Lance Cpl. Carlos Benitez, assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, receives a COVID-19 booster shot aboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) on March 23, 2022. US Navy Photo
The Department of Defense will not issue a separate policy to bring back service members who were separated for failing to get vaccinated against COVID-19, a top Pentagon personnel chief testified to Congress on Tuesday.
Service personnel who were separated for failing to get vaccinated...
Sailors assigned to the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) look for foreign object debris on the flight deck after a replenishment-at-sea with the Supply-class fast combat support ship USNS Arctic (T-AOE-8) on Feb. 17, 2023. US Navy Photo
Reforming the military up-and-out personnel system, guaranteeing pay and reimbursements for troops and limiting access of younger service members to firearms top a list of recommendations from an independent group of researchers tasked to help reduce suicides in the...
JS ATAGO conducted an information sharing EX on BMD with U.S. and ROK naval vessels in the Sea of Japan. JSDF Photo
The U.S., Japan and South Korea carried out a trilateral Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) drill in the Sea of Japan Wednesday in response to North Korean missile launches Saturday and Monday.
U.S. Navy destroyer USS Barry (DDG-52), Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyer JS Atago (DDG-177), and Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) destroyer ROKS Sejong the Great (DDG-991) partici...
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.– Sailors assigned to Assault Craft Unit 4 prepare material recovered in the Atlantic Ocean from a high-altitude balloon for transport to federal agents at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek Feb. 10, 2023. US Navy Photo
The Navy and Coast Guard have finished collecting the remnants of a Chinese high altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina, U.S. Northern Command announced Friday.
“Recovery operations concluded Feb. 16 off the coast of South Carolina,...
China’s threats to invade Taiwan and Russia’s attack on Ukraine are pushing the Pentagon to seek out adapt to a changing global security environment, the author of a new report on Defense Department innovation said this week.
“The fact the red lights are blinking should wake us from the stupor,” said Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment CEO Thomas Mahnken said Tuesday. Innovators in the services and the Pentagon and senior uniformed and civilian leaders can come to an understanding that...
The following is the Feb. 8 2023, Congressional Research Service report, U.S.-China Strategic Competition in South and East China Seas: Background and Issues for Congress.
From the report
In a context of great power competition, the South China Sea (SCS) has emerged as an arena of U.S.-China strategic competition. China’s actions in the SCS—including extensive island-building and base-construction activities at sites that it occupies in the Spratly Islands, as well as actions by its maritime...
The following is the Feb. 2, 2023, Congressional Research Service report, Defense Primer: Strategic Nuclear Forces.
From the report
The Nuclear Triad
Since the early 1960s, the United States has maintained a “triad” of strategic nuclear delivery vehicles. These include long-range land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), long-range submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and long-range heavy bombers equipped to carry nuclear-armed cruise missiles and gravity bombs. The number...
https://news.usni.org/2023/02/08/defense-primer-u-s-strategic-nuclear-forces
The following is the Feb. 2023, Government Accountability Office report, Supply Chain Resilience: Agencies Are Taking Steps to Expand Diplomatic Engagement and Coordinate with International Partners.
From the report
What GAO Found
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Departments of Commerce, State, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative have expanded diplomatic engagement on strengthening supply chains. As of October 2022, these agencies have initiated over a dozen engagements,...
https://news.usni.org/2023/02/07/gao-report-on-u-s-supply-chain-resilience
An MV-22B Osprey, attached to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 162 (Reinforced), takes off from the flight deck of the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) during routine flight operations on Aug. 25, 2021. US Navy Photo
The three services that fly the V-22 Osprey last week grounded some of their fleets due to ongoing issues with the tilt-rotor aircraft’s hard clutch.
In a memo, the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps established a flight hour maximum for the aircraft’s...
https://news.usni.org/2023/02/06/navy-air-force-marines-ground-some-v-22-ospreys
Video stills of the Chinese Spy Balloon after it was hit with an AIM-9X anti-air missile fired from a F-22 Raptor on Feb. 4, 2023.
A trio of Navy warships, service divers and the FBI are on the hunt for the wreckage of a high-altitude Chinese spy balloon that was shot down on Saturday by an Air Force F-22 Raptor off the coast of South Carolina, Defense Department officials told reporters Saturday.
“The balloon, which was being used by the PRC in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the...