USS Lassen (DDG-82) transits alongside the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) in the Arabian Sea on Jan. 8, 2020. US Navy Photo
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Expect the White House’s Fiscal Year 2021 defense funding request to include an unrealistic expectation for the Navy to build a 355-ship fleet, according to a panel of budget experts. Read More
A naval soldier of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) views through a pair of binoculars onboard China’s first aircraft carrier Liaoning as it visits a military harbor on the South China Sea. Xinhua Photo
China’s recent activities in the South China Sea, which include bullying Vietnam and Malaysia over ocean drilling and ramming Philippine fishing vessels near Scarborough Shoals, top the list of Asian security concerns, a panel of experts said last week. Read More
The 83-foot commercial fishing vessel, Lady Kristie, the Coast Guard interdicted in early 2019. Coast Guard Photo
The nations in Southeastern Asia facing an existential threat from illegal fishing are the ones least able to protect themselves from it, the senior Coast Guard officer in charge of operations said on Tuesday. Read More
Chinese Coast Guard vessel
CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, this post has been updated to change the attribution of opinions in several paragraphs from RAND’s Jeffrey Hornung to CSIS’ Greg Poling.
The rapid expansion of China’s Coast Guard gives Beijing the means to shift its sea expansion aims from aspirational to operational, a panel of security experts concurred during a Monday event detailing China’s maritime ambitions. Read More
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Rear Adm. Masafumi Nishiwaki, Commander, Escort Flotilla Four gives introductory remarks at the Malabar 2019 opening ceremony aboard the Japanese helicopter destroyer JS Kaga (DDH-184) on Sept. 26, 2019. US Navy Photo
Washington and New Delhi, “need to press the refresh button” in building a relationship for the future based on new global realities, India’s minister of external affairs said Wednesday. Read More
The South Korean government’s intent to end an intelligence-sharing agreement with Japan is more than a slight toward its neighbor, but a blow to U.S. efforts at monitoring North Korean activities and countering Chinese influence, experts say. Read More
Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2017. Kremlin Photo
Russia pledged a response to a Sunday test of a U.S. ground-based cruise missile the Pentagon conducted two weeks after the expiration of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty in early August. Read More
A target missile was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii during Flight Test Standard Missile-45. USS John Finn (DDG-113) detected and tracked the target missile with its onboard AN/SPY-1 radar using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 weapon system. US Navy Photo
A pair of recent missile tests – by Russia in near Arkhangelsk and by the U.S. off the coast of California – indicate the race among nations to create a wide range of capabilities is speeding up, a missile defense expert told USNI News. Read More
Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning underway. PLAN Photo
While Washington defends its Navy’s transits through disputed waters in the South China Sea as upholding international freedom of navigation, Beijing blasts these operations as provocative and clear violations of its domestic law, a leading Chinese naval expert said last week; and both positions could harden.
Service members render honors during a ceremony at the Rabaul (Bita Paka) War Cemetery on July 7, 2015. Service members from the U.S., Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Japan and civilians from non-governmental organizations assigned to the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) visited the cemetery to lay wreaths and pay respects to those fallen during the World War II battles and other conflicts in the region. US Navy photo.
Political volatility in Australia does not appear to threaten the country’s military and economic relationship with the United States, a panel agreed, partly because of concerns about Chinese economic and military ambitions in Oceania and Asia. Read More
