“The Seawolf deployment, the joint B-52 flights over Norway last month, and our carrier going north of Arctic Circle…all speak to a greater show of US presence in the Arctic/High North,” said Rachel Ellehuus, deputy director of the Europe Program at the Washington-based CSIS.
By Paul McLearyThe study finds that 1 B-21, with 10 Long-Range Stand-Off (LRSO) cruise missiles and eight nuclear warheads, would cost $500 million, and $40 million a year (in 2020 dollars) to maintain.
By Theresa HitchensAs delays in getting ships delivered on time worsen, Navy acquisition chief James Geurts said, “It is critical for our Navy that we get ships, we get them on the schedule we contract for them, and that we have high confidence in our shipbuilders to deliver.”
By Paul McLearyRare earths are 17 chemical elements used in military equipment as varied as missile guidance systems to lasers. China controls much of the world’s rare earth production, which has made them a concern of the Pentagon and the White House. Uranium is another critical military material largely controlled today by foreign sources. What should…
By Andy KeiserAs NATO takes unprecedented steps to punish Russia, US Defense Secretary Mattis calls Russian attack in UK “attempted murder.”
By Colin ClarkCRYSTAL CITY: When the Chief of Naval Operations told the Navy in March to close its mouth about readiness issues he was heading in the wrong direction, a Marine and member of the House Armed Services Committee told the Surface Navy Association this morning. Rep. Mike Gallagher, who served two tours in Anbar Province before…
By Colin ClarkCampaign promises of a larger, more ready and fully modernized military have slammed into budget realities as the Trump administration’s fiscal 2018 budget for the Pentagon shows only modest growth above what the Obama administration had projected. Funding at those levels will support a 305-ship Navy, not the 350 ships that candidate Trump proposed back in…
By Mark CancianAs the House and Senate gear up for votes in the coming days to fund the Defense Department, lawmakers are set to support a bow wave of costly nuclear weapons programs increasingly at odds with the needs of U.S. troops and the future threats that dominate their agenda. Notably for a president who famously championed…
By Lacie HeeleyWASHINGTON: Even before it’s announced, the Pentagon’s pick for Chief of Naval Operations – the current head of Naval Reactors — is already being questioned, not because of his performance but because of his current job. When Adm. Hyman Rickover created the unique post of director of Naval Reactors (NR) with its eight-year term, he did it…
By Colin ClarkWASHINGTON NAVY YARD: One of the most secretive agencies in the Navy didn’t just invite reporters to its headquarters today: It offered them cookies and cake. The agency? The Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program. The occasion? The 60th anniversary of the first submarine ever to sail under nuclear power. But there’s a lot more going on…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.When I studied politics in London, one of my lecturers was a fellow named Neil Kinnock, a Welshman who went on to lead the Labour Party. Kinnock, though he loved Wales and clearly understood the pride his countrymen took in their little patch, never joined the then-dominant Welsh nationalist group, Plaid Cymru. Kinnock knew being part…
By James McKeonBob Butterworth knows nuclear weapons. He know cyber weapons. He knows space. He knows intelligence. And Butterworth cares enough to take public risks, to speak plainly in hopes others will do the same and thus help the country find the best answers to tough problems. While the American public has little idea it’s happening, a…
By Bob ButterworthWASHINGTON: If you think the military doesn’t listen to critics or friends, then you haven’t read one of the most interesting blog posts ever from the Pentagon. It’s by the Navy admiral in charge of the nation’s submarines. The piece, by director of undersea warfare Rear. Adm. Richard Breckenridge, popped up on Navy Live, the…
By Colin Clark
CORRECTED: Minuteman Was First Solid-Fueled ICBM; Jon Wolfsthal’s name The first solid-fueled InterContinental Ballistic Missile, Minuteman 1, was deployed some 55 years ago on the same day that President Kennedy announced that Soviet missiles were being deployed in Cuba. At the end of the Cuban missile crisis, President Kennedy credited the newly deployed Minuteman ICBM as his “ace…
By Peter Huessy