Loren B. Thompson
May 5, 2022
Most of the war coverage from Ukraine is about what’s happening on the ground, but eventually NATO will have to rethink other facets of its military preparations in light of Russia’s aggression. One area that needs a close look with regard to both Russia and China is whether America and its allies have an adequate fleet of maritime patrol aircraft–particularly for finding and defeating hostile submarines. The U.S. Navy has developed a state-of-the-art patrol plane called the P-8 Poseidon based on Boeing’s 737 jetliner that has also been purchased by key allies, but the U.S. is well short of its stated warfighting requirement (138 aircraft). With Russia and China both investing heavily in more capable submarines, this gap needs to be addressed. We can no longer count on either country containing aggressive impulses in the future. I have written a commentary for Forbes here.
The views and opinions expressed in this issue brief are those of the author.
 |
Loren B. Thompson is a Senior Adviser at GPI, Chief Operating Officer of the non-profit Lexington Institute and Chief Executive Officer of Source Associates, a for-profit consultancy. Prior to holding his present positions, he was Deputy Director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University and taught graduate-level courses in strategy, technology and media affairs at Georgetown. He has also taught at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Mr. Thompson holds doctoral and masters degrees in government from Georgetown University and a bachelor of science degree in political science from Northeastern |