CounterStrikeMedia
  • Home
    • American Foreign Policy
    • Emerging Threat Assessment
    • Foreign Policy Challenges for 2022
    • FINAL BATTLE: FAITH, REASON & MILITANCY
    • The World's Most Pressing Foreign Policy Challenge
    • Geography, Strategy, Great Power Competition
    • Monetarism, SANCTIONS & TERROR FINANCING
    • Congressional Reform
    • Demography
    • Pentagon Acquisition Reform
    • Quadrennial Defense Review Posture
    • Post Bretton-Woods: Monetary & Exchange Rate Reform
    • Thought Leadership: International Political Economy, Foreign Affairs
  • Regional Policies
    • Monetary Regimes, Exchange Rates, Capital - Current Accounts, Crisis
    • Fiscal Policy
    • Macro Trends
    • China
    • Mexico/Central/South America
    • Israel
    • Iran
    • Iraq
    • Russia
    • India
    • Syria
    • Chechnya
    • Pakistan
    • Africa
    • North Korea
  • Media
    • TED Video & Talks
    • Radio
    • Television
    • Newspapers
    • Book Reviews
  • About
    • CAFE HAYEK
    • The Most Pressing Challenge Facing America
    • The Revolution in Military Affairs
  • U.S. Central Command CENTCOM: The Long War
  • State of the Nation
  • SOUNDCLOUD
  • International Relations Jobs: Global Ranking Think Tanks
  • Tribute: Fouad Ajami & Bernard Lewis
  • Women & International Affairs
  • William Holland Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Contact
    • Topical Newsletter
  • OIL - ENERGY MARKETS

pentagon acquisition reform

WHERE THE US REMAINS WEAK, A NET ASSESSMENT ON HOW WE LOSE THE NEXT WAR & JEDI'S LAND WARFARE

6/28/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Net Assessment: Is America Poised to Lose the Next War?
 by Melanie Marlowe, Bryan McGrath, Christopher Preble
 Here are the biggest weaknesses in America’s defense sector
(Defense News) Production of a component vital to protecting American troops from chemical attacks that can’t keep up with need. Key suppliers of aircraft parts that could go bankrupt at any time. A key producer of missile components that closed for two years before the Pentagon found out. 
809 Panel Calls for Managing ‘Capabilities,’ Not Weapons
The Department of Defense can make smarter and faster acquisition decisions if it uses people more thoughtfully. Instead of involving top-level leaders at every decision point in the acquisition process, senior leaders should determine the organization’s enterprise-level goals, then communicate them to empowered and capable leaders who can decide how best to meet those goals.…
The Too-Good-to-Be-True Way to Fight the Chinese Military
By Hal Brands, Bloomberg: "An American war against China or Russia would be truly awful. Even if the U.S. won — no sure thing — it could well suffer costs and casualties that would make the toll of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars seem minor by comparison. So is there a way the U.S. could stymie a Chinese attack in the Pacific, or a Russian land-grab in Eastern Europe, without having to defeat enemy forces head-on? This is the motivating question behind the idea of “horizontal escalation.”"
Land Warfare Since 1860: A Global History
By Michael Barr, Strategy Bridge: "Seeing the variety of contexts and interactions changes the strategic perspective of the First World War, and challenges military professionals to consider preparations for great power struggles, gray zone wars, and asymmetric insurgencies not as an either/or proposition but as all the above."

There’s A Sequel for JEDI
By Kenneth Glueck, RealClearDefense: “Defense Secretary-nominee Esper will soon receive a brief on next-generation battlefield technology and the DoD move to the cloud. The question of which technology solution can best meet DoD’s cloud computing needs has been intensely debated for the past 18 months."
0 Comments

A GUIDE TO CHINESE AIRCRAFT CARRIERS, XI'S THIRD FRONT, HOW US REPURPOSES SHIPS & MAHAN'S YARDSTICK

6/22/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Go Get Mahan’s Yardstick
By Andrew Rhodes, Proceedings: “Mahan’s 3,500 nm “standard distance” for naval planning may be a crude metric, but it highlights the geographic reality that must shape theater strategy and force development in the vast Pacific operating area."
Everything You Need to Know About the Chinese Military If You Don’t Read Chinese
By David M. Finkelstein, Proceedings: "The Pentagon has released three very detailed reports this year on the Chinese People's Liberation Army. They are exceptional sources at a critical time in the modernization of China's military."
CHINA:
A Mid-2019 Guide to Chinese Aircraft Carriers

