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Sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) watch as the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth II (R 08) pulls into Naval Station Norfolk, Va. Oct 27, 2018.
Gold crew of the Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine USS Louisiana (SSBN-743) arrives home to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Wash. US Navy Photo
The Navy could be forced to make hard choices sooner rather than later when it comes to finding the money to replace its aging ballistic missile submarines or reach its goal of having a fleet of 355 warships, a panel of security and budgetary experts said this week. Read More
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping before the beginning of the BRICS Leaders’ meeting in 2017. Kremlin Photo
Nations stretching from India into Southeast Asia see China’s investments and loan practices as a direct threat to their sovereignty as much as Beijing’s military, the editor of a new work on Indo-Pacific security balance said last week. Read More
Russian Zircon Missile Concept
Existing radars don’t provide the almost-split-second warning needed to keep Guam, carrier strike groups in the Pacific and Kadena Air Base in Okinawa from being held hostage to a future hypersonic attack, the Pentagon’s chief technology officer said this week. Read More
Two F-35B Lightning II fighter successfully landed onboard HMS Queen Elizabeth on Sept. 25, 2018. Lockheed Martin Photo
The U.K. will remain committed to NATO and to being a high-end defense partner even after it withdraws from the European Union in March, the British defense acquisition chief predicted on Tuesday. Read More
Romanian Aegis Ashore site. U.S. Missile Defense Agency Photo
Converting Aegis Ashore facilities in Poland and Romania into land stations for cruise missile coupled with already available sea-based and air-launched missiles would complicate Kremlin planning on how to defend itself from attack or strike targets in Europe, a former U.S. defense official on Wednesday. Read More
The Bashar al Assad regime’s ever-tightening circle on Syrian resistance fighters could send a million or more refugees into Turkey and scatter thousands of Islamic extremists around the region, France’s ambassador to Washington warned Monday. Read More
Norwegian frigate HNoMS Otto Sverdrup part of a ‘screen’ of NATO warships during a drill as part of NATO exercise Trident Juncture on Oct. 25, 2018. Royal Norwegian Navy Photo
NATO and the European Union need to spend significantly to reestablish high-end naval presence and invest in rail cars and maritime containers, ports, bridges, highways, tunnels and airfields if they want to successfully deter potential Russian aggression, a panel of Northern European security experts said on Wednesday. Read More
The Iranian Quds Force organizes, equips and finances the 50,000 Shia militia in Syria that provides the ground troops for the Russian and Iranian effort to prop up the Bashar al Assad regime, a retired senior Israeli Defense Force general said on Wednesday. Read More
Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Decatur, left, and Chinese warship PRC 170, right, during what the US Navy called an unsafe and unprofessional incident in the South China Sea on Sept. 30, 2018. US Navy photo, obtained by gCaptain.
The question following the recent close encounters between guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur (DDG-73), the U.K. Royal Navy’s amphibious ship HMS Albion and Chinese naval ships in the South China Sea is if Beijing is changing their posture toward foreign navies in the region,a Pacific maritime expert said Monday. Read More
