Comments on: Gates Readies Budget Ax for Monday Swipe

By: STEPHEN ANDERSON

STEPHEN ANDERSON — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:18:41 +0000

HI GENERALS,
Good morning AMERICA, we are at the edge of a transition that unfolded centuties before the birth of wisdom, YOUR HIGHNESS Sir, africa need to trust US. flying beyound gravity has made me seen the future of civilization as the AMERICAN LASER.….…my disapperance into space is not suprising to me, the seals of democracy is love. DADDY LOVES AMERICA.….
THANK YOU GENERALS.
LONG LIVE PRESIDENT OBAMA
LONG LIVE AMERICA.…

By: JT

JT — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:13:47 +0000

Remember the novel, War in 2020, where one airborne laser above the battle in Africa took out all our helicopters. The identified solved problems were weight and power. Technology from Segway, stabilized binoculars, and commercial video cameras might lead to platform mounting solutions. Know that the first successful device rules the next few battles. We must continue to invest.

By: MacMan

MacMan — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:58:37 +0000

Amen, Richard! We are in deep trouble.

By: bob

bob — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:27:33 +0000

ya i hear you richard… this economic disaster really fueled the dems power grab… socializing everything it seems like? But we do need to drop pricey programs that will never be fielded, while still funding programs that provide a real need.. We need to do a no bs price/performance comparision on what we really need out of the gate, and what we can postpone or cancel.

The army is going to be in real trouble… all their progams are getting cut.… their equipment is aging, and getting torn up in war with no projected replacements in sight…

By: richard

richard — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:53:55 +0000

Too bad the Obama administration hasn’t read the Constitution of the United States or is unable to understand “provide the national defense and promote the general welfare” rather than as they see it “promote the national defense and provide the general welfare”

By: bob

bob — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:32:50 +0000

I think we are having better luck w/kinetic kill vehichle missles than we are with this airborne laser project. Not only does this have to be flying in the area… there has to be like lots of them loitering to be effective… the best idea would be space based lasers in Geo-Sat orbits… but then russia cries Starwars

By: Sgt JFK

Sgt JFK — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:03:14 +0000

Rep. Norm Dicks has no interest in what is good for the military or the country. Only what is good for Boeing. Sad truth.

By: Mark S.

Mark S. — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:53:58 +0000

I agree with the other Mark. With BHO in power it’s going to be a long, sad 4 years for this country.

By: Pi

Pi — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:13:28 +0000

g2mil (above) has the basics correct. the program called abl had won the pr flashy wars. they have been in business to shoot a missile since 1991 (and the original air laser had an ambiguous shoot over less than a mile and was closed down in the 60–70’s). the plane jitter and atmosphere make the abl a non starter (tests were set for 1992, 94, 98, 2002, 2004, etc 2009). But lasers themselves do work if you get the platform right and they will be fielded, on stable platforms, to start, here and in space. They are already in space comms, only comms? right!!

By: Chief Houston

Chief Houston — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:55:11 +0000

I meant put the existing ABL in theater.

By: Chief Houston

Chief Houston — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 05:18:57 +0000

Gen. Carwright has it right,“the guy that gets the bullet between the eyes could not care less.”

Operational effectiveness, speed, cost of production and on time roll out are what is needed to support our build up kinetically. Nation building is in State’s hands now.

DARPA has to get what is needed in the hands of the war fighter’s within time and budget constraints. This is gunfighter time, when speed and accuracy are of the essence.

Put the ABL in theater now. Test it for real, establish C&C and joint ops on the fly. Get the small version on the UAV’s. This country better get itself on a real war footing, now!

By: Davo

Davo — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:43:08 +0000

The ABL has been a scam for almost a decade. Boeing and the USAF always knew it don’t work.

http://www.g2mil.com/ABL.htm

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 13:04:55 +0000

Beware of the “most likely threat” as it is based on an intelligence assessment process that has not updated since the 1940s.

Beware that some of Obama Administration’s “reshaping” isn’t a figleaf for a return of the Jimmy Carter era of Defense” spending and policy. How did that turn out?

I have read loggie20’s inputs on weapons…how would he spend the defense dollar

By: loggie20

loggie20 — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:06:22 +0000

ABL will remain a lab experiment, tech demo.

No sense in building 7 of them to play with technology.

There is no sense in the rest of NMD. The answer has been no trajectory, no time to target since they started shooting at DE Havillands and Fokkers.

There are hundreds of better uses of the resources.

By: stargazer

stargazer — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:56:48 +0000

The tragic irony of cutting ABL is that it appears to be one of the few anti-ballistic missile technologies that might actually work. Certainly the technology is far more promising — and more flexible — than the bullet hitting a bullet concept being pursued in the missile versions of ABM. ABL has had its problems, no denying that, but we need to let the technology be demonstrated. If it works, we have a real breakthrough technology that will revolutionize airborne weapons.