USS Missouri (SSN-780) departs Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for a scheduled deployment in the 7th Fleet area of responsibility on Sept. 1, 2021. US Navy Photo
Advanced undersea platforms and systems are “one of our clear advantages” in countering China and Russia, which is critical to deterring Chinese aggression across the Indo-Pacific, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday. Read More
MQ-9 Reaper UAV. US Air Force Photo
It’s unlikely Russia will recover anything useful from a downed U.S. drone, the Pentagon press secretary said Thursday. Read More
U.S. Africa Command change of command held in Stuttgart, Germany, on Aug. 9, 2022. AFRICOM Photo
The first Black four-star Marine general assumed command of the U.S. Africa Command during a Tuesday ceremony in Germany. Read More
Lt. Khiana Odekirk briefs Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro aboard the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Milwaukee (LCS 5) in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Jan. 25, 2022. U.S. Navy Photo
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro has tested positive for COVID-19, the service announced on Monday. Read More
Operations Specialist Letroy Black, from Little Rock, Arkansas, monitors data units in the combat direction center aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69). US Navy Photo
China’s push to harness “quality data” for military use has put Beijing “way ahead of us” in this area of high technology, but the Pentagon remains the leader in domain expertise like anti-submarine warfare and artificial intelligence, a former vice chief of naval operations said last week. Read More
Gen. Kenneth McKenzie commander, U.S. Central Command, provides testimony at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on ending the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. on Sept. 29, 2021. DoD Photo
The sprawling size of the U.S. airbase at Bagram and its isolation from Kabul meant that keeping it under American control was “untenable under the situation” once President Joe Biden ordered all U.S. forces out of Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command’s top officer told a House panel Wednesday. Read More
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander, United States Central Command appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan and plans for future counterterrorism operations on Sept. 28, 2021. DoD Photo
If Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden had chosen to ignore the dates set for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, it would have meant moving elements of the XVIII Airborne Corps into the land-locked country to hold Bagram Air Base and Kabul, and renewed fighting that would have endangered American forces, citizens and Afghans, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Congress today. Read More
Marines with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) search luggage during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan on Aug. 18, 2021. US Marine Corps Photo
Troops from NATO member states, including the U.S., U.K. and France, are all working in Kabul to remove citizens and Afghans eligible for resettlement out of the country. But there isn’t a coordinated effort between the allies to communicate with the Taliban or ensure people get to the Hamid Karzai International Airport safely, Pentagon officials acknowledged on Thursday. Read More
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark A. Milley testifies before the House Appropriations Committee-Defense on the Fiscal 2022 Department of Defense Budget in the Pentagon Press Briefing Room, Washington, D.C., May 27, 2021. Defense Department Photo
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said “China is coming at us rapidly” – economically, diplomatically and militarily, and that challenge is putting existing international behavior “under tremendous stress.” Read More
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testify to the Senate Appropriations Committee regarding the fiscal year 2022 budget for the Defense Department, June 17, 2021. DoD Photo
China wants the ability to invade and hold Taiwan within the next six years but might not intend to do so in the near term, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told Congress today. Read More
