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21 Oct 21. Investments in Technology Crucial to Staying Ahead, Innovation Unit Director Says. An effective national technology strategy requires investments in critical and emerging technologies, the director of the Defense Innovation Unit said. Michael Brown spoke virtually today at a Center for a New American Security event. The U.S. needs to maintain its leadership in areas such as quantum computing, microelectronics, artificial intelligence, semiconductors and aerospace, he said. “This requires a national statement that we want to be premier in these technologies and that’s going to require investment in basic research.”
Federally funded research and development has declined precipitously since the Cold War. In the 1960s, 2% of gross domestic product went to research and development. Now, it’s 0.35%, he said.
Meanwhile, China now has created a pretty big gap in terms of the number of engineers they’re graduating relative to the U.S., he noted.
In the U.S., capital markets are rewarding very short-term performance measures. “With that short-term nature we’re not building the kind of national capabilities we need,” Brown said.
On the other hand, competition is good and is what has allowed the U.S. to have such a prosperous economy.
Brown also mentioned the importance of sharing critical technologies with allies and partners and avoiding duplicative research.
Talent management was also addressed.
“What we’re doing to bring in technology talent into the department is insufficient to meet the challenge,” he said.
There are a number of fellowship programs in the department. One is sponsored by DIU: the Technology and National Security Fellowship program, he said.
However, the number of such programs is not really meeting the needs. “The successes here are too small relative to what we need for the challenge going forward,” he said.
Brown noted that in Silicon Valley where DIU is headquartered, immigrants have played an important part in the growth of cutting edge companies.
The Defense Department needs to attract the best talent possible, he said, both from within the department, from allies, partners and immigrants. (Source: US DoD)
21 Oct 21. The U.S. is wholly unequipped to resupply forces in a great-power conflict. The current American consumer goods crisis presages the effects of a militarized Sino-American confrontation. Indeed, confrontation is increasingly imaginable, as China’s recent 150-aircraft violation of Taiwanese airspace indicates. A cross-strait conflict necessarily would involve the U.S. and its Pacific allies, and potentially regional rivals, including Vietnam and India. Given the sheer volume of global trade that transits the Indo-Pacific, a conflict would trigger a global depression unlikely to end until a systemic political realignment, much like the Great Depression of the 1930s. However, nations fight if needs must, and the time may be past to avoid a confrontation. Yet for the careful observer, the current shipping crisis demonstrates the manifest inadequacy of the American merchant fleet for U.S. strategic needs. Ships, aircraft, and ground vehicles require sailors, airmen and soldiers to man them. Soldiers require munitions, fuel, spare parts, material for repairs, and food, typically in much greater quantities than planners estimate before conflict. The United States is modifying its combat forces to counter China’s likely strategy and force structure. Long-range missiles distributed to all military branches; smaller, heavily armed warships; and unmanned air, surface, and subsurface vehicles are each a part of this solution. But in any conflict lasting longer than hours to days, U.S. forces will need to be resupplied with, once again, the materiel needed to fight a great-power war. In turn, this requires a fleet capable of conducting resupply. The most efficient means for moving any bulk — cargo, military or otherwise — is by ship.
Thus, the U.S. requires an additional fleet to its current combat fleet, comprised of high-volume civilian cargo ships repurposed for military service and naval ships purpose-built for operational resupply and combat replenishment. The U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command operates about 130 ships, grouped into combat logistics: fleet oilers and replenishment; fleet support, submarine, special warfare, radar, and other ships; and combatant command support — large merchant-style vessels designed to transport major quantities of ammunition to combat theaters. Yet this fleet alone is insufficient to support US forces in a high-end conflict. It will experience combat losses to enemy missiles and submarines, and even absent them, is too small to meet military needs without civilian assistance. Civilian assistance is far from certain. In 2019, the U.S. merchant fleet was comprised of 182 ships, fewer than half of a percent of global merchant hulls. The overwhelming majority of American goods use foreign-flagged ships whose reliability for military use is uncertain. The U.S. encountered this situation during the Second World War, building 5,777 cargo ships in response. Even American-flagged ships may not be available for combat use. Federal law mandates intra-U.S. trade be carried on U.S.-flagged ships, meaning a portion of the American merchant fleet will be needed for traditional civilian tasks.
The military would turn to the Ready Reserve Force, a component of the National Defense Reserve Fleet, to make up this shortfall. The RRF’s 46 ships, distributed across the U.S., notionally could be activated within five to 10 days. The National Maritime Administration maintains these ships in peacetime with an average crew of 10 mariners per hull. Official policy states RRF crews will be “supplemented by additional mariners … once activated”. However, there are approximately 13,500 American professional mariners. The government, through Military Sealift Command, already employs 6,000, meaning the civilian total is 7,500. Once again, some of these mariners will need to operate domestic merchant shipping, reducing manpower. The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments projected that manning all MSC ships and U.S.-flagged commercial shipping would require around 10,000 qualified mariners when accounting for shore leave and crew rotation.
