The following is the April 7, 2021 Congressional Research Service Insight Report, The Open Skies Treaty: Background and Issues. Read More
Tag Archives: Russia
NORAD: Russians Stay in Airspace ‘For Hours’ During Flight Operations Near Alaska
An F-22 Raptor assigned to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson intercepts a Russian Tu-95 Bear on June 9, 2020. US Air Force Photo
This story has been updated to distinguish between Gen. Glen VanHerck’s role leading North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command.
The Russian military is spending “hours” in airspace near Alaska when it performs flyovers in the region, the head of North American Aerospace Defense Command said on Wednesday.
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Iran’s New Missile Corvette Could Reshape IRGC Naval Doctrine
An aritsits rendering of a Shahid Soleimani-class missile corvette. HI Sutton image used with permission
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGC-N) is building a new class of warships, as first reported in Naval News last week based on satellite imagery. The catamaran design appears relatively large, modern and capable compared to existing IRGC commercial-based designs. Read More
SOCOM Shifting To Great Power Competition Strategy, But Needs More ISR Capabilities, Commander Says
East Coast Navy SEALs participate in a nighttime exercise during TRIDENT 17 at the John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss., in 2017. US Navy Photo
Forty percent of U.S. Special Operations Command is now aligned to meet the challenges of great power competition, a shift that means the command needs modernized intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance hardware and software, and electronic warfare defenses, its commander told lawmakers Thursday. Read More
Norwegian Officials: Russian Arctic Expansion Making Security Landscape ‘Difficult’
Marines with Marine Rotational Force Europe 21.1 (MRF-E), Marine Forces Europe and Africa, conduct a live-fire range using Assault Amphibious Vehicles (AAV) in Blatindan, Norway, March 16, 2021. US Marine Corps Photo
Russia’s heavy investment in new ballistic missile submarines and long-range precision strike weaponry signal the Kremlin’s will to challenge NATO’s ability to reinforce the High North in a crisis, Norway’s top diplomat said Friday. Read More
SOUTHCOM’s Faller: China Used Pandemic to Expand ‘Corrosive, Insidious Influence’ in Central, South America, U.S. Influence ‘Eroding’
Adm. Craig Faller, commander of U.S. Southern Command, visited troops assigned to Joint Task Force-Bravo in Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras on Dec. 11, 2020. US Army Photo
China has used the COVID-19 pandemic to rapidly expand its “corrosive, insidious influence” – from money laundering for transnational gangsters to using its own ships to illegally fish protected waters and benefit from illegal logging and mining – “in our neighborhood,” U.S. Southern Command’s top officer said Tuesday. Read More
Report to Congress on Great Power Competition and National Defense
The following is the March 4, 2021 report, Renewed Great Power Competition: Implications for Defense—Issues for Congress. Read More
Panel: China Copied Silicon Valley’s Model to Outpace the Pentagon in Weapon Development
The launch of the Type 75 big-deck amphib in Shanghai on. PLAN Photo
The Pentagon’s complicated and time-consuming acquisition process impedes the United States’ ability to innovate and keep up with China’s technology development, several experts said last week. Read More
HASC Chairman Calls on Congress to ‘Scrub’ F-35 Program
Two U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning IIs, assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 164 (Reinforced), 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, stand chained to the flight deck aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD-8). US Navy Photo
“We’ve got to seriously scrub” programs like the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter in Congress instead of rewarding “people for failure, not results” in developing new weapons systems, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said Friday. Read More
McMaster: U.S. is ‘In Catch-Up Mode’ to China in Indo-Pacific
Formidable-class frigate RSS Stalwart, a frigate of Singaporean navy, arrives at Dagang port in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, on April 19, 2019. Frigate RSS Stalwart arrived at Dagang port in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, on Friday morning to attend the multinational navy event to mark the 70th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy. Xinhua Photo
The United States is “in catch-up mode” to restore its deterrent and fighting capability that increases the size of the Navy’s fleet to compete with China in the Indo-Pacific, a former White House national security adviser told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday. Read More
