Eurofighters, F-15s and Japan

07/07/2011
07/07/2011 - The Eurofighter has been down selected for the Indian competition and clearly the Eurofighter consortium hopes to replicate its success in Japan.  F-22 was a clear candidate for Japan, but the Administration preferred cancelling the program. The F-35 is clearly on the table as a U.S. offering, but…

Extended Deterrence and Assurance in Korea

07/06/2011
Extended Deterrence and Assurance in Korea By Dr. Richard Weitz 07/06/2011 - The growing nuclear threat from the North Korea, the rising power of China, and the Obama administration’s policy of generally de-emphasizing the role of nuclear weapons in world politics has led some South Korean security experts to question…

From the bridge of the Bertholf

07/05/2011
07/05/2011 MONDAY, MAY 9, 2011 As one of the Coast Guard’s newest assets, the national security cutters bring operational capabilities the fleet needs for mission success. Compass has asked the wardroom of Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf, the service’s first NSC, to share their unique perspective on how the fleet’s newest…

Emerging Alliance, Part II

07/04/2011
Criminalized States and Terrorist-Criminal Pipelines By Douglas Farah Senior Fellow, Financial Investigations and Transparency International Assessment and Strategy Center Adjunct Fellow, Americas Program, CSIS http://www.ndu.edu/press/emerging-alliances.html The Criminalized State 07/04/2011 - The cases from Part I show the connectivity among these disparate groups operating along different geographic parts of the overall…

An Update on RAF Libyan Operations

07/03/2011
07/03/2011: During the Paris Air Show, MBDA provided a venue for a presentation by RAF Tornado pilots on their operations in the Libyan theater.  Two RAF pilots presented findings on the Tornado and use of precision weapons in the Libyan case.  Both were from 9 Squadron: RAF Marham.  The first…

The Non-Reluctant Arctic Power: Russia and the Arctic

07/03/2011
07/03/2011 The Arctic is a key strategic area, and fundamental to the energy and resource foundation for 21st century growth.  And the US is lacking core capabilities to operate in the region, but we will hold off investing in core capabilities. What seems to be missing is the Pentagon study,…

An Update on the X3: A Conversation with Hervé Jammayrac

07/02/2011
07/02/2011: During the Paris Air Show, Second Line of Defense talked with Experimental Test Pilot Hervé Jammayrac of Eurocopter.  Jammayrac provided an update on the aircraft and the test program.  In many ways, the new helicopter was a star at the airshow, bereft of many new flying aircraft. The X…