By Rick Joe, The Diplomat: "In recent months, a number of new developments and interesting pictures and rumors have emerged in relation to the Chinese Navy's (PLAN's) aircraft carrier projects. Pictures tracking CV-16 Liaoningover the past year as well as carrier 002 at Dalian shipyard demonstrate both vessels have reached various milestones in recent months. Pictures of carrier 003 being built at Jiangnan shipyard similarly give new insights into its potential final size."
The Third Magic Weapon: Reforming China's United Front by Peter Mattis and Alex Joske
Lockheed Quietly Developing AIM-260 To Counter Chinese PL-15
By Steve Trimble, Aviation Week: " Lockheed Martin is developing a new air-dominance missile for the U.S. Air Force and Navy with significantly greater range than the AIM-120 Amraam as a counter to China’s new PL-15 weapon, a top U.S. Air Force official says."
Elizabeth Economy: A Look At Xi Jinping's 'Third Revolution'
interview with Elizabeth Economy via Newsroom
Hoover Institution fellow Elizabeth Economy talks about the growing power of Xi Jinping in China and abroad, which Economy has termed his 'Third Revolution'.
Repurposing Warships
By Robert Purssell, RealClearDefense: “In its more than two-century history, the United States Navy has frequently taken ships designed and built for one purpose and rebuilt and rearmed them for an entirely different mission."
0 Comments

DEMS WIN THE MILITARY BUDGET BATTLE; ACQUISITION REFORM BEGINS AGAIN & G.E.'S CHINOOK

6/15/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Congress returns to budget stalemate
(Defense News) Lawmakers returning to Washington, D.C., this week are in a race against the clock to reach a budget deal to ease statutory spending caps and avoid a government shutdown starting Oct. 1. 
Ten Rules for Defense Management Reform by Peter Levine
How to fix the Pentagon’s misused war spending account
The use of “fake Overseas Contingency Operations” funds is a product of the arbitrary Budget Control Act spending caps and will not disappear until the caps do. Mackenzie Eaglen and Rick Berger write that the only honest solution is to eliminate those caps and begin budgeting based on real needs with real money in real accounts.
U.S., EUROPE:
Boeing to Demo CH-53K Engine on Chinook

By Gareth Jennings, IHS Jane's 360: "Boeing will demonstrate on its CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopter the more powerful General Electric (GE) T408 engine normally fitted to its Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion competitor, the company said ahead of the Paris Air Show."
Democrats Won This Budget Battle – But They’re Likely To Lose The War
By Paul McLeary
Despite Democratic chairman Adam Smith’s best efforts, the defense budget is likely to creep back up to the full $750 billion the administration asked for.
 DoD has the tools to reform acquisition, and Thornberry wants to require their use
(Defense News) In defense acquisition, “the times, they are a-changin’.” 
What if the US could fight only one war at a time? In a Bloomberg op-ed, Hal Brandsexplains that the Department of Defense has been working to overhaul the “two-war” defense strategy, in favor of one that focuses on winning a single high-stakes fight against China or Russia. While this one-war strategy is rooted in a correct judgment that defeating a great-power adversary would be far more difficult than anything the US military has done in decades, it also runs the risk that America won’t have enough military power to deal with a war in which it faces two or more major threats at the same time. Continue here.

Even as Congress moves ahead with its spending bills for the Defense Department, the odds remain low that both parties can agree to an overall spending level by the start of the fiscal year. The result? The military’s advantages continue to shrink. In a series of AEI graphics and analysis, Mackenzie Eaglen and Rick Berger show that continuing resolutions (CRs) hurt the military in three main ways, and they explain the CRs’ effects on the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, and the Air Force. Learn more here.

Since the March release of the 2020 defense budget, the Pentagon’s decision to purchase new F-15X fighters to replace geriatric F-15Cs has occupied a disproportionate share of defense coverage, analysis, and congressional attending. In a RealClearDefense op-ed, Rick Berger argues that squandering an entire budget cycle debating F-15X or F-35 delays a necessary reckoning about the future of American airpower. Continue reading here.

 
0 Comments

CHINA'S THIRD OFFSET & ITS DRIVE TO GLOBAL HEGEMONY

6/12/2019

0 Comments

 
DoD Presses the Accelerator on Hypersonic Weapons
By Dan Gouré, RealClearDefense: "Senior U.S. defense officials have publicly stated that Russia and China are ahead of us in this new arms race.
Assessment of the Effects of Chinese Nationalism on China’s Foreign Policy
By Adam Ni, Divergent Options: "The rise of Chinese nationalism is often seen as a cause of China’s increasing assertive foreign policy, including its approach to territorial disputes."
Focus on the Trinity: German Innovation From Moltke to World War I
By Jaison D. Desai, Strategy Bridge: “The current crisis in relations between Russia and the West and the attempt to respond to it through economic sanctions illustrates how hard it is to answer a fundamental question: what does Putin really want?"
https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.cnas.org/documents/CNAS-Report-Work-Offset-final-B.pdf?mtime=20190531090041
0 Comments

