The following is the Oct. 5, 2018, Congressional Research Service report, Russian Compliance with the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty: Background and Issues for Congress.
From the report
The United States and Soviet Union signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in December 1987. Negotiations on this treaty were the result of a “dual-track” decision taken by NATO in 1979. At that time, in response to concerns about the Soviet Union’s deployment of new...
The following is the Sept. 27, 2018 Congressional Research Service report, The New START Treaty: Central Limits and Key Provisions.
The United States and Russia signed the New START Treaty on April 8, 2010. After more than 20 hearings, the U.S. Senate gave its advice and consent to ratification on December 22, 2010, by a vote of 71-26. Both houses of the Russian parliament—the Duma and Federation Council—approved the treaty in late January 2011, and it entered into force on February 5, 2011,...
https://news.usni.org/2018/10/04/report-congress-new-start-treaty
A P-8A Poseidon aircraft assigned to Patrol Squadron (VP) 45 is parked on the flight line of Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland in 2016. US Navy Photo
The head of naval forces in Europe warned that Russia is preparing an underwater battlespace in the Northern Atlantic and that U.S. naval presence is more important now than any time since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Adm. James Foggo said in the second episode of his “On the Horizon” podcast that Russia’s national security policy seems to be to...
USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) is pushed by tugboats as the ship enters Huntington Ingalls Newport News Shipbuilding to begin Post Shakedown Availability. US Navy Photo
The Navy’s ability to maintain and manufacture aircraft carrier and submarine propulsion systems is at risk, a panel of experts say, because the commercial nuclear industry has been in failing health for two decades.
Today, the Navy operates more nuclear reactors than the entire U.S. commercial reactor industry. The Navy’s 101...
DoD Photo
President Donald Trump signed the Department of Defense appropriations bill on Friday, providing $674 billion to fund military operations in Fiscal Year 2019, which begins Monday.
By signing the bill into law before the Oct. 1 start to the fiscal year, members of Congress noted this was the first time in a decade the military received funding on time.
“When I became Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, too many of our senior commanders and DOD officials had become resigned to the...
The crew stands aboard future USS South Dakota (SSN-790) Navy photo
The Navy accepted delivery of the future attack submarine South Dakota (SSN-790) from General Dynamics Electric Boat earlier this week, marking the second-to-last Block III Virginia-class boat to come through the production line.
South Dakota is the 17th Virginia-class submarine built and is the seventh of eight Block III submarines. The final Block III boat, the future Delaware (SSN-791), will be delivered by Newport News...
USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) transits the Pacific Ocean while underway in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations on Aug. 4, 2018. US Navy Photo
This post has been updated to include a statement from the Navy as well as an explanation of how USNI News tabulated its data.
THE PENTAGON – Aircraft carriers – the most visible tools of U.S. military power – are spending more time in maintenance and at home even as the Pentagon has declared it’s entered a new era of competition with China and Russia.
According...
https://news.usni.org/2018/09/26/aircraft-carrier-deployments-25-year-low
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Pentagon is banking on billions in savings through operational efficiencies to sustain and modernize the military but if the plan doesn’t work the Department of Defense may have to cut major weapons programs to make up the difference, a defense expert told reporters on Thursday.
Between Fiscal Year 2019 and 2023, the Pentagon expects to save roughly $46 billion by cutting waste in the department. But at a time when future budgets are expected to remain flat at best,...
Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command Vice Adm. Tom Moore answers questions during a town hall meeting with Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City. US Navy Photo
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Pentagon’s new focus on high-end warfare with sophisticated adversaries will put increased emphasis and pressure on Navy readiness, and the service’s maintenance infrastructure needs to better in fixing ships on time, the head of Naval Sea Systems Command said on Tuesday.
Taking cues from Secretary of Defense...
USS Miami arrives at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Maine in 2012. US Navy Photo
The Congressional Budget Office found that a common type of attack submarine maintenance availability is actually less expensive to perform at private shipyards than at the Navy’s own public naval shipyards, according to a summary of the report obtained by USNI News.
The four public shipyards that do maintenance work on nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers have experienced massive backlogs in recent years,...
https://news.usni.org/2018/09/13/cbo-attack-submarine-repairs-cheaper-private-yards-navys-yard