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28 Jul 22. Africom Dealing With Strategic Competition, Terror Threats. While strategic competition with China and Russia remains the main challenge for U.S. Africa Command, the African continent is “the central focus of terrorism in the world,” Army Gen. Stephen J. Townsend told the Defense Writers Group today.
Townsend is stepping down as commander of U.S. Africa Command next month. He told the defense reporters that the emergence of China on the continent is the first-and-foremost challenge for the command.
“China is acting in a very whole-of-government way, leading with development and economic measures on the continent,” he said. “They are proceeding … to increase their access and influence on the continent, and they have a desire … to establish more military bases on the continent.”
China has one base in Djibouti — its first overseas base — and seeks another on Africa’s Atlantic coast. Townsend said that would be a bad development for U.S. interests on the continent.
Russia is a different challenge, characterized by the band of mercenaries — the Wagner Group — representing the nation in Africa. Russia is acting in “a self-interested, exploitative and extractive way,” the general said.
Russia is not interested in sincerely helping African nations, but in helping themselves to the natural resources of the continent, he said.
The most immediate threat is that posed by violent extremist organizations. “Some of the most lethal terrorists on the planet are now in Africa,” Townsend said. “They were once in Iraq, and Syria and Afghanistan.”
Al-Qaida and the Islamic State are present on the continent, and groups like al-Shabab in Somalia, for example, are financing terror groups in Africa and other areas of the globe, Townsend said. And all of this is exacerbated by climate change.
“The environment is definitely affecting lives in Africa — drought, famine, desertification — all of these things … will continue to be challenges,” he said.
Africa Command’s most successful engagement strategy is its sponsorship of exercises on the continent. African Lion and Flintlock are the largest, but there are many more smaller exercises that draw representatives from around the continent, Townsend said. African troops see the value of these exercises as a way to learn new skills and engage with service members from the United States and partner nations.
“Every time we have a big exercise, usually someone creates a patch for the exercise,” he said. “It’s not unusual to see wearing the patches months later.”
The exercises are also important to the United States for building a spirit of cooperation with allies fostered by rigorous training. The last administration cut the command’s exercise budget. Townsend was able to get much of the money back. “Our exercise program is still pretty robust — it’s adequate,” he said. “I think, as so long as we don’t see future reductions to those resources, that I’m satisfied with the amount of exercise engagement we can do in Africa.”
The command’s objective is an economy-of-force mission — meaning the judicious employment and distribution of force. Africa Command personnel are used to doing a lot with little resources. One program they depend on is the National Guard’s State Partnership Program. This program pairs a nation with state National Guard organizations. For example, the New York National Guard is paired with South Africa, and the Massachusetts National Guard is paired with Kenya.
There are 15 African nations paired with U.S. states under the program, Townsend said, and this allows U.S. National Guardsmen to engage with the militaries of their African partners year-round.
“What I love about that program is it is at a low level; it’s at a very user-friendly level,” he said. “It’s not big exercises but constant low-level touches.”
A strong example of the program’s success is Ukraine’s partnership with the California National Guard, which allowed the nation to train and develop a professional noncommissioned officer corps that has been very successful against the Russian invasion, the general said. That same effort is helping African nations professionalize their militaries.
“We have a waiting list of African partners who want to get on the state partnership list, and we probably can absorb about one a year,” he said. “And I’m you’re eagerly looking forward to our next state partnership, because I think they’re very valuable.” (Source: US DoD)
28 Jul 22. Nearly 9% boost for defense spending next year under new Senate plan. Senate Democrats on Thursday proposed a $792bn defense spending package that would dramatically boost the White House’s military spending plans for fiscal 2023 but still didn’t total enough to satisfy congressional Republicans.
The appropriations bill, unveiled one month after House Democrats backed a smaller $761bn defense spending plan for next year, includes money for a 4.6% pay raise for troops, $1.4bn to expand industrial base capacity, and $2.2bn to accelerate the development of new military capabilities in space.
The Senate plan also includes $53bn to address higher inflation “for acquisition programs, goods and services, and higher compensation costs.”
The spending plan is nearly 9% above current year spending levels and about 4% above the White House and House proposals for military funding.
“This bill modernizes our armed forces to address the evolving threats of the 21st Century, ensuring the Defense Department is able to compete with China and other adversaries across the globe,” Senate Appropriations Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in a statement.
“It includes additional funds to help address the consequences of inflation, which has impacted government programs at every level – both defense and non-defense …This is a strong bill for our national security.”
Republican lawmakers disagreed.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, said that the proposals “fail to appropriately allocate resources to our national defense.”
