Israeli Ground Units Building Drone Air Force

Israeli Ground Units Building Drone Air Force
Israeli Ground Units Building Drone Air Force

A visit to Israel’s increasingly tense border with Syria makes clear that the ground units of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are building their own “air force.” The clear benefits of tactical drones have driven the ground forces to deploy more and more aircraft and this has reached the status of a real revolution.

No, Trump Nuke Strategy Doesn’t Doom Planet: DUSD Policy

No, Trump Nuke Strategy Doesn’t Doom Planet: DUSD Policy
No, Trump Nuke Strategy Doesn’t Doom Planet: DUSD Policy

HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Just calm down and read the document. That, in essence, is the administration’s response to critics who call its new nuclear strategy irresponsible and dangerous. In fact, deputy undersecretary for policy David Trachtenberg said over and over here this morning, the Nuclear Posture Review is fundamentally conservative (with a small “c”). The 2018…

How To Implement The National Defense Strategy In Pacific

How To Implement The National Defense Strategy In Pacific
How To Implement The National Defense Strategy In Pacific

The National Defense Strategy does a service by getting the diagnosis right. But that is only the first step. To get the right prescription—the defense program—we will have to develop the operational concepts that link the ends sought with the means we can procure to achieve them.

Paul McLeary Joins Breaking Defense

Breaking Defense and I are proud to announce the beginning of our expansion to provide more in-depth coverage of more defense topics for you, dear Reader. On March 1, Paul McLeary will begin reporting for us.

Has Turkey Gone Rogue?

Has Turkey Gone Rogue?
Has Turkey Gone Rogue?

When Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives in Ankara on Thursday, he will find Turkey unrecognizable as the ostensibly Muslim democracy and close ally that U.S. officials once held up as a model for the Islamic world. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is poised to complete his long transformation of Turkey from a raucous — if imperfect democracy — to an autocracy, one ruled by caprice and fear.

261 M1 Tanks Getting Trophy Anti-Missile System As Army Reorients To Major Wars

261 M1 Tanks Getting Trophy Anti-Missile System As Army Reorients To Major Wars
261 M1 Tanks Getting Trophy Anti-Missile System As Army Reorients To Major Wars

PENTAGON: The Army’s 2019 budget will upgrade 261 M1 tanks, enough for three brigades, to carry Israeli-made Trophy Active Protection Systems (APS) to guard against anti-tank missiles, service officials said this morning. That’s just one of many funding changes — from buying more howitzer shells to intensifying training exercises — meant to reorient the Army…

Electronic Warfare Trumps Cyber For Deterring Russia

Electronic Warfare Trumps Cyber For Deterring Russia
Electronic Warfare Trumps Cyber For Deterring Russia

CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: NATO’s plans to defend the Baltic States are “inadequate” because they don’t take full account of Russia’s electronic warfare capabilities, a leading expert warns. The Russians are hardly invincible, Roger McDermott emphasized at CSIS on Monday. The story of them “shutting down” the Aegis radar on the USS Cook…

New French C-130J Not A Blow To Europe’s A400M

New French C-130J Not A Blow To Europe’s A400M
New French C-130J Not A Blow To Europe’s A400M

With this article we begin regular coverage of the French military, NATO and a wide variety of European defense issues by Murielle Delaporte, a deeply experienced and knowledgeable expert on French strategy and acquisition. Murielle, who travels regularly between Washington and Paris and to the traditional haunts of the French military, is editor of Opérationnels, a…

Marine Air Needs FY18 Budget To Recover From ‘Horrible Year’: Commandant

Marine Air Needs FY18 Budget To Recover From ‘Horrible Year’: Commandant
Marine Air Needs FY18 Budget To Recover From ‘Horrible Year’: Commandant

CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Marine Corps aviation is recovering from “a horrible year” of “horrific” accidents that killed 20 Marines, the Commandant said here yesterday. But, Gen. Robert Neller said, that progress is at risk unless Congress — which just passed a short-term spending bill to end the government shutdown — can actually enact…

Hey Navy, LCS Is Too Big To Hide

Hey Navy, LCS Is Too Big To Hide
Hey Navy, LCS Is Too Big To Hide

The debate over the operational relevance of the controversial Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) continues. The Navy has again spoken up for the much-maligned platform, suggesting to Breaking Defense that the LCS could operate in the Pacific like the PT boats of World War II or cavalry units in a Napoleonic army. Rear Adm. Donald Gabrielson said…

Rheinmetall Rolls Out ‘Safer’ Active Protection For Tanks

Rheinmetall Rolls Out ‘Safer’ Active Protection For Tanks
Rheinmetall Rolls Out ‘Safer’ Active Protection For Tanks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg9cbi7aEfY German arms maker Rheinmetall is rolling out a new Active Protection System (APS) it says should lay Army safety concerns about such systems to rest. The Army is rushing to install anti-missile defenses on its armored vehicles but remains concerned about whether they might accidentally shred nearby civilians or friendly troops. The Rheinmetall system has been tested…

Outgunned Allies Must Contest Baltic, Black Seas: NATO Admiral

Outgunned Allies Must Contest Baltic, Black Seas: NATO Admiral
Outgunned Allies Must Contest Baltic, Black Seas: NATO Admiral

WASHINGTON: “When I was an ensign, a lieutenant, we knew we could beat the Russians. It was just a question of time because we were better than them,” NATO’s top admiral said. “I’m not sure we could make that assumption now.” The European allies suffer many shortfalls at sea, said Vice Adm. Clive Johnstone, the…

A Tough National Defense Strategy

A Tough National Defense Strategy
A Tough National Defense Strategy

The National Defense Strategy, released this morning, may be the single most important document penned by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. It encapsulates the Trump Administration’s defense policies in one place for the first time and provides guidance for the 2019 defense budget, to be released in a few weeks. That budget will mark the administration’s…

Mattis’ Defense Strategy Raises China To Top Threat; Allies Feature Prominently

Mattis’ Defense Strategy Raises China To Top Threat; Allies Feature Prominently
Mattis’ Defense Strategy Raises China To Top Threat; Allies Feature Prominently

UPDATED: Adds Text Of SecDef Mattis’ Speech At SAIS WASHINGTON: The Trump Administration’s first National Defense Strategy is a vigorously and well written document that marks a major shift from the policies of the Obama and Bush Administrations, calling China and Russia the “central challenge” to the United States. The strategy, a late draft of…