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Wednesday, September 16, 2009
STUAS-Tier II source selection again pushed rightSo we wait... long delayed, an announcement of a winner
in the Navy/Marine Corps' STUAS/Tier II UAS contest has been pushed to right one more. The Navy announced yesterday what industry has suspected for some time, that a STUAS-Tier II source selection won't happen in FY09 after
all. Citing a need for further evaluation of the proposals submitted -- Boeing/Insitu, Raytheon, GD/Elbit, and Textron/AAI/Aerosonde
-- the program office now anticipates an announcement in 1st Quarter FY10. DSJ is told that the contractors are busy
responding to a second set of "Evaluation Notices" seeking clarification of their proposals.
link
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Patience, not politics, needed in Afghanistan strategySenate Armed Services Committee Chairman
Carl Levin's recent remarks to the press demanding an acceleration of the training and fielding of Afghan forces as a precursor
to sending more American troops to Afghanistan were reiterated today during a SASC hearing where Admiral Mike Mullen's nomination for another two-year term as CJCS was under consideration. Senator Levin's
heart may be in the right place but his intentions will greatly raise the risk of US failure
in Afghanistan. At issue are the expectations regarding the Afghan conflict that President Obama
has set for our Nation, the Afghan people, the international community, and, most
assuredly, our adversaries. In the near-term, without additional US forces on the ground to provide
security and stability, attempting to produce large numbers of indigenous security forces is more likely to
result in large numbers of poorly led and inadequately equipped Afghan troops incapable
of independent counter-insurgency operations.
Moreover, for the Obama Administration to accept the Democrats' assertions and ramp up production
of Afghan soldiers through employing the present US troop levels, while out of necessity, at the same time deal
with the chaos of combat, only increases the likelihood that the Taliban
will reap battlefield successes to the degree that they further undermine the credibility of the Afghan Government, as
well as, current and future American commitments. Thus, Senator Levin's thinking, along with the thinking
of other Democrats and, frankly, some conservative commentators, is at best unwise and at worst extremely dangerous to our national security.
President Obama justified his earlier decision to increase US troop levels in Afghanistan by saying
that the conflict was the right and necessary war for
our Nation to be fighting. The Administration is now gaining an understanding of how exceptionally
difficult it can be to get out of a war in which it has heavily invested, yet one, despite
its protestations, of which it would not prefer to continue. Merely meeting troop production goals
more rapidly is not, however, an exit strategy. To be successful in Afghanistan the Administration is
going to have to practice what amounts to the cardinal virtues of counter-insurgency
operations - flexibility, adaptability, unity of effort, and patience.
And the greatest of these is patience.
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