Defense

In the late 1950s, when everyone expected World War III to go nuclear, the U.S. Army had to contemplate operating on a battlefield sprouting atomic fireballs. This put Army planners in a dilemma. Military theory said that forces had to be concentrated to overwhelm the enemy and achieve decisive results. Common sense said that massing troops would only present a juicy target for nuclear weapons.

If America goes to war with China, rocketry may be the U.S. Army’s most important contribution. A conflict across the vast Pacific would be waged primarily by air and sea forces, backed by small contingents of ground troops. But while the Army may not storm Shanghai in a ground assault, it certainly has the ability to strike Chinese territory. The Army has an arsenal of long-range munitions in…

Nearly 32 years have passed since Master Sgt. Gary I. Gordon handed a rifle and remaining rounds of ammunition to Black Hawk pilot Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael Durant at the helicopter’s wreckage site, said, “Good luck,” and waded into a sea of swarming Somali enemies with only a pistol in hand. In an event last month, hosted by U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence and Fort Gordon…

U.S. Special Operations Command wants a small, jam-proof, fire-and-forget missile that can be launched from medium-sized drones. The goal of the Symbiotic UAS Delivery System, or SCBDS, project is to develop a missile small enough to “allow special operations soldiers to conduct multiple fire and forget kinetic strikes” from a Group 2 or 3 drone that has advanced target recognition…