strategy

Army’s Multi-Domain Unit ‘A Game-Changer’ In Future War

But modernizing the Army will take decades and tough decisions about everything from online propaganda to the National Guard.

‘How Is Yoda?’: An Appreciation Of Andy Marshall

  Last year while in Japan for a meeting with senior defense and military leaders, the question most often posed to me was, “How is Yoda?” The questions were in reference to the nickname given to Andrew Marshall, arguably the foremost defense strategist of the past sixty years, who passed away this week at the […]

US Air Power: The Imperative For Modernization (Buy The F-35)

In 2006, a relatively obscure book caused a major stir among the U.S. Air Force leadership. Why Air Forces Fail, edited by Robin Higham and Stephen J. Harris, lays out the determinants of failure: deficiencies in the industrial base, misguided technology and tactical picks, inattention to logistics and neglect of training. The case studies are broken […]

Why DoD Cut A Carrier in 2020 Budget: Survivable Robots & Missiles Vs. China

An inside source explains the logic behind the 2020 budget's most controversial call.

The Saudi-Israeli Coalition?

An Israeli source who spoke with Breaking Defense of condition of anonymity said that attitudes in Saudi Arabia are changing, “not only in domestic issues, but also their understanding that Israel is not an enemy..."

The Middle Kingdom Is Dead; Long Live A Global China

It’s one of the fundamental questions about China and its future place in the world: does the great civilization still view the world through the traditional lens of the Middle Kingdom, or does the world face a new China, unbound by many of the structures under which it has operated for most of the last […]

Trump’s Pick For Joint Chiefs Praises Allies, Kurds & Mattis Strategy

“The Army has aligned itself with Secretary Mattis’s National Defense Strategy, which we will not walk away from,” Gen. Milley told an Association of the US Army breakfast. “It’s a solid strategy, it’s written in history, it’s written in the blood of generations past, and we subscribe to it.” And allies are key to the strategy.

‘A Chinese Military That is Active Everywhere:’ DIA China Military Power Report

WASHINGTON: China is not ready to wage war far beyond the shores of Taiwan, but it is pressing hard to develop some advanced weapons and increasingly wants to project power beyond its shores with an increasingly capable military. Those are the fundamental conclusions of the Defense Intelligence Agency in a unique report with its roots […]

From Paris To Orbit: France’s New Space Strategy

With the landmark CSO-1 satellite launch December 19th and a new space strategy out soon, the French government is finally stepping up in space. A French-led, Europe-wide effort to modernize space capabilities had been announced in 2010, but it had been stalled for lack of urgency and funding. Now that's changing.

Acting SecDef Shanahan’s First Message: “China, China, China.”

PENTAGON: In his first day on the job, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan gathered civilian leaders of the military services to deliver a simple message: “China, China, China."

2019 Forecast: Budget Battles & Confirmation Wars

Trump's pick to replace Sec. Jim Mattis will be a key indicator about where the president wants to drive the department -- and the confirmation process will show what the Senate will accept -- while the defense budget may be collateral damage from a bitterly divided Congress.

‘Hold Fast, Alongside Our Allies’: Mattis Farewell Invokes Civil War

Mattis's last message to the troops is three brief, carefully crafted paragraphs packed with historical references and political messages -- which are implicitly critical of President Trump.

After Mattis: Strategic Challenge & Opportunity For President Trump

Whatever you think of Jim Mattis, his resignation and the outflow of officials that will follow create a major foreign policy problem for the United States. There is not one ally who is applauding Mattis’s departure — but depart he will, all the same. So what must President Trump and his next defense secretary do, […]

The Secretary Of Reassurance Has Resigned: Farewell To Mattis

WASHINGTON: After two years of reassuring US allies that Donald Trump’s America would not abandon them, Jim Mattis finally had enough. Even before Trump was sworn in as president, the announcement that he would pick Mattis as his Secretary of Defense was met with delighted relief “from the right, from the left, and from overseas.” […]