I think there's a limit to the utility of this kind of argument, regarding a new laser-based air defense system:This all sort of leaves me wondering what problem this technology is a solution to. For the past twenty years every conflict the U.S. military has...
military procurement
This is indescribably awesome in every way:Via Danger Room.
If you read Defense News, you quickly become familiar with Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute. He appears in an extraordinary number of stories, usually as voice recommending the purchase.
This is an interesting list, but the concept doesn't strike me as quite right. From Wikipedia: It also refers to government or corporate project involving large numbers of people and usually heavy expenditure; at some point, the key operators have realized that the project is...
I like the combination of percentage of GDP with percentage of world spending. Via.
Via Ezra, this is an interesting post from Gordon Adams:For a major program to emerge, thrive, and survive, it takes basically three players: the service that wants and will advocate.
The F-22 has a faint heartbeat in the House of Representatives, but appears to be slipping away:The committee voted July 22 to spend $369 million to buy another dozen F-22s, but Rep. David Obey, the committee chairman, said that has to change.In light of the...
Obama: But I reject the notion that we have to waste billions of taxpayer dollars on outdated and unnecessary defense projects to keep this nation secure. That’s why I’ve taken.
Senate rejects extra funding for the F-22!!!!
It appears that the UK MoD rejected several opportunities to shore up its helicopter fleet:Defence ministers spurned three separate deals to buy American Black Hawk helicopters which would have helped to plug the dangerous shortage facing British troops in Afghanistan. The most recent rejection came...
Although he resists saying so directly, I think that the upshot of Travis Sharp's Parameters article on GDP and the defense budget would run something like this: People who want.
Spencer has been following the F-22 debate closer than I; it appears that Carl Levin lacks the votes to outright kill the F-22, and thus that the potential for a.