Defense Secretary Mark Esper speaks to sailors aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) on Sept. 17, 2020, during a visit to California. USNI News photo.
ABOARD AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS CARL VINSON, OFF THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA – Defense Secretary Mark Esper told sailors today that heavy investment in unmanned systems would be key to the Navy reaching 355 or more ships and having the lethality and survivability needed if a conflict were to break out with China. Read More
Chinese carrier Shandong. PLA Photo
China’s pursuit of more aircraft carriers validates the U.S. Navy’s commitment to building more American aircraft carriers in the future, the U.S. admiral in charge of providing forces to the fleet said on Thursday. Read More
Defense Secretary Mark Esper speaks in the Pentagon Briefing Room, Washington, D.C. on Sept. 14, 2020. DoD Photo
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Defense Secretary Mark Esper is open to increasing Navy budgets to support a new shipbuilding plan and future force design, he said today in a speech at RAND Corporation’s Los Angeles office. Read More
Chinese sailors watch a People’s LIberation Army Navy (PLAN) pull into Djibouti. Xinhua Photo
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said China is operating under a “fundamentally false assumption” that the United States is “a declining nation” rather than a country fully committed to preserving a rules-based world. Read More
USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) conducts routine operations near the Panamanian flagged drill ship, West Capella on May 12, 2020. US Navy Photo
Indonesia and Malaysia increasingly depend on their coast guards to assert maritime sovereignty, but these forces don’t have agreed-upon regional rules of behavior to keep clashes with China over fisheries and energy exploration from escalating into crises, three South China Sea experts said Monday. Read More
Chinese sailors. Xinhua Photo
China surpassed every American security planners’ expectations in its successful building and deploying of the world’s largest maritime fleet in just 20 years, a leading naval strategist said Wednesday. The question now is what Beijing’s military and paramilitary forces will look like in the future. Read More
Rep. Mac Thornberry, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, met with journalists from the Defense Writers Group, an association of news outlets with reporters that cover national security issues, at the George Washington University on Tuesday, June 11, 2019. GWU Photo
The final conference report on the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act won’t be ready until after the Nov. 3 election, the outgoing ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee said on Wednesday. Read More
The following is the Sept. 1, 2020 Congressional Research Service Report, China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
Shinzo Abe on April 7, 2020. Japanese Government Photo
Japan’s next prime minister is expected to follow Shinzo Abe’s path in tightening Tokyo’s military ties with the United States and expanding the nation’s definition of “self-defense” to counter China’s and North Korea’s threats, four Indo-Pacific security experts said Tuesday. Read More
Chinese president Xi Jinping tours People’s Liberation Army Navy warship. Xinhua Photo
China is bent on creating a world-class military that can conduct joint operations across the globe and already boasts the world’s largest navy, according to the Pentagon’s latest annual assessment of the Chinese military. Read More
