The F-35 Low Observability’s Lifelong Sustainability: A Revolutionary Asset for 21st Century Combat Aviation

03/22/2010
2010-05-22 Everyone knows that the F-35 is a stealth aircraft. This is one element of what makes it a fifth-generation aircraft.  But what is not widely known is that the stealth or low observable (LO) character of the aircraft is significantly different from other stealth aircraft like the F-22. The…

Cyberpoints: Cyber-Exceptionalism In Warfighting

03/18/2010
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." —George Santayana [caption id="attachment_3466" align="alignnone" width="120" caption="John Wheeler"][/caption] By John Wheeler [email protected] Cyber-Exceptionalism in Warfighting “Cyber-Exceptionalism” refers to the set of ways in which American provisions for protection and defense of citizens and property, the police and military protections, differ so…

Ambassador Glassman on: Getting Defensive?

03/16/2010
 By Ambassador Jon Glassman Ambassador Jon Glassman is a retired career Foreign Service officer who is currently Director for Government Policy of the Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Electronic Systems sector. While at the Department of State, Ambassador Glassman served in many countries, including Afghanistan. Ambassador Glassman also has served as the…

Mark Lewis on Hypersonics: Taking a Logical Path

03/16/2010
By Mark J. Lewis Mark J. Lewis is chairman of Clark School’s Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, and president-elect of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was the chief scientist of the U.S. Air Force from 2004 to 2008. An earlier version…

Weapons Development: the Case of the Small Diameter Bomb I Block 9

03/15/2010
The 308th Armament Systems Wing at Eglin Air Force Base: Weapons Development and the Case of the Small Diameter Bomb I Block 9 In mid-February SLD had a chance to interview Randy Brown, 308th Armament Systems Wing Director, and Lieutenant Colonel Amanda Kato, 681st Armament Systems Squadron Commander, 308th Armament…

Lieutenant General Dubik on the Iraq Challenge: “From a Population Protection Mode To a Self Defense Mode”(III)

03/15/2010
In this final part of the interview, we discussed with General Dubik the way forward in Iraq.  We discussed first the continuing process of transition 2009-2010 and then the question post-2010 of building a longer-term relationship with Iraq as well as the challenges of working with the Iraqis to provide…

European Dynamics in 2010: Economics, Politics and Defense in the Reshaping of the West (Part One)

03/15/2010
Europe is in the throes of a fundamental change.  The dynamics of change associated with the Great Recession, and the ripple effects on European societies are intersecting with a Euro crisis.  The currency crisis reflects underlying pressures and strains within global economies.  The intersection between the economic pressures with those…