Saturday, January 10, 2009

HOT5 Daily 1/10/2009

1. "The New Army Air Corps" The rise of UAVs and their implications for the Army vis a vis the Air Force.

Representative Sample: A recent development has profound implications for the balance of power between America's armed services

2. "When Flu Beasties Mutate" Evolution in action.

Representative Sample: life on earth rudely refuses to be bound by the imagination of creationist hacks

3. "In defense of security contractors" How they are used and why we should keep using them.

Representative Sample: We won't be getting rid of private security contractors anytime soon -- and for good reason.

4. "Stimulus to fund Real ID?"  Yet another example of how the "stimulus" will actually be a giant pork project.

Representative Sample:  Lobbyists for the homeland security industry and the legislators who love them are agitating for up to $2 billion of the proposed economic stimulus package

5. "Where Were The Protesters When Missiles Were Hitting Israel?" Some of them were no doubt cheering, yet disappointed at the lack of major Israeli casualties.

Representative Sample: Why did the world keep silent for so many years? Could anyone really expect Israel to do nothing for evermore?


To submit a blog post for HOT5 Daily, please e-mail me at unrright@NOSPAMgmail.com. Put HOT5 in the subject.

5 comments:

  1. Re, "The New Army Air Corps," I don't think the author knows what he's talking about. Army Aviation is already huge (d'oh, helicopters) without UAV's. There's no way the USAF can turn the clock back on that, and it won't be able to do so (or even want to I think) with smaller UAVs operating as spotters.

    Close air support has never been a favorite USAF mission, BTW. (Consider the orphan status of the A-10 "Warthog" before the 1991 Gulf War).

    Of course, the bigger the UAV, and the more complex and varied its mission capabilities, the more we can look to the USAF asserting its interest in the subject.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Army Aviation is already huge"

    True, and attack helicopters are already a major source of combat air power for the army. He should have mentioned that in the article.

    "Close air support has never been a favorite USAF mission, BTW."

    Yes, that was one of the rationales for army control of attack helicopters, and no doubt it will be used again to gain/keep control of new assets.

    "Of course, the bigger the UAV, and the more complex and varied its mission capabilities, the more we can look to the USAF asserting its interest in the subject."

    That's one of the main points of the article, that things are trending so that more and more combat air power/close support type elements are coming under army control. The air force may be fighting a losing battle in that regard and might have to redefine part of its mission.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why did the world keep silent for so many years?

    The US Congress has almost unanimously backed Israel. Is that not part of the world?

    ReplyDelete
  4. "The US Congress has almost unanimously backed Israel. Is that not part of the world?"

    Since he's referring to the parts of the world protesting in favor of the Palestinians, he isn't referring to the U.S. Most of the U.S. supports Israel.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ah. Well, this article is a lot better than your quote makes it look like...

    ReplyDelete