Sponsored by Bertin Exensor
www.exensor.com
—————————————————————————————————————–
19 Mar 26. Department Leader Says Nuclear Triad Must Be Upgraded to Meet Dual Threat. With soon to be two near-peer nuclear-armed competitors to deter, the U.S. must upgrade its nuclear forces, which serve as a backdrop to conventional capabilities that must also be robust, War Department leaders told lawmakers March 17.
“U.S. strategy is at a critical inflection point,” said Robert Kadlec, assistant secretary of war for nuclear deterrence, chemical and biological defense policy and programs, while testifying before the House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee.
China’s strategic nuclear “breakout,” Kadlec said — an unprecedented, major increase in bolstering their nuclear capability — means that the U.S. nuclear arsenal must deter both China and Russia.
Compounding that problem, he said, are the budgetary, industrial and programmatic strains of modernizing all three legs of the nuclear triad at once — land, sea and air. An additional factor is that the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia expired in February. That treaty limited the number of strategic warheads for both the U.S. and Russia.
Kadlec told lawmakers the U.S. must plan for conflict or aggression in more than one theater — possibly coordinated by adversaries who hope to test U.S. capabilities or stretch them thin.
“Our force structure posture and nuclear strategy must be robust enough to deter both peers simultaneously, even if we were to be engaged in a major conventional conflict with one,” he said.
The U.S., Kadlec said, doesn’t have to have the same number of nuclear weapons as both adversaries combined, but it must have a sufficient capability to maintain credible deterrence.
“It means we require a nuclear force sufficient to inflict unacceptable costs on both adversaries under any contingency — ensuring that neither believes that they can exploit a crisis elsewhere for their own gain,” he said.
Kadlec said the U.S. nuclear triad must be upgraded to achieve this.
“Our modernization programs are an urgent necessity,” he added. “The transition from our legacy systems to a modernized triad occurs during a period of maximum geopolitical risk. There is no room for error.”
The U.S. must fully fund or accelerate programs like the Sentinel, a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile that will replace the Minuteman III as the ground component of the U.S. nuclear triad, Kadlec said. He also called for funding of the Columbia-class submarine, the B-21 Raider bomber, the long-range standoff cruise missile and the nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile.
“We’re entering into a new, more dangerous era,” Kadlec said. “The luxury of assuming a single major adversary is gone. The cost of modernizing our nuclear deterrent is significant, but the cost of failing to do so is immeasurably greater. Congress’ continued support is essential to ensure we have the deterrent we need to preserve peace, protect our nation and our freedom.” (Source: U.S. DoD)
20 Mar 26. Joint Statement Reaffirming a Shared Commitment to Defense Industrial Resilience. We, the National Armaments Directors and senior government officials of the member nations of the Partnership for Indo-Pacific Industrial Resilience (PIPIR), convened for our 2nd Annual Plenary meeting, virtually, on March 18, 2026, to reaffirm our commitment to accelerating defense industrial cooperation.
We reaffirmed the PIPIR Statement of Core Vision and Terms of Reference, discussed the collective challenges and opportunities to defense industrial cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, and endorsed the 2026 roadmap for PIPIR workstream initiatives.
We also endorsed the accession of Thailand and the United Kingdom to PIPIR, welcoming them as the 15th and 16th members, respectively, to join our Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic partnership. Collectively, we are committed to strengthening defense industrial resilience to promote the continued regional security, economic security, and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific.
We discussed current capacity shortfalls and resilience challenges in the global defense industrial base that impede our ability to meet combined operational needs but acknowledged positive momentum through PIPIR in addressing barriers to increased armaments cooperation. We further reaffirmed our commitment to exploring avenues across the Partnership to strengthen defense industrial base integration to de-risk supply chains, expand forward sustainment capacity, remove policy and regulatory impediments to cooperation, and accelerate production of key systems and components.
We discussed the significant progress that has been achieved through PIPIR since its establishment, recalling the announcement of two marquee initiatives by the U.S. Secretary of War at the Shangri-La Dialogue in May 2025, including the development of a forward repair capability for P-8 radar systems in Australia and the development of standards for small unmanned aerial systems across the Indo-Pacific. We agreed to the following next steps for these marquee initiatives:
- Expanding the scope of the regional sustainment hub in Australia to support additional P-8 operators in the Indo-Pacific, a project recently announced at the Shangri-La Dialogue in May 2025.
- Endorsing four Statements of Intent to foster cooperation on small unmanned aerial systems’ battery and small motor development through executing an industry survey and sharing results among participants, pursuing reciprocal standards and a common procurement policy, and identifying efforts towards a future battery project.
We agreed that PIPIR continues to make tangible progress toward addressing barriers and accelerating defense industrial collaboration to promote a stronger, more resilient, more integrated, defense industrial base. We also reaffirmed the importance of multilateral frameworks such as PIPIR to help facilitate the rapid delivery of relevant capabilities to our combined defense forces. In doing so, we took measure of the progress made since our last plenary on these efforts:
- Building on the success of the Multinational Armaments Resilience Seminar, the first Indo-Pacific focused multinational armaments cooperation course, to be executed on a yearly basis, and co-hosted by the Department of War’s Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies and rotating PIPIR members.
- Continuing our campaign of learning through multiple industrial base-focused subject-matter expert exchanges, tabletop exercises, and collaborative learning events.
