Risk Intelligence recorded 70 piracy incidents related to Nigeria in 2011. This figure (which includes attacks carried out by Nigeria-based groups in the Bight of Benin) compares to 58 recorded incidents in 2010 and 92 incidents in 2009. The pattern of piracy evolved in 2011 as piracy groups developed a…
A long-time analyst of global defense issues, he has worked in the U.S. government and several think tanks, including the Center for Naval Analysis and the Institute for Defense Analysis. He is a Columbia University alumni, where he taught and worked for several years at the Research Institute of International…
BK-1, the United Kingdom’s first F-35 Lightning II production aircraft, flew its inaugural flight mid-April 2012. Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti took the short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) jet through a series of functional flight checks during a sortie that lasted 45 minutes. The jet will complete a series of…
By Richard Weitz U.S. officials say it is too early to begin formal negotiations with Moscow on the next step in nuclear arms control. In the interim, they will concentrate on “doing their homework” on the complexities involved, both within the U.S. government, as a follow-on to the 2010 Nuclear…
4/24/12 The USS Ponce (LPD-15) was launched on 20 May 1970. It was last in action off of the coast of Libya and was a member of the ARG-MEU, which was part of the transformation evident in the air operations off the shores of Tripoli. She faced the end of…
By Richard Weitz The second panel discussion at the April 2012 Army War College annual strategy conference offered international perspectives on the U.S. role in the world. LTG (UK, Ret) P.R. Newton, Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies at Exeter University in the United Kingdom, discussed the meaning of…
During the U.S. tanker competition, a consistent "missing" analytical element was an understanding that the A33o MRTT was just that a multi-capable tanker. Rather than having to carry fuel or carry other things, the tanker can do both. Because the tanker carried its fuel load in its wings, the basic…
By Richard Weitz From the perspective of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and its allies, the situation on the Peninsula is extremely unsettling. The DPRK looks set to resume testing its nuclear weapons as well as test launch more long-range ballistic missiles. Together, these capabilities could render the continental United…
