Building the Weapons Enterprise for 21st Century Operations

01/19/2011
01/19/2011 - In mid-October 2010, Second Line of Defense visited Eglin AFB and the Air Armaments Center.  During the visit, SLD sat down with Major General Davis who is finishing his tour at AAC and has been nominated for his third star and the command at the Electronic Systems Center…

Towards New Task Force Capability with A400Ms and A330MRTTs

01/19/2011
An A330 MRTT Update A Discussion With Pablo Quesada Ramos, Head of Market Development, MRTT and other Airbus platforms derivatives 01/19/2011 - Recently, Second Line of Defense received an update from Airbus Military with regard to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) program.  In the course of the conversation, ways…

Shaping Adaptive Innovation for the Warfighter

01/19/2011
The Air Armament Center Functions as the Linchpin An Interview with Randy Brown, Norma Taylor, and Wally Messmore 01/19/2011 - The Air Armament Center at Eglin AFB designs weapons for the U.S. and allied warfighters.  We earlier described a key effort to modify the Small Diameter Bomb to provide a…

The Second World

01/19/2011
Empires and Influence in the New Global Order By Parag Khanna Review by Robbin Laird 01/19/2011 - The author provides an overview on what he sees as the new global order for the 21st century.  The book was completed prior to the global financial crisis, which clearly affects some of…

Lessons of Tunisia “Leaderless” Revolution

01/19/2011
By Dr. Harald Malmgren 01/19/2011 - The collapse of the 23+ year reign of Tunisia’s autocratic leadership was the result of a revolt in the streets without apparent political leadership. 21st Century technology enabled discontented citizens to interact and organize, in a kind of spontaneous combustion across the entire country.…

Balancing China Through Vietnam

01/13/2011
By Richard Weitz 01/13/2011 - The public display of China’s new J-20 stealth fighter, the expected appearance soon of China’s first aircraft carrier, and Secretary Gates’ troubled visit to the PRC reaffirm the importance for the United States of having good security relations with China’s neighbors. Defense ties with the…

Pakistan and the Afghan End Game

01/04/2011
[caption id="attachment_12920" align="alignleft" width="150" caption=" "][/caption] By Dr. Richard Weitz 12/22/2011 - Following the November 26 incident, the Pakistani government convened an emergency session of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC), Pakistan’s highest forum for defense policy consultation and coordination. The DCC decided to retaliate for the attack by…