CSBA in the News

What does an $810 million U.S. defense “initiative” to “reassure” Europe in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s Crimean land grab have to do with emergency war needs in Afghanistan and Iraq? Absolutely nothing. So why does that hefty sum appear in the military’s budget, now pending on Capitol Hill, meant to support operations in those two Middle Eastern countries?

Back in the 1990s, the U.S. Navy came up with a radical plan to replace its tried-and-true Perry-class frigates, at the time the sailing branch’s most numerous surface warship.

The Republican takeover of the Senate will put some of the Air Force’s harshest critics in new positions of power as the service looks to shape its future force structure.

Where do ground forces fit in the Pentagon’s new offset strategy? The answer may be an intriguing mix of old-fashioned armored forces, mobile missile launchers, and lasers on trucks.

A well-regarded national security think tank on Dec. 10 presented its version of an “offset strategy” to counter the growing threats to U.S. power-projection capabilities, which calls for increased investments in longer-range and stealthy strike and reconnaissance platforms, unmanned systems and lower-cost defense weapons such as the electromagnetic railgun and lasers.