Pence Defends Space Force Costs: ‘What Price Freedom?’

Pence Defends Space Force Costs: ‘What Price Freedom?’
Pence Defends Space Force Costs: ‘What Price Freedom?’

For insights about how the US military currently views the realities of space war, it’s helpful to consider the recently concluded annual Schriever War Game.

The Rest Of The Story: Trump, DoD & Hill Readied INF Pullout For Years

The Rest Of The Story: Trump, DoD & Hill Readied INF Pullout For Years
The Rest Of The Story: Trump, DoD & Hill Readied INF Pullout For Years

WASHINGTON: Unreleased Pentagon documents and Congressional demands for information reveal that Washington has long planned for the day when the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with Russia would be ripped up. The report by the Joint Staff and Strategic Command, exclusively obtained by Breaking Defense, make clear that as far back as 2013 — a…

Aussies At Impasse With France Over New Sub; Japan May Win

Aussies At Impasse With France Over New Sub; Japan May Win
Aussies At Impasse With France Over New Sub; Japan May Win

France and Australia must resolve major differences over the Aussies’ new submarine program before a new Australian government is elected next year, and the most obvious alternative is Japan.

First UN Mil-Mil Talks With North Korea In 11 years; What They Mean

First UN Mil-Mil Talks With North Korea In 11 years; What They Mean
First UN Mil-Mil Talks With North Korea In 11 years; What They Mean

  WASHINGTON: Most observers of President Trump’s North Korean diplomacy are understandably skeptical of whether the Hermit Kingdom is any closer to curbing expansion of its nuclear arsenal. But presumptive commander of UN Korean Forces did present evidence today to the Senate Armed Services Committee that the temperature of conflict on the Korean peninsula really…

U.S. Sending Billions Worth of P-8s, E-2Ds To Asian Allies

U.S. Sending Billions Worth of P-8s, E-2Ds To Asian Allies
U.S. Sending Billions Worth of P-8s, E-2Ds To Asian Allies

Japan and South Korea are getting new generations of sub-hunting and intelligence-gathering aircraft as China, North Korea, and Russia continue to push more assets into the waters of the Pacific.

NATO, Russia Prep Biggest War Games Since Cold War

NATO, Russia Prep Biggest War Games Since Cold War
NATO, Russia Prep Biggest War Games Since Cold War

WASHINGTON: Within the next several weeks, both Russia and NATO will kick off some of the largest military exercises since the end of the Cold War. Hundreds of thousands of troops, tens of thousands of vehicles, hundreds of aircraft, and dozens of warships will charge into action in a series of mock engagements stretching from…

Navy Enters Drone Age, Taps Boeing for MQ-25

Navy Enters Drone Age, Taps Boeing for MQ-25
Navy Enters Drone Age, Taps Boeing for MQ-25

Loaded with jet fuel, the drones will vastly extend the ranges of carrier-based aircraft operating in the expanses of the western Pacific. That lets the Navy strike deeper into China’s layered defenses while keeping the big decks out of range of most of China’s anti-ship missiles.

Eyeing China, Australia Busily Buys Up Frigates, Drones, and Sub-Hunting Planes

Eyeing China, Australia Busily Buys Up Frigates, Drones, and Sub-Hunting Planes
Eyeing China, Australia Busily Buys Up Frigates, Drones, and Sub-Hunting Planes

Australia looking to protect its home waters, while sending a signal to Washington that it is one of the allies that is trying to pull its weight in defending itself.

Will Trump’s Halt To US-South Korean Exercises Work? Remember The Vietnam Bombing Halt

Will Trump’s Halt To US-South Korean Exercises Work? Remember The Vietnam Bombing Halt
Will Trump’s Halt To US-South Korean Exercises Work? Remember The Vietnam Bombing Halt

President Trump announced that the United States would stop flying bombers over South Korea and suspend exercises there to facilitate diplomatic negotiations with North Korea. This echoes President Johnson’s March 1968 decision to halt the bombing of most of North Vietnam, also done to encourage negotiations. In 1968 the effort succeeded, at least in the short…

Trump Supporter Sen. Perdue ‘Very Troubled’ By Pledge To End Korea Exercises

Trump Supporter Sen. Perdue ‘Very Troubled’ By Pledge To End Korea Exercises
Trump Supporter Sen. Perdue ‘Very Troubled’ By Pledge To End Korea Exercises

“I’ve never agreed with 100% of what this president says off the cuff like that,” Perdue said. The pledge to end exercises — deemed critical to allied military readiness — was not mentioned in the official joint statement, he noted, and therefore isn’t a binding commitment, only an expression of presidential intent predicated on continued cooperation from Pyongyang.

US Needs New Strategy To Combat Russian, Chinese ‘Political Warfare’: CSBA

US Needs New Strategy To Combat Russian, Chinese ‘Political Warfare’: CSBA
US Needs New Strategy To Combat Russian, Chinese ‘Political Warfare’: CSBA

If war is politics by other means, then politics is war by other means, Chinese and Russian leaders believe. And political warfare must be conducted with the same ruthless ingenuity as open war because the stakes are equally high: the survival or destruction of the regime.

Contractor Fined $20M For Defrauding Navy

Contractor Fined $20M For Defrauding Navy
Contractor Fined $20M For Defrauding Navy

Navy finds new problems with berthing fees and services, and this time Fat Leonard had nothing to do with it.

Wittman: We Need An Atlantic Rebalance

Wittman: We Need An Atlantic Rebalance
Wittman: We Need An Atlantic Rebalance

The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) John Richardson made a major organizational announcement with major strategic implications when he announced the Navy would re-establish the Second Fleet, which covers the Atlantic. But that would, so far, only mean adding 250 people to the command. Without making larger strategic changes, that is not enough. To respond appropriately to Russian naval…

Stalingrad Was Small: Multi-Domain Ops In Megacities

Stalingrad Was Small: Multi-Domain Ops In Megacities
Stalingrad Was Small: Multi-Domain Ops In Megacities

HONOLULU: As Seoul residents awaken to the whoomp, whoomp of the first North Korean shells and air raid sirens wail, millions pour from their apartments to the street, desperate for the shelter of the city’s 1,500 miles of deep tunnels. Some stream to the city’s rivers, hoping to head south. North Korean special operations troops,…