Alarm bells are ringing at the Pentagon. The United States is rapidly depleting its munitions stockpiles to support the Ukrainian military. This support comes amid a serious backlog on the  delivery of over $14 billion worth of arms shipments to Taiwan. The war in Ukraine has confirmed what was already widely known: America’s industrial base […]
The post Building A New American Arsenal appeared first on War on the Rocks.

Naval Group launched the Belgian Navy’s first new mine countermeasures vessel, named
Oostende
(M 940), at Piriou shipyard in Concarneau, France, on 29 March.
(Naval Group)
French shipbuilder Naval Group launched the first of 12 mine-countermeasures vessels (MCMVs) on order for the Belgian and Netherlands (BE/NL) navies and laid the keel for the third ship during a ceremony at Piriou shipyard in Concarneau, France, on 29 March.

The British Army will own 14 Archer SPHs from early April. (Bofors Defence)
UK Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace and Swedish Minister of Defence Pål Jonson signed a letter of intent (LOI) in London on 29 March on a bilateral strategic partnership. The Swedish and UK ministries of defence (MoDs) said in press releases on 28 and 29 March, respectively, that the signing of the LOI strengthened bilateral military co-operation and the two countries’ defence relationship.

The internal turmoil sweeping through Israel has dominated the headlines in recent weeks. Left-wing protesters are demanding that the Israeli government scrap its planned reforms and calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Most significantly, an increasing number of military reservists – the foundation of the Israel Defense Forces – are refusing to fulfill their obligations and intended missions as the crisis rages on.
The only IDF unit operating the Israeli F-15I fighter, the famous 69 Squadron, also participates in the protests.

USAF Illustration/Mike Tsukamoto

The U.S. Air Force plans to scrap its troubled AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) hypersonic weapon program and instead switch its priorities to the rival Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM). The announcement comes after the ARRW recently suffered another test failure.

Lockheed Martin

Ukraine is one step closer to having at least some parts of its skies protected by Patriot air defense systems.
After a little more than three months, the first cadre of 65 Ukrainian air defense troops arrived back in Europe this week after training on Patriot air defense systems at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, according to the Pentagon. Those troops began training on Jan. 15.
Troops undergoing Patriot training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

The sensor network, known as NSDAD, will provide next-generation weapon system assets with a leverage effect to achieve their mission objectives.
Indra, the Spanish company that coordinates the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), has partnered with the German FCMS and the French Thales to start the next phase of designing a suite of sensors, defensive aids, and network attack systems and distributed.

Hosts Christine Dolan and L Todd Wood interview famous reporter Seymour Hersch about his research into the destruction of the Nordstream II pipeline and his conclusion the Biden administration was behind it. The agenda behind the war in Ukraine is also discussed.
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The French military website “avionics legendary” said that during PM Modi’s trip to Paris later this year, India could announce Dassault Aviation’s Rafale M as the victor for the Indian Navy’s deck-based fighter requirements for 26 units.
According to the portal, Modi has been invited to be the major guest at the Bastille Day parade in Paris on July 14, 2023, but there has been no confirmation of this from the Indian side.

Lockheed Martin

The U.S. military sees planned engine upgrades for all the variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as critical because the Pratt & Whitney F135 engines that power all of the aircraft have been “under spec since the beginning,” according to the top officer in charge of the program. This means the engines have to routinely operate at higher-than-expected temperatures, which has led to costly increased maintenance and logistics requirements and hurt the F-35’s overall readiness rates.
Senior U.S.

FILE: U.S. Marine Corps, Republic of Korea Marines Corps, New Zealand Army and Australian Army conduct amphibious assault training at Doksukri Beach, South Korea, March 12, 2016, during Exercise Ssang Yong 16. (Sgt. Briauna Birl/U.S. Marine Corps).

U.S. Marines and their South Korean counterparts are conducting a military exercise that includes a bilateral division-sized amphibious landing for the first time since 2018, said Wesley Hayes, a spokesman for U.S. Forces Korea.
This month marks the resumption of the Ssang Yong exercise, which lasts until April 3, Hayes told Task & Purpose.

Smedley Butler was a fascinating man, Marine, and legend. Today we explore only parts of his incredible life.
The post This is the insane life of Marine legend Smedley Butler first appeared on Sandboxx.
The post This is the insane life of Marine legend Smedley Butler appeared first on Sandboxx.

