Category: Military

Smart Bullets?

Documenting our kills—the future of global security services.  Posting by Thomas P.M. Barnett commenting on a  NY Times artice:  11 Years of Police Gunfire, in Painstaking Detail

“Everything is down, the number of shots fired by officers is down, the number of subjects that we shot is way down,” said Inspector Cerar. “The number of total times when a police officer fires his weapon is down. Statistically, anecdotally, in any way you put it, the New York City Police Department is not a cowboy department.”

Shares a theory that eventually the U.S. must be willing and able to document all kills internationally just like cops do here at home.

May not be too tough to do with a smart (computer chip enhanced?) bullet or alternative type of technology. Desired outcome is hitting the right target at the right time for the right effect.

THAAD Theatre High Altitude Area Defense Missile System, USA

1st THAAD Unit Activates At Fort Bliss, (El Paso Times)…Chris Roberts, May 29, 2008, Pg. 1B

…The system faced funding cuts in the 1990s when it missed targets during test firings. But after a redesign, THAAD has been consistently successful — so successful that the Army recently added two more batteries to its original plans, which called for four batteries.

President Reagan’s concept of a strategic defense initiative that was referred to as “Star Wars” was received with a great deal of skepticism at the time.  Appears technology is catching up with the concept.

 

 

 

Fighting in Afghanistan: Soldier’s View

Breaking Point, (Baltimore Sun)…David Wood, May 25, 2008, Pg. 15

In the dying sunlight, the day’s heat radiates from a farm compound’s baked adobe walls, which enclose Marines slumped wearily against their rucksacks. Here in southern Afghanistan, where the men of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit are battling Taliban insurgents, life comes in a simple equation: There are men out there who will kill you, unless you kill them first.

First hand account of what it’s like from he Soldier’s perspective.

Natl Defense Strategy – Documents

New National Defense Strategy Emphasizes More Iraq-Like Missions(Inside The Pentagon)…Jason Sherman, May 22, 2008, Pg. 1

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is set to approve a new strategy that calls for greater emphasis on irregular operations, solidifying in a key Pentagon planning document his recent public admonitions that the military services must shift their focus away from preparing for conventional fights against superpowers in favor of plans for more Iraq-like missions.

The two volumes — which sources say will be unclassified once approved — are two of six so-called “gold standard” planning documents, most of which are designed in close coordination with each other, that provide strategic direction for the Defense Department.

Last week, Gates approved two others — the Guidance for the Development of the Force  and Guidance for the Employment of the Force. The Unified Command Plan and the Quadrennial Defense Review complete the Pentagon’s strategic planning library.

For the strategy nerds, Guidance for Development of the Force (GDF) replaces what was previously called Strategic Planning Guidance. GDF also replaces documents that include Transformation Planning Guidance, the Posture Guidance, the Science and Technology Strategic Guidance . GEF also consolidates documents that include Contingency Planning Guidance, policy guidance for the employment of nuclear weapons, and the Security Cooperation Guidance. (Ref: Gates Signs Planning Documents To Guide Investments, Operations REF: Inside The Pentagon May 15, 2008, Pg. 1 Jason Sherman

Marine Corps Vision 2025

Conway: New World Needs Return Of Expeditionary Marine Corps, (Inside The Navy)…Rebekah Gordon, May 19, 2008 Pg. 4

…Citing the work of the Marine Corps’ Strategic Vision Group, which is evaluating how to position the service into 2025 and beyond, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway painted a future requiring a more agile and littoral-focused corps.

Standard practice within DoD and the services to develop long-term strategies. 

Air Force Synthetic Fuels – Challenges

Air Force To Perform First Supersonic Flight Using Synthetic Fuel Blend, By Katherine McIntire Peters, GovExec.com, March 18, 2008

A key hurdle for the Air Force and other potential users of synthetic fuel is likely to be the production process itself, which now generates more greenhouse gases than conventional petroleum refining.

The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, which President Bush signed into law last December, prohibits federal agencies from purchasing alternative fuels that generate more greenhouse gases over the course of their lifecycle than conventional petroleum fuels. Some House lawmakers now want to overturn the provision, contained in section 526, because it could limit Defense Department fuel purchases in the future.

Air Force and DARPA — Energy independence?

Air Force Certifies B-52H Bomber Fleet To Use Synthetic Fuels, Inside The Air Force, — John Liang, August 10, 2007, Pg. 4

Alternative energy and conservation efforts undertaken by the Air Force could have a major impact on the renewable and sustainability marketplace because the military is a major purchaser of energy technology and fuels. Moreover, the efforts could reshape national priorities about reducing reliance on foreign energy supplies as a matter of national security.

Wynne said his service, with the help of DARPA, had developed a process to qualify alternative fuels in its aircraft fleet.

I was looking for some good news regarding the potential for alternative energy sources.   Air Force is the largest consumer of oil in the federal government and the Secretary of the Air Force has emphasized the need for clean alternatives to petroleum-based fuels.

Army Future Combat Systems (FCS)

ARTICLE:  Army Defends Progress On Modernization Program
(Reuters.com)…Andrea Shalal-Esa, Reuters

A senior U.S. Army official on Tuesday defended progress on a mammoth modernization program known as the Future Combat Systems (FCS), saying it was on cost and on schedule despite some technological challenges.

Lt. Col. Scott Turner, the Army’s deputy director for FCS integration, said he was confident that the overall program and its 44 critical technologies were “on track” to allow the fielding of the four systems in 2011 and the overall roll-out of the first FCS brigade combat team in 2015.

He said Gates was questioning the system because of its overall cost, but he remained convinced that the additional capabilities it would give the Army were well worth the investment.

Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) used  in helping to assess the program risks associated with developing the new technologies required by FCS.   Good news for the Taxpayers in that it provides a more objective indicator of progress. Also useful in determining priorities — a good thing for the warfighters.

Arms race in space

ARTICLE:  Preventing An Arms Race In Outer Space, (Boston Globe)…James Carroll, May 12, 2008

…The world-historic decision about carrying warfare across the last threshold into outer space is being left to defense contractors, military commanders, and their wholly owned subsidiary on Capitol Hill.

Humans who did not think to ban weapons from the air a century ago know better when it comes to outer space. Yet what are we doing? And if the deadly current is still hidden, what is that low rumble that can be heard, rolling toward us from down the river?

Agree with the ideal but when has an arms race ever been prevented?