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☆ The US military has a plan to turn the Taiwan Strait into an 'unmanned hellscape' if China invades, top admiral says
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-10 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewIf China invades Taiwan, it may face a large, lethal drone force meant to make its military "miserable." At least that's the plan, according to the top US admiral in the Pacific, who said the "Hellscape" strategy is designed to distract China and buy the US time to respond. "I want to turn the Taiwan Strait into an unmanned hellscape using a number of classified capabilities," Adm. Samuel Paparo, the commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, told The Washington Post at the International Institute for Strategic Studies' Shangri-La Dialogue Summit. She said that "we'll counter the [People's Liberation Army's] mass with mass of our own, but ours will be harder to plan for, harder to hit, harder to beat." Paparo's remarks on the "Hellscape" strategy come on the heels of a massive Chinese military drill around Taiwan, during which it effectively surrounded the island and showed off joint force capabilities.

Persons: —, Adm, Samuel Paparo, SERGEI SUPINSKY, Kathleen Hicks, Hicks, Replicator, Paparo Organizations: Service, Pacific Command, Washington Post, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Dialogue, Business, Department of Defense, Army, Drones, Getty, Pentagon, Japan's Nikkei Locations: China, Taiwan, Pacific, Taiwan Strait, Kyiv, AFP, Replicator

☆ House Committee Seeks Testimony From Austin on Hospitalization
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-18 | by ( Eric Schmitt | More About Eric Schmitt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Austin was released on Monday from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and has been working at home while he recuperates. Mr. Austin, a 70-year-old retired Army general, was in severe pain and rushed by ambulance to Walter Reed on Jan. 1. But several top Pentagon officials did not learn of the secretary’s hospitalization until the next day, Jan. 2. The White House was not notified until Jan. 4, a major breach of protocol at the highest national security levels. Further complicating matters, neither Pentagon nor White House officials learned until Jan. 9 that Mr. Austin had been diagnosed with cancer in early December.

Persons: Austin, Biden, Walter Reed Organizations: Walter Reed National Military Medical, Pentagon, Congress, Defense Department, Army, White Locations: Bethesda, Md, Ukraine, Israel

Many countries are working on them — and neither China, Russia, Iran, India or Pakistan have signed a U.S.-initiated pledge to use military AI responsibly. Another AI project at Space Force analyzes radar data to detect imminent adversary missile launches, he said. One urgent challenge, says Jane Pinelis, chief AI engineer at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Lab and former chief of AI assurance in Martell’s office, is recruiting and retaining the talent needed to test AI tech. Testing and evaluation standards are also immature, a recent National Academy of Sciences report on Air Force AI highlighted. Might that mean the U.S. one day fielding under duress autonomous weapons that don’t fully pass muster?

Persons: —, Replicator —, Kathleen Hicks, ”, Gregory Allen, we’ve, Missy Cummings, George Mason, Lisa Costa, Wallace ‘ Rhet ’ Turnbull, Tom Siebel, Matt Visser, Palantir, Jack Shanahan, Maven, Mark Milley, Christian Brose, Paul Scharre, ” Anduril, Nathan Michael, Michael, Shanahan, Craig Martell, Martell, Jane Pinelis, “ Organizations: U.S ., Russia, Air Force, China, Pentagon, Department of Defense, Center for Strategic, International Studies, Navy, ” U.S . Space Force, Space Force, Space Systems Command, Blackhawk, ., U.S . Missile Defense Agency, Defense Counterintelligence, Security Agency, Third Infantry Division, NATO, Maven, National Geospatial - Intelligence Agency, U.S . Special Operations, ISIS, Command, Control, Chiefs, Armed Services Committee, U.S, Marines, Special Forces, Industry, BAT, Marine Expeditionary, Pentagon AI, LinkedIn, Johns Hopkins, Lab, National Academy of Sciences Locations: Md, Ukraine, U.S, China, Russia, Iran, India, Pakistan, ” U.S, Silicon Valley

☆ Pentagon Aid Package to Ukraine Includes Decades-Old Anti-Tank Land Mines
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( John Ismay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s most recent package of weapons for Ukraine includes relics from the Cold War to help blunt Russian advances and limit their ability to maneuver during an expected spring offensive. Those weapons, M21 anti-tank land mines, have been in service with the Defense Department since at least the early 1960s. An unknown number of them will be sent to Ukraine as part of a $325 million package of aid from U.S. military stockpiles that was announced this week, the 36th such transfer of lethal matériel to Kyiv since August 2021. M21 mines — large metal-bodied weapons that are usually buried and explode when a vehicle drives over them — contain a specialized warhead built to punch through inches of armor plating. “Anti-tank land mines are an important defensive capability against Russia’s tanks and armored vehicles, helping Ukraine’s forces repel Russia’s attacks and shape the battlefield to Ukraine’s advantage,” Maj. Charlie Dietz, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement on Thursday.

☆ Pentagon explains the mysterious Russian tank at a truck stop in Louisiana — saying it was disarmed and is going to an Army training center
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Russian T-90A tank was left at a casino and travel center in Roanoke, Louisiana last week. The Pentagon claimed ownership of the tank on Tuesday, The War Zone reported. It said it was on its way to a US Army training center when the truck carrying it broke down. "I've been here seven years," Valerie Mott, the assistant manager of the casino and travel center, told The War Zone. Its website says that the training center is "responsible for numerous technical achievements in military intelligence, medical research, engineering, and computer technology."

☆ Biden wants $886 billion defense budget with eyes on Ukraine and future wars
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Mike Stone | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The total amount of the 2024 budget proposal is $28 billion more than last year's $858 billion. Congress has passed an annual defense budget for more than 60 years. Biden's budget request also speeds the Department of Defense's pace for buying the stealthy F-35 fighter jet to 83. The 2023 budget request asked for 61 F-35 jets made by Lockheed Martin and Congress increased that number to 77. The budget would benefit the biggest U.S. defense contractors including Lockheed, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) and General Dynamics Corp (GD.N).

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