The Spanish Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, confirmed on Wednesday in the Congress of Deputies that the first six Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks will be sent to Ukraine after Easter.
The six Leopard 2s that are on their way to Ukraine “are being checked to verify their correct operation,” as Robles put it. The remaining four vehicles will undergo maintenance and testing before being sent out.

By Kurt Schlichter
Right now, many of us vets are looking back on our years of service and wondering what the hell we did it all for. We used to know – for the USA. Yet you look at the disaster that is our country, our culture, and our beloved military, and you just want to go find a wall and pound your head against it. But a lot fewer folks are going to have this problem in the future because a lot fewer young people are joining our military.

Members of the military face several financial challenges when preparing to move to a new state or country. There’s never a perfect time to get Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders, but when you get them, it’s a good time to start preparing your finances for what’s ahead. Here are some ways you can financially […]
The post How to Financially Prepare for a Military Move first appeared on Sandboxx.
The post How to Financially Prepare for a Military Move appeared first on Sandboxx.

The German Parliament on Wednesday approved plans by the defense ministry to buy up to 28 self-propelled howitzers to replace weapons the German military rushed to Ukraine last year, lawmakers familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Heavy artillery weapons such as howitzers, considered by military experts to be weapons of the past, have made a strong comeback as Ukraine tries to repel a Russian invasion, the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two.
The Berlin government has supplied 14 howitzers to Kyiv and originally intended to petition Parliament for their replacement this summer.

The governor of Kentucky has declared that fatalities are expected after two US Army Black Hawk helicopters crashed during a routine training mission.
The status of the crew members was not immediately known, the US Army’s Fort Campbell military establishment said in a statement to Reuters, without providing the number of people on board.
“We have tough news, with the first reports of a helicopter crash, and fatalities expected,” Governor Andy Beshear said in a tweet, adding that local authorities and emergency services were responding to the incident.

The machine from Gecko Robotics cruises along on magnetic wheels, gathering data about the hull as it goes.
On March 27, Gecko Robotics announced its hull-inspecting robots will be used to assess a US Navy destroyer and an amphibious assault ship, expanding work already done to inspect Navy ships. These robots map surfaces as they climb them, creating useful and data-rich models to better help crews and maintainers find flaws and fix them.

The TRX SHORAD unmanned ground vehicle. (General Dynamics Land Systems).

A major U.S. defense contractor has unveiled a new unmanned ground vehicle bristling with missiles and a chain gun for the Army’s consideration as the service explores new systems for short-range air defense amid an ongoing modernization push for troops deployed to Europe. 
Appearing at the Association of the U.S.

The US State Department has authorized the possible sale to Bahrain of AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters decommissioned in 2020 by US Marines. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) issued a statement announcing the Gulf state’s request to purchase up to 24 Bell AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters and associated equipment.

Military tattoos aren’t just your average ink stains. They’re symbols of honor, tradition and plain old badassery that have been passed down through generations of warriors. So, what’s the deal with these tats?
Well, the Department of Defense says military tattoos have been around since forever as a way to tell soldiers apart and show off their achievements. From ancient tribes to modern-day troops, these tattoos have served as badges of courage, loyalty, and love for their country.

It’s a difficult thing to spend your entire career fighting and never suffer a loss. Only one American military leaders has done it, Union Gen. George Henry Thomas. Statistically, Napoleon is the greatest general of all time, and he was famously defeated, both in Russia and at Waterloo. But going undefeated is far from impossible.
Many ancient and medieval leaders have spent their lives winning battles without ever suffering the pain of a defeat. Some were more famous than others.

The Defense Department’s Directorate for Digital Services (DDS) has created a new website to complement its “Hack the Pentagon” program and attract new cyber talent.
Hack the Pentagon initiatives leverage white hat hackers who receive monetary rewards or “bug bounties” for finding and reporting vulnerabilities in the department’s public-facing digital systems. The intent is to help DOD components improve their cybersecurity with the aid of outside experts who flag weaknesses for them.

From the Executive Producer of The Shield & S.W.A.T. comes The Night Agent, a political thriller about a vigilant FBI agent who, while monitoring an emergency line, answers a call that plunges him into a deadly conspiracy involving a mole at the White House.
“Have you ever heard of Night Action? I want you to answer the phone for them. It rarely rings.

In 1872, the Canadian Brigantine Dei Gratia was sailing between the Azores Islands and mainland Portugal when it came across a ship six miles and closing the distance between them. There was something wrong with the unknown vessel, however. Its sails were off and its movements were erratic at best. 
As they came closer, the captain of the Dei Gratia could see no one on its decks, and received no signals from its crew. When the crew of Dei Gratia boarded the ship, they found it deserted, its lifeboat missing, but basically in good order and filled with supplies.

