Pentagon: Military Logistics System Not Ready for War With China or Russia

U.S. Marines participate in a military exercise / Getty Images

 

Defense Science Board warns military supply system ‘decayed’ and needs rapid upgrading

The strategic American military system for moving troops, weapons, and supplies over long distances has decayed significantly and needs rapid upgrading to be ready for any future war with China or Russia, according to a report by the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board.

A special task force on survivable logistics evaluated the military’s current airlift, sealift, and prepositioned equipment and supplies and found major problems with supporting forces during a “high-end” conflict.

Ukraine Gets Official NATO Status: Weighing Up the Pros and Cons

 

NATO has granted Ukraine the status of an aspirant country. Macedonia, Georgia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina have similar status. This means Kiev has been offered a real chance to make its dreams come true. The next step will be obtaining its Membership Action Plan (MAP), a set of criteria to meet before the country is allowed to join. It is tailored to each applicant country’s individual profile. This type of plan can be granted at any time; there is no need to wait for summits or ministry-level meetings. Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina are aspirants with a MAP.

Last summer, Ukraine’s parliament (Rada) adopted a resolution recognizing full membership in NATO as a foreign policy goal. In 2008, NATO agreed that Ukraine and Georgia should become members at a future date.

Fewer planes are ready to fly: Air Force mission-capable rates decline amid pilot crisis

The F-22 saw an 11.17 percentage point reduction in mission-capable rates in 2017. It was one of several airframes that saw similar dips, contributing to an overall decline in mission-capable rates across the Air Force. (Tech Sgt. Michael R. Holzworth/Air Force)

 

The readiness of the Air Force’s aircraft fleet is continuing its slow, steady deterioration — and this could spell trouble for the service’s effort to hold on to its pilots and its ability to respond to contingencies around the world.

According to data provided by the Air Force, about 71.3 percent of the Air Force’s aircraft were flyable, or mission-capable, at any given time in fiscal 2017. That represents a drop from the 72.1 percent mission-capable rate in fiscal 2016, and a continuation of the decline in recent years.

Former Air Force pilots and leaders say that this continued trend is a gigantic red flag, and warn it could lead to serious problems down the road.

“It scares the heck out of me,” said retired Gen. Hawk Carlisle, former head of Air Combat Command. “It really does.”

Pentagon: Russian Military Policy ‘Actively Considers’ Limited Use of Nukes

Russian President Vladimir Putin / Getty Images

 

Defense official says U.S. Nuclear Posture Review reflects current threat environment

The Trump administration’s new nuclear policy aims to counter an evolving Russian military strategy that appears to more readily envisage the limited use of nuclear weapons, a senior defense official said Monday.

“We have been extremely concerned with what we have seen as the evolution of Russian military policy as it relates to potential use of nuclear weapons,” David Trachtenberg, the deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, said at the Heritage Foundation on Monday.

REVEALED: China’s ‘plot to deploy huge army against North Korea’ amid World War 3 fears

A six-lane highway being built in a desolately populated north east on route to North Korea (NC)

 

PHOTOS have emerged of new construction in China, which experts believe could be part of a contingency plan to invade North Korea or amass their huge army on their shared border amid World War 3 fears.

Communist China has traditionally been North Korea’s closest ally, but Kim Jong-un’s continued nuclear and ballistic missile tests have tested Beijing’s patience.

It also comes as North Korea was spotted transporting 30 Scud missiles from Hwangju, south of the capital Pyongyang, to Nampo, on the Korea Bay coast opposite China.

Now photos reveal the Communist superpower is building a six-lane highway in its desolately populated north east on route to North Korea.

Congratulations, Beijing. The South China Sea Is Now Yours.

Chinese sailors march in a massive military parade in Beijing. (GETTY IMAGES)

 

China’s dominance of this strategic sea gate is effectively complete.

As recently as July 2016, it looked as if conflict could erupt between the United States, China, and possibly some smaller Asian nations over Beijing’s belligerent drive to transform the South China Sea into a “Chinese lake.” That month, the already fraught situation became far more volatile when the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague ruled against some of China’s territorial claims in the area, after which China vowed to use “all necessary measures” to safeguard its control of the region.

But now, despite the Trump administration’s decision on May 24 to conduct a naval action in the region, it is clear that China has emerged from this dispute victorious. The South China Sea—the vast, resource-rich region through which a third of global maritime commerce flows—is now the de facto territory of Beijing.

“It is, unfortunately, now game over,” said Mira Rapp-Hooper, a senior fellow at the Washington D.C.-based Center for a New American Security.

This “unfortunate” turn of the tides reveals America’s fading influence, China’s rising power (and increasing shrewdness about how to effectively use that power), and that the smaller Asian states are pragmatic and circumspect about these shifts.

Report: North Korean EMP attack would devastate Hawaii

Hawaii is home to 11 military bases and U.S. Pacific Command’s HQ.

 

Defense analysts said Hawaii could be targeted by North Korea, which continues to develop its nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities, Military.com reported on May 13.

Hawaii is seen as a desirable target as it is headquarters for U.S. Pacific Command and has 11 military bases, including Pearl Harbor, said Dean Cheng, senior research fellow with the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation.

