The top U.S. military officer likened the expanding American footprint in Iraq Thursday to “lily pads” that will sprout across the pond known as Anbar Province, where the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria seized the capital last month.
If Nikola Tesla had been deployed with the USS Ponce this past year, he would have been proud. A directed energy weapon — similar, in some ways, to his own 1934 invention “Teleforce” — was proved to be operationally effective on board a Navy ship for the first time.
Citing budget strain and maintenance, the Navy is planning to pull its carrier from the Middle East later this fall, leaving a presence gap of up to two months—right in the middle of the fight against the Islamic State.
Republicans and Democrats are clashing over the use of a so-called war fund to bypass federal budget caps that were imposed in 2011.
The geostrategic sky isn’t falling because the US won’t have an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf region for a period this fall. Land-based aircraft will do an excellent job of striking ISIL, analysts say, while smaller ships are better suited to combat Iran in the tight confines of the Gulf.
The fleet’s most ready ships are showing signs of wear and tear, a new watchdog report has concluded.
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