When the Soviet Union’s first T-34 tanks rolled onto the battlefields of World War II, it took the Germans by surprise. It wasn’t because they’d never seen a tank before, they just didn’t have an answer for the medium tank’s heavy, sloped armor. More than 30 anti-tank rounds were fired against it, and it still rolled back to its lines.
Once the Germans figured out how to handle them, however, they became easy targets. An average of seven T-34 tanks were lost for every German tank taken out on the Eastern Front.

The Marine Corps in the 1990s was an interesting time. It was Post-Cold War and Pre-9/11. Careerists of the time had been shaped by events involving conflict that were relatively short in nature such as Beirut, Grenada and Panama in the 1980s, then Somalia and Desert Storm in the early 1990s. When Marines of this generation were young, they were greatly influenced by senior USMC leadership still in uniform who fought in Vietnam. These factors collided to produce NCOs who were aggressive and engaged in corrective actions that would likely be considered hazing by today’s standards.

DARPA wants its new plane to combine a set of incredible characteristics to fulfill the mission of America’s elite warriors.
The post DARPA wants a Spec Ops plane with a set of insane characteristics – and it wants it fast first appeared on Sandboxx.
The post DARPA wants a Spec Ops plane with a set of insane characteristics – and it wants it fast appeared first on Sandboxx.

U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Chase Cannon/Released

Details are still fairly limited, but two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters crashed during a routine nighttime training mission over Kentucky, at around 10:00 p.m. local time on Wednesday. Nine soldiers were killed in the crash, according to Lt. Col. Anthony Hoefler, an Army spokesman. Five of those killed were onboard one of the helicopters, four in the other, and there were no survivors, although exactly how the accident unfolded remains unclear at this point.

Just 3 seconds before it was set to lift off Thursday morning, SpaceX aborted the launch for the Space Development Agency’s first batch of Tranche 0 satellites that are an important component of the Pentagon’s plans for data transport and missile warning.
Ten satellites were scheduled to fly aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 reusable rocket deployed from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Only one X-2 has been built. The program may have fallen short, but it has paved the way for the initiation of the Mitsubishi F-X sixth-generation fighter program.
The post Mitsubishi X-2: Japan’s failed attempt to build a stealth fighter first appeared on Sandboxx.
The post Mitsubishi X-2: Japan’s failed attempt to build a stealth fighter appeared first on Sandboxx.

The Pentagon has not submitted a nominee for a newly created position overseeing cyberspace, in part, because it has commissioned a study regarding what that role will look like. But the job’s purview could include electronic warfare and information warfare, among other areas, according to a senior official.
In last year’s annual defense policy bill, Congress created a new Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy position to be in charge of the “overall supervision of policy of the Department of Defense for cyber.”
“We are moving forward on it.

Reflecting its interest in the KC-390 (pictured) as a potential replacement for its ageing C-130K airlifters, Austria recently attended the type’s user meeting in Portugal. A decision on whether to buy it or another type will be made “in the coming months”,
Janes
was told.
(Embraer)
Austria attended the recent user meeting for the Embraer KC-390 Millennium on 28 March, as it looks to finalise a selection decision for its Lockheed Martin C-130K Hercules replacement plan.

KYSEA approved the purchase of 100 Spike NLOS missiles to arm AH-64A attack helicopters of the Hellenic Army Air Corps, the upgrade of 19 of the helicopters by Israeli company Elbit, and the certification of nine of them to be armed with the air-to-ground version of Spike NLOS. (Boeing)
Greece’s Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defence (KYSEA) chaired by Prime Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos approved the purchase of Spike Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) systems and missiles for all three services on 29 March.

Congressman Cory Mills of Florida announced during a recent Congressional hearing impeachment articles against Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for dereliction of duty.

WOAH: In the presence of @SecDef Lloyd Austin, Rep. @CoryMillsFL announces Articles of Impeachment against SecDef Austin for Dereliction of Duty!
🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.

Thales XTRAIM weapon sight mounted on a Sig Sauer MCX Virtus .300 BLK rifle. (Janes/Amael Kotlarski)
Thales demonstrated a combination of its XTRAIM thermal weapon sight and Nellie night-vision goggles (NVGs) at the SOFINS 2023 defence exhibition, near Bordeaux, France.
The two systems were tested on a course replicating night type four and five environments, and the XTRAIM’s fused mode was used to detect thermally active targets that would have been almost impossible to detect using an image intensified device alone.

