The enormous need for overhead reconnaissance to combat IEDs and to track terrorists and insurgents over large areas for long periods is driving at least one part of the Pentagon to develop so-called stratospheric UAVs that can hover above the Jet Stream for several months or more. That may be the harbinger of a long-term shift in the UAV market, according to one advocate of the concept, Ed Herlik. Persistent stratospheric UAVs will significantly change the marketplace for both platforms and payloads in less than five years, he predicts in a market forecast. “Persistent surveillance (months or a year on-station above the Jet Stream) is the one capability that will significantly enhance the ability to combat an insurgency while minimizing troop risk and ground commitment,” the report says.

North Korea, bereft of friends and access to the outside world, sits isolated but for its great northern neighbor and its ports, so it can be fairly easily contained as a nuclear power. But Iran boasts Shiite followers in a wide arc of the Muslim world, produces oil with which it wins friends and influences people, is bound by eight neighbors and trades with them and many others. It fields and funds terrorists such as Hezbollah who do its bidding when needed. So Iran is not easily contained. That flexibility, and the fact that Iran learned from Iraq’s experience when Israel destroyed the Osirak nuclear plant — disperse your facilities, bury them, reinforce them and lie about them — makes them a formidably difficult state to isolate or control.

Driven by stark fiscal realities, the lessons of two long wars and with the backing of his president, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has issued a clarion call for an end to the Cold War forces that still shape the U.S. military. In a speech at the Eisenhower Library, complete with references to Ike’s warnings about the growing power of both the military and the industrial bureaucracies, Gates also issued a parallel call for a reduction to the hip-deep bureaucracy through which he and other leaders must wade to get things done.

UPDATED: Gates To Ask Congress To Temper Pay, Benefit Increases

Tomorrow’s speech by Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the Eisenhower Library will mark another milestone in his continuing effort to remake the U.S. military, this time with a renewed emphasis on how tight money is and how Congress must stop ruining the Pentagon’s best laid plans by inserting unwanted funding.

The Obama administration took the unique decision this week to release the exact number of American nuclear weapons as part of its effort o be transparent and to encourage other countries to do the same. That, combined with some other recent national security moves, has commentator Ed Timperlake, author and principal director for mobilization, planning and requirements in the Reagan administration, arguing that the administration’s “confusion, political posturing and muddled launch” do not serve the nation well. Read on.

The Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, shot down his own idea of a light attack aircraft for irregular wars today, saying existing aircraft can perform any and all close air support missions that a new, light strike fighter could. On top of that, he averred there is no need for a smaller cargo lifter either. “There is a not a need, in my view, for large numbers of light strike or light lift aircraft in our Air Force to do general purpose force missions,” Schwartz said.

One of the more intriguing technologies spotted at this week’s Navy League Sea-Air-Space Expo was General Atomics’ electromagnetic rail cannon. The company has been working for a number of years with the Office of Naval Research on a 200-nautical mile gun system. In a parallel effort, they’ve been developing a smaller, pulse-power technology demonstrator, called the “Blitzer,” for ship defense against anti-ship cruise missiles and small boat swarms.

The Marines displayed the latest prototype of their swimming armored personnel carrier, the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), today. They unveiled not quite 24 hours after Defense Secretary Robert Gates publicly questioned the very need for the costly new vehicle. EFV skeptics, Gates among them, say the armored amphibian is a costly niche capability that has little value in the war’s America is likely to fight in the future. Recent tests showed the EFV was vulnerable to underbelly IED blasts that breached the vehicle’s hull.

Operational readiness rates for the MV-22 are improving, Marine Corps and Boeing officials said at the Navy League’s annual conference today. The ultimate goal is 82 percent for the aircraft once it achieves full operational capability in 2018 (note that this is a production term; it doesn’t mean that’s when the plane is ready to fly), said Marine Col. Greg Masiello, program manager. On other program fronts, Boeing will bid on the presidential helicopter program.

A whole lot of shaking went on today at the Pentagon as reports surfaced that the KC-X contract would be delayed by several months. At least one senator, Patty Murray of Washington, roared at what she called these “endless delays.” It’s the tanker drama for today.

One of the more promising bits of technology showcased at this year’s Navy League Sea-Air-Space Expo is the K-MAX rotary wing cargo drone. It uses the Kaman intermeshing rotor design and lacks a tail rotor and is capable of day and night operations. The unmanned helicopter that uses an can lift 4,300 lbs. up to 15,000 ft.; only a Chinook helicopter can lift heavier loads at higher altitudes, said Terry Fogarty, Kaman general manager. In tests at Yuma proving grounds it flew with a 1,500 pound load up to 17,000 ft.

In his first speech to the Navy League, Defense Secretary Robert Gates laid out a grim portrait of a smaller fleet, one with fewer aircraft carriers, few or no new submarines and a sharply curtailed expeditionary capability for the Marines. Gates told a somber audience today that he did “not foresee any significant top-line increases in the shipbuilding budget beyond current assumptions. At the end of the day, we have to ask whether the nation can really afford a Navy that relies on $3 to $6 billion destroyers, $7 billion submarines, and $11 billion carriers.”

The Gates’ Pentagon will make significant changes to its National Security Strategy, dropping: the Bush administration’s controversial concept of preemptive attack, also known as preventive force; the idea of a “war” on terror; and the identification of Islamists as the root of terror. The Obama administration is to issue its first NSS soon so we asked Abraham Sofaer at Sanford University’s Hoover Institution to offer a glimpse of what the differences are likely to be from the Bush administration and just how important they will be in guiding the administration’s actions. Sofaer concludes that the Gates’ Pentagon will make significant changes to the language used. Read on to find out if he thinks the Obama administration’s actions will change much.