06/05/2011 by Richard Weitz Some of our most remarkable discussions during the May 25-27 session of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Moscow were with senior military and civilian officials in Russia’s defense community. These occurred under “Chatham House Rules,” which allows us to use the information without attributing it…
[caption id="attachment_19828" align="alignleft" width="236" caption="An F-22 Raptor and F-15 Eagle from the U.S. Air Force Weapons School's 433rd Weapons Squadron pull into a vertical climb over the Nevada Test and Training Range July 16, 2010. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald)"][/caption] 06/04/2011 by Ed Timperlake To paraphrase a…
06/03/2011: Second Line of Defense Backgrounder Sudan's northern-based government in Khartoum has forcefully seized control of the disputed Abyei region, risking renewed flare-up of the civil war just when the South Sudan is about to become an independent country on July 9. Northern President Omar al-Bashir had warned that his…
05/27/2011 by Robbin Laird While one of the Second Line of Defense team members was in Russia getting updates on the Russian military, another member of the team was in Tel Aviv getting an update on Israeli perspectives on the strategic situation as seen from Israel. The occasion was the…
06/02/2011 By Robbin Laird When the UK government issued its amazingly “un-strategic” strategic defense review, the main casualties were air and naval power. In probably the most rapid invalidation of a government strategy on record, the Libyan events underscored that everything the Cameron government wished to get rid of, it…
06/03/2011 By Richard Weitz Many of our discussions in Russia last week focused on missile defense issues in preparation for the June 9 meeting of the NATO-Russian Council (NRC) at the level of defense ministers. NATO-Russian differences over ballistic missile defense (BMD) have persisted even after both parties, at the…
A Conversation with Pravin Sawhney [caption id="attachment_19419" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="(Credit: SLD)"][/caption] 06/02/2011 - In Mid-May, Second Line of Defense sat down with Pravin Sawhney, editor of Force Magazine, the highly regard Indian monthly on national security and defense. Sawheny provided his interpretation of the decision to downselect European aircraft and…
06/01/2011: The Shifting Strategic Environment: A New Approach to Airlift and Tanking The United States has inherited and chosen to pursue the specialized aircraft route to airlift and tanking; Airbus Military has chosen a multi-mission path to providing for airlift and tanking capabilities for its customers. When the DOD chose the…
