Military And Intelligence News Briefs -- February 17, 2015

US Navy Photo/Alamy

Bill Sweetman, Daily Beast: The Pentagon is On Course for Fiscal Disaster

The U.S. military is planning on spending megabucks on a slew of new weapons systems—with no obvious way to pay for them.

If the Pentagon was a family, the parents would be buying new cars every other year and eating out three times a week while blithely planning to put all five kids through Harvard. This is sometimes called the “bow wave” in defense circles, but that’s a euphemism for fiscal misfeasance.

Military And Intelligence News Briefs -- February 17, 2015

Shortchanging Missile Defense: The need is urgent as nuclear threats proliferate. -- WSJ

Iran arms exports to Iraq tolerated in fight against Isis says report -- The Guardian

Military chiefs in Saudi for anti-Islamic State talks -- Jakarta Post

Saudi Military Says Helicopter Crashes, Kills 4 Crew Members -- ABC News

Two new generation radars to be commissioned ahead of time in Russia's Siberia -- ITAR-TASS

Russia’s Su-34, MiG Fighter Jets Begin Combat Exercises; Dutch Military To Inspect Southern Russia -- IBTimes

Russia Angles to Snatch $20Bln Indian Fighter Jet Deal From France -- Moscow Times

Germany Says Russian Moves Triggering Military Shift -- Bloomberg

Poland to Spend $42bn on Military Hardware in Next Decade -- Newsweek

Italy to maintain F-35 jet orders despite political pressure -sources -- Reuters

Ex-MI6 chief urges debate over Libya intervention after ISIS beheads Coptic Christians -- RT

The veil is lifting on the world's largest military -- The Economist

Warplanes: And Then There Were Five Chinese Stealth Fighters -- Strategy Page

Corruption in China’s Military: One of Many Problems -- Dennis J. Blasko, War On The Rocks

Chad begins U.S.-backed military exercise as warm-up for Boko Haram -- Reuters

America's Future 6th Gen. Fighter Faces a Changing World -- John Stillion, Real Clear Defense

Space: How Google Killed The KH-12 -- Strategy Page

Reinventing The Army Via ‘Pacific Pathways’ -- Sydney J. Freedberg Jr., Breaking Defense

‘Such a knucklehead’: US army commander admits confusing location of key Ukrainian city -- RT

As Hagel’s tenure as secretary of defense ends, a look back -- Stars and Stripes

New defense chief makes Pentagon debut; wife slips, falls on ice -- AP

Army tracks most-wanted fugitives on new website -- Army Times

Army eases policy on transgender soldiers -- Military Times

Pentagon Risks Soldiers’ Health, Safety to Save Money -- Brianna Ehley, The Fiscal Times

5 U.S. Special Operations Forces Terrorists Should Fear -- National Interest

Special Operations: The Revenge Of The Bureaucrats -- Strategy Page

Spy agencies fund climate research in hunt for weather weapon, scientist fears -- The Guardian

The F-35 and Defense Transformation -- Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake, Defense News

The original Air Force One found neglected and baking in the Arizona desert: Aircraft on which Eisenhower wrote his 'Atoms for Peace' speech has fallen on hard times -- Daily Mail