Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
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Sizing The Navy: Why It Takes More Warships To Prevent Conflicts Than To Win Them (From Forbes)
August 10, 2021- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D There is a perennial debate about force sizing that will likely influence the Biden administration’s global posture review. The debate is often referred to in professional literature as the choice between presence and warfighting. Presence in this case means having [Read More...] -
How Election Politics Could Shape Pentagon Weapons Spending In A Biden Presidency (From Forbes)
August 6, 2021- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The ultimate customer for defense-industry output is the U.S. political system. That’s who pays the bills. So we shouldn’t be surprised if electoral politics influences how much money goes to weapons, and where the weapons are made. President Biden will [Read More...] -
The Navy Says It Can’t Afford To Fully Modernize. So What Should It Give Up? (From Forbes)
August 3, 2021- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The Navy’s budget guidance says it can’t afford to modernize all of its combat systems, and the Chief of Naval Operations says at current funding levels, the fleet can’t grow much beyond 300 warships. Clearly, the service will have to [Read More...] -
Space Force’s Missile Warning System Needs To Explore All Options For Tracking Threats (From Forbes)
July 30, 2021- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The U.S. Space Force is developing a next-generation orbital architecture for tracking nuclear and other threats. The first step will be to replace geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites in the current system with spacecraft that are more resilient, capable and affordable. [Read More...] -
How The Air Force’s LRSO Missile Could Prevent A Crisis From Escalating To Nuclear Annihilation (From Forbes)
July 27, 2021- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D On July 1 the Air Force awarded a contract to Raytheon Technologies for development of a new air-launched nuclear system called the Long Range Standoff (LRSO) weapon. LRSO will replace the aged cruise missiles currently carried on U.S. bombers with [Read More...] -
U.S. Shipbuilding Is At Its Lowest Ebb Ever. How Did America Fall So Far? (From Forbes)
July 23, 2021- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D There was a time within living memory when America was the world’s biggest builder of commercial oceangoing vessels, and its ships carried a third of global trade. Those days are long gone. The U.S. now typically produces less than ten [Read More...] -
Why We Know F-35 Support Costs Will Fall In The Future (From Forbes)
July 20, 2021- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The Government Accountability Office put out a report earlier this month purporting to show that the F-35 fighter costs more to operate and sustain than U.S. military services can afford to pay. Somehow, though, the report failed to mention that [Read More...] -
Why The Air Force’s “Bridge Tanker” Will Likely Be A Bridge To Nowhere For Airbus (From Forbes)
July 15, 2021- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The U.S. Air Force wants to buy 140-160 commercial derivative tankers following completion of the present KC-46 production run in 2029. The effort is called a bridge tanker because it is the transition to a next-generation aerial refueler. Boeing and [Read More...] -
Why Biden’s Competition Order Bolsters The Case For A Lockheed-Aerojet Merger (From Forbes)
July 12, 2021- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D President Biden’s executive order promoting competition by halting the trend toward market concentration is not a blanket prohibition on corporate mergers. In some cases, mergers are necessary to prevent key market segments from consolidating to monopoly. A case in point [Read More...] -
Naval Shipbuilder Bath Iron Works Has Survived Many Setbacks. The Next Time Could Be Different. (From Forbes)
July 1, 2021- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Over a century after delivering its first two gunboats to the U.S. Navy, the nation’s oldest full-service shipyard is facing the latest challenge in its long and tumultuous history. Bath Iron Works, the biggest industrial employer in Maine, has learned [Read More...]