We also discussed and endorsed several new lines of effort that will strengthen the Partnership by creating more opportunities for collaboration and will advance defense industrial resilience in the Indo-Pacific and globally:
- Committing to a project that will explore feasibility and opportunity to establish a forward-deployed F100/F110 engine repair hub in Japan, which, will support regional sustainment for F-15 and F-16 platforms operated by the United States Air Force and partner nations.
- Progressing the effort to establish a CH-47 Chinook T-55 engine repair hub in the Republic of Korea, a project recently announced at the US-ROK Logistics Cooperations Committee in July 2025.
- Establishment of a new Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) production initiative between the US and Japan, chaired by Japan.
- Expanding energetics and munitions development by assessing the potential for interest and funding for the 30mm-by-173mm ammunition load, assemble, and pack line effort with the Philippines.
- Supporting regional co-production opportunities by exploring modular UAV projects across many mission sets. (Source: U.S. DoD)
18 Mar 26. War Department Senior Leaders Prioritize Western Hemispheric Security.
The War Department is prioritizing security in the Western Hemisphere, which is integral to U.S. homeland defense, said Joseph M. Humire, performing the duties of assistant secretary of war for homeland defense and Americas security affairs, who spoke today during a House Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington.
Joint Task Force Southern Border helped seal the Southwest border in record time through deterrence and close partnership with federal law enforcement, he said, adding that “border security is national security.”
The department has deployed more than 12,000 service members along the border and has established six national defense areas covering 845 miles, or 42% of the border across Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.
Border security is augmented by cutting-edge technology and infrastructure, including counter-unmanned aerial systems and additional miles of border barrier.
Over the last 14 months the department has helped reverse record illegal mass migration into the lowest recorded border encounters in history, Humire said.
“This past January marked the fourth consecutive month decline in border apprehensions, with figures 93% below the historic average,” he added.
The department is also focused on issues beyond the border.
“For the first time in history, the department is going on the offense against designated terrorist organizations and other major cartels in our hemisphere,” he said.
Operation Southern Spear is providing deterrence against narco-terrorism threats in the Americas. Since the operation began, there has been a 30% reduction of drug vessel movements in the Caribbean and a 25% reduction in the Eastern Pacific.
Flows of fentanyl, which Humire called a “weapon of mass destruction,” have dropped by 56% and cocaine flows by 20%.
“That means there are less Americans dying from deadly drugs that have been poisoning our communities and our children for years. In fact, overall, inside the United States, we’ve seen a 20% decline in U.S. drug overdoses in the last year,” he said.
The Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, a partnership of South American and Caribbean nations formed earlier this month, is aimed at rooting out narco-terrorism threats through deterrence-focused operations, Humire said.
As of last week, Chile became the 18th member of that coalition.
This month, Ecuador became the first country to conduct joint land strikes in Latin America against cartel infrastructure, bringing collective hard power against cartels and increasing burden sharing.
The department is also securing “key terrain, from Alaska to Greenland in the Arctic to the Gulf of America and the Panama Canal and surrounding countries,” Humire said.
During the hearing, Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, commander of U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said NORAD and Northcom are taking on new missions and rapidly implementing innovative approaches to safeguard North America.
That approach includes deterring adversaries and defending against all threats in all domains, from intercepting long-range bombers off the coasts of Alaska and Canada, tracking advanced maritime platforms in the approaches to North America, and standing ready to defend against long-range missile attacks, the general said, providing some examples of Northcom’s focus:
- The stand-up of Joint Task Force Gold to address security posed by unmanned aerial systems.
- The command is designated as the department synchronizer for counter-small UAS activities in the continental U.S.
- Developed a rapidly deployable counter-small UAS fly-away kit to defend critical installations and employ innovative technologies to protect U.S. personnel.
- Accelerated the development of new counter-small UAS technologies in partnership with industry, with the aim of providing security in the Arctic.
The general said that Northcom and NORAD are participating in joint and combined exercises with allies and partners, such as Arctic Edge and Noble Defender.
“Trusted relationships are a cornerstone of regional security and homeland defense,” he added.
Marine Corps Gen. Francis L. Donovan, commander of U.S. Southern Command, spoke during the hearing about his command’s development of four imperatives:
- Strengthening hemispheric command and control by redesigning Southcom headquarters for strategic level operations at range, speed and scale.
- Imposing total systemic friction on drug cartels and terrorist networks with the help of partner nations.
- Developing and fielding cost-effective technology for warfighters, who are aided by autonomous systems, human machine teaming and all-domain awareness and data sharing for U.S. and partner forces.
- Denying adversarial footholds and undoing influence in the hemisphere, including preventing their ability to position forces or other capabilities that threaten the homeland or regional partners and challenge access to key terrain like the Panama Canal and its approaches. (Source: U.S. DoD)
———————————————————————————————————————-
Founded in 1987, Exensor Technology is a world leading supplier of Networked Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) Systems providing tailored sensor solutions to customers all over the world. From our Headquarters in Lund Sweden, our centre of expertise in Network Communications at Communications Research Lab in Kalmar Sweden and our Production site outside of Basingstoke UK, we design, develop and produce latest state of the art rugged UGS solutions at the highest quality to meet the most stringent demands of our customers. Our systems are in operation and used in a wide number of Military as well as Homeland Security applications worldwide. The modular nature of the system ensures any external sensor can be integrated, providing the user with a fully meshed “silent” network capable of self-healing. Exensor Technology will continue to lead the field in UGS technology, provide our customers with excellent customer service and a bespoke package able to meet every need.
A CNIM Group Company
———————————————————————————————————————-