News Story: US Senate panel bucks Trump to back Foreign Military Financing

Sen. Lindsey Graham
(Image: Wiki Commons)

By: Joe Gould

WASHINGTON — A recent U.S. Senate report dismisses the Trump administration’s plans to kill U.S. subsidies for foreign allies to buy American-made weapons and replace the subsidies with a loans program.

The move came in a Senate Appropriations subcommittee report, which accompanied its version of the State Department spending bill. The State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee is led by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is among lawmakers who have said transforming the Foreign Military Financing program would be detrimental to national security and the U.S. defense sector.

“The Committee does not support transitioning FMF assistance from grants to loans, as proposed in the President’s budget request,” the report reads. “The Committee notes that prior to the submission of the [president’s budget] no study was conducted on the impact of the proposal to the U.S. national security interest or the security and stability of allies and partners, including the loss of influence through increased arms sales by [China] and Russia to FMF grant recipients.”

Foreign Military Financing has largely taken the role of a grant given to U.S. allies to allow them to buy defense equipment. With the exception of Israel, all countries that receive FMF have to spend it on goods made in the United States, a boost for the domestic defense industry.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: N. Korea may possess nuclear weapons for war use - Japan minister

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- North Korea may now possess nuclear weapons that can be used in an actual war, Japan's defense minister said Sunday following the North's sixth nuclear test a week ago.

The nuclear test explosion "was 160 kilotons, 10 times the force of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima" in 1945, Itsunori Onodera told reporters. "I can't help but think the country possesses nuclear weapons."

On whether to recognize that North Korea is a nuclear state, Onodera said, "It is up to the international community to judge. Apart from the issue of recognizing whether or not the country is a nuclear state, it has repeatedly conducted nuclear tests and has the capabilities to do so."

In a television program earlier Sunday, Onodera said he expects the next provocative action by North Korea to be a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

He said it is possible a missile may be launched over Japan again, like the intermediate-range missile that North Korea fired over Hokkaido late last month.

"The capability which North Korea wants to acquire is an ICBM," he said.

Read the full story at The Mainichi

News Report: China 'Very Concerned' as Japan's Defense Spending Reaches 'Historical Maximum'

China is concerned with the gradual, annual increase in Japan's defense budget and urges Tokyo to explain the real reasons behind this trend to the international community, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Thursday.

BEIJING (Sputnik) — The Japanese Defense Ministry issued on Wednesday a record-high budget request for the 2018 fiscal year beginning next April. According to the document, the ministry is seeking 5.25 trillion yen ($48 billion), a 2.5 percent increase from this year, to enhance its defense capabilities in the light of latest North Korean missile launches.

"We noted relevant statements, regardless of Japan's motives, its defense budget has been growing from year to year and has reached a historical maximum. China is very concerned with this fact," the diplomat said.

She stressed that Japan "should explain to the international community the true reason behind these actions."

The situation on the Korean Peninsula has become aggravated in recent months due to Pyongyang's missile launches and nuclear tests, all conducted in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions. The most recent test was conducted on Tuesday, when North Korea launched an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 ballistic missile, which flew over Japan before falling into the Pacific Ocean 733 miles east of Japan's northern island Hokkaido.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

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PacificSentinel: The Chinese really are stupid, Missile defense upgrades are a No-Brainer with the North Korean missile developments, their fighter fleet is getting old and need replacing, and the F-35 is very expensive, and with Chinese increased Navy/Coast Guard patrols around the East China Sea an increase in Navy ships is also understandable (for anyone but the Chinese it seems), so really, there's nothing to see here.

News Story: Japan Defense Ministry seeks missile interceptors in budget

By: Mari Yamaguchi

TOKYO — Japan’s Defense Ministry is seeking a record-high budget to add missile interceptors and other equipment to defend the country from more North Korean weapons launches.

The 5.26 trillion yen (U.S. $47.78 billion) request for the fiscal year beginning next April is a 2.5 percent increase from the current year. A big chunk of the request announced Thursday will cover purchases of upgraded missile interceptors with expanded range, altitude and accuracy.

They include the ship-to-air SM-3 Block IIA jointly developed by the U.S. and Japan and the surface-to-air PAC-3 MSE.

The request comes amid growing fear about North Korea’s missile threat and rising tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. On Tuesday, Pyongyang fired a missile that flew over Japan and landed in the northern Pacific Ocean. It flight tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July and has threatened to send missiles near the U.S. territory of Guam, where the U.S. has military bases.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called Tuesday’s missile firing an “unprecedented, grave and serious threat.” On Wednesday, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, an advocate of bolstering Japan’s missile and strike-back capability, said Tokyo must quickly upgrade its missile arsenal.

