Libya

Italy orders 2 new MQ-9As Reapers, as US seeks newer options

Rome previously ordered a handful of Reapers, but lost one of the drones in Libya in 2019, and another one was destroyed in March during an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait.

New Egyptian Base Sends Messages of Support to Libya, Challenge To Turkey

The opening of the base signifies Egypt's determination to assert itself as a regional naval power with vast capacities and challenge efforts by its competitors like Turkey to expand their area of influence and control oil and gas rich zones of the Mediterranean.

Eye On Africa, Navy’s New Ship Homeports in Crete

As Russian fighters fly in Libya and Turkey steps up operations in the region, the US just put its new sea base capable to surging Marines and commandos ashore into Crete

US Should Stop Weapons Flowing To Libya

A growing arms race in the Eastern Mediterranean pits several U.S. allies against each other, raising the risks of confrontation between two NATO allies. The Turkish Ministry of Defense has tweeted pictures of the Turkish Navy escorting the research ship Oruç Reis to waters that it disputes with Greece. After a phone call with Greek […]

Don’t Let Turks & Russians Carve Up Libya

‘Lead from behind’ has failed in Libya. The US must lead from the front to prevent a destabilizing deal between rival factions dominated by Russia and Turkey.

America Must Act In Libya Against Turkey, Russia

    Turkey’s recent intervention in Libya is intensifying a proxy war and regional energy competition that threaten vital U.S. interests, while Washington mostly observes from the sidelines. As fighting grows in the Mediterranean country, the United States urgently needs to assume an overdue leadership role to end or mitigate this spiraling conflict. The time […]

NATO Stocks Up on Bombs, Giving Smaller States More Punch

WASHINGTON: Over the past month, US Air Forces in Europe took delivery of their largest shipment of ordnance in two decades. It’s another sign of the rearming of the continent as the United States pushes troops and equipment back into the region after years of drawing down, even as its NATO allies — and increasingly, […]

Aid To Israel Isn’t Foreign Aid; It’s An Investment

Israel faces increasingly tight restrictions on its Foreign Military Financing from the U.S., as Breaking D readers know. In the past, when the US provided Israeli with grants under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, Israel could convert 25 percent of the aid from dollars into shekels to buy Israeli products and support local R&D. The […]

The Navy’s Potential New Frigate Connects Crew, Lots of Space for Commandos

Five shipbuilders are fighting it out to build 20 of the U.S. Navy's new frigates, and one competitor is sailing though a whirlwind East Coast tour.

Stop The Malignant Misuse Of America’s Military

Last month, Secretary of Defense James Mattis warned that if Congress doesn’t “remove the defense caps,” he said, “then we’re questioning whether or not America has the ability to survive.” This claim that insufficient increases in Pentagon spending threatens American security is flatly wrong. The real and present danger to our national security is the […]

Our Artificial Intelligence ‘Sputnik Moment’ Is Now: Eric Schmidt & Bob Work

WASHINGTON: When former Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work heard the head of Google’s parent company, Eric Schmidt, say this morning that America needs a national strategy for developing Artificial Intelligence, one image sprang to his mind’s eye. “The image that popped into my mind was of Nikita Khrushchev banging his shoe in the UN and […]

Reaper Drones: The New Close Air Support Weapon

CORRECTS: Name and title of operations group commander CREECH AIR FORCE BASE: Over two days of briefings here by everyone from pilots to maintainers to the operations group commander of the 432nd Wing, one message rang out loud and clear: the Reaper has grown into a key Close Air Support (CAS) tool for the US military and […]

Syria: Just Say No (To Regime Change)

  Sen. John McCain said in early February that, it “is time for the international community to abandon the absurd fiction of a political solution that leaves Assad in power (in Syria).” McCain, who was reacting to Amnesty International’s report about mass executions by Bashar al Assad’s regime, argued: “Bashar Assad does not belong in a […]

Long-Range Strike: ‘More Potent,’ More Survivable & Cheaper

On January 19, the Air Force struck Libya to halt terrorist activity using B-2 stealth bombers. This was not the first strike against Libya. A mix of U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy fighters conducted strikes 30 years ago against Libya in response to terrorist acts in Europe. A comparison of the two raids illustrates the […]