Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
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U.S. Air Dominance in a Fiscally Constrained Environment: Defining Paths to the Future
September 27, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Dominant airpower is essential to virtually every operation the U.S. military conducts. It is an essential component of the U.S. military’s “DNA.” Budget cuts, shrinking force structure, poor investments in modernization, technological innovation and a growing anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) threat [Read More...] -
The Right Way To Modernize: The Army’s Airborne Reconnaissance Low Planes
September 26, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Executive Summary The U.S. Army maintains a small fleet of fixed-wing aircraft for providing timely reconnaissance to its commanders during combat operations. The most capable such planes are EO-5C Airborne Reconnaissance Low (ARL) planes, which detect, identify and track hostile [Read More...] -
South Korea Embraces Fifth Generation Fighters
September 25, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D There was a time not so long ago when the phrase “fifth-generation fighter” was used almost exclusively by aerospace engineers. Not anymore. The South Korean government’s decision to walk away from an improved version of the legacy F-15 fighter and [Read More...] -
Five Reasons Defense Companies Need To Start Getting Out Of Defense (From Forbes)
September 23, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The defense industry as we know it today may not be a permanent fixture on the national landscape. It emerged in response to an urgent and protracted threat posed by the Soviet Union in the 1950s, which produced a 40-year [Read More...] -
New Thinking On Sequestration Is Bad News For The Military — And Its Suppliers
September 20, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D This week, veteran aerospace and defense analyst Byron Callan disclosed a change in his thinking about what budget sequestration means for the defense department. To quote his September 19 Capital Alpha Partners note, “Absent a new threat, with a muddling [Read More...] -
Air Force May Not Fund New Rescue Helicopter, Dooming Downed Pilots (From Forbes)
September 17, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The Air Force is the only service that trains and equips personnel to recover downed pilots and other warfighters from enemy territory. Last year, the small community of “rescue warriors” flew 4,500 missions, saving the lives of 1,128 warfighters. The [Read More...] -
Obama Plan For Syria Looks Smart, Not Weak
September 16, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Great presidents tend to be under-estimated by their contemporaries. The New York newspapers delighted in calling Abraham Lincoln “Honest Ape” during his time in office, and Ronald Reagan was regularly dismissed by pundits as a bumpkin. So when the airwaves [Read More...] -
Defense Cuts: Four Navy Programs To Watch Closely (From Forbes)
September 13, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The fiscal walls fashioned by the 2011 Budget Control Act are beginning to close in on the military services. Having long since trimmed away any low-hanging fruit, the services now must contemplate cuts to genuinely vital programs. Four big Navy [Read More...] -
Pacific Test Confirms Lockheed Martin As Global Leader In Missile Defense
September 11, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D This week three U.S. military services collaborated in a picture-perfect interception of two ballistic-missile targets, using land-based, sea-based and orbital elements to demonstrate how a layered defense could defeat the worst threats facing U.S. forces. The targets intercepted in the [Read More...] -
What Are The Air Force’s Big Five Programs For The Future? (From Forbes)
September 10, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D With the U.S. political culture appearing to have turned decisively against “boots on the ground” in overseas military actions, the future belongs to air power. However, air dominance is not a birthright. Among other things, it requires robust, disciplined investment [Read More...]