Shelby said the bills fall nearly $10bn short of the spending level agreed to in the Senate National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which the Armed Services Committee advanced last month.
The divergent budget targets from different congressional committees set up a showdown this fall over what the actual defense spending total for fiscal 2023 will be.
White House officials have not raised objections over increasing the budget over their proposal, but have emphasized that money should be used to help modernize the force and not simply maintain legacy programs.
The Senate proposal provides $25m in funding for the sea-launched cruise missile nuclear development program (SLCM-N), which the Biden administration seeks to defund. The House defense spending bill would defund SLCM-N, whereas the House passed defense authorization bill authorized $45m in funding for the program.
Proponents of SLCM-N such as Admiral Charles Richard – the head of U.S. Strategic Command – argue that it’s necessary to enhance the U.S. nuclear posture, whereas opponents posit that it undermines the mission of the Navy’s attack submarines while adding relatively little to deterrence.
All of the differing budget bills have included money for a 4.6% pay raise, which would be the largest for troops in 20 years.
For junior enlisted troops, the 4.6% hike would mean about $1,300 more next year in take-home pay. For senior enlisted and junior officers, the hike equals about $2,500 more. For an O-4 with 12 years’ service, it’s more than $4,500 in extra pay.
“This legislation will keep America safe by giving our troops a well-earned pay raise, ensuring our servicemen and women are well-trained and well-equipped with the most up-to-date technology and shifting resources toward programs that’ll maintain our fighting edge over adversaries like China and Russia,” said Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense panel.
Senate officials said the measure also includes $4.7bn to upgrade outdated Defense Department infrastructure, including $680m to enhance shipyards and $1.8bn to “modernize our nation’s critical test and evaluation infrastructure for emerging technologies.”
Senate lawmakers are scheduled to break for an August recess next week. Officials from both chambers are expected to start negotiations over a compromise budget plan in coming weeks, but that work is unlikely to be finished by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. As such, lawmakers expect to need a short-term budget extension to prevent a government shutdown in October. (Source: Defense News)
28 Jul 22. Biden pick for Pentagon acquisitions role vows to cut weapons system costs. Radha Plumb, President Joe Biden’s nominee to be the Pentagon’s No. 2 acquisitions and sustainment official, pledged to find ways to bring down the costs of the systems it buys.
“If confirmed, my focus would be on making sure we can identify as early as possible key issues and drivers of sustainment [costs] and then include that in early negotiations [with vendors],” she told the Senate Armed Services Committee at her confirmation hearing July 28.
Plumb, chief of staff to Kathleen Hicks, the Pentagon’s No. 2 civilian, also noted that the Defense Department is moving toward a more data-driven approach to tracking the sustainment needs of its weapons systems.
The comments came in response to questions from the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who said the costs are so high the Pentagon is having trouble maintaining the readiness of some of its systems.
Pressed by Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, on whether the Pentagon needs to include the intellectual property associated with any major weapons system it buys as a means of controlling maintenance coats, Plumb said the Pentagon needs to do so to better manage its supply chains.
“That includes dealing with part obsolescence, and our ability to produce that in-house in more robust and resilient ways,” she said. “If confirmed, I commit to looking at ensuring that intellectual property and other solutions that can allow us to build in supply chain resilience to enable us to maintain and sustain warfighting capabilities at a much more reasonable cost.”
Before Plumb became Hicks’ chief of staff in February 2021, she was Google’s director of research and insights for trust and safety. Before that Plumb was Facebook’s global head of policy analysis after holding several senior staff positions at the Pentagon, Energy Department and White House National Security Council.
The Pentagon is struggling to control costs associated with sustaining its weapons systems. For the Lockheed Martin-made F-35 jet, sustainment costs are on track to become so expensive that the Air Force will either have to cut its planned buy or flying hours, the the Government Accountability Office found last year.
If confirmed, Plumb would serve with Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante at a time when contractors are reporting problems with supply chains, inflation and labor shortages.
Another nominee, Laura Taylor-Kale, Biden’s pick to be assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy, fielded questions about industry’s ability — in light of those problems — to supply the U.S., allies and Ukraine, in the wake of Russia’s invasion.
Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., said the Pentagon, with Congress and the defense industry needs to boost production rates U.S. military would be well supplied in the event of a conventional conflict with Russia or China. Taylor-Kale said she would work across the Defense Department to address gaps and critical needs.
