Ideas

An Old Idea Could Bring Anti-Aircraft Missiles of Unprecedented Capability

Ramjet SAMs promise interceptions at altitudes and distances far beyond today’s defenses.

Ideas

What Happens After the INF Treaty?

Deterrence and arms control have long shaped U.S. national security policy. A negotiator of the 1987 agreement asks: What now?

Science & Tech

Pentagon Shelves Neutral Particle Beam Research

One of the U.S. military’s most ambitious space-based projects has crashed back to Earth.

Threats

The US Just Launched a Long-Outlawed Missile. Welcome to the Post-INF World

Sunday’s test sent a ground-launched missile more than 500 kilometers, a test that would have been illegal last month.

Science & Tech

A Small Texas City Will Become the Country’s ‘Hypersonics Research Capital’

The Army Futures Command will test missiles and autonomous vehicles some 100 miles east of Austin.

Business

With China, Russia in Mind, Pentagon Adding Stealthy Cruise Missiles

Lockheed Martin is building a new factory to accommodate the military’s demand.

Ideas

Consider a National-Team Approach to the Next ICBM

Boeing’s decision not to bid on the Air Force’s replacement program doesn’t have to be a disaster.

Business

Boeing: $85B Competition to Build New ICBMs Favors Northrop Grumman

The company says it will sit out if the U.S. Air Force does not change the bidding parameters.

Ideas

Europe Has No Attractive Options in the Post-INF World

Soon to be back in the nuclear line of fire, Europeans wonder how to get arms control back on the international agenda.

Business

Fearing Iran, Qatar Continues Building its Missile Defenses

The Middle Eastern nation told the White House it would buy NASAMS and add to its Patriot batteries.

Ideas

Some Cautionary Notes on the New ‘Knife Missile’

Will the blade-wielding Hellfire variant actually reduce civilian casualties? Maybe.

Science & Tech

New Nuclear Missiles' Cost Estimate Changes Again

The fight over America’s nuclear missile future gets cloudier, as Air Force says expensive silo improvements would be needed for any new ICBMs.

Ideas

Will Hypersonics Finally Force the Pentagon to Integrate Kinetic and Non-Kinetic Defenses?

It’s long been too hard to get the U.S. military’s cyber-EW-IO operators on the same page with more traditional trigger-pullers.

Ideas

Laser Weapons: A Blueprint for Adding Them to the Force

Directed energy weapons promise a new advantage — if the U.S. accelerates development of related technologies and doctrine.

Ideas

A Technological Path Out of the Missile-Defense Security Dilemma

As boost-phase defenses become viable, they could reduce the destabilizing effects of longer-ranged defenses on great-power relationships.

Ideas

Ep. 40: Cruise Missiles, Missile Defense and 21st-Century Hybrid War

Welcome to our podcast about the news, strategy, tech, and business trends defining the future of national security.

Policy

Trump Administration Downplays Fears of Post-Treaty Arms Race

"Nothing the U.S. is currently looking at is nuclear in character,” a senior administration official says, after announcing INF withdrawal.

Science & Tech

Expect a Missile Race After the INF Demise

If the Trump administration withdraws, experts see rapid development of new missiles.

Ideas

The INF Treaty Is Doomed. We Need a New Arms-Control Framework

The new approach will have to deal with a White House intent on acting unilaterally and a Russia seeking to reverse the effects of NATO’s eastward expansion.

Ideas

The New Missile-Defense Policy Won’t Make Us Safer

Instead, it will encourage rogue states to nuke first in a conflict, and will increase the risk of escalation in a great-power war.