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Stand-up of the Navy Air and Missile Defense Command (NAMDC)

On Thursday, 30 April 2009, the Navy’s newest Center of Excellence (COE), the Navy Air and Missile Defense Center, was opened for business onboard the Naval Weapons Development Center, Dahlgren Virginia. RADM Brad Hicks, who is also the Aegis BMD program director, will serve as the Center’s first commander until a permanent flag is assigned…

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Restructuring the Military: 2009 Edition

… (T)his budget represents an opportunity; one of those rare chances to match virtue to necessity, to critically and ruthlessly separate appetites from real requirements, those things that are desirable in a perfect world from those things that are truly needed in light of the threats America faces and the missions we are likely to…

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China’s Military Power – 2009 Report

Those dinosaurs amongst us remember them from another age – the ghostly lines that arced out from the geopolitical heartland of the Soviet Union.  Head east from Norfolk or west from Pearl or San Diego and you’d trip the first one, established by the orbiting EORSAT and RORSATs, pricking interest in command centers back in…

Missiles of Winter: International Conventions (UPDATED)

Referenced article here. From Ria Novosti comes news today that this time ’round, the DPRK gets it…sort of: North Korea has informed Russia that it has signed up to an international treaty and convention on space, a Russian Foreign Ministry source said on Thursday. “The Foreign Ministry of Russia, being a depositary state, received on…

The Missiles of Winter (IV) – The Pillars of BMD

Previous Installments:     Part I Part II Part III Ballistic missile defense is characterized by three pillars; offensive operations, passive defense and active defense all supported by command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I).   Individually, each has its own advantages, challenges and measured success in application.   However, it is not until they…

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E-2D Advanced Hawkeye – Death By A Thousand Cuts?

Disclaimer: I am not nor have I ever been an employee of N-G.  Yes, I have over 3,000 hours in their E-2C and it is with that time, and the experiences it has brought across a wide playing field that the following is submitted. – SJS The final deliveries of supplies and materials for the…