Defense

China’s largely inactive submarine fleet stirs

U.S. Navy officials and analysts take notice of country’s growing maritime power.

Defense

Surging oil prices send military costs skyrocketing

Defense sees 30 percent rise in the price of a gallon of gas in just three months.

News And Analysis

Behind the Wheel

The perils of letting short-term planning drive major weapons programs.

Features

Girding For Battle

The Pentagon and military services are gearing up for a bruising quadrennial review that could reshape the way we fight.

Defense

Reports warn of impending Army budget crisis

Costs of fighting wars, creating new units and buying future equipment are rapidly adding up.

Defense

Lawmakers call for future Navy cruisers to be nuclear powered

Service could get around the provision by declaring that doing so is not "in the national interest."

Defense

Army modernization plans face funding challenge

Report finds that helicopter fleet and Future Combat Systems project will be in direct competition for available budgets after 2020.

Defense

Coast Guard expands wireless maritime 911 system

Rescue 21 will add more port security coverage and provide enhanced direction technology.

Defense

Defense, diplomatic agencies collaborate on counterinsurgency guide

Document under development calls for “whole-of-government” approach to battling insurgencies.

News And Analysis

In Love and War

Divorce rates actually decline with deployments, study shows.

Defense

Pentagon’s counter-bomb agency running out of money

Lawmakers slashed funding for Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization in recent defense spending bill.

Defense

Pentagon opens high-level jobs to civilian senior execs

Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England creates corps of key executive positions that "require an enterprise perspective."

Features

Desperate For Money

The Air Force pleads for modernization funds.

Defense

Report warns new lethal small arms could get in terrorist hands

Smaller and more accurate weapons are becoming more readily available on the open market.

Oversight

Efforts to empower weapons program managers must begin at the top

GAO report finds that when policy does not match practice, acquisition reform fails.

Defense

Report questions cost effectiveness of space weapons

Space-based missile defense system simply could be overwhelmed with decoys or ballistic missile attacks.

Defense

Report seeks ‘smart power’ overhaul of federal operations

Think tank urges restructuring of civilian agencies to better promote U.S. interests abroad.

Tech

Contrasting rescue missions show effects of networked military communications

Report highlights difference between “Black Hawk Down” incident and 2004 rescue in Tal Afar, Iraq.

Defense

Air Force chief describes future bomber

New aircraft will be delivered by 2018 and will be agile enough to penetrate enemy defenses in daylight, Gen. Michael Moseley says.

News And Analysis

The Unsurge

Gen. David Petraeus says the drawdown means military goals have been met in Iraq, but critics paint another picture.