by Craig Hooper on December 30, 2010
Chris Albon and I have an article up at The Atlantic to discuss the challenges of getting noncombatants out of Korea. Aside from my concern that our NEO evacuation plans (and our misguided effort to “normalize” Korean tours) are unready, under-resourced and poorly planned, I think the entire region needs to do some serious thinking […]
by Craig Hooper on December 13, 2010
Last week’s breathless Washington Times “Inside the Ring” report on North Korea’s interest in nuclear anti-ship weaponry is unrealistic, but, as much as I hate to admit it, the underlying idea–using subs as a nuclear delivery platform–is plausible. But first, step away from Gertz and his China-based fear-mongering. Let’s drop the Chinese-threat lenses, and realize […]
by Craig Hooper on November 17, 2010
So here’s where we learn that fluffing up a balky, poorly-managed defense procurement program has serious geopolitical consequences. What happens in Asia if the F-35B program collapses? Well, it could get pretty ugly. For a lot of Asian Navies, the F-35B offers the only viable means to match China’s first steps into carrier aviation. As […]
by Craig Hooper on October 15, 2010
The much ballyhooed Center For Naval Analysis (CNA) report, “The Navy at a Tipping Point: Maritime Dominance at Stake” is not a document that should guide high-level naval decision-makers. As I have written before, the policy suggestions are based on some really questionable assumptions and the report is inattentive to detail. OPNAV NOOX could have […]
by Craig Hooper on September 12, 2010
Erstwhile NextNavy amigo Christopher Albon and I pounded out another call for more U.S. hospital ships–a second Great White Fleet, as it were. After watching many calls for new–or more–hospital ships go ignored, I can only wonder if things might change now that some new hospital ships, supported by a well-funded and savvy diplomatic corps, […]
by Craig Hooper on July 8, 2010
As many of you know, I’m occasionally contributing to the military.com universe as their resident Naval Analyst. In today’s post, I wonder what will happen if, over the next two years, the 7,804 Vertical Launch System (VLS) cells in the surface fleet suddenly acquired a Prompt Global Strike capability? It’s just a DARPA project now, […]
by Craig Hooper on June 30, 2010
So China announces, in advance, that a set of naval exercises will take place from June 30 to July 5. And as expected, China fear-monger Andrew Erickson and the rest of America’s China “threat technicians” are freaking out. And why shouldn’t they? The idea of China launching an “anti-access exercise” over America’s 4th of July […]
by Craig Hooper on April 10, 2010
The Center for Naval Analyses built their new report, “The Navy at a Tipping Point: maritime Dominance at Stake?” on a comforting trellis of assumptions: “First, there will be a continued demand for a safe and secure global maritime environment. Advantages to having an open world economy and trade for all major powers are growing…Increasingly, […]
by Craig Hooper on March 31, 2010
So, it seems the (estimated) 131st consecutive successful Trident test flight went off in an epic fashion! In Saudi! That’s…unprecedented. (UPDATE: Looks like the story is getting walked back a bit…the AP’s source, “A Western military official in Saudi Arabia” is being contradicted by Pentagon spokespersons–who say there was no launch of any kind.) How, […]
by Craig Hooper on March 29, 2010
ConflictHealth.com‘s Chris Albon and I cooked up a little article on China’s Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile threat. Read it here. zp8497586rq