Obama’s Drastic Defense Cuts

Today Russia has alerted over 150,000 soldiers to test their readiness to invade the Ukraine, the Syrian Civil War rages on supported by Russia killing tens of thousands.  Iran , once again supported by Russia, is racing to build nuclear weapons and threatening to wipe Israel from the map.  The US is committed by treaty to defend South Korea against the nuclear armed North Korea, which just so happen to share the world’s most heavily armed border in the world with over 1.2 million on either side of the border ready to kill each other.  The US is also obligated by treaty to defend Japan and all its territory.  Recently the Chinese have begun laying claim to Japanese territory.  To intimidate the Japanese and America the Chinese have routinely in the last year sent ships and planes to continuously provoke the Japanese.  The exact same has happened with the Philippines, which just so happens to have a treaty with the US.

None of the above even mentions the ongoing battle with islamic extremists around the globe.  On top of all this current Sec. Def. Hagel has admitted that the US stands to lose military dominance if investments aren’t made to ensure continued US technological advantages.  However in spite of everything I just listed, what can only be described as a world spinning out of control, this administration has decided to make drastic cuts to the American military.  In essence we are communicating are lack of resolve and weakness to our many adversaries around the globe.  Unfortunately for us and the world as a whole they are listening.

US is Naieve To Think China Should Want To Control North Korea

 

Sec. of State was in China recently where he called China to do more to control North Korea.

 

Here we go again, it is like a broken record that we seem to hear every time North Korea acts up over the last 10 years.  Republican and democrat alike, even so-called experts like former Gov. Bill Richardson seem to think that China should do more to control the loons in North Korea.  The argument goes that China has great influence over the North Koreans economically so the North should listen to the Chinese.  Lets assume for a moment that is is true, then why does China never seem to use this influence to get Pyongyang to act in a more reasonable fashion.  The answer is simple, the Chinese find the North Koreans acting provocatively useful to worry the US.  The fact that the North Koreans are a major headache for the American diplomatic and security professionals (and I use that term lightly) is a good resource for the Chinese to have while trying to go about their own business.  No, I don’t think the Chinese put the North Koreans up to these latest provocations by the North Koreans but in general the fact that the United States, South Korea, and Japan all have to focus way to much time, money (defense spending to counter North Korean threats),  and energy probably suits the Chinese just fine.  Think about it, in any scenario that the US has a crisis with China in the future the US will have to account for the lunatic North Koreans in their calculus on how to handle the situation.  So if our politicians could recognize that it’s not really in China’s interest to control North Korea then they could actually spend their time trying to develop a more sensible approach to the North Korean question instead of always rolling out the same old tired line that China needs to exert influence over the North Koreans blah, blah, blah.

·Kerry
in China for talks on North Korea | euronews, world news

North Korean Nuclear Missles And Obama’s Missile Defense Policy

“President Obama campaigned on gutting America’s missile defense, and he has kept his promise.”

Word accidentally leaked out today that the pentagon secretly assumed that North Korea does in fact have the capability of putting a nuke on a missile.  This flies in the face of the myriad of statements by  defense officials in the past that routinely dismissed the idea that North Korea had developed nuclear capable missiles.  To say that this a complete game changer for America’s policy towards the rogue state is an understatement because now there is the very real possibility that North Korea could lob a missile to the west coast of the United States.  Sadly, it also shows how little trust you can put in our elected officials.  Remember, many of these same democrats running the pentagon and the Obama administration have been telling us for years that missile defense was a uneeded waste of tax payer dollars.  I have no doubt that our missile defense programs have been executed in a completely inefficient fashion because that is par for the course for the pentagon because politicians secretly like it that way.  Unfortunately just because it was developed in a wasteful manner does not mean it was not needed.

To be frank the Obama administration has done such a bad job of handling America’s missile defense that it has had to overrule its own reverse of the Bush administrations’ missile defense policy.  Read this excerpt from a piece from www.forbes.com .

“The U.S. could have already had those 14 more interceptors in place, along with another 10 in Europe next year.  The Bush administration deployed the first ground-based interceptor (GBI) in 2004, and had planned to deploy a total of 54. In 2009, Obama pulled the plug on that plan, and cut GBI deployment to just 30.”

