Saab called it a “positive” step but cautioned that the government will have the final procurement say.
By Aaron MehtaMILSATCOM for the most critical no-fail missions
With multiple nuclear-capable threats and space itself being a contested domain, assured and protected MILSATCOM are more critical than ever before.
Several US allies in the region have launched new subs this year, and others are making plans to buy them, reflecting a long-standing focus on undersea warfare that is only intensifying.
By Christopher Woody
The announcement of the potential sale come as the Israeli government is sending signals to Washington that any renewed deal with Iran should come with more arms for Israel, including items not normally sold to allies.
By Aaron Mehta
Brig. Gen. Curtis Taylor acknowledged that in the Indo-Pacific, “it’s clear that we are in competition with China in every country that we’re going to.”
By Paul McLeary
The most profound change resulting from China’s military modernization has been in its space capabilities. Back in 2000 China only had 10 satellites in orbit, and this year it will launch more satellites than any other nation on the planet.
By James Kitfield
WASHINGTON: One of the more important national security jobs in this town, deputy assistant defense secretary for south and southeast asia, will be filled by a former Army officer with extensive foreign affairs and counterinsurgency experience, a well placed source tells us. Retired Col. Joe Felter, who now works at Stanford’s Hoover Institute, “led the…
By Colin Clark
Integrating commercial off-the-shelf computing on military platforms and how to make it work
The systems may be off-the-shelf, but the packaging for integration on vehicles and ships provides cradle-to-grave resiliency.
American Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is paying his first visit to Asia this week. Just before he left, Acting Assistant Secretary of State Susan Thornton told reporters the Trump Administration “will have its own formulation” of the Pacific pivot, or the rebalance to Asia declared by the Obama Administration. “Pivot, rebalance, etcetera — that was a word that was…
By Maj. Paul Smith
WASHINGTON: In 2016, the Defense Department flew aircraft or steamed ships through territories claimed by Albania, Brazil, Italy, Japan, Malta, and, well, China, according to the Pentagon’s annual report released today. So should Beijing be relieved it was not the sole focus of American Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPS) or should it feel slighted that it…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
UPDATE: CSIS’ Mira Rapp-Hooper Praises Move CAPITOL HILL: The Pentagon wants to help our friends in the Pacific. It’s a core mission given America’s pivot back to the Pacific. But it’s hard to do. You can help their forces train with Foreign Military Financing, but it takes two years or so to get something going, and who gets what is really decided by the State…
By Colin Clark
PENTAGON: As the US Army deploys more troops to the Pacific, it’s running into the limits of its long-range communications systems. The shortfall in comms capacity is not only becoming an issue as the service ramps up its “Pacific Pathways” exercises with Asian partners: It is also raising concerns about the network’s resiliency against a…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.America counts heavily on a cordon of allies stretching from Japan to the north down to Thailand, and across to India, in the highly unlikely event of war with China. But these same allies could draw the U.S. into strictly local disputes in which America does not always have a clear security interest and which…
By David AxeWashington: For the first time, the Navy’s MH-60S Knighthawk helicopter is heading to a foreign military. The two helos delivered to the Thai navy today will give those forces the same combat search and rescue to troop transport capabilities as their U.S. Navy counterparts, said Michael Sears, the Navy’s international deputy program manager for the…
By Carlo Munoz
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…
By Mark Cancian