Trump to Rapidly Expand U.S. Missile Defenses

 

Expanded missile threats from China, Russia spur policy shift

President Trump announced a major shift in U.S. defense strategy on Thursday, ordering the Pentagon to rapidly expand current missile defenses and build new interceptors, space sensors, and advanced technology to neutralize foreign missiles at multiple stages of attack.

The president announced during a speech at the Pentagon that missile defenses, currently limited to countering North Korean long-range missiles and future Iranian missiles, will no longer be constrained to rogue states.

Ignoring empty threats, Iran tightens its military noose around Israel

Hamas’ Saleh Arouri in Tehran.

 

Iran pressed ahead with its plans this week, regardless of the loud scorn and threats poured on Tehran from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Cairo and Washington.

On Friday, Oct. 20, less than two weeks after Saleh Arouri, Deputy Chief of the Hamas political bureau, approved an Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation agreement between his party and the rival Fatah, he was leading a large Hamas delegation to Tehran.

China targets American technology in drive to become innovation leader

Photo by: Mark Schiefelbein Robotic military technology was displayed at an exhibition highlighting China’s achievements under five years of leadership by President Xi Jinping. The exhibition at the Beijing Exhibition Hall opened in September ahead of a Communist Party congress this month. (Associated Press/File)

 

China has stepped up efforts to work with American businesses in a bid to acquire advanced technology, part of a drive to become a leading technology-innovation power.

“China is pushing to further deepen technology collaboration with U.S. business and academic institutions as part of a national effort to transform its economy, including by putting China at the leading edge of global technological innovation,” said a U.S. intelligence official who provided a recent assessment of China.

“At the same time, Beijing is trying to downplay concerns that this state-led technology acquisition drive creates an unlevel playing field, forces technology transfers to China, limits foreign companies’ access to the Chinese market and is a threat to U.S. and other companies economic strengths,” the official added.

Did Cuban SPIES steal US missile? Hellfire rocket bound for Florida shows up in HAVANA

“Accidentally.”

 

ESPIONAGE was suspected after it was revealed a high-tech US missile was accidentally shipped to Cuba.

A Lockheed Martin Hellfire missile was mistakenly shipped from Europe there in 2014.

It was supposed to go from France to Florida, but ended up in the Caribbean country under suspicious circumstances.

Inside the Ring: Russia to test new missile

Russia will test launch a controversial missile over the next several weeks that U.S. officials say is raising new concerns about Moscow’s growing strategic nuclear arsenal and Russia’s potential violations of arms treaties.

The RS-26 missile is expected to be deployed with multiple supersonic, maneuvering warheads designed to defeat U.S. missile defenses in Europe, U.S. officials told Inside the Ring.

…

“The Russians are advertising this as a system capable of defeating U.S. missile defenses in Europe,” the aide said. “At the same time, the State Department is accepting Russia’s claim that this is an ICBM and doesn’t violate INF. It can’t be both.”

With eye on China, India tests new long-range missile

India views the 50-tonne Agni V as a key boost to its regional power aspirations and one that narrows — albeit slightly — the huge gap with China’s technologically advanced missile systems.

…

“The Agni V can strike targets across China, potentially freeing up other short- and intermediate-range missiles for use against Pakistan and much of west and south-central China,” said IHS Jane’s analyst Poornima Subramaniam.

“Extensive land- and sea-launched missile development programmes have become important elements in India’s nuclear strategy, and in that context the Agni V is a significant development,” Subramaniam told AFP.

Full article: With eye on China, India tests new long-range missile (Defence Talk)

‘Paralysis warfare’: China’s cyber focus is to cripple U.S. infrastructure

China’s cyber warfare capabilities have become sophisticated enough to easily cripple key elements of the U.S. national defense infrastructure in a pre-emptive attack, according to a new report.

The bipartisan congressional U.S.-China Economic and Security Commission released an analysis on March 8 titled “Occupying the Information High Ground: Chinese Capabilities for Computer Network Operations and Cyber Espionage.” The 136-page report details China’s spectacular advances in cyber warfare capabilities specifically targeting the U.S. military.

The Chinese call this type of preemptive cyber attack “paralysis warfare,” say the report’s authors, Bryan Krekel, Patton Adams and George Bakos, information security experts for Northrop Grumman.

“Unlike traditional air or ballistic missile strikes, network attack and exploitation in particular can be initiated prior to the start of traditional hostilities without being a de-facto cassus belli and if done properly, can be implanted with little or no attribution back to China,” the report states.

Full article: ‘Paralysis warfare’: China’s cyber focus is to cripple U.S. infrastructure (World Tribune)