hypersonics
Update to Congress on Military, Political Developments in North Korea
The following is the Sept. 15, 2022, Congressional Research Service report, North Korea: September 2022 Update.
From the reprort
For more than 30 years, 16 Congresses and 6 presidential administrations have struggled with North Korea’s (officially the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea, or DPRK) advancing nuclear weapons and missile programs, human rights abuses, sponsorship of cyber-attacks and cyber-crime, and threats to U.S. regional allies. As Members of Congress seek to shape and...
NORTHCOM: U.S. Needs New Ballistic Missile Interceptor by 2028 to Keep Pace with North Korea
Kim Jong Un in front of a the North Korea intercontinental ballistic missile. KCNA Photo
The United States needs to deploy its Next Generation Interceptor by 2028 or sooner to keep pace with North Korea’s accelerating ballistic missile program, most recently demonstrated in Pyongyang’s successful test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile Thursday, Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
While saying he was “comfortable with where we are today based on...
Pentagon Acquisition Chief Nominee Argues Navy Needs Larger, More Survivable Fleet
USS Princeton (CG-59) and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Halsey (DDG-97) and USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) steam in formation during a composite unit training exercise (COMPTUEX) on May 12, 2020. US Navy Photo
The nominee for the Pentagon’s top acquisition post told the Senate Armed Services Committee today that the Navy needs a larger and more survivable fleet.
“We need more numbers” when it comes to Navy fleet size and “we want survivable; we want strike” for the...
Australia Needs Asymmetric Capabilities to Counter China in Indo-Pacific, Former Australian Official Says
Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Hobart (DDG 39) executes a live missile firing off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) on Aug. 25, 2020. RAN Photo
Australian political leaders have refocused Canberra’s attention on developing more asymmetric capabilities necessary to fighting a war far from its shores against “high-end competitor” China, a former senior national security adviser to its foreign minister said Tuesday.
John Lee, now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute
Former VCNO: China Ahead of U.S. in Applying Data to Military Use
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.
Retired Adm....
https://news.usni.org/2021/11/22/former-vcno-china-ahead-of-u-s-in-applying-data-to-military-use
Guam Needs SM-6 Missile for Hypersonic Defense, Navy Admiral Says
Launch of a SM-6. US Navy Photo
Guam “would absolutely need” the Navy’s SM-6 missile for its defense against a hypersonic missile attack, the program executive for Aegis ballistic missile defense said Thursday.
Rear Adm. Tom Druggan called the SM-6 “our leading defense capability for hypersonic missile defense.” It is “a fantastic missile, just absolutely great missile” because of its versatility.
Speaking at the United States Naval Institute’s maritime security series at the Center for Strategic...
https://news.usni.org/2021/11/19/guam-needs-sm-6-missile-for-hypersonic-defense-navy-admiral-says
Panel: Military Needs More Electrical Power to Counter Long-Range Missile Threats
Chinese Type 022 Houbei-class Fast Attack Missile Craft firing missiles. People’s Liberation Army Navy Photo
The Pentagon finds itself in the “shocking and eye-opening” position of needing more electrical power to protect distributed naval and ground forces from long-range attack at a time when China dominates the global production of advanced batteries needed to meet that mission, a panel of security experts said Thursday.
Heather Penny, a senior fellow at the Air Force Association’s Mitchell...
Hyten: China’s ‘Unprecedented Nuclear Modernization’ Chief Concern
Chinese DF-5B Nuclear Weapons. People’s Liberation Army Photo
The speed of China’s “unprecedented nuclear modernization” and its “build-out of a modernized triad” is the biggest concern for the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as he nears the end of his tenure.
In the last year, the Chinese have built two new ballistic missile silo fields for their intercontinental ballistic missiles.
“There’re no limits on what they can put in those silos,” adding to the threat, Air Force Gen. John...
https://news.usni.org/2021/09/14/hyten-chinas-unprecedented-nuclear-modernization-chief-concern
MDA: US Has Several Options To Defend Guam From Missile Threats
On Nov. 16, U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Navy sailors aboard USS John Finn (DDG 113), an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System-equipped destroyer, fired a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA guided missile that successfully intercepted and destroyed a mock Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) during a flight test demonstration in the broad ocean area northeast of Hawaii in November 2020. MDA photo.
The U.S. has several options to defend Guam against attack, the director of the Missile...
https://news.usni.org/2021/08/13/mda-u-s-has-several-options-to-defend-guam-from-missile-threats