Revitalize 'arsenal of democracy' now; $400M more for Ukraine; DoD denies Starlink service to Russians; Build Navy ships in Japan; China seeks in-roads in Philippines; Undersea cables & American power
Michael Brown, War on The Rocks: A Plan To Revitalize The Arsenal of Democracy
While most people probably understand we live in dangerous times, it’s easy to get complacent with the repetitive warning signs coming from Russia and China and underestimate how dangerous. Phillip Zelikow, in a forthcoming article in the Texas National Security Review, warns of “a serious possibility of worldwide warfare” in the next two or three years.
Is America ready? Unfortunately not. And the core of the problem relates to the U.S. defense-industrial base, which suffers from too much concentration, too little commercial technology, and an insufficient ability to produce munitions. It is therefore ill-prepared for the dangers of the present and future.
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Unless Congress and the Defense Department act with alacrity, the preponderance of global military power will shift against America and its allies. Nothing less than the security of the free world is at stake.
Politico: US to announce new $400 million military aid package for Ukraine
The United States will announce a new $400 million military aid package for Ukraine on Friday, just as it appears Russia has launched a major offensive in Kharkiv.
The package, which will involve transferring weapons already in U.S. stocks, includes new Patriot missiles, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, Bradley fighting vehicles, mine-protected vehicles, Javelin anti-armor systems and other munitions.
Bloomberg: Pentagon Teams Up With SpaceX to Block Russia From Using Starlink
Pentagon officials working with Elon Musk’s SpaceX have blunted the Russian military’s unauthorized use of Starlink internet terminals on the battlefield in its war with Ukraine, according to the Defense Department’s space policy chief.
Noah Smith: The U.S. needs to build a bunch of warships in Japan (and Korea)
The U.S. has a huge problem building enough ships for its navy. And it doesn’t have much of a commercial shipbuilding industry to speak of. A lot of people are now rightfully freaking out about this problem, because it puts the U.S. in imminent danger of losing a major war to China.
But you know who can build ships? Japan and Korea. Together, our smallish Asian allies have shipbuilding industries whose combined size is almost as large as that of China. And while Korea is bigger than Japan in terms of commercial shipbuilding, Japan can make complex high-tech naval vessels too, having just built its first true aircraft carrier since WW2.
A simple solution presents itself: Build ships for the U.S. Navy in Japan.
Bloomberg: China Woos Philippine Elites Near Base US Needs to Defend Taiwan
US-Philippines ties are as strong as they’ve been in decades, with soldiers from both sides just wrapping up three weeks of joint military exercises that resemble the kind of preparations necessary to help repel a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
Yet in the northern Philippines, near a military base the US recently won access to that is crucial to any defense of Taiwan, Beijing has made inroads with key politicians. Manuel Mamba, governor of Cagayan province, has traveled to China twice in the past 12 months and has four copies of President Xi Jinping’s book The Governance of China.
Aaron Batemen, Englesberg Ideas: Undersea cables and the vulnerability of American power
Telecommunications networks constitute the ‘soft underbelly’ of the American war machine and are therefore key targets for its adversaries. The challenge is not solely military in nature. Severing undersea cables would have spillover effects, since they form the global information backbone. Consequently, strengthening their security is vital from a ‘whole of society’ perspective. Investing in more undersea cable routes and increasing the number of cable-laying vessels are both necessary for the United States to improve the resilience of its telecommunications infrastructure.