The Navy, is, hands down, the service in the best shape for 2014. Every act of belligerent idiocy from Beijing – and there’ve been a lot of them lately – makes the Navy budget an easier sell. In stark contrast to the Army, the Navy has the central role in the new Pacific-focused strategy, a high-tech threat justifying high-cost programs, a highly… Keep reading →
The Air Force F-16 fighter (front) and A-10 ground attack plane (center rear) will both be replaced by the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter. Flanking them: the air-to-air and ground attack versions of the F-15 Eagle. Budget cuts won’t make the Air Force give up any of its current missions, the service’s Chief of Staff… Keep reading →
Health care for troops, retirees, and their families — or, as seen here, their pets — is a growing cost to the Defense Department. As bitter as the budget battle has become, there’s no topic more toxic than pay and benefits for military personnel. Pentagon budgeteers and the top brass warn that increasing compensation… Keep reading →
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) with funding from SwampWorks at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Department of Defense Rapid Reaction Technology Office (DoD/RRTO) demonstrated the launch of an all-electric, fuel cell-powered, unmanned aerial system (UAS) from a submerged submarine. From concept to fleet demonstration, this idea took less than six years… Keep reading →
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Acoustics Division, with Bluefin Robotics, executed a record setting 507 kilometer (315 mile), long-endurance autonomy research mission using its heavyweight-class mine countermeasures autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), Reliant. NRL’s Reliant AUV, when equipped with a low frequency broadband (LFBB) sonar system, is perhaps best known as the prototype for the… Keep reading →
OLD CROWS CONFERENCE: People fear drones. People fear “killer robots.” People fear death by push button. People need to put away their fears and remember that computing power, coupled with automation and rules-based decision-making, has saved many lives and is likely to save many more than any runaway robot ever will kill. That was the… Keep reading →
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) scientists at the Monterey Marine Meteorology Division and the Stennis Space Center Oceanography Division, working with other Navy and academic institutes, took part In the Navy fleet experiment TRIDENT WARRIOR 2013 (TW13), July 13-18, demonstrating in-situ atmospheric and oceanic sensing systems and real-time operational mesoscale numerical weather prediction models. “These… Keep reading →
The Syrian government has launched a major offensive to regain control of the Hama to Aleppo supply route and the key city of Al-Safira in northern Syria, according to an update posted by Valerie Szybala and Charlie Caris, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Al-Safira is an important city for several… Keep reading →
The resources and effectiveness on the battlefield of radical Islamic groups in Syria are drawing more moderate rebels into their camp – at least for now, according to Valerie Szybala, a Syria analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. According to Szybala, private donors in the Gulf (notably Saudi Arabia and Qatar) are driving the… Keep reading →
CAPITOL HILL: While the federal government remains supine and Congress fails to pass appropriations bills, at least one lawmaker is engaged in a classic use of senatorial privilege: placing a hold on the nomination of a senior administration official. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who has made clear her unease with what appears to be the Air… Keep reading →