Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
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Raytheon’s Case For Building Army Radar Grounded In Deep Knowledge of GaN Technology (From Forbes)
March 11, 2019- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The U.S. Army is accelerating its search for a new Patriot air defense radar that can detect diverse threats approaching from any direction at any altitude. Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon will compete in a “sense-off” this spring to [Read More...] -
Heather Wilson Was Uniquely Qualified To Be Air Force Secretary. So Why Is She Leaving? (From Forbes)
March 8, 2019- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson disclosed on March 8 that she will likely leave government service in May to become president of the University of Texas at El Paso. It isn’t hard to understand the attraction of running [Read More...] -
Pentagon May Come To Regret Prioritizing R&D Spending Over Weapons It Needs Now (From Forbes)
March 8, 2019- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The Pentagon’s annual military spending has increased $100 billion over the last three years, with the biggest percentage increases coming in weapons accounts. Somehow, though, the rate at which key warfighting systems are being bought has not increased. In some [Read More...] -
Germany’s Policy Choices Are Hastening The Decline Of NATO (From Forbes)
March 4, 2019- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D President Trump’s ambivalence about continued U.S. participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is traceable in large part to the behavior of its biggest European member. Germany is not contributing to the alliance at a pace commensurate with its [Read More...] -
Why President Trump Will Likely Be Reelected, And What It Means For Global Security (From Forbes)
February 26, 2019- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D President Trump is so widely derided in the media that his reelection prospects may appear bleak. In fact, they are strong. Candidates who win election to the White House once tend to win it a second time if they choose [Read More...] -
DRS Daylight’s Spero Microscope Leverages Breakthrough Technology For Big Biomedical & Defense Gains (From Forbes)
February 21, 2019- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D When the U.S. arm of Italian defense giant Leonardo bought a small tech startup called Daylight Solutions in 2017, almost nobody noticed. Two years later though, the logic of the acquisition is becoming increasingly clear. DRS Daylight Solutions, as it [Read More...] -
How Do U.S. Soldiers Prepare For An Unpredictable Future? Army Leaders Have A Plan. (From Forbes)
February 18, 2019- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The U.S. Army today is headed by an unusually thoughtful and experienced group of senior leaders. But they will need all of their skills to keep the Army’s campaign plan to win the future on track through the very difficult [Read More...] -
Why 2019 Needs To Be The Year The U.S. Army Picks Up The Pace On A New Long-Range Assault Aircraft (From Forbes)
February 13, 2019- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D It has been decades since the U.S. Army fielded a genuinely new combat rotorcraft. During that time, aerospace technology has advanced by leaps and bounds while threats have changed dramatically. The Army needs to get moving on fielding new airframes, [Read More...] -
F-35 Will Cost Less To Operate Than Older Fighters. Here’s Why Some Policymakers Don’t Get That. (From Forbes)
February 11, 2019- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Having successfully completed the most extensive flight tests in history, the F-35 fighter is well on its way to setting the global standard for tactical air power. Nearly 500 of the planes in three different variants will be delivered by [Read More...] -
Army Plan To Delay Chinook Helicopter Upgrades May Have Big Jobs, Political Consequences (From Forbes)
February 6, 2019- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The Army has decided to delay by five years upgrading its Chinook heavy helicopters to a planned Block II configuration. As a result, there will be a big gap in the production line at Boeing’s rotorcraft plant near Philadelphia, and [Read More...]