Congress is pressing the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency to counter the growing threat of high-speed, maneuvering missiles. – Washington Free Beacon
If ground forces are obsolete, why are the Chinese bothering to build all those artificial islands in the South China Sea? The answer to that is key to the US Army’s emerging vision of its future role, a complex combination of old-fashioned close combat, resilient wireless networks, and advanced long-range weapons that extend the Army’s reach well beyond the land. – Breaking Defense
Back-to-back years of budget cuts are forcing the Marine Corps to slash in half its fleet of crisis response Ospreys in Spain, a move that comes as the force struggles to maintain its overall state of readiness, according to senior Defense Department officials. – Stars and Stripes
The Littoral Combat Ship program is poised to make big strides this year in its strike capability, both with over-the-horizon missiles and the shorter-range Longbow Hellfire missile. – USNI News
February’s cancellation of further development and procurement of the Remote Minehunting System (RMS) killed off the largest element of the US Navy’s future mine countermeasures (MCM) capabilities. Now, the US Navy is setting up a new mine governance board to help set in motion the recommendations of the independent review team that recommended RMS cancellation. – Defense News
Come January, the Pentagon will almost assuredly have new leadership, complete with a new vision for how the Department of Defense should operate, organize and plan for the future. It’s a reality facing down Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Deputy Secretary Bob Work as they try to complete a transformation at the Pentagon, one which both men have said is vital to making sure the US is able to maintain its technological edge against great powers like Russia and China in the future. – Defense News
Admiral Gary Roughead, USN (Ret.) writes: We can drift blissfully into the future assuming the force we need is the force we will have. Strategically that is a dangerous assumption. Future global security challenges and demands may be uncertain, but what is certain is the need to urgently and honestly get into the details of what we must do to assure our future military capability and capacity. – Hoover Institution’s Strategika
Michael Kugelman writes: Five years after Osama Bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, his global terror syndicate continues to flourish. Al Qaeda boasts a variety of regional affiliates across the Middle East and Africa, most notably al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which remains a considerable threat to the West. – WSJ’s Think Tank