F/A-18 with test JASSMs(click to view full) In March 2005, Lockheed Martin’s AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-off Missile (or JASSM) cruise missile won the competition with Boeing’s SLAM-ER and the Taurus KEPD 350 for the AIR 5418 Follow-on Standoff...
* President Obama announced the US would leave 9,800 troops in Afghanistan in 2015, then cut than number by half the next year. * US Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO, SAC-D member) sums up the Republican reaction: “If we are going to leave forces in Afghanistan, we...
* Ukraine elected businessman Petro Poroshenko as its next president with a relatively high margin, and one of his pledges is to wrap up operations in Eastern Ukraine quickly. Fighting in Donetsk (Eastern Ukraine) reportedly led to the death of about 40 pro-Russian...
Monday, May 28th is Memorial Day in the USA. As we mentioned on Friday, DID honors those who have given all of their tomorrows in American military service, and will not be publishing. Readers are reminded that in America, the Memorial Day moment of silence takes...
* The Economist notes that “money and reform have given Russia armed forces it can use.” There are serious remaining weaknesses, and Russia may not sustain this forever, but with more than 20% of public spending dedicated to defense, the current...