“The war in Ukraine and COVID-19 really laid bare some of these vulnerabilities and these critical challenges that we’ve known for a while but are certainly more acute now,” said Taylor-Kale, adding that she’d work with LaPlante and defense firms to build more “hot production lines.”
The nominees aren’t expected to receive speedy confirmation, in part because Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has been denying unanimous consent to advance Pentagon civilians on the Senate floor.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, signaled he could do the same. He took the unusual step of announcing during Thursday’s confirmation hearing that he would block the nominations in connection with Interior Department opposition to a road to the Ambler Mining District in northwest Alaska.
“Until I get answers on Ambler at high levels, unfortunately, I’m not going to help move your nominations forward, even though I think you’re qualified — and important positions,” he said. “But this is important. The same day, the president holds a summit on critical minerals, they shut down on the biggest critical mineral supplies in America, maybe the world because of their relentless war on the state of Alaska.” (Source: Defense News)
28 Jul 22. Defense Department Earns Top Performance Rating in Small Business Procurement Index. For the eighth consecutive year, the Defense Department achieved an “A” rating for performance against its small business procurement goals. Released on July 26, the annual U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) scorecard puts into context the critical role small businesses play in fulfilling the department’s mission.
During a virtual press event announcing the scorecard’s release, Dr. William A. LaPlante, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, highlighted the contributions of the American workforce and small businesses throughout Fiscal Year 2021 alongside agency heads from the Departments of Transportation and Homeland Security as well as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
“Small businesses play a vital role in the American economy, and they are essential to the mission of the Department of Defense, enabling us to develop, deliver and sustain critical capabilities to our Warfighter,” LaPlante said. “DoD achieved our small business prime contracting goal for eight consecutive years. This shows our commitment to maximize opportunities for small businesses, which increases competition and strengthens our national and economic security.”
With more than $83bn in obligations directly to small businesses, as well as another $50bn subcontracted to small businesses from DoD’s large prime suppliers, the department continues its commitment to the defense small business industrial base.
Specifically, the department’s Mentor Protégé Program (MPP), which partners small business with larger companies – provides a robust platform for small businesses to grow as viable contributors to the defense industrial base. In the past five years, MPP has successfully helped hundreds of small businesses fill unique niches and become part of the military’s supply chain.
The department is also prioritizing the use of the Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs) to increase the number of small businesses across the industrial base. Administered by the department’s Office of Small Business Programs, in cooperation with state and local governments and nonprofit organizations, the PTAC program helps businesses pursue and perform under contracts with the DoD, other federal agencies, and with government prime contractors.
In concert with the scorecards release, SBA announced that the Biden-Harris Administration exceeded its small business federal contracting goal, awarding over a quarter—or $154.2 bn—of the total federal contracting funds to small businesses. Combined with $72 bn in subprime contracting goals, this historic spend has supported over one m jobs in the American economy. To see the department’s scorecard, visit https://www.sba.gov/agency-scorecards/scorecard.html(Source: US DoD)
27 Jul 22. Building Asymmetric Advantage in Indo-Pacific Part of DOD Approach to Chinese Aggression. In the Indo-Pacific region, Chinese aggression demonstrates an effort by Beijing to deconstruct core elements of the international rules-based order and assert greater control over the waterways that connect it with its neighbors, the assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs said.
Last month, for instance, a Chinese fighter aircraft cut across the nose of an Australian aircraft which was conducting legal operations over the South China Sea. The Chinese aircraft released chaff that was sucked into the engine of the Australian aircraft, said Ely Ratner, who spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Chaff” consists of fragments of aluminum, or another material, released from an aircraft as a radar countermeasure.
That incident, Ratner said, came shortly after another series of incidents where Chinese aircraft unsafely intercepted Canadian aircraft who were also conducting legal activities on behalf of the U.N. Security Council over the East China Sea.
Another incident, he said, involved a Chinese naval vessel endangering another Australian aircraft by aiming a laser at it.
“These are not isolated incidents,” Ratner said. “Over the last five years, the number of unsafe PLA intercepts, including U.S. allies and partners operating lawfully in international airspace in the South China Sea has increased dramatically with dozens of dangerous events in the first half of this year alone. In my view, this aggressive and irresponsible behavior represents one of the most significant threats to peace and stability in the region today, including in the South China Sea.”
Ratner said if the Chinese military continues that unsafe behavior, in short time, it might cause a major incident or accident in the region. Chinese actions, he said, are part of an effort by Beijing to systematically test the limits of U.S. and partner resolve and to advance a new status quo in the South China Sea that disregards existing commitments to a respect for sovereignty, peaceful resolution of disputes and adherence to international law.