China, which is seen by Tokyo as another security concern, questioned Japan’s intentions.

“We think Japan is obliged to explain its real intention to the international community,” Hua Chunying, China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman, told a regular news conference.

Japan has criticized Beijing over its military spending and assertive maritime activity in regional waters.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: Japan's defense ministry seeks record budget for FY 2018

CGI of an Aegis Ashore System

TOKYO, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Ministry of Defense announced on Thursday a record-high budget request for the fiscal year 2018, which, if approved, would mark the sixth annual increase since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe retook office in 2012.

The defense ministry's budget request, up by 2.5 percent from this year's initial budget, totals 5.26 trillion yen (47.8 billion U.S. dollars) for the fiscal year starting from April, 2018.

The budget request was compiled by setting the dollar's exchange rate at 110 yen for fiscal 2018, according to the ministry.

Part of the money would be used to introduce a new missile shield system, possibly the land-based Aegis Ashore, but the amount was unspecified as it still needs to be hammered out with the United States, said the ministry.

Japan has so far taken steps to counter any potential launches of ballistic missiles by deploying high-tech Aegis advanced radar-equipped destroyers which are tasked with stopping missiles in the outer atmosphere, and ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors which will counter the attack at lower altitudes.

The Aegis Ashore system is a land-based version of the Aegis advanced radar system, and with potential to be permanently installed, it is expected to reduce the workload of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces members in missile intercept operations.

Each Aegis Ashore unit costs around 80 billion yen, and Japan would need two units to cover the whole landmass, experts here have said.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: S.Korea's 2018 defense budget to rise most in 9 years

Prototype of the M-SAM System (File Photo)

SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's defense budget in 2018 would rise the most in nine years to counter rising threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), financial ministry said Tuesday.

According to the 2018 budget plan submitted by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance to the National Assembly, a total of 43.12 trillion won (38.3 billion U.S. dollars) was allotted to the defense budget next year.

It was up 6.9 percent from the previous year, marking the fastest yearly increase since 2009.

Costs to improve defense readiness stood at 13.48 trillion won for the 2018 defense budget, up 10.5 percent from the previous year, while the military management costs would grow 5.3 percent to 29.64 trillion won.

Among the defense improvement costs, 4.36 trillion won would be spent next year on budget to counter the DPRK's nuclear and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: How the US Navy's fleet has been on a collision course for years

USS Fitzgerald after collision with a Cargo Ship

By: David B. Larter

WASHINGTON — The second deadly collision in as many months between a U.S. destroyer and a larger, slower commercial ship in Asian waters has shaken the U.S. Navy to its foundations and raised questions about the fleet’s readiness in the most congested and volatile region on earth.

The collision between the McCain and an oil tanker three times its size outside the Strait of Malacca was the most recent of four incidents in the U.S. 7th Fleet, which has included three collisions and a grounding that caused an oil spill in Tokyo Bay. While these accidents have been shocking, with a total of 17 sailors killed, there have been signs that all is not well in the 7th Fleet or the U.S. Navy more broadly for some time.

A series of warnings and alarming incidents have raised red flags about forward-deployed ships, which operate at a much higher tempo than their stateside counterparts but have also seen readiness eaten away by too much time at sea and too little time to train and maintain.

That will be the subject of a review ordered by Adm. John Richardson, chief of Naval Operations, who directed Fleet Forces Command head Adm. Phil Davidson to look at the training and readiness of forward-deployed sailors in Japan.

“There’s the longer-term review that I’ve asked Adm. Davidson, down in fleet forces command, to undertake,” Richardson said.

“This will be a broader effort, looking at a number of things. One being, what is the situation out in Japan with our forward-deployed naval forces out there? How are they executing their business? I just want to understand that more deeply in terms of training, generating that readiness that we’ve asked them to achieve and then certifying that readiness.”

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: China accuses Japan of devising excuses for increasing defense budget

BEIJING, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- China Wednesday urged Japan to take the security concerns of its Asian neighbors seriously and act prudently in military and security fields.

It has been reported by Japanese news service Kyodo, that the Defense Ministry plans to seek a record-high budget of 5.26 trillion yen (48.1 billion U.S. dollars) for the 2018 fiscal year as the country seeks to strengthen its missile defense capabilities in the face of growing missile threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), as well as China's increasing maritime activities.

