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 Unfortunately, the debate about the littoral combat ship, and the confusion of building a fairly limited ship with disruptive change, has obscured the real transformation at sea. The dynamics of change affecting the seabase are truly significant. The ARG-MEU is being transformed into an expeditionary strike group. With the addition…
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…
2013-02-10 by Richard Weitz This 40th anniversary of the Vietnam War provides an opportunity to assess the progress the Obama administration has achieved during its first term in seeking to deepen U.S. security ties with Vietnam. Of the “six key lines of action” that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton…
2013-02-08 by Michael W. Wynne, 21st Secretary of the USAF The start of a new year and of a new Administration is good time to think about the future. A key challenge facing the new Administration and Congress is to ensure that US military capabilities continue to innovate and evolve in…
2013-02-08 The UAE has ordered three A330MRTT tankers. It has now received its first one. According to a comment made to Second Line of Defense by a senior USAF officer (retired) who has worked closely with the UAE: “They should consider buying a larger fleet of tankers, in order to…
