“Replacing ships lost in combat will be problematic,” Marine Commandant Gen. David Berger writes in a forthcoming paper. “Our industrial base has shrunk while peer adversaries have expanded their shipbuilding capacity. In an extended conflict, the United States will be on the losing end of a production race.”
By Paul McLearyAre big, expensive vessels like amphibious ships and carriers too vulnerable in a long-range missile war with Russia or China?
By Paul McLearyGiven the two-year break from sequestration, the Pentagon is hurrying up to hire civilians to push the modernization of the force to head off advances by China and Russia, a new DoD strategy document says.
By Paul McLearyThe Pentagon is moving out quickly amid worries that China has outpaced U.S. capabilities in hypersonic weapons development.
By Paul McLearyWASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has laid out a measured and cautious spending plan that puts near-term readiness needs first in his first budget guidance memo. The memo, out this morning, largely defers major equipment modernization until 2019 and limits increases in the size of the force to “the maximum responsible rate” (emphasis ours). So,…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.