The Barents Observer: In Vardø, a small fishing village on a little island on Norway’s coast to the Barents Sea, the huge military radar facility forms the skyline. In clear weather, if you look east across the water, you can see the shoreline of Russia’s Fishermen Peninsula, a northern appendix of the Kola Peninsula. Officially,… read more
The Yomiuri Shinbun: The first meeting to discuss new National Defense Program Guidelines (see below), scheduled to be drawn up by the government in December, was held by a task force of the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito in the Diet on Friday The government intends to work out the new… read more
Reuters: BERLIN/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Defense Department has delivered a report to Congress detailing implications of Turkey receiving 100 F-35 fighter jets, five people familiar with the report said, removing a key hurdle to concluding the deal. Turkey’s planned purchase of the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system has raised concerns in the West, since… read more
Sputnik International: MOSCOW (Sputnik) – US Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has said that it may take the United States less than $10 billion, or probably half that sum, to create a space force, The Hill newspaper reported. “A single digit, not a double digit… Might be lower than five, it could be lower,” Shanahan told… read more
The National: Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile at the Hodeidah port on late Wednesday, only hours after forces loyal to Yemen’s government announced a halt in an offensive on the critical harbour. The Emirates News Agency (ENA) said that the missile missed its target and crashed in the sea. The Saudi-led coalition’s air force… read more
NBC New York: North Korea will not be required to provide a complete list of its nuclear weapons and missile sites before a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Vice-President Mike Pence told NBC News Thursday. The U.S. has pressed the North for information on the entirety of its nuclear… read more
NBC News: The United States faces a “crisis of national security” because its historic military supremacy has eroded drastically, leaving it likely unable to fight more than a single war at a time, according to a congressionally chartered report released Wednesday. “U.S. military superiority is no longer assured and the implications for American interests and… read more
The Times of Israel: Satellite imagery of S-300 air defense batteries in Syria appears to show that the advanced systems provided to the Assad regime by Russia are not yet operational, an Israeli satellite imaging company said. Images taken over Masyaf, an area in northwest Syria where numerous purported Israeli strikes have occurred against strategic… read more
The Diplomat: This week, the United States and Brunei kicked off their first army exercise. While the engagement itself was just one of the activities that the two countries hold within their broader defense relationship, it nonetheless spotlighted the state of ties between them amid wider bilateral and regional trends underway. As I have noted… read more
Defense News: WARSAW, Poland — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has instructed the country’s defense industry to develop missile systems to boost its military’s strike capabilities as well as combat unmanned aerial vehicles to reinforce its air force, according to Roman Golovchenko, the chairman of the Belarusian State Military Industrial Committee. “Conflicts come to life in… read more