"We are aware of the reports and are concerned about this," said Hua Chunying, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In recent years, Japan has been exaggerating the "China threat" to find or devise excuses for its increase in military weaponry and defense budget, Hua said.

China should be on high alert to Japan's moves and its real motives, the spokesperson said.

The international community, especially Japan's Asian neighbors, has closely followed the country's military moves, she said.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Price spike sparked defense ministry struggle over Global Hawk drone - internal docs

The Ministry of Defense considered cancelling the purchase of Global Hawk reconnaissance drones after maker Northrop Grumman Corp. bumped up the projected cost by 23 percent from the initial 2014 estimate, according to internal ministry documents revealed on Aug. 21 by the Japanese Communist Party (JCP).

The Air Self-Defense Force plans to introduce the three drones in 2020 or beyond. However, according to the two documents presented by JCP secretariat head Akira Koike, the manufacturer boosted the total price by some 12 billion yen (about $109 million) this year because production for the U.S. military has ended and replacement parts need to be developed for the Japanese drones. Furthermore, "if the supply of spare parts is exhausted, total costs could easily rise by more than 25 percent," one of the documents states. The ministry is obliged to re-evaluate equipment purchases if the estimated cost rises by 15 percent or more.

Furthermore, if the internal documents -- one dated June 28 and the other in July -- are genuine and were leaked, the ministry's document management will once more come into question, following the cover-up of daily reports from Japan's peacekeeping unit in South Sudan.

Read the full story at The Mainichi

News Story: Malaysia fits China’s bill to become emerging arms supplier

Military researcher Collin Koh says Beijing seeks to peddle military wares by couching it as promoting defence and security ties with Malaysia.

PETALING JAYA: A Singapore-based military researcher says China’s reported attempt to supply weapons and other military equipment to Malaysia is part of the superpower’s move to become a strong global arms provider, especially among countries that are buying from western nations.

Collin Koh, a research fellow with the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, was quoted by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) today as saying that there were reasons to surmise some kind of discussions on military purchases had taken place between China and Malaysia.

“If China wants to showcase itself as an emerging, credible global arms supplier, it’ll need to start sealing successful arms deals especially with countries that have been buying Western.

“Malaysia fits the bill,” he was quoted as saying.

“Naturally, therefore, Beijing will seek to peddle a wider array of arms to Malaysia, couching it within a broader ambit of promoting defence and security ties with the country,” Koh added.

Reports emerged earlier this month that Malaysia was considering China’s proposal to set up a regional counter-intelligence centre in Johor equipped with radar surveillance and a missile system.

An aide to Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein reportedly responded by saying that the ministry was unaware of any such offers made by China to Malaysia

Read the full story at Free Malaysia Today

News Story: Defense Ministry to request funds for 'Aegis Ashore' missile defense system

CGI of an Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System

WASHINGTON -- The Japanese Ministry of Defense will include funding to equip the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) with the "Aegis Ashore" anti-missile system in its budget request for fiscal 2018.

Introducing Aegis Ashore, the ground-based version of the SM-3 anti-missile system on the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF)'s Aegis vessels, is intended to strengthen Japan's defense capabilities against North Korean ballistic missiles.

The ministry will examine Aegis Ashore in conjunction with its review of the National Defense Program Guidelines, and aims to have funds for designing the system earmarked during the government's year-end budget compilation.

It is thought that two or three Aegis Ashore batteries would be required to cover all of Japan, at a cost of 70 to 80 billion yen per battery.

Read the full story at The Mainichi

News Report: India Beefs Up Army’s Financial Teeth to Fortify Military Centers

The Indian Defense Ministry has decided to delegate substantial financial powers to the armed forces for undertaking works for perimeter security of sensitive military installations. The move has been announced following dire need of securing installation after repeated attacks on these camps.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — Defense Minister Arun Jaitley is said to have fixed strict timelines to ensure the works are undertaken on priority and in a time-bound manner to ensure full security of critical defense assets. Few days back, the ministry authorized its regional command unit to purchase arms and ammunitions worth up to $6 billion for a "short and intense war".

"This has been done primarily to expedite the decision-making process involved in the modernization of the security apparatus of airbases and defense installations. The vice-chiefs of the three services have been empowered to place orders, procure equipment and carry out civil works without further seeking approvals of the MoD," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

News Report: Fret Not - Japan Seeks Military Agreement With Germany, But Remains Constrained

Germany and Japan have signed an inter-government agreement to cooperate on military equipment and underlying technologies. While the eighth pact signed by Tokyo with a foreign nation since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe revised legal restrictions on defense sharing, the agreement is significant – and potentially controversial – for a number of reasons.

