China Uses Military Parade To Flaunt Growing Strength

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – And the U.S. should take it seriously. Most significantly, China officially unveiled a nuclear-capable air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) called the JL-1 at its sprawling military parade in Beijing, displayed alongside submarine-launched and intercontinental ballistic missiles (SLBM/ICBM).

With the operational fielding of the H-6N strategic bomber in 2020, now able to launch the JL-1, the DOD assessed that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had established a “nascent nuclear triad.”

China’s triad, which we now know officially includes the JL-1, is part of a larger nuclear build-up underway in the country that also includes expanding the land and sea-based legs. 

This parade was the first time that all three legs of China’s new strategic nuclear triad had been shown together publicly.

Meanwhile, China’s massive military parade featured fleet of laser-armed trucks, new hypersonic weapons, landing craft and thousands of troops marching in unison. But it left out what might be China’s most important new military asset: a growing ecosystem of small and nimble dual-use AI companies partnering with the Chinese military.

Those small partnerships make it harder for the U.S. to track what new weapons China is developing and prevent U.S. investors or technology collaborators from helping them. 

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense stories ending the week from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.

Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEFING – the PDB:    

NATIONAL SECURITY

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War, his latest effort to project an image of toughness for America’s military.

Rebuilding Arctic defenses will be key to Golden Dome. The U.S. is vulnerable to air and missile attack across the Arctic because the ground, air, and space-based defenses guarding those approaches have atrophied.

Coast Guard deploys icebreaker Healy, HC-130J to respond to Chinese ships near Alaska. The vessel and aircraft were operating under Coast Guard Arctic District’s Operation Frontier Sentinel, used to counter adversary activity in U.S. waters.

Austal USA and Master Boat Builders sign strategic outsourcing agreement to expand U.S. defense shipbuilding capacity by increasing the ability of proven, regional shipyards to take on large, complex programs for the U.S. government.

HOMELAND SECURITY

Federal agencies have deployed nearly 33,000 employees to assist ICE in its efforts to dramatically ramp up detention and deportation of illegal aliens, significantly multiplying enforcement efforts.

Army is sending troops with the 101st Airborne Division, 10th Mountain Division and other units to the Mexico border this fall.

Coast Guard will spend up to $137 million to modernize its Base Seattle to homeport new, larger Polar Security Cutters that will serve in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.

Coast Guard seizes 40,000 pounds of cocaine through Operation Pacific Viper, averages over 1,600 pounds interdicted per day.

D.C. National Guard troops deployed as part of Trump’s federal law enforcement intervention in the nation’s capital have had their orders extended through December.

DEFENSE POLITICS

The next National Defense Strategy — which was due to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Aug. 31 — could not come at a more critical time, as Pentagon leaders seek to manage foreign-policy challenges, a stretched defense industrial base, and rapid technological disruption.

Democrats are investigating how the military’s traditional protections against deportation for noncitizen service members and their families are crumbling under the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

D.C. attorney general is suing the Trump administration for deploying the National Guard within the city’s boundaries.

DOD could be required to study ways to prevent criminal conduct by U.S. troops on Okinawa, Japan under a new House draft defense policy bill.

Space Command headquarters in Huntsville can be fully operational before Trump leaves office, says Redstone Arsenal official.

US POWER OVERSEAS

Two old Venezuelan F-16s flew near a U.S. Navy vessel Friday. DOD says the ship was in “international waters” and warned the South American nation from taking “any further action to obscure, deter or interfere with” the U.S. military’s counter-narcotics efforts in the region.

Pilotless autonomous cargo flights across the Pacific were a little-known highlight this summer at the Air Force’s massive Resolute Force Pacific exercise, designed to prepare for a potential conflict with China.

Trump affirmed that the U.S. will keep a robust military presence in Poland as he had a warm meeting with the country’s new president.

RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR

Trump’s 2-week deadline for Russia to start peace talks comes and goes with Moscow showing no signs of stopping the violence as Western leaders pushed for additional security guarantees for Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that 26 of Ukraine’s allies have pledged to deploy troops as a “reassurance force” for the country once fighting ends with Russia.

But Vladimir Putin has rejected proposed Western security guarantees for Ukraine, warning that any foreign troops deployed in Ukraine country would be a “legitimate target” for Russia’s military.

Ukraine has topped up its hard-worked fleet of MiG-29 Fulcrums with fighters from Azerbaijan. The Ukrainian Air Force has also received Fulcrums from Poland and Slovakia, but they have suffered steady attrition since Russia’s invasion began.

After a hiatus, Bayraktar TB-2 twin-tail boom medium altitude, medium endurance (MAME) drones are again carrying out strike missions against Russian forces.

Sweden accuses Russia of GPS jamming over the Baltic Sea.

NORTH KOREA THREAT

Long-sought manufacturing gains are boosting North Korea arms buildup. When dictator Kim Jong Un visited an “automated missile factory” in late August, he pranced past endless rows of ballistic missiles, each capable of accurately delivering a nuclear warhead to Seoul with minutes’ notice.

South Korea has presented, for the first time, imagery of its Hycore hypersonic cruise missile, part of a fast-growing arsenal of advanced weapons that Seoul is developing, primarily to counter North Korea.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

UK Carrier Strike Group rehearsed cargo deliveries with an autonomous drone Malloy T-150 quadcopter last week as the warships made their way to Japan.

U.S. should push the Quad-Plus to protect undersea cables that are the unseen arteries of intercontinental communication and commerce, the physical manifestation of the internet. They’re under attack.

SPACE THREATS

Space Force graduates first class of officers trained for ‘great power competition.’ The new year-long officer training course immerses new leaders in space operations, cyber warfare and intelligence — skills essential against China and Russia’s sophisticated capabilities to challenge U.S. space dominance.

DOD is doubling down on alternatives to GPS, now provided by Space Force, that aren’t in space. New funding is for development and testing of operational prototypes of quantum-based devices that don’t depend on easily jammable signals from satellites.

DOD has long relied on large, multi-ton satellites for global communications from Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), that provides unique advantages for connectivity and security. Space Force will soon use many small satellites instead.

US MILITARY

F-15E Strike Eagle fires drone killing laser-guided munition (optimized variants of the laser-guided 70mm Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rockets). This relatively new capability for the F-15E was rushed into service earlier this year.

U.S. Cyber Command, assumed responsibility for building a critical warfighting capability 7 years ago but negligently disregarded this duty, and ultimately allowed this capability to reach a point of failure.

END of PDB

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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