Nike Hercules missiles on display at the SF-88 launch site near San Francisco. Image by Bhautik Joshi. A PDF version of this article with footnote citations and a full bibliography can be accessed here. On…
The Chinese type 052 destroyer Qingdao receives a warm welcome at Pearl Harbor. Nearly everyone has seen an infographic showing US military spending compared to the rest of the world, often accompanied with an admonishment…
Trump signs the 2018 National Defense Authorization. DOD photo by Stephanie Chasez. A recent article in the New York Times by Lindsay Koshgarian claims that defense spending cuts could pay for Medicare for All. I…
The Zumwalt-class destroyer (pictured) will provide some design cues for the Navy’s new Large Surface Combatant. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Sonja Wickard. With memories of the Zumwalt-class (DDG-1000) destroyer’s spectacular failure…
A Patriot launcher unit equipped with PAC-2 missiles deployed in Turkey. The 2019 Missile Defense Review (MDR), a policy document outlining the way forward for American missile defense efforts, was released in January 2019 following…
Update 1/18/2020: The OMFV portion of this article is now somewhat outdated, as the program only ended up receiving one bid (GDLS) and is now in limbo. Even though OMFV did not ask for a…
Two years ago, missile defense expert George Lewis of mostlymissiledefense penned an article on the prospect of employing Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) Block IIA interceptors against intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). His piece struck me as remarkable…
From released internal memos and after-action reports to detailed doctrine manuals to capstone strategy papers, a deluge of written material emanates from the American defense establishment. While many of these obscure documents are of little importance…
While military programs rarely capture the attention of the mainstream public, North Korea’s recent string of missile tests helped bring American homeland ballistic missile defense (BMD) to the forefront. Amidst heightened awareness of the nuclear…
Over the past few decades, China’s economy has grown at a startling pace — by some estimates, Chinese GDP is larger than that of the United States when adjusted for purchasing power parity. However, the…