While the agreement is yet to be officially confirmed by either side, and sources close to the matter suggest specifics of the deal await cementation, it's likely the relationship will include a joint development program of some kind. 

Whatever the nature of the agreement, it will likely prove contentious in some quarters — for one, the move marks the first time the pair have entered into a formal military relationship since World War II, when Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany were broadly tethered.

While direct cooperation and coordination between the ostensible allies was minimal, and both modern countries bear almost less than zero relation politically, ideologically or militarily to their 1940s incarnations, the specter of the duo's infamous wartime alliance could well loom large in the minds of some critics — especially given the potential for technological collaboration on advanced military technology. 

News Story: S.Korea to push rapid recovery of wartime operational control from U.S.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in

SEOUL, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The new South Korean government under President Moon Jae-in planned to push for a rapid recovery of wartime operational control of South Korean forces from the United States.

It was unveiled on Wednesday in the five-year plan for state management under the new administration, which was inaugurated on May 10, according to the presidential Blue House.

Under the preliminary version of the plan, South Korea would speed up preparations for the transfer of wartime command of its troops from Washington to complete it "within the five-year tenure" of President Moon.

It was altered in the final version into a "rapid transfer" based on the firm South Korea-U.S. alliance. On his campaign trail, Moon pledged an early recovery of its wartime operational control.

The alteration was made under the instruction of President Moon, a Blue House official told reporters.

South Korea handed over its operational command to the U.S. forces after the three-year Korean War broke out in 1950. The country won back its peacetime operational control in 1994.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Moon says defense one of two important pillars of nation

South Korean President Moon Jae-in

SEOUL, July 18 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in urged his top military officials to continue enhancing their defense readiness and further defense capabilities Tuesday, calling national defense one of two most important pillars of the nation along with the economy.

"There are many pillars that help sustain a nation and the most important of them all are defense and economy," the president said while meeting with his top military officials, including his new Defense Minister Song Young-moo and Song's immediate predecessor Han Min-koo.

"Economy is an issue related to being better off, but defense is an issue of the country's life and death," Moon said, according to his spokesman Park Soo-hyun.

Tuesday's meeting over lunch at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae was attended by seven other top military officials, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Marine Corps commander, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

"Defense and security are more important now than ever as North Korea continues to stage military provocations," the Cheong Wa Dae spokesman quoted the president as saying.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: U.S. House passes defense bill calling for added missile defense amid N.K. threats

US Global Missile Defense (GMD) System

By Lee Haye-ah

WASHINGTON, July 14 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed a defense bill calling for increased spending on missile defense programs amid North Korea's evolving threats.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (H.R. 2810) passed 344-81 to order US$696 billion for defense in the fiscal year 2018, including some $12.5 billion for missile defense programs.

"The Committee continues to be a strong supporter of a robust missile defense program given the increasing threats against our homeland and regional allies posed by North Korea, Iran and others," the House Committee on Armed Services said in a summary of the bill posted on its website. "The bill adds $2.5 billion above the President's budget request to meet critical missile defense needs. It also recognizes the increasing quantitative and qualitative nature of the ballistic missile threats we face as a nation."

The bill's passage follows the North's first test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile last week. Experts say the missile could reach Alaska and parts of the mainland U.S. if further developed.

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), chairman of the committee, hailed the bill as a boost to the armed forces.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: ‘Indispensable’ Palau Deal At Risk - Will China Get Access

Click Image to Enlarge

By COLIN CLARK

“Palau is indispensable to our national security and funding the compact is key to our strategic presence in the region.”

That’s what the Defense Department’s 2018 budget request says.

Why is Palau indispensable? Look at the map. That will help. It commands approaches to the Philippines and to Indonesia, as well as Papua New Guinea. And, of course, they flank the Marshall Islands, as well as a wide range of Pacific islands flanking our ally Australia. Also, one source notes that the importance of Palau airfields have taken on “increased importance for PACOM/PACAF given Duterte and his rhetoric in the Philippines.” It provides “a more guaranteed form of access to airfields in the second island chain,” this source says.

And you can read what the head of Pacific Command, Adm. Harry Harris told the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 27:

I strongly urge Congress to pass legislation to approve and implement the 2010 Palau Compact Review Agreement at the earliest opportunity. The passage of this legislation will have a significant impact on our defense relationship with Palau, and will provide a measurable advantage in our strategic posture in the Western Pacific.