Adding the RRF’s ships, the total comes to slightly under 12,000. Thus, only if nearly every single mariner serves can the U.S. logistics fleet be maintained in combat. Moreover, operating for more than six months would require an additional 4,000 mariners. Simply put, it’s beyond the capacity of current U.S. sealift capabilities, even if supplemented by the merchant marine, to resupply U.S. forces in an extended great-power conflict. Even worse, the merchant fleet will continue to shrink. The average age of a merchant mariner is 46. Given the static size of the U.S. merchant fleet, this will rise over time — young, trained mariners will not join the merchant marine without an incentive that a static or declining merchant fleet does not provide. The pool of trained mariners will stabilize at around 5,700, barely enough for day-to-day operations and grossly insufficient for military purposes. The only reasonable remedy is for the government to fund more merchant vessels. The bureaucratic infrastructure for this already exists through the Maritime Administration’s Maritime Security Program, which currently provides a retainer to 60 merchant ships. In return, they fly under a U.S. flag and are available for requisition in wartime. This number must be expanded by at least one-third to provide ships and crews for U.S. combat needs and avoid cutting domestic maritime transport. (Source: Defense News)
21 Oct 21. Biden says United States would come to Taiwan’s defense. The United States would come to Taiwan’s defense and has a commitment to defend the island China claims as its own, U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday, though the White House said later there was no change in policy towards the island.
“Yes, we have a commitment to do that,” Biden said at a CNN town hall when asked if the United States would come to the defense of Taiwan, which has complained of mounting military and political pressure from Beijing to accept Chinese sovereignty.
While Washington is required by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, it has long followed a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on whether it would intervene militarily to protect Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.
In August, a Biden administration official said U.S. policy on Taiwan had not changed after the president appeared to suggest the United States would defend the island if it were attacked.
A White House spokesperson said Biden at his town hall was not announcing any change in U.S. policy and “there is no change in our policy”, but declined further comment when asked if Biden had misspoken.
“The U.S. defense relationship with Taiwan is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act. We will uphold our commitment under the Act, we will continue to support Taiwan’s self-defense, and we will continue to oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo,” the spokesperson said.
Taiwan’s presidential office, responding to Biden’s remarks, said their position remains the same, which is it will neither give in to pressure nor “rashly advance” when it gets support.
Taiwan will show a firm determination to defend itself, presidential office spokesperson Xavier Chang said in a statement, noting also the Biden administration’s continued concrete actions to show its “rock-solid” support for Taiwan.
‘MOST POWERFUL MILITARY’
Biden said people should not worry about Washington’s military strength because “China, Russia and the rest of the world knows we’re the most powerful military in the history of the world,”
“What you do have to worry about is whether or not they’re going to engage in activities that would put them in a position where they may make a serious mistake,” Biden said.
“I don’t want a cold war with China. I just want China to understand that we’re not going to step back, that we’re not going to change any of our views.”
Military tensions between Taiwan and China are at their worst in more than 40 years, Taiwan’s Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said this month, adding that China will be capable of mounting a “full-scale” invasion by 2025.
Taiwan says it is an independent country and will defend its freedoms and democracy.
China says Taiwan is the most sensitive and important issue in its ties with the United States and has denounced what it calls “collusion” between Washington and Taipei.
Speaking to reporters earlier on Thursday, China’s United Nations Ambassador Zhang Jun said they are pursuing “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan and responding to “separatist attempts” by its ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
“We are not the troublemaker. On the contrary, some countries – the U.S. in particular – is taking dangerous actions, leading the situation in Taiwan Strait into a dangerous direction,” he said.
“I think at this moment what we should call is that the United States to stop such practice. Dragging Taiwan into a war definitely is in nobody’s interest. I don’t see that the United States will gain anything from that.” (Source: Reuters)
21 Oct 21. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III’s Statement on the DoD Climate Risk Analysis. The Department of Defense will continue to work with the interagency, our allies and partners, and the international community to tackle the existential threat of climate change. We share this planet, and shared threats demand shared solutions.
As the Department of Defense Climate Risk Analysis makes clear, climate change is altering the strategic landscape and shaping the security environment, posing complex threats to the United States and nations around the world.
