“We won’t hesitate to come forward and ask for what we need to make sure that we maintain our stocks,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told senators today.
By Ashley RoqueHow to unlock innovation and savings for DoD: “commercial,” not COTS
Overmatch is fleeting and while traditional acquisitions can’t always keep up with new threats, a different and approved practice can.
Leon Panetta, Michèle Flournoy, and H.R. McMaster agreed Ukraine is showing China how tough a target Taiwan could be, while Bob Gates predicted Xi would not arm Putin and Condi Rice said Beijing is already backing off its worst ‘Wolf Warrior diplomacy.’
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
The head of US special ops in the Pacific suggested some operators are struggling with a less direct mission, though USSOCOM chief Gen. Bryan Fenton told Breaking Defense that’s not something he’s seen.
By Lee Ferran
The bill comes on the same day the commander of US Indo-Pacific Command knocked down notions that the US aiding Ukraine diminishes the Pentagon’s ability to support Taiwan.
By Justin Katz
“Taiwan also certainly needs to be able to make sure that any invading force is caught dead in its tracks in the strait as it comes across [and] to be able to defend at the beaches and to be able to be resilient, in depth, on [the] island,” said Jedidiah Royal, the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs.
By Ashley Roque
Leaders discussed what US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called “a security-sector assistance roadmap to support the delivery of priority defense platforms over the next five to 10 years, including radar, unmanned aerial systems, military transport aircraft and coastal- and air-defense systems.”
By Colin Clark
What’s new in naval radars and missiles: Defending the Pacific
Defending U.S. naval forces in the Pacific, Red Sea, and elsewhere require a range of systems from close-in weapons to anti-ballistic missiles.
“You don’t want to be starting that planning the week before an invasion, when you’re starting to see the White House saying it’s coming,” said NSA’s Rob Joyce. “You want to be doing that now.”
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
Sidharth Kaushal, research fellow at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute defense think tank, said AUKUS will likely make a Chinese attack on Taiwan, “decidedly less appealing.”
By Tim Martin
Rear Adm. Mike Studeman, the commander of the Office of Naval Intelligence, also pushed back on the idea the US should discontinue its policy of “strategic ambiguity” regarding Taiwan.
By Justin Katz
“No matter what China’s timeline for war might be, America’s timeline for deterrence is right now,” writes Dustin Walker of the American Enterprise Institute.
By Dustin Walker
An earlier Air/Sea battle concept was a good start but weakened through forced parochial jointness to include other services that were not ready to contribute, argue experts from the Center for Maritime Strategy.
By James Foggo and Steven Wills While China has rapidly built a much more modern military in a remarkably short time, it also faces enormous economic, demographic and national security challenges that aren’t always as apparent in Washington.
By Colin Clark
Instead of laborious decades-long development cycles that produce exquisite, expensive military-specific systems, the Pentagon needs to exploit affordable, off-the-shelf 5G technology that’s available right now, say two Hudson Institute analysts.
By Bryan Clark and Dan Patt
The Center for the Study of the Presidency & Congress’s Joshua Huminski argues that while it’s good that the US is learning from the war in Ukraine, it must be selective in what it applies more broadly.
By Joshua Huminski