The problem is that the House Armed Services Committee doesn’t seem to think Palau is important to warrant taking money from the Defense Department budget and sending it to the Interior Department, which is what the budget request would do. So, they’ve peeled the money out of their version of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, according to two sources familiar with the issue.

Read the full story at Breaking Defense

News Story: HASC Adds 5 Ships To Trump Request, But Where’s The $$?

Image: Flickr User - Greg Bishop

By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.

WASHINGTON: Is 13 the Navy’s lucky number? That’s how many ships the House Armed Service Committee wants to buy in 2018, five more than President Trump requested, the seapower subcommittee announced this afternoon. The problem: no one knows where the money’s coming from.

The increase is part of a bipartisan push towards the 355-ship fleet the Navy says it needs to counter China, Russia, and other threats, a fleet the Navy itself says it can’t begin to build under Trump’s current budget plans.

HASC wants to add a destroyer, an amphibious ship, an Expeditionary Support Base vessel, and two Littoral Combat Ships to the Trump budget’s request for eight.

“It takes the necessary first big step down the road of getting to 355,” said House seapower chairman Rob Wittman this morning. “We can’t get there overnight,” he added, noting a Congressional Budget Office estimate it will tale 20-to-25 years.

This year, though, the great unanswered question is how to pay for those extra ships — or whether they can be bought at all. The ranking Democrat on the seapower subcommittee, Rep. Joe Courtney, told me frankly yesterday he’s never seen so much uncertainty about what the final budget will be.

“Not having a Budget Committee report out, even a suggestion” — he laughed — “is unprecedented in my time,” said Courtney, who’s been in Congress since 2007. “The (GOP-led) Budget Committee has not given us a number to mark towards.”

Read the full story at Breaking Defense

News Story: Mattis - Trump military buildup begins in 2019

US SecDef Jim Mattis

By: Joe Gould

WASHINGTON — As lawmakers grilled Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on the gap between President Trump’s defense buildup promises and his 2018 budget, Mattis reassured them the “real growth” begins in 2019. 

Mattis told members of the House Armed Services Committee he did not yet have funding projections for the troops, ships and jets Trump has talked about and offered assurances the budget released in May was the first step towards that goal. The military buildup will happen in 2019 to 2023.

“We didn’t get into this situation in one year, and we aren’t going to get out of it in one year,” Mattis said in response to questions about a 355-ship Navy. “We’re going to have to have sustained growth in ’19 to ’23, and this is where you’ll see the biggest growth: Army, Air Force and Navy as we’re digging us out of a readiness and maintenance hole.”

The outing, with Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford and DoD Comptroller David Norquist, was the first in a marathon week of congressional testimony on the president's budget released in May. Lawmakers critical of Trump’s $639 billion budget proposal as insufficient used the hearing to set up the fight to increase military spending as the House crafts its version of the budget in the coming weeks. 

At the hearing, Dunford and Mattis, said that to stay competitive, the military needs  3 percent to 5 percent growth above inflation — a tall order for Congress at roughly $19 billion per year. To achieve the military buildup “is going to take sustained growth over time,” Dunford said.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: US ‘Will Lose Ability To Project Power’ In 5 Years If Hill Doesn’t Act - CJCS

By COLIN CLARK

WASHINGTON: The United States, guarantor of the current world order, will lose the ability to maintain that role in five years unless something fundamental changes on Capitol Hill, Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress at an extraordinary Monday evening hearing.

Dunford made it personal, saying “…without sustained, sufficient, and predictable funding I assess that within 5 years we will lose our ability to project power; the basis of how we defend the homeland, advance U.S. interests, and meet our alliance commitments.”

Why? It’s simple, really. “The Budget Control Act (BCA) has forced the Department of Defense (DoD) to operate with about $450 billion less than planned and required. These reductions have been aggravated by repeated Continuing Resolutions (CR) which hamper long-term investment and often result in increased costs,” Dunford testified before the House Armed Services Committee at the first of the annual budget posture hearings for the 2018 request. “For nine of the last ten years, the Department of Defense has operated under some type of CR, delaying critical new starts, deferring installation and infrastructure modernization, and canceling major training events. A year-long FY18 CR would cut $33 billion from the Department’s request, further exacerbating these problems.”

If you want to be nasty and boil that down, he’s telling Congress that it’s their fault the United States will no longer be the world’s global power because they can’t do their jobs and pass annual appropriations bills or break the agonizingly long impasse over the too honestly-named Budget Control Act, fondly known in shorthand as sequestration. There’s time to fix things, but not much.

Read the full story at Breaking Defense