America’s Army Shrinks as Threats Proliferate

The intentional gutting of America’s military is going on as planned.

 

Today, the United States and its allies face a wider and more serious array of threats than at any point since the end of the Cold War a quarter of a century ago. While the demand for troops to confront these challenges is increasing, the size and readiness of the U.S. Army is in steep decline.

Years of budget cuts have rapidly shrunk the Army to a size unseen since before World War II. The preparedness of the troops has been damaged as well. The Army has been forced to cut training and next-generation weapons programs that are vital for preparing the force for 21^st century conflict.

Defense-on-the-Cheap Leaves U.S. Military Smaller, Less Combat-Ready

Justin Johnson, a defense budget expert at the Heritage Foundation, warns that U.S. military might has been decimated by budget cuts totaling 25 percent over the last 5 years. “It will take years to rebuild our armed forces to the level needed to defeat growing global threats,” he said. “We must start making the necessary investments now.”

Report: China’s Currency Will Diminish Dollar’s Role in International Trade

The Chinese government has taken steps to promote the international use of its currency, the renminbi, which will diminish the dollar’s role in international trade, according to a report from the Brookings Institution.

The steps China has taken to internationalize the renminbi have been gaining traction and the currency now represents the fifth-most important payment currency in the world.

Military Brass Worries Paris Deal Could Hurt Military Operations

The U.S. military may be forced to drastically reduce its carbon footprint as a result of the Paris Agreement passed last week.

Even though American officials never signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, the U.S. was able to avoid being obliged to report or curb the greenhouse gases emitted by the military.

Russia Again Flight Tests Illegal INF Cruise Missile

Russia has and always will cheat on weapons treaties. It’s to the Soviet’s strategic advantage to continue to make deals with America.

Russia knows that America will always take the “moral high road” and abide by the treaty, whereas Russia uses the treaty as a strategic step to make advances and get the upper hand. Throughout the last few decades, America has become completely disillusioned into believing that total disarmament is a demonstration of moral strength. In contrast, a nation can actually remain on the moral high road and simultaneously serve as the world’s hammer with a vast nuclear arsenal, without firing off one nuke. That is how America once was, today it is different and bent on its own demise. Today, and likewise because of this, Russia smells blood and is heading towards nuclear first-strike capability, full-steam ahead.

The Pentagon sees the threat and the White House continues to whitewash it, make concessions and put out happy news in the media. It makes you wonder what side the current administration is working for as suicidally disarming an entire nation is not a mistake. There are checks and balances in America for preventing such mistakes, that is, if you obey the rule of law.

At this pace, if strategic thinking does not change within the American political leadership, it’s only a matter of time before Vladimir Putin (or the next President) can claim checkmate and force America into either capitulation or, or worse, decimation.

“Treaties are like pie crusts, they are made to be broken.”

– Vladimir Lenin

 

A test of Russia’s SSN-30A Kalibr missile, of which the SS-X-8 might be a variant (screenshot)

 

Obama administration still weighing response—years after violation detected

Russia flight-tested a new ground-launched cruise missile this month that U.S. intelligence agencies say further violates the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, according to Obama administration defense and security officials.

The missile launch Sept. 2 was the latest flight test for what the Pentagon is calling the SSC-X-8 cruise missile. The cruise missile did not fly beyond the 300-mile range limit for an INF-banned missile, said officials familiar with reports of the test.

However, intelligence analysts reported that the missile’s assessed range is between 300 miles and 3,400 miles—the distance covered under the landmark INF treaty that banned an entire class of intermediate-range missiles.

The SSC-X-8 test also involved what officials called a “nuclear profile,” meaning that the weapon is part of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces.

Experts Agree: Islamist Terrorism Has Officially “Gone Viral”

The rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) has resulted in a surge in terrorist activity across the Middle East. Just as strikingly, it has also prompted an uptick in domestic terror plots against the U.S. homeland this year. Law enforcement officers have already foiled a total of 10 terrorist plots in 2015, making it the most active period since 9/11. All the attacks, moreover, have been inspired or directed by ISIS operatives.

Clouds on US Horizon: Greek Debt Crisis Knocking on Washington’s Door?

While Greece is suffering from a protracted debt crisis, facing new tough reforms, the question arises whether if the United States will soon become incapable to handle its own growing debts, asks Romina Boccia, the Heritage Foundation’s Grover M. Hermann Fellow in Federal Budgetary Affairs.

“The United States differs from Greece in important ways. The US economy is much larger and better diversified. More than half of the US debt is held by creditors within its borders, rather than by foreign entities. Moreover, the United States also creates its own money, enabling it to devalue its currency and debt to avoid defaulting on payments for a lack of cash,” the analyst underscored.

Top Secret Japanese Submarines Likely to Replace Australia’s Aging Fleet

MOSCOW, December 18 (Sputnik), Ekaterina Blinova – The Australian leadership is considering an arm deal with Japan to buy 12 submarines based on Soryu-class vessels.”Australia is considering buying top-secret technology from Japan to build a fleet of new generation submarines, a move that would risk reigniting diplomatic tensions with China only recently smoothed over,” Bloomberg reported.