Top Military Developments of 2010

A very interesting list, and clearly only highlights. Here are some highlights of the highlights:

• "Over the last eight years, billions of dollars has been spent on creating several generations of increasingly accurate combat simulators for training troops to deal with roadside bombs, hostile civilians, flying UAVs and new enemy tactics. These sims are taken for granted inside the army and marines, but still seem out of place to ill informed outsiders."
• "The big news is that the admirals are actively brainstorming how to live with a high cost/low income future, not try to magically make it go away."
• "Troops have increasingly been using their cell phones, including a growing number of smart phones (iPhone and Android in particular). These phones are very useful in a combat zone, and officers up to the top of the food chain have noticed this. So the decision has been made to create a militarized version of the smart phone."
• "The Russians are buying warships and infantry equipment from France, UAVs from Israel and armored vehicles from Italy. The Cold War is truly over."
• "The bolt-action, smokeless powder rifle was king of the battlefield for about half a century, before its replacement (the assault rifle) began to appear, so military technology pundits are trying to figure out what's going on here. There should be a new, breakthrough weapon by now. Where is it?"  I suspect we haven't seen it because Europe's been at peace for most of the last half-century, and for the rest of the world, the AK-47 has been more than they need.