“I’ve made my own preliminary cost estimates… and I can’t figure out a way to make them (space-based interceptors) cost as much as some of the numbers I’ve seen tossed around the media (like) many tens of billions of dollars.” ($67 to $109 billion is commonly cited.) ~ Dr. Michael Griffin, Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Read Full Story
“Although the program was cancelled due to opposition in Congress, and lack of interest during the Clinton Administration, the aerospace technology developed utilized a combination of essentially off-the-shelf commercial and military technology that is still available to U.S. aerospace development.” ~ Donald H. Baucom, The Rise and Fall of Brilliant Pebbles Read Full Story
In a June 18, 2018 speech to the National Space Council, President Trump stated, “I’m hereby directing the Department of Defense and the Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces . . . separate but equal from the Air Force. That’s a big statement.” Then he asked Gen. Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “Got it?” General Dunford replied, “We got it.” Read Full Story
“To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.” ~Sir Winston Churchill. Read Full Story
“Through my entire career I have watched the space enterprise struggle with integration in the [space] multidomain. You watch the chief of staff and many of the generals try to figure out how to seamlessly stitch the space community into a networked architecture. In my opinion, that will [be] harder at first to figure out. What does a ‘Space Force’ look like? What are the primary missions?” Col. Russell Teehan, Director of the Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate and Commander of Phillips Research Site, Kirtland AFB, NM at the NewSpace conference, Seattle, June 26, 2018 Read Full Story
“Someday, not too distant; there can come streaking out of somewhere (We won’t be able to hear it, it will come so fast.) some kind of gadget with an explosive so powerful that one projectile will be able to wipe out completely this city of Washington. . . . I think we will meet the attack alright [sic] and, of course, in the air. But I’ll tell you one thing, there won’t be a …pilot in the sky! That attack will be met by machines guided not by human brains, but by devices conjured up by human brains.” ~ General Henry H. Arnold, 1943 Read Full Story
. . . Ruby lips above the water, Blowing bubbles soft and fine, But alas, I was no swimmer, So I lost my Clementine.
Oh my darling, Oh my darling, Oh my darling Clementine, You are lost and gone forever, Dreadful sorry Clementine. Read Full Story
“Brilliant Pebbles, canceled by the Clinton Administration for ideological reasons, could be resurrected and begin deployment before 2024, total cost $20 billion or less. The current National Defense Authorization Act in Sections 1685 “Boost Phase Ballistic Missile Defense” and 1688 ‘Plan For Development Of Space-Based Missile Intercept Layer” opens the door for the return of ‘Star Wars!’” ~Peter Vincent Pry in Better SANE than MAD, published by The Mackensie Institute Read Full Story
“Wouldn’t it be better to save lives than to avenge them?” ~President Ronald Reagan … March 23, 1983 Read Full Story
“I didn’t take this job so that we could regain parity with our adversaries. As I’ve taken to saying: ‘I want to see their hand and raise them one. I want to make them worry about catching up with us again. . . Any American, any ally or partner that we have who doesn’t see it that way, I don’t have time for you.’” Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin Read Full Story
We will be adding key policy briefs as we progress.