MBDA Enforcer. (Janes/Amael Kotlarski)

MBDA’s Enforcer lightweight missile launcher is in the final qualification phases and first deliveries to the German customer are expected in 2024, company officials told
Janes
at the SOFINS 2023 exhibition, near Bordeaux, France.

Developed by MBDA Germany at the request of German special forces, the Enforcer is designed to complement the Wirkmittel 90 (RGW 90) already in use.

Nexter Colibri loitering munition. (Janes/Amael Kotlarski)
Nexter revealed the design of its Dard (Stinger) loitering munition at the SOFINS 2023 defence exhibition, held near Bordeaux, France.
The Dard was selected as part of France’s Colibri project, launched in May 2022 by the Direction générale de l’armement (DGA) and the Agence de l’innovation de défense (AID). The Colibri project seeks to rapidly develop an indigenous, low-cost loitering munition for use with the French Armed Forces.

The Taliban government has restored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles or Humvees abandoned by the US in Afghanistan. The above picture shows the US Army exercise with a Humvee. (US Army)
The Taliban government in Afghanistan has restored at least 341 vehicles and 1,050 military weapons abandoned by the US during its withdrawal from the country in 2021.
In a social media post, Afghanistan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) said it restored 300 unusable US military vehicles.

The 105 mm CS/AH2 howitzer, pictured above, is similar in all aspects to the BAE systems L118/L119 (105 mm) light howitzer. The gun is produced by Poly Technologies, with likely involvement from Norinco. (Poly Technologies Inc)

Thailand’s Defense Technology Institute (DTI) has signed a

memorandum of understanding

(MOU) with the Artillery Center of the Royal Thai Army (RTA) for the research and development (R&D) of a 105 mm CS/AH2 light howitzer prototype.

FILE: An HH-60 Pavehawk with the 101st Rescue Squadron, 106th Rescue Wing conducts training around Westhampton Beach, Nov. 25, 2014. (N.Y. Air National Guard / Senior Airman Christopher S Muncy / released).

Nine soldiers were killed on Wednesday night when two Army HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters from the 101st Airborne Division crashed in Kentucky, said Lt. Col. Anthony Hoefler, a spokesman for the division.
The two helicopters were conducting a routine training mission at the time of the accident, the 101st Airborne Division said in a statement.

HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters fly on August 23, 2021, at Fort Campbell, KY. (Capt. Phuong Dinh/U.S. Army).

Nine soldiers were killed on Wednesday night when two Army HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the 101st Airborne Division crashed in Kentucky, said Lt. Col. Anthony Hoefler, a spokesman for the division.
Based out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the two helicopters crashed just after 10 p.m. local time on Wednesday near Highway 68, per local news organization WKRN. Fort Campbell straddles the state line between Kentucky and Tennessee.

Understand the impact of the Ukraine conflict from a cross-sector perspective with the Global Data Executive Briefing: Ukraine Conflict

The German Ministry of Defence (MoD) is planning to allocate €12bn in additional funds to strengthen the defensive capabilities of Ukrainian soldiers.
This announcement comes after the Budget Committee of Germany’s parliament, Bundestag, granted its approval during a meeting held on 29 March.

The meeting was also attended by German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius.
Out of the total sanctioned funding, around €3.

The ESG report highlights the company’s achievements in emissions reductions, diversity and inclusion, human rights, and ethical business operations. 
Additionally, Northrop Grumman has released its Task-Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures report, again highlighting its progress on climate-related governance, risk management, strategy, and metrics and targets since its first report was published in 2022.

RUSI
An early analysis of the evidence sheds light on Russia’s unconventional operations in its war against Ukraine.

J. Pomfret & M. Pottinger, Foreign Affairs
The World Should Take Him Seriously
Chinese leader Xi Jinping says he is preparing for war.

WashTimes
Russia is staging wide-scale military exercises in Siberia involving its strategic missile forces in a show of nuclear strength amid the fighting in Ukraine following…

John C. K.

Mark Temnycky, RCDefense

An artist’s rendition of the Flight III DDG 51 shows the new AN/SPY-6(V) radar antenna array. (Huntington Ingalls Industries)
The US Navy (USN) awarded Raytheon Technologies a USD619 million contract to continue producing AN/SPY-6(V) radars, the company confirmed on 29 March, exercising the second option from the March 2022 hardware, production, and sustainment contract that is valued up to USD3 billion over five years.
The work is expected to be completed by September 2026, the Department of Defense (DoD) said. About USD470.