CSBA in the News

Asked flat out whether transformation was back as a central organizing principle for the Pentagon, Krepinevich — who literally wrote the paper on transformation, “The Military-Technical Revolution: A Preliminary Assessment” in 1992 — said no. Pressed further, he says: “I would probably prefer to give a not-sure answer.” He argues with his usual precision that transformation per se — roughly defined as the Pentagon’s efforts to actually implement a Revolution in Military Affairs — may not have ever really happened, so it’s hard to say it’s back/…/

The Pentagon needs to stop stalling and start figuring out how to cut its budget by $50 billion annually for the foreseeable future in a way that preserves national security, defense analysts from across the political spectrum said on Thursday.

The US Navy is considering adding conformal fuel tanks (CFTs) onto its fleet of Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighters, sources say. The twin dorsally mounted tanks are expected to be tested this summer/…/

It’s too generous to say President Obama is “leading from behind” on Syria. A better description might be that he’s getting dragged in by the ear. Yet bit by bit, pressured mainly by France but also by shifting opinion in Washington, the administration is sending signals that it knows it can’t avoid involvement in the Syrian civil war forever/…/

Some estimates now put the cost of the war in Iraq at about two trillion dollars and the number of dead, both military and civilian, at nearly 200,000. The conflict, whose first concussive blasts were felt at 02:30 UTC on March 20, 2003, forever reshaped the way the United States armed forces conduct war/…/

Over the next two to three decades, far more technologically sophisticated robots will be integrated into U.S. and European fighting forces. Given budget cuts, high-tech advances, and competition for air and technological superiority, the military will be pushed toward deploying large numbers of advanced weapons systems—as already outlined in the U.S. military’s planning road map through 2036/…/