“What this demands of us is that we demonstrate the will and capability to properly deter PRC aggression,” he said.
The Defense Department has a strategy, Ratner said, which is aimed at ensuring the U.S., it’s partners and allies, can continue to enjoy a free and open Indo-Pacific region where both international law and national sovereignty are respected.
That strategy, he said, includes building asymmetric advantages for U.S. partners, building a combat-credible forward presence in the Indo-Pacific and enabling the most capable of U.S. partners in the region.
“Without question, bolstering our partners’ self-defense capabilities in the South China Sea, and across the region, is a task of foremost importance for the Defense Department,” Ratner said. “DOD is taking an increasingly proactive approach in looking at new options to support these efforts.”
Underlying that approach, he said, is an understanding that deterrence doesn’t mean matching competitors’ capabilities directly.
“We’ve seen reminders in Ukraine that smaller nations can outmaneuver larger aggressors through smart investments in self-defense technologies, anti-aircraft weapons and other anti-access/denial capabilities,” he said.
Information can also be as powerful a tool as hardware, he said. And to that end the Defense Department is providing better support to partner intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and rethinking how it manages and shares information.
“We’re doubling down on our efforts to build a common operating picture with our partners that will allow them to better detect and counter illicit activities in their territorial waters,” he said. “Our new Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness … which we launched at the Quad Leaders Summit in May, is just one way that we’re doing so.”
The Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness, he said, will allow the U.S. to share near-real-time satellite data with partners.
Building a more combat-credible forward presence in the Indo-Pacific, Ratner said, means a focus on day-to-day campaigning, and the harnessing of new capabilities, operational concepts, and combined warfighting development with allies to complicate competitor military preparations.
“We’re building a more dynamic presence in the region,” he said. “In practice, this means we’re operating forward and more flexibly, including through a regular tempo of rotational activities.”
As examples, he said, last fall, two U.S. carrier strike groups were joined by a Japanese helicopter destroyer and a U.K. carrier strike group to conduct multilateral, multicarrier operations in the Philippine Sea.
“When the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group rotated through the Indian Ocean and ultimately the South China Sea last spring, we conducted multidomain operations with the Indian navy and air force that integrated air, anti-submarine and command and control elements,” he said.
Across the Indo-Pacific, Ratner said, the U.S. military has been increasing the complexity, jointness, duration and scale of combined exercises with allies.
“As we continue to shore up our position in the region, we will not relent in our commitment to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows to ensure that all nations are able to exercise this right,” he said.
Another of the department’s effort to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region, Ratner said, is better enabling the U.S.’s more capable partners and allies in the region.
“The United States’ ability to pursue common security and economic goals with like-minded nations is the cornerstone of our success and at the root of our strategy,” he said. “For the U.S. military specifically, our defense relationships and our ability to bind them more tightly together into more deeply interoperable coalitions can make clear the costs of aggression.”
U.S. alliances with Australia, Japan, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea and Thailand, for instance, remain at the center DOD’s approach here, he said.
During a recent trip to Thailand, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and his counterparts there discussed opportunities to expand bilateral training and exercises, including the establishment of a working group on reciprocal access, Ratner said.
The U.S. is also working with the Philippines to develop new bilateral defense guidelines to clarify respective roles, missions and capabilities within the framework of the U.S. and Philippines’ alliance, Ratner said. Already, he said, the U.S. and the Philippines participate together in more than 300 exercises and military to military activities annually.
“We do not seek confrontation or conflict,” Ratner said. “We say that publicly, we say that privately. Our primary interest is in upholding the order that has for decades sustained the region’s peace. And while we will always stand ready to prevail in conflict, it is the primary responsibility of the Department of Defense to prevent it and deterrence is the cornerstone of our strategy.” (Source: US DoD)
26 Jul 22. Austin Emphasizes Common Values, Beliefs With Hemispheric Partners. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III called for greater cooperation and coordination among Western Hemisphere nations, as he addressed the Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas in Brasilia today. Austin said the nations of the hemisphere are bound together not only by geography, but by common values, common purpose and a common belief in democracy. “We believe that the entire Western Hemisphere can be secure, prosperous and democratic,” he said.
Democracies in the region care deeply about human rights, human dignity and the rule of law, Austin said. “The more we deepen our democracies, the more we deepen our security,” he said.
The security is threatened and the world is becoming an ever more complex place. “We’re fortunate to live as neighbors in a hemisphere of peace, but we must still be candid about our common challenges,” he said.
Our common problems demand common action — from disaster relief to migration. Our shared challenges demand what I’ve called the power of partnership.”
