Politico: The House will take a largely symbolic vote next week to increase funding for the Pentagon as Congress’ budget stalemate drags into its fourth month. The chamber plans to vote on the fiscal 2018 spending bill Tuesday, the same day President Donald Trump speaks before Congress during his State of the Union address, two… read more
Global Research: India’s successful test launch of the Agni 5 ICBM reignited the Asian missile race by disrupting the strategic balance with China & Pakistan and sparking a more pronounced security dilemma than before. Up until last week, it was doubtful that India could ever target China’s eastern seaboard cities in the event of a… read more
Inside Defense: General Dynamics intends to invest $1.7 billion and $200 million in its submarine and shipbuilding businesses, respectively, over the next several years, according to the company’s chief executive. The announcement came from GD chief executive Phebe Novakovic during a Jan. 24 earnings call. “In response to the significant, increased demand from our Navy… read more
The National Interest: The United States Navy has completed its first operational test shot of a new variant of Boeing’s Harpoon Block II+ anti-ship missile over the Point Mugu Sea Test Range in California. According to the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), the Jan.22 test put the new System Configuration Set H12E through its paces.… read more
Sputnik News: TOKYO (Sputnik) – The first of the F-35A fighters Japan had purchased from the United States has been deployed at the Misawa Air Force Base in the north-east of the island of Honshu, Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said at a press conference on Friday. “The deployment of the F-35 fighters with high-performance… read more
Bloomberg Politics: The U.S. and South Korea will conduct joint military drills as “normal” after the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Pyeongchang end in March, Defense Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyunsoo said in a briefing Thursday. That stance was echoed at the Pentagon, where Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, staff director for the Joint Chiefs, told reporters,… read more
Politico: The Senate Armed Services Committee [Wednesday] advanced four new Pentagon nominees by voice vote to the full Senate. The panel approved the nominations of: Michael D. Griffin to be undersecretary of Defense for research and engineering; Phyllis Bayer to be assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment; John Henderson to be… read more
Cyprus Mail Online: Qatar is in talks with Moscow to buy Russian S-400 missile air defense systems, Tass state news agency quoted the Qatari ambassador to Russia on Thursday as saying. Qatar is engaged in a deepening diplomatic row with some of its Gulf Arab neighbours, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE),… read more
The Diplomat: The Indian Ministry of Defense’s (MoD) research arm, the Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO), is expected to test fire an extended-range supersonic BrahMos cruise missile by the end of 2018, according to Indian government officials quoted by local media outlets last week. The Indian Air Force (IAF) will test fire the extended-range air-launched… read more
Fox News: BEIJING – China’s Defense Ministry said Thursday it is consulting with the U.S. over again participating in large-scale multinational military exercises being held this summer. Spokesman Wu Qian told reporters at a monthly briefing that China had already been formally invited to take part in the Pacific Rim drills hosted by the U.S.… read more