff and landing aircraft, known as AF-1, completed its final…