After RIMPAC, sailor feedback shows evolving view of unmanned vessels: Officials

After RIMPAC, sailor feedback shows evolving view of unmanned vessels: Officials
After RIMPAC, sailor feedback shows evolving view of unmanned vessels: Officials

Sailors operating the USVs at RIMPAC were more concerned about what the drones could do, rather than how they were controlled.

Lockheed prepping to demo ‘scaled EA’ capability at RIMPAC

Lockheed prepping to demo ‘scaled EA’ capability at RIMPAC
Lockheed prepping to demo ‘scaled EA’ capability at RIMPAC

The company is trying to show it can bring the capabilities of SEWIP Block III to a larger array of ships.

US prepares for RIMPAC exercise against backdrop of Russian, Chinese tensions

US prepares for RIMPAC exercise against backdrop of Russian, Chinese tensions
US prepares for RIMPAC exercise against backdrop of Russian, Chinese tensions

The event has a history of adversarial nations trying to get a glimpse at the demonstrations.

RIMPAC 2020 Smaller, But China Looms Just As Large

RIMPAC 2020 Smaller, But China Looms Just As Large
RIMPAC 2020 Smaller, But China Looms Just As Large

Pacific Fleet commander, Adm. John Aquilino, put a positive face on the smaller operation, saying, “the growing security environment in the Pacific demands now more than ever that like-minded nations join forces

What Really Matters In The Defense Authorization Act & What Didn’t Get Done

What Really Matters In The Defense Authorization Act & What Didn’t Get Done
What Really Matters In The Defense Authorization Act & What Didn’t Get Done

Most coverage of the annual defense policy bill has focused on program changes: more ships (including six icebreakers!), no change to F-35’s, more RDT&E, no JSTARS recap, a growl (but no more) on ZTE, and many more (the bill and report run 2,500 pages). Less discussed, but of more import in the long run, are the…

Israel Deploying to Eastern Europe, Pacific for First Time Alongside U.S. Forces

Israel Deploying to Eastern Europe, Pacific for First Time Alongside U.S. Forces
Israel Deploying to Eastern Europe, Pacific for First Time Alongside U.S. Forces

The Trump Pentagon is undergoing a major shift to focus on great power competition. And it’s looking for allies to step up in places that might come as a surprise.

US Pacific Commitments Will Survive Duterte, Trump: Adm. Harris

US Pacific Commitments Will Survive Duterte, Trump: Adm. Harris
US Pacific Commitments Will Survive Duterte, Trump: Adm. Harris

WASHINGTON: Neither President Trump’s transition in DC nor President Duterte’s eruptions in Manila will derail America’s 70-year military commitment to the Pacific, Adm. Harry Harris said today. US-Philippine cooperation continues unabated despite Duterte’s denunciation of the alliance, the head of Pacific Command said. (The senior State Department official for the Pacific, Daniel Russel, recently dismissed…

UN Ruling Won’t End South China Sea Dispute: Navy Studies Next Clash

UN Ruling Won’t End South China Sea Dispute: Navy Studies Next Clash
UN Ruling Won’t End South China Sea Dispute: Navy Studies Next Clash

A UN tribunal ruling could trigger the next round of brinksmanship in the South China Sea as early as next week. But don’t expect the ruling to end the dispute, especially since the Chinese have already vowed to ignore an adverse ruling. “It’s…not likely to be resolved this year or by one international ruling, no matter how brilliant…

Weighing How Much Intel US Gets: Hawaiian Lawmaker Calls To Bar China From RIMPAC

Weighing How Much Intel US Gets: Hawaiian Lawmaker Calls To Bar China From RIMPAC
Weighing How Much Intel US Gets: Hawaiian Lawmaker Calls To Bar China From RIMPAC

WASHINGTON: China, which continues to militarize the fake islands it’s creating in the South China Sea, may get uninvited to RIMPAC, the biggest naval exercise in the world. Rep. Mark Takai of Hawaii told Defense Secretary Ash Carter during yesterday’s House Armed Services Committee posture hearing that he will introduce language into the House version of…

Summits Over Substance: Obama Yields To Chinese President Xi

Summits Over Substance: Obama Yields To Chinese President Xi
Summits Over Substance: Obama Yields To Chinese President Xi

  As Washington gears up for the visit of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, right on the heels of the Pontiff, there is a growing urgency for the United States to make clear to Beijing that its behavior is leading to increased tension at both the bilateral and regional level. But, there appears little appetite for…

SecDef Carter Tells McCain Chinese Can Come To RIMPAC

SecDef Carter Tells McCain Chinese Can Come To RIMPAC
SecDef Carter Tells McCain Chinese Can Come To RIMPAC

WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Ash Carter — for now — is resisting congressional calls to uninvite China from the biggest naval exercise in the world, known as RIMPAC. In a July 16 letter to Senate Armed Services Committee chairman John McCain, Carter goes to some lengths to avoid offending China, on the one hand, and, on the…

Forbes: White House Has No China Strategy; Here’s Mine

Forbes: White House Has No China Strategy; Here’s Mine
Forbes: White House Has No China Strategy; Here’s Mine

WASHINGTON: What’s the strategy for coping with what everyone on Capitol Hill and inside the Obama administration agrees is an increasingly assertive China? The White House can’t answer, Rep. Randy Forbes says, “because they don’t have it.” So, it’s fair to ask: what is Forbes’s strategy, then? The House seapower chairman’s outline for a “winning strategy” boils down…

Bold Alligator Wargame Goes Off-Script, On Purpose

Bold Alligator Wargame Goes Off-Script, On Purpose
Bold Alligator Wargame Goes Off-Script, On Purpose

ABOARD THE USS ARLINGTON: 17 warships and two submarines. Thousands of personnel from 19 countries. Billions of dollars of high-tech hardware. Months of planning. But sometimes you still have to improvise. When US and Dutch warships and marines united in an international task force for the 2014 Bold Alligator wargames off Virginia, the two countries could…

Navy Braces For Backlash After PLA Cyber Indictments

Navy Braces For Backlash After PLA Cyber Indictments
Navy Braces For Backlash After PLA Cyber Indictments

WASHINGTON: The Justice Department’s indictment of five People’s Liberation Army officers on charges of cyber-espionage may prove to be a double-edged sword for the US military. The Department of Justice announced the indictments for cyber espionage on Monday. While the Justice Department accused the five of stealing things, the Chinese have a very different view.…