Exacerbated by climate change, extreme weather events are increasingly damaging infrastructure, disrupting supply chains, impacting force readiness and operations, and contributing to humanitarian crises and instability across the globe.
Climate change is also shaping our strategic interests. Competitive advantage in the future will go to those who can fight and win in this rapidly changing strategic and physical environment. To deter war and protect our country, the Department must understand the ways climate change affects missions, plans, and capabilities.
The Department of Defense Climate Risk Analysis lays out a path to incorporate these security considerations into our activities at a strategic level, so we can prevent, mitigate, and respond to this common threat. This report serves as an important first step in understanding national security risks posed by climate change, which will be key to ensuring that the Department fulfills our mission to defend the United States today and into the future.
I encourage you to read the DoD Climate Risk Analysis: https://media.defense.gov/2021/Oct/21/2002877353/-1/-1/0/DOD-CLIMATE-RISK-ANALYSIS-FINAL.PDF?source=GovDelivery (Source: US DoD)
18 Oct 21. Senate appropriators back 5 percent boost in defense spending for FY22. Senate appropriators on Monday unveiled plans for about $24bn in extra military spending this fiscal year above the president’s budget request, the latest blow for progressive lawmakers who hoped to significantly curb defense spending.
The move amounts to a 5 percent increase in defense spending for fiscal 2022 over last year, and brings the appropriations bill in line with planned spending outlined in the House and Senate drafts of the annual defense authorization bill.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense panel, said in a statement the proposed funding bill “strengthens our military and ensures the brave men and women that protect this country have the resources they need to keep Americans safe.”
Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he hopes to pass the measure and the 11 other federal agency budget bills by Dec. 3, when the current budget extension is scheduled to expire.
The spending bill includes money for a 2.7 percent pay raise for all service members starting in January, $2.5bn in investments in the Pacific region to counter Chinese military moves, and $4.3bn for readiness and operational shortfalls across the services.
For the first time in more than a decade, the bill does not contain any funding for overseas contingency operations, with the end of the U.S. military deployment in Afghanistan earlier this summer.
About $3.3bn requested by the White House to support Afghan security forces were reassigned to other priorities. They included $1.6bn for facilities sustainment and modernization, $1.3bn for better infrastructure to develop next-generation weapons, and almost $1.5bn to upgrade and replace National Guard equipment.
In response to the budget bills’ unveiling, Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., blasted the proposals and said Democratic leaders need instead “a top-line agreement that does not shortchange our nation’s defense.”
However, the panel’s proposed spending total falls in line with plans already supported by Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee and in the House, where last month a coalition of conservatives and moderate Republicans overrode plans for less defense spending as part of the annual defense authorization bill.
White House officials have argued that after years of significant plus-ups to the defense budget under President Donald Trump, the extra military money is not needed. But they have also focused more on ensuring that other nondefense agencies see their own funding boosts in the budget plan.
Leahy said the other budget bills amount to a 13 percent increase in nondefense spending next year, a point Republican critics also attacked.
Lawmakers are now left with about seven weeks to navigate the budget bills through the Senate, then through conference committee work to establish a compromise between the two legislative chambers.
House appropriators backed Biden’s lower military spending plan in their budget bills earlier this year, but that move came several months before the defense authorization bill vote last month to go with the higher figures. (Source: Defense News)
19 Oct 21. US denies reports of making financing offers on Turkey’s F-16 request. The sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey requires approval by the US State Department and Congress.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price has confirmed that the country did not make any financing offers on Turkey’s request to purchase F-16 fighter jets.
The confirmation follows Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s comments made on Sunday over Washington’s offer to Ankara for the F-16 sale in return for Turkey’s investment in the F-35 programme.
Turkey was expelled from the F-35 fighter jet programme in July 2019 after it accepted delivery of the S-400 missile system from Russia.
In a press briefing, Price stated that the US Defense Department remains in consultations with Turkey on a blocked order of F-35 fighter planes.
Price said: “When it comes to Turkey, we strongly value our partnership with our Nato ally Turkey. It’s an important Nato ally.
“We have longstanding and deep bilateral ties, and Turkey’s continued Nato interoperability remains a priority.
“The Department of Defense does remain in consultations with Turkey on the F-35 programme.”
“Turkish officials have publicly acknowledged their interest in purchasing F-16 aircraft. We would refer you to the Turkish Government to speak to its defence procurement plans.
“What I can say is the United States has not made any financing offers on Turkey’s F-16 request.”
Last week, Turkey reportedly requested the US for the sale of 40 F-16 fighter jets as part of initiatives to upgrade the country’s airforce.
The US State Department and Congress must approve the multibn-dollar deal. They also have the authority to block it. (Source: airforce-technology.com)
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