To say that the Obama administration is incompetent on missile defense would be an understatement.  The fact of the matter is that he and his administration are down right dangerous.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2013/03/24/obamas-north-korean-and-iranian-missile-defense-trajectories-course-corrections-russian-re-set-dud/

Ground-based
Interceptor about to be emplaced in a silo, Fort Greely …

North Korea Talks Of Using EMP Weapons In A War With South Korea

Recently word came out of North Korea that said the regime was planning on using EMP (electro magnetic pulse) weapons in any future war with South Korea.  EMP blasts have the ability to knock out most if not all electronic circuitry in the blast radius.  Some of you may recall that this blog has done several stories about the effects of EMP blasts.  Recently Newt Gingrich compared the power outages around the 4th of July as similar to what a small EMP blast would do.  To sum it up an EMP blast can send the target area back to the stone age.  North Korea already has nuclear weapons ( which when detonated produce a massive EMP blast wave) so the threat has to be taken seriously.  However, for now it does not seem clear if they have a safe, effective way to deliver the nuclear warhead to the upper atmosphere to detonate it where it could cause the most damage to the south.  This is because of their recent missile test failure, which has done real damage to the credibility to the North’s threats.  The fact that China neighbors North Korea might actually keep them from using this until they can accurately fire the missile, can you imagine the Chinese reaction if the missile veered off course and detonated above their country sending half of China back to the dark ages?  Having said that the North has had successful missile launches in the past so this is cause for concern.

North Korea builds EMP munNorth
Korea’s Taepodong 2 Nuclear Missileition

The Eagle Vs. The Lion

 

With news of the arrival of more American combat power to the Persian Gulf today coupled with Iran flexing its own military muscle via missile launches suffice it to say the situation in the gulf is heating up.  As we reported last month the US has sent more US Airforce fighter planes to the gulf to include the f-22 and the f-15c.  Now word came today that the US had sent additional mine sweepers to the gulf bringing the total to 8.  Mine sweepers may not sound like much but in any future conflict with Iran they will be key because one of Iran’s first moves will be to mine the area to prevent oil from getting to market, just as they did in the late 1980’s.  Also the US has sent a first of its kind of ship that will act as a floating staging base for all kinds of operations like minesweeping, surveilance, launching spec ops teams and so forth.  For its part Iran demonstrated its ability today to use longer range missiles to hit US bases in the region.  The question now becomes should we go to war with Iran how effective will missile defense systems be in countering Iranian missiles?

USA sends ships, planes to Persian Gulf as tension mounts…

IRAN TEST-FIRES DOZENS OF LONG RANGE MISSILES... ATTACKS ON 'MOCK ENEMY BASES'...

Gingrich Says Power Outages Similar To EMP BLast

You know Newt Gingrich can be a little weird, often saying wild, off the cuff remarks that leave you wondering if he just likes to hear himself talk?  But, every now and again he does raise some critical points.  Which is what I think he has done here by comparing all the power outages to what a small EMP (electro magnetic pulse) blast might inflict.  If you have ever been without power for days on end you know how annoying it can be, factor in extreme heat or cold and it can turn down right dangerous quick.  But what if the US was attacked with an EMP device that caused most of the country to go without power for an extended period of time like months?  The result would be devastating, the economy would collapse along with pretty much society itself.  More than likely millions would die by starvation, the effects would be catastrophic.  It is something that is worth thinking about as more and more states get the bomb (think Iran).  Really all somebody would have to do is put a warhead on a ballistic missile and launch it from a container ship out at sea.  Detonate it in the atmosphere and the US is sent back to the stone age with minimal effort.  States like North Korea and soon Iran already have the capability and unfortunately there is not much we could do to defend against this, kind of scary.  The second link below will give you a more in depth look at what life would be like after an EMP blast.

Newt Gingrich: ‘Mild Taste of What an Electromagnetic Pulse Attack Would Do’…

http://readynutrition.com/resources/emp-an-event-that-could-cripple-our-way-of-life_05052012/

This Is Not A UFO

 

For the second time in a short span people have seen one of the US military’s newest drones being transported by truck and thought they were witnessing a UFO in transit.  No folks it is just the X-47B, a carrier launched stealth drone that is still in the testing phase.  Should it eventually join the fleet on active duty it would mark a milestone finally achieved for the US Navy because while the air force has had stealth capabilities for literally decades the navy has been left with conventional aircraft to get the job done.  This would be a serious upgrade for the navy greatly increasing their reconnaissance and strike capabilities.  Since the US Navy will be in the lead in confronting China this is also something they can’t afford to be without.

