Category Archives: Foreign Forces

Coast Guard Moving Cutter to Pacific as Regional Missions Expand

Coast Guard Moving Cutter to Pacific as Regional Missions Expand

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Bear, a 270 foot, medium endurance cutter, arrives in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to deliver supplies, Oct. 9, 2017. The supplies included donations collected by Customs and Border Patrol members. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Bear, a 270 foot, medium endurance cutter, arrives in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to deliver supplies, Oct. 9, 2017. US Coast Guard Photo

SAN DIEGO – Driven by greater demand for its partnerships and presence in the Indo-Pacific region, the U.S. Coast Guard is growing its operational presence in the vast region that’s unsettled by continuing incursions from China’s naval militia and fishing fleet, the Pacific Area commander told an audience today. Read More

Marines Testing Battlefield Networks for Future Conflicts

Marines Testing Battlefield Networks for Future Conflicts

Marine Sgt. Usbaldo Miranda, Jr., systems configuration coordinator, Marine Air Control Squadron 1, Marine Air Control Group 38, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW), monitors his computer inside an expeditionary command and control (C2) node during a training exercise at Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, Feb. 7, 2023. US Marine Corps Photo

SAN DIEGO – The success of small Marine Corps units dispersed across far-flung islands in contested terrain will need a better integrated joint operating picture. Read More

Navy Wants More Middle East Countries in Unmanned Maritime Awareness Network

Navy Wants More Middle East Countries in Unmanned Maritime Awareness Network

Two Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessels and the guided-missile destroyer USS Delbert D. Black (DDG-119) operate in the Arabian Gulf, Jan. 8. US Navy Photo

The commander of the U.S. Navy in the Middle East is pitching more countries in the region to use more unmanned systems to counter criminal activities and possible terrorist and military threats off their coasts, the service’s top officer in Central Command told reporters Monday. Read More

Nimitz Strike Group, Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group Drill in South China Sea

Nimitz Strike Group, Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group Drill in South China Sea

An MV-22 Osprey from the “Ugly Angels” of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 362 flies by the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) in the South China Sea on Feb. 11, 2023. U.S. Navy Photo

A United States Navy carrier strike group and amphibious ready group are drilling in the South China Sea in the service’s latest effort to test how the formations can operate together with their respective platforms. Read More

U.S., Allies Need to Operate in the High North More to Deter China, Russia, Experts Say

U.S., Allies Need to Operate in the High North More to Deter China, Russia, Experts Say

The crews of Coast Guard Cutter Stratton (WMSL 752) and Canadian coast guard ship Sir Wilfrid Laurier conducted a search and rescue exercise near Point Hope, Alaska, Oct. 12, 2022. US Coast Guard

Physical presence by allied navies and coast guards is increasingly important as Russia builds up its military presence and China’s expands its intentions beyond commerce in the waters of the High North, senior maritime officers from three countries and a National Security Council official agreed last week. Read More

UPDATED: U.S. Downs 3 Unidentified Flying Objects Nearly a Week After Shooting Down Chinese Spy Balloon

UPDATED: U.S. Downs 3 Unidentified Flying Objects Nearly a Week After Shooting Down Chinese Spy Balloon

F-22 Raptor takes off for a training mission at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on May 16, 2014. US Air Force Photo

This post has been updated with additional details on a third shootdown of a high-flying object over U.S. airspace.

The U.S. downed two high-altitude flying objects that flew into North American airspace near Alaska on Friday and over Canada on Saturday, a Pentagon spokesman said. On Sunday, the U.S. downed a third unidentified object over Lake Huron, Mich. Read More

Officials Confirm Suspicious Balloon Overflights of Japan, Won't Say They Came From China

Officials Confirm Suspicious Balloon Overflights of Japan, Won’t Say They Came From China

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III hosts Japan’s Minister of Defense Yasukazu Hamada for talks at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., Sept. 14, 2022. DoD Photo

The Japanese have had their own instances of unidentified flying objects and surveillance balloons sighted over the country in the past few years, Japan’s Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said Friday. Read More