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Why Mattis Headed East: Time For China Strategy
Why is newly confirmed Defense Secretary Jim Mattis making his first overseas trip to the Western Pacific to confer with two of America’s key allies, Japan and South Korea?
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Outlining the FY 18 Defense Budget
Katherine Blakeley, research fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, discusses the highlights of the proposed FY18 defense budget
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The F-35C vs. the F/A Advanced Super Hornet and the Future of Carrier Aircraft
Most likely, the Navy will look to strike the perfect balance between the two airframes, combining the stealth and sensors of the F-35Cs with the raw numbers and power of Advanced Super Hornets. “We’re going to use the F-35 more as an enabler and a strike lead and as a command and control platform than as a fighter platform on its own,” Bryan Clark, naval analyst Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, told USNI News.
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Navy Upgrades Pacific Carrier Wing with New E-2D Hawkeye
Congress appropriated $12.5 billion last year for the first 40 E-2D models; the Pentagon is requesting another $9.5 billion for 35 more new Hawkeyes in future years, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a nonpartisan policy institute.
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Mattis Puts Readiness First, Modernization Later In Budget
There’s not going to be an immediate “procurement shopping spree,” agreed Katherine Blakely of the Center for Strategic & Budgetary Assessments. Instead, the Mattis plan takes time to develop more advanced capabilities, particularly in the repeatedly-mentioned area of “lethality.” What does that mean? Future adversaries may be markedly more deadly, Blakeley says, which force the US to make its forces more lethal to match. Greater lethality also argues against over-investing in a small number of expensive, “exquisite” superweapons that can be taken down with a few good hits. (Think of the Death Star in Star Wars for the extreme example). The crucial “leading indicators” to watch, she said, will be whether the forthcoming budget emphasizes upgrading the lethality of existing systems — new missiles for old ships, for instance — and whether funding is forthcoming for the high-tech experiments of Carter’s Strategic Capabilities Office and Third Offset Strategy — Bob Work being the principal architect of offset since the start.
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Flynn: White House Blames Iran for Attack on Saudi Ship
Experts say the new threats in the Bab-al-Mandab is putting the Navy in a situation familiar to the Army and Marine Corps in recent years: operating under the constant threat of attack. "It makes the Navy very concerned, and it reminds them that ships are vulnerable," said Bryan Clark a retired commander and analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. "They are easy to identify and they operate in close proximity to threats. "It puts a premium on being able to defend yourself on very short notice. The Navy has invested money in self-defense for years, however, and regularly trains to meet both small boats and missiles. The rising threat of attack in the Bab-al-Mandab is going to test whether those investments are going to pay off, Clark said.