RAYTHEON MARRIES UTC:  WHY IT MATTERS

6/12/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
United Technologies, Raytheon to Combine as Defense Giant
By Rick Clough, Bloomberg: "United Technologies Corp. agreed to buy Raytheon Co. in an all-stock deal, forming an aerospace and defense giant with $74 billion in sales in one of the industry’s biggest transactions ever."
 Pentagon Has Limited Clout on Raytheon-United Technologies Deal
(Bloomberg) Raytheon Co.’s planned merger with United Technologies Corp. is under Pentagon review even though military leaders won’t get to make the call on approving one of the biggest defense industry deals ever. 
 Sikorsky gets $542M Navy contract to build 6 new presidential helicopters
(Military.com) The winner of the next presidential election will be the first to fly in one of six new helicopters built for the commander in chief. 
Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. was awarded a $542 million to build six VH-92A Presidential Helicopters to mark the start of low-rate initial production, the Navy announced Monday. – USNI News
United Technologies Corp.’s planned purchase of Raytheon Company, announced over the weekend, is spurring lawmakers and the White House to ask questions on how the merger would limit competition in the defense industry. – USNI News
 Raytheon’s Tom Kennedy and UTC’s Greg Hayes on why they are uniting the companies
(Defense News) When Raytheon and United Technologies Corporation made a surprise announcement Sunday that they would be merging together, it sent shockwaves through the defense and aviation sectors. The combined firm will likely become the second largest player in the defense world, with major stake in the commercial aviation realm as well. 
 This Russian cyclocopter drone design was 110 years in the making
(C4ISRNET) It was materials, more than anything else, that determined the dominance of the helicopter in the 20th century. 
Raytheon-United Technologies: A Powerhouse That Won’t Limit Competition
By Loren Thompson, Forbes: "Against that backdrop, it is remarkable how little overlap there would be in the diverse product lines of what looks to be a $70 billion enterprise at its inception."
0 Comments

THE CULT OF THE IRRELEVANT:  STRATEGISTS WHO DON'T KNOW THEIR REGIONS

6/12/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Cult of the Irrelevant: National Security Eggheads & Academics
By Justin Logan, The American Conservative: "Why do foreign policymakers so rarely pay attention to scholarship on the regions they are bombing and seeking to dominate?"
​
0 Comments

LETHALITY & THE SCAM OF DIALOGUE BETWEEN COMPETING POWERS

6/12/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Trading Arms Control for Nuclear Modernization:  An Old Scam
By Mark B. Schneider, RealClearDefense: “When The New York Times reported that Russia had likely deployed a nuclear-armed cruise missile in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.” 

Increasing Lethality Through Sustainment
By Alexander D. Irion, Proceedings: "To meet the demands of the recent National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy, however, the current generation of Marines will have to determine how to maximize rapid advances in technology and systems analysis to help forecast key aspects of future conflict, increase efficiency in the Corps’ processes, and increase their ability to affect an adversary’s decision cycle time."
0 Comments
    Picture
    FIXING DEFENSE BUDGET
    File Size: 3821 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File

    TRANSPARENCY & COST CAPABILITY
    File Size: 6614 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File


    MACKENZIE EAGLEN
    ​AEI
    Picture
    DEFENSE STRATEGY-PRIORITIES
    File Size: 445 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File

    DEFENSE INNOVATION PROBLEMS
    File Size: 4164 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File

    REBUTAL TO EAGLEN
    File Size: 387 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File


    DOD ACQUISITION REFORM

    twelve problems_negatively_impacting_defense_innovation___american_enterprise_institute_-_aei.pdf
    File Size: 200 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File

    the_1960s_had_their_day__changing_dod’s_acquisition_processes_and_structures___realcleardefense.pdf
    File Size: 11539 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File


    Picture
    Dr. Kathleen Hicks
    getting_to_less.pdf
    File Size: 91 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File


    Picture

    Picture
    THUCYDIDES & THE LONG WAR PROBLEM

    Picture
    FORCE PLANNING IN AGE OF GREAT POWER COMPETITION

    Picture
    AGAINST ALL ODDS: CHANGING ACQUISITION CULTURE

    Picture
    THE CRISIS OF AMERICAN MILITARY PRIMACY

    Picture
    NATIONAL MILITARY STRATEGY: REVOLUTIONARY APPROACH

    Picture
    UNDERSTANDING MILITARY MODERNIZATION

    Picture
    5 STRATEGIES FOR SEC. OF DEFENSE


    Picture
    WHY THE 3RD OFFSET FAILS

    Picture
    INADEQUATE DOCTRINES FOR IRREGULAR WAR

    Picture
    ALTERNATIVE WAR STRATEGIES & FORCE POSTURE

    Picture
    REVERSING DECLINE: ELIZABETHIAN ENGLAND

    Picture
    U.S. GRAND STRATEGY FOR WINNING WORLD WAR IV

    Picture
    MULTI-DOMAIN BATTLE REPLACES R.M.A.

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    GLOBAL DEFENSE SPENDING.pdf
    File Size: 1996 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File


    REBUILDING AMERICAN MILITARY.pdf
    File Size: 1854 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File


    Tweets by WilliamHolland

    Principles Guiding Pentagon Acquisition Reform
    File Size: 56 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File


    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015


    Categories

    All


    RSS Feed





What Our Clients Are Saying

"For topical research on items related to international political economy, unrivaled."

Contact Us

    Subscribe Today!

Submit