X-47B Completes Cali Flight Testing, Moves to th

X-47B – First Navy Stealth UAV Ready – TFOT – The Future Of Things

 

China Vs. America

 

There is a great article over at www.foreignpolicy.com that deals with problems the US military faces in confronting China.  The article points out the obvious advantages China would have in any engagement, first and foremost it would take place on their turf.  Unfortunately Chinese advantages go beyond that because they are playing in their backyard the Chinese will be able to accomplish their objectives, like threatening Taiwan with annihilation, without even leaving their own country by using thousands of land based missiles to literally rain destruction on Taiwan.  To counter this America because of the vast distance from the US will have to use naval power to try to prevent this.  However, with recent advances in Chinese anti-ship missile technology and because they can just swarm US ships with an unstoppable amount of missiles it will be difficult for the US to protect Taiwan.  Have a look at this excerpt from the original article to get a better understanding of the problem.

“But Air-Sea Battle still faces enormous challenges in overcoming the “home court” advantage a continental power enjoys deploying its missile forces from hidden, dispersed, and hardened sites. In addition, the United States faces a steep “marginal cost” problem with an opponent like China; additional defenses for U.S. ships are more expensive than additional Chinese missiles. And China can acquire hundreds or even thousands of missiles for the cost of one major U.S. warship.

Given these structural weaknesses, Air-Sea Battle’s success will rely not on endlessly parrying the enemy’s missiles, but striking deeply at the adversary’s command posts, communications networks, reconnaissance systems, and basing hubs in order to prevent missiles from being launched in the first place. Such strikes would mean attacks on space systems, computer networks, and infrastructure, with implications for the broader civilian economy and society.Some critics of Air-Sea Battle reason that raising the stakes in this manner would make terminating a conflict much more difficult and would escalate the conflict into domains — such as space and cyber — that are particular vulnerabilities for the United States.”

So from reading that excerpt it is pretty clear that our side thinks it can win vs. China, but for this strategy to truly be successful China also needs to think the US will win otherwise they will actually be tempted to test their luck.

This Week at War: An Arms Race America Can’t Win

USS Gerald Ford Reaches Construction Milestone

The US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier just finished having its keel laid  and is expected to begin sea trials in 2013 for 2 yrs. upon completing those it will join the active fleet in 2015.  If you have read this blog for any length of time you have probably heard me talk about how the navy needs to rethink putting all those resources into one ship that is fast becoming ever more vulnerable.  I imagine the US Navy would answer that challenge by saying that the fact the US carrier fleet is more vulnerable now is the exact reason why the Ford is needed so bad.  For the Ford is not just a new ship but the first in a new class of aircraft carrier designed to be more survivable and efficient at the same time.  This is accomplished by several improvements.  First, the Ford comes with a new radar designed to be able detect even the most advanced anti-ship cruise missile, think China’s carrier killer missile.  Second, this new radar provides targeting data for the navy’s newest anti-missile missile, the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile or ESSM.  The combination of the new radar and missile is supposed to make the Ford nearly impervious to cruise missiles.  To compliment the radar and missile upgrades the Ford will be designed to give off a significantly reduced radar signature making it harder for missiles to lock on.  Along with those upgrades the Ford will be fitted with an advanced nuclear reactor which is supposed to offer more power.  The Ford will also be the first aircraft carrier to get rid of steam catapults for launching aircraft in favor of an electro magnetic aircraft launch system, or EMALS.  Last but not least, the Ford with all this new whiz bang technology will be able to reduce its crew size by several hundred people over Nimitz class carriers it will replace.  All of the above is slated to cost America about $12,000,000,000.  So the question then becomes can we afford the Gerald R. Ford or can we afford to be without it?  Link to story below.

The $12 Billion USS Gerald R Ford Reaches A Construction Milestone

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/defense#ixzz1wiWQV3CW

Polish Pride

When I got word that the prime minister of Poland was demanding an apology from President Obama because he had referred to the Nazi death camps in Poland as Polish death camps my first thought was the Poles really needed to get over it.  To me the white house saying they had misspoke seemed to be good enough.  Then I was reminded of all the slights this white house has made towards Poland since taking office and I began to think that maybe the Polish reaction was not just because the president misspoke.  The article I was reading was over at www.economist.com and they pointed out how this administration had reneged on our missile defense commitment to Poland, and we still had not lifted visa requirements.  So I still think that the Poles need to get over the whole death camp debacle but I also think this president needs to start living up too what we have already promised we would do for the Poles.  Link to story below.

“Polish” death camps: Mind your language