Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
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Trump Defense Budget Gives Boeing’s Super Hornet Fighter A Big Boost (From Forbes)
March 27, 2018- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The U.S. Navy is leveraging increased military spending from the Trump administration to launch a multifaceted modernization effort for its F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighters. Eventually all of the Super Hornets on carrier decks, both newly-built and previously-fielded, will be [Read More...] -
What The U.S. Navy’s Supercarriers Give America That No Other Nation Has (From Forbes)
March 23, 2018- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The U.S. Navy operates 11 large-deck, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers that are the biggest warships ever built. They are often called “supercarriers” because of their lethality, survivability and versatility. Although they are the signature warfighting machines of the joint force, however, [Read More...] -
Trump’s Embrace Of Space Force Could Transform How America Wages War (From Forbes)
March 14, 2018- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D President Trump confounded his defense advisors this week by embracing the idea of a Space Force to manage military activities in space. Not a space command or a space corps, but a Space Force. The president may be on to [Read More...] -
Mike Griffin, Pentagon’s New Tech Chief, Likely To Take A Hard Look At Military’s Space Launch Plans (From Forbes)
March 12, 2018- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The Pentagon’s new Under Secretary for Research and Engineering, Michael Griffin, may be the most intellectually gifted public servant in the entire Trump administration. What he is best known for, though, is his extensive background in space technology — most [Read More...] -
How The Pentagon’s Space Program Cratered In The 1990s — And Why It’s Now In Danger Again (from Forbes)
March 7, 2018- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D In the years after the Cold War ended, the Pentagon’s space program fell to its lowest ebb since the launch of Sputnik in 1957. Most of the new orbital systems being developed for the military and the intelligence community went [Read More...] -
Biothreats Are Exploding. Firewalls and Fallout Shelters Won’t Help (From Forbes)
February 27, 2018- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Next month is the hundredth anniversary of the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918, which ultimately cost 50-100 million lives worldwide and reduced life expectancy in the U.S. by 12 years. The most important reason to remember that devastating pandemic today [Read More...] -
Ozmen’s Selection For Space Council Advisory Group Signals Sierra Nevada’s Arrival As Major Player (From Forbes)
February 21, 2018- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The National Space Council disclosed on Tuesday of this week that Sierra Nevada Corporation CEO Fatih Ozmen has been selected as a candidate to join the council’s user advisory group. This is a clear signal that privately-held SNC has ascended [Read More...] -
The Air Force Is Missing Its Best Opportunity To Replace Aging Aircraft (From RealClearDefense)
February 21, 2018- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D For the first time in decades, the Air Force is getting enough money in the fiscal 2019 budget to cover its near-term readiness needs and invest adequately in the future. The service has disclosed bold plans to develop new warfighting [Read More...] -
Air Force Data Grab Raises Doubts About Its Acquisition Culture (From Forbes)
February 16, 2018- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Lockheed Martin took the unusual step this week of protesting an Air Force competition long before the winner is due to be selected. The company complained that it was being pressed to provide technical data about its entry in the [Read More...] -
Tanks To Ohio: How Trump’s Industrial Policy Shop Leverages Pentagon Spending To Create Jobs (From Forbes)
February 14, 2018- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D One of the oddest features of policymaking in the federal government is that little effort is made to connect defense goals with economic goals. Decisionmakers have often behaved as if there was no connection between the two areas. Now the [Read More...]