BattlelandMilitary Spending
Numbers have a precision to them that isn’t always warranted.
Take your very own U.S. defense budget, for example. Even after you’ve learned the difference among then-year, current-year and constant-year dollars, there can …
BattlelandProcurement
Thought Winslow Wheeler’s epic last week trying to nail down the cost of an F-35 Lightning II fighter was fascinating reading. Still waiting for someone to volunteer to make the contrary case.
Unfortunately, Wheeler simply …
BattlelandMilitary Spending
Winslow Wheeler’s three-part series on the Navy that wrapped up on Battleland Wednesday shows that the sea service is up to its old tricks.
To wit, it is impregnating President Obama’s five-year defense program by …
BattlelandThe U.S. Navy: Troubled Waters
We’ve been reading Winslow Wheeler‘s analysis of military matters even before he wrapped up 30 years’ experience on Capitol Hill, working for both Rs and Ds, as well as the Government Accountability Office, in 2002.
Wheeler …
BattlelandWeapons
BattlelandWeapons
By Thomas Christie, Pierre Sprey, Chuck Spinney and Winslow Wheeler
Almost 30 years ago, in 1983, the Heritage Foundation stepped forward as a thoughtful, independent thinking participant in the then-raging debate over Ronald …
BattlelandF-35 Price Fixing
There’s been a rash of recent reports that the U.S. military has wrestled the F-35’s cost growth to the mat. They come from some heavy hitters: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Air Force Lieut. General Christopher Bogdan, the …
BattlelandMilitary Spending
Last week, Battleland bemoaned the increasing difficulty finding cost-per-flight-hour data for U.S. military aircraft.
In a flash, longtime defense watcher – from a perch on Capitol Hill, as well as a stint at the Government …
BattlelandNational Security
Drones are one of the most exciting innovations to come along in warfare in the last 20 years. But as we saw when the Pentagon recently decided to ground part of its new Global Hawk fleet in favor of Eisenhower-era U-2 manned …
BattlelandMilitary
Doug Macgregor’s piece Monday taking the Marine Corps to task – and the Army, from which he retired as an outspoken colonel – is under attack over at the Marine Corps Gazette, the official jarhead journal. He argued that …
BattlelandThe U.S. Navy: Troubled Waters
Last of three articles
The prevailing wisdom holds that America’s smaller fleet is more capable than the U.S. Navy of yore because of higher capability per individual ship. It is a dangerous assumption.
To its credit, in …
BattlelandThe U.S. Navy: Troubled Waters
Second of three articles
The shrinking size of the fleet is just one variable in considering its adequacy: the ability to perform assigned missions, especially after withstanding whatever threats may exist, is a far better …
