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.
Science & Tech
Trump’s New Missile Policy Relies Heavily on Largely Unproven Technologies
New adversary missiles are to be met by a host of technologies that, by and large, don’t exist yet.
Threats
Missile Defense Review Calls for Protecting US From Cruise Missiles
The long-awaited report calls for technology development, but stops short of calling for the deployment of hypersonic interceptors and space-based lasers.
Ideas
Trump Tried Partisan Applause Lines Inside the Pentagon. Nobody Applauded.
The president uses a missile-defense policy rollout to bash Democrats before the military’s senior leaders.
Science & Tech
Pentagon to Study Putting Anti-Missile Laser Weapons in Space
The long-anticipated missile defense review shies away from a full-scale push — which critics say underlines the idea’s folly.
Threats
Russia Claims To Be On Track to Deploy a Maneuverable ICBM Next Year
Observers say that’s unlikely.
Science & Tech
Inspectors Find Big Cyber Vulnerabilities in US Missile Defense System
The managers of the nation’s missile defense system aren’t implementing basic cybersecurity practices, according to a new inspector report.
Business
Test Validates New US Interceptor for European, Japanese Missile Shields
In a first, an SM-3 shot down an intermediate-range ballistic target.
Ideas
How FEMA Could Help Avoid Another Missile Alert Mishap
State and local authorities are responsible for sending and rescinding alerts, but FEMA can—and says it will—require the underlying infrastructure be more user-friendly.
Science & Tech