Austin cited the challenges that arose from COVID-19 and challenges from some nations to the rule of law and human rights. Climate change is threatening the region and nations of the hemisphere need “greater capacities to respond to natural disasters,” he said.
Finally, he noted, “autocratic powers are working to undermine the stable, open, rules-based international order in our region, that includes efforts by the People’s Republic of China to gain regional influence,” he said.
Hemispheric leaders have pledged to work together to address regional concerns, most recently at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles last month. The climate crisis has forced nations to work together as hurricanes, sea-level rise, heat waves and more do not recognize national borders. “Our common problems demand common action — from disaster relief to migration,” he said. “Our shared challenges demand what I’ve called the power of partnership.”
The defense ministers are discussing integrated deterrence in their deliberations. This is the heart of the American National Defense Strategy. “Integrated deterrence means working seamlessly across domains, theaters and the full spectrum of conflict,” Austin said. “And it means working closely with our unrivaled network of allies and partners.”
This strategy means having military forces that are ready, capable “and under firm civilian control,” Austin said. “And it demands defense ministries that serve their citizens transparently and without corruption.”
Austin announced that there is $115 m in the DOD budget for fiscal year 2023 for partners in Latin America and the Caribbean. “That will boost our investment in security cooperation in the hemisphere to more than half a bn dollars since 2020,” he said.
In addition, the U.S. helped partner countries with vaccines and medical help during the pandemic. That will continue, Austin said, and added that the U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort will sail to the region in the coming months to help those nations particularly hard-hit by COVID-19.
Austin also stressed that the democratic nations of the hemisphere must work together to recognize the full potential of all our people. “That means ensuring that women are free, safe and equally able to contribute to defense and security,” he said. The secretary particularly singled out the exchanges under the Women, Peace and Security program in more than 13 countries in the Western Hemisphere. (Source: US DoD)
26 Jul 22. Low-Cost Tech Shaping Modern Battlefield, Socom Commander Says. In his 38 years as a soldier, across theaters ranging from the Middle East to Europe, the commander of Special Operations Command says he never had to look up. But those days are ending.
“I never had to look up because the U.S. always maintained air superiority,” Army Gen. Richard D. Clarke said during a discussion Friday at the Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colorado. “We won’t always have that luxury,” he added.
Low-cost quadcopters and larger unmanned aerial vehicles are disrupting the status quo as militaries and insurgents increasingly rely on them, the general said.
“When Russia is running out of them for Ukraine, and they’re going to Iran to go buy more, should cause us all a bit of concern because you can see how valuable that they can be in the future fight,” he said.
U.S. and partner forces have largely focused on ways to defeat enemy drones after takeoff, but Clarke said there is also a need for interagency discussions on ways to disrupt supply chains to prevent them from taking off.
But first, there must be a discussion on norms and authorities for their use, he said. With a “very low” cost of entry for some of the small unmanned systems, the general said some countries may want to use drones to move patients or supplies. Medical transport vehicles are protected under the Geneva Conventions.
Chemical, Biological Weapons
Clarke said the Defense Department has charged Socom with looking at another threat that is inexpensive to produce and use — chemical and biological weapons.
ISIS used chlorine and mustard gases in Iraq and Syria, he said. Russia has used chemical weapons against its political allies — on its own soil and elsewhere, Clarke added.
“The fact that someone in the basement in Mosul with a few lab sets can do this,” proved that it’s a simple process to create these weapons, the general said. Chemical and biological weapons are a terrorist weapon system, he said, and ISIS and al-Qaida will continue to use them because they instill fear.
“As we go into the future, we have to be prepared for that eventuality … and look for methods to continue to combat it,” Clarke said.
Cyber Threats
Though U.S. officials have said government and other critical systems are receiving daily cyberattacks, the general said he’s equally concerned with the way adversaries are using cyber to exploit the information space.
Malign actors are spreading misinformation and disinformation online, and these have had an impact on elections, he said.
Misinformation is false or misleading information — a mistaken breaking news announcement, for example. Disinformation is meant to intentionally deceive the recipient.
Clarke said cyber gives adversaries a quick route to spread false information that can damage the U.S. cause.
“The message, if you look at the internet and what is happening from the African countries, its U.S. sanctions against Russia are causing food shortages in Africa,” the general said. “So we’re being blamed for people in Africa not getting to eat. … We have to look at what is on the internet and get the truth out about what is happening. And I think we have to be able to do that as a government a little bit faster than what we’re doing today.” (Source: US DoD)
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