Author: Michael

Melanie, Chris, and Zack debate nuclear proliferation in Northeast Asia. Are Russia’s nuclear saber-rattling, North Korea’s advancing capabilities, and China’s nuclear modernization program likely to spur additional nuclear proliferation? How satisfied are South Korea and Japan with current U.S. nuclear extended deterrence guarantees? And what should policymakers in Washington do in response to questions about […]
The post The Risks of Nuclear Proliferation in Asia appeared first on War on the Rocks.

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European Defence Agency (EDA) has announced that its Tactical Personnel Recovery Mission Simulator (TPRMS) system has achieved full operational capability (FOC).
The FOC milestone was marked by a ceremony held at the Italian Air Force Base Poggio Renatico on 7 December.
It was attended by officials and representatives from eight member nations, including the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Romania.

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The Romanian Ministry of National Defense (MND) has awarded a framework contract to Israel-based company Elbit Systems to provide Watchkeeper X uncrewed aircraft system (UAS).
The estimated ceiling value of this award is approximately $410m (RON1.89bn). It is valid for a period of five years.
The deal includes delivery of up to seven Watchkeeper X UAS for the Romanian armed forces.

The company said that the MND has not made any specific purchase orders yet under this framework contract.
Watchkeeper X is based on Elbit Systems’ family of Hermes aircraft systems.

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The U.S. will be sending a Patriot air defense battery and munitions to Ukraine to help defend critical infrastructure against Russian attacks, the Biden administration formally announced on Wednesday.
The system is part of a new security assistance package valued at $1.85 billion that was unveiled as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Washington to meet with President Biden at the White House and deliver a primetime address to Congress. The commitment of additional aid comes as Kyiv and other areas are under fire from drones and missiles.

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Gaps exist in how the military services and U.S. Cyber Command track personnel, potentially leading to staffing issues, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.
The report, commissioned by Congress as part of last year’s annual defense authorization bill, notes that the services use a different model for tracking personnel than Cybercom.
“While the military services track cyber personnel staffing levels by career fields, USCYBERCOM uses work role designations to assign personnel to cyber mission teams,” GAO said.

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The government’s massive year-end spending package includes the highest research and development-driving budget in the Pentagon’s history and billions in additional funds to accelerate the military’s adoption of cutting-edge capabilities, according to a topline summary.
Released by congressional appropriators Tuesday, the roughly $1.7 trillion 2023 omnibus spending bill would provide the Defense Department with more than $797 billion in total base discretionary funding, much of which is aimed at boosting its tech portfolio.

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Traditions help bring people together no matter where they are. Some military traditions can seem weird to civilians, I’m still trying to figure out what some of those call signs mean, but we’re not talking about those types of traditions. We’re talking about holiday traditions that service members and Veterans carry on throughout the years […]
The post Military Traditions: Holiday Ideas from Sandboxx Veterans appeared first on Sandboxx.

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