Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
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Five Ways The F-35A Fighter Totally Transforms Air Warfare (From Forbes)
August 8, 2016- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D When the Air Force announced that its first squadron of F-35A fighters was operational last week, that was good news for the Pentagon’s biggest weapons program. The Air Force will buy over 40% of the 4,000 or so F-35s that [Read More...] -
America’s Warfighters Need More Attack Subs Than The Navy Is Planning To Buy (From National Interest)
August 4, 2016- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The U.S. Navy’s nuclear-powered attack subs are a unique combination of stealth and versatility. Because enemies cannot detect or track them, they can go places and accomplish missions that other combat systems cannot. However, the Navy’s undersea fleet is due [Read More...] -
Revolutionary F-35 Fighter Reaches Its Most Important Milestone (From National Interest)
August 1, 2016- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Fifteen years after development began, the F-35 fighter is operational with the U.S. Air Force. This is a crucial turning point for the tri-service program, because the Air Force will buy over 70% of the domestic production run, and its [Read More...] -
Surprise Bid For Two New Planes Could Wreck Air Force Modernization Plan (From National Interest)
July 28, 2016- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James apparently was taken by surprise when subordinates unexpectedly surfaced a plan to buy two new types of attack aircraft last week. Her initial public response — “Where would we get the money?” — goes [Read More...] -
Nuclear Force Modernization Costs Much Less Than You Think (From National Interest)
July 26, 2016- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Pentagon officials testified before Congress earlier this month that modernization of the nation’s aging nuclear deterrent will cost $350-450 billion over the next 20 years. Sounds like an astronomical amount, right? Well, it turns out Americans will spend much larger [Read More...] -
The U.S. Air Force’s Incoherent Plan To Replace The A-10 Warthog (from The National Interest)
July 22, 2016- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D With the Air Force seemingly determined to change its plans for close air support every fiscal quarter, it was just a matter of time before it hit upon a really bad idea. So here it is: the service wants to [Read More...] -
Why The Baltic States Are Where Nuclear War Is Most Likely To Begin (From National Interest)
July 20, 2016- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D History may one day record that the greatest strategic blunder in history was the failure of U.S. leaders to take the possibility of nuclear war between America and Russia seriously once the Cold War ended. A case in point is [Read More...] -
Boeing Turns 100: Five Reasons It Survived While Competitors Died (from Forbes)
July 14, 2016- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Boeing celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding this week. Few of its competitors will ever reach such a milestone, which raises the question of how Boeing managed to survive and thrive in a hyper-competitive industry during a period of [Read More...] -
What Boeing Has Meant For America: A Centennial Assessment
July 14, 2016- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Findings In Brief Click here to download the study as PDF. An Enterprise Unlike Any Other. The Boeing Company was founded on July 15, 1916. Over the following century, Boeing became the biggest aerospace enterprise in the world, famous for [Read More...] -
Air Force Fixes Faltering Control System For Leap-Ahead GPS III (From National Interest)
July 12, 2016- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The Global Positioning System is a central feature of the critical infrastructure supporting modern civilization, and GPS III satellites that begin launching next year will deliver big improvements in accuracy, security and reliability. However, the “next-generation operational ground system” (OCX) [Read More...]