As Congress begins to take up the Obama administration’s defense budget, one item not even under discussion needs to be considered. Events of the past 18 months have made clear that it’s time to rethink the fate of the F-22 … Continue reading →
Defense Secretary Bob Gates will be told in a meeting today that development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be further delayed, on top of the 13-month slippage that was disclosed in March. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions … Continue reading →
So, over at Contentions, J.E. Dyer puts up a bunch of links showing Russian attempts to bully Japan over the Kuril Islands, concluding: Its significance cannot be overemphasized. In approaching this confrontation, Russia is effectively treating Japan — a G-8 … Continue reading →
Because this retiring Air Force general’s presentation to the Air Force Association makes it clear that our this-generation aircraft are increasingly vulnerable to both Russian and Chinese SAMs and fighters, and our heretofore unchallengeable air superiority is becoming, well, challengeable, … Continue reading →
Lurking about the presidency in the guise of secretary of state, America’s chief diplomat has embarked upon a mistake that someday may rival Dean Acheson’s exclusion of Korea from the Pacific defense area, or April Glaspie’s muddled words to Saddam … Continue reading →
Here’s a couple tiny excerpts, but you need to read Arthur Herman’s piece in the upcoming Commentary. Twice. Not just because it jibes extensively with Confucius’s* thoughts on the American military. Seriously. Make time. Print it out. Whatever it takes. … Continue reading →
…from John Noonan at the Standard. He quotes Politico: The Air Force will hang on to its F-22 tooling at Lockheed Martin’s Marietta, Ga., production plant even after it stops making the fifth generation fighter jet in 2012, according to … Continue reading →
So, the good folks over at Air Power Australia have put out maybe the most comprehensive open-source study of the PAK-FA, and whaddya know, it looks to be a hell of a plane. In fact, it’s so good that if … Continue reading →
So, Friday, the good folks at Sukhoi gave the first public test flight of the PAK-FA, which is an acronym meaning roughly “Advanced Aircraft System: Frontline Aviation.” The Sukhoi plane is officially called the T-50, so we’ll go with that … Continue reading →
…Goldfarb drags me back in! Let’s just go to the money quote: “White House aides actually made them remove the F-22-said they would not allow POTUS to be pictured with the F-22 in any way, shape, or form.” While the … Continue reading →
John Noonan writes: The AFP is reporting that despite pulling the ground based mid-course interceptor from Europe, the Russians remain unhappy with Noble Laureate Obama’s missile defense plans. Ivan is, of course, playing the classic Russian game here — push … Continue reading →
Russia and China are both developing “fifth generation” fighters that will be widely exported at prices that will undercut the F-35 price tag. Both nations will thus acquire “near F-22 performance… while attempting to proliferate the [aircraft] to perhaps near … Continue reading →
Gormogon Operative Mark writes Confucius*, apropos Gen. McPeak’s op-ed (which Confucius mainly posted to bash the general’s apparent fecklessness as a high-level advisor, but with the general thrust of which he agrees): Ask anyone who served in the Air Force … Continue reading →
OPINION AUGUST 9, 2009, 7:43 P.M. ET Why We Need the F-22 It’s been more than half a century since American soldiers were killed by hostile aircraft. Let’s keep it that way. By MERRILL A. MCPEAK The United States relies … Continue reading →
Democrats in the House order eight G5 Gulfstream jets for $550 million that will be used by the Pentagon to ferry around VIPs in Congress — even though the Pentagon says it does not need or want the planes. The … Continue reading →
Check it out. Myth No. 1–Voting down funding for the Raptor was a blow against the “evil, military-industrial complex.” Myth No. 2–The F-22 is a hugely expensive aircraft because defense contractors purposely are trying to gouge the taxpayer by making … Continue reading →
So says the Washington Post (via John Noonan, whose comments are worth reading). Hmm. Where did you read that before? We’re not a globe- and history-spanning secret society that’s able to convince people we’re a joke with a dorky blog … Continue reading →
Mike Goldfarb is on fire these days. Your Volgi hasn’t even gotten to his reporting on Burma (tonight, maybe). But here he relates a hell of a scoop by Congressional Quarterly’s Josh Rogin: According to Rogin, “An internal Pentagon oversight … Continue reading →
Regardless of the vote in the Senate, “ The F-22 funding termination this week doesn’t change a thing [about the tactical advantages offered by the stealth fighter’s advanced systems] and I think history will bear out the F-22 advocates’ position … Continue reading →
From Aviation Week: Top military planners in the Pacific are well aware of the F-22’s less advertised capabilities as an airborne command and control node, an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensor package and an advanced electronic and information warfare weapon. … Continue reading →
Mike Goldfarb writes a great obituary. It’s not quite Marc Antony at Caesar’s funeral, but it’s worth your time, beginning: The final vote is 58 to 40. With that victory the Obama White House has eliminated the last major threat … Continue reading →
Feel free to pick which one of these is “an inexcusable waste of money.” The Czar of MuscovyБожію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in … Continue reading →
As you’ll recall, Confucius* says “Buy more F-22s.” This question is heating up increasingly, with Congress and many military officers on the one side, and Secdef Gates and the White House on the other. Dodbuzz.com calls it A Battle for … Continue reading →
Via Mike Goldfarb at the Standard, a WSJ piece showing the awesome power of a boldfaced Gormogon footnote. A House committee threw a wrench in the Obama administration’s plans to end Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-22 Raptor fighter program, voting instead … Continue reading →
My Man(darin), spectacular avionics porn. Let’s just hope it’s not one of the things the Chinese stole a couple months back. If you look at the stuff the F-22* can do, and the F-35 is supposed to be able to … Continue reading →
Bill Sweetman writes, under the great headline: F35 H4X0R3D ZOMG! The Wall Street Journal reports today that part of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program’s computer network has been penetrated and compromised, most likely by China-based intelligence operatives. Key points … Continue reading →
F-22s for Japan? Damn right. There are a handful of countries who can afford the F-22 and be trusted with its technology. Japan is one. Australia is another. ラプター! ラプター! ラプター! If South Korea is really upset about this, they … Continue reading →
So, Russia’s got a substantially larger inventory of tactical nukes than we, and have been increasingly cavalier about brandishing them. That can’t be good. Gabriel Schoenfeld writes fairly persuasively on the topic in today’s WSJ: Yet matters are very different … Continue reading →
