FRIDAY PDB – The new Marine infantry battalion is slimmer, saltier and ‘techier.’ A slimmer, more senior and technology-driven Marine infantry battalion structure now unfolding across the service will shape the deployments, careers and lives of future riflemen, the service’s essential source of combat power.
Marines draw inspiration from drug runners for unmanned resupply boat. As the Corps considers how to move weapons around contested waters to resupply forces ashore, it’s copying an unusual source: drug traffickers.
Marine Corps leader eyes drone swarm launched from above, beneath waves. The Marines are interested in using unmanned submersibles or surface vessels as motherships for swarms of one-way drones.
Marines to test out first stern landing vessel at Project Convergence. The Corps will test the landing vessel at an Army event this spring, as the service prepares to create a fleet of shore-to-shore connectors to support Marines operating in the Pacific.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense stories from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.
Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DAILY BRIEFING – the PDB:
PENTAGON WOKE WATCH
RECRUITING CRISIS – Army recruiters at two-thirds of contract goals as fiscal year closes. With one month remaining in fiscal 2023, previously unreported data shows that Army recruiters are collectively failing to reach their quotas for fiscal 2023.
NATIONAL SECURITY
Why our generals don’t win. This piece will examine the baleful legacy of the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act.
White House completes $50 million revamp of high-security Situation Room. The vital complex beneath the West Wing where presidents watch history unfold and receive top-secret intelligence, has undergone a much-needed makeover for the first time in 15 years.
Air Force test-launches unarmed nuclear missile with 3 warheads. The Air Force launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile over the Pacific Ocean in a routine test early Wednesday.
CHINA THREAT
Pentagon expects to release its closely watched annual China military report in mid-October, though the timing could shift.
Biden to use G20 summit and Vietnam visit to highlight US as trustworthy alternative to China. Joe Biden wants to show the world at the Group of 20 summit in India and during a stop in Vietnam that the U.S. and its like-minded allies are better partners than China.
US, Australia should use civil aid, not military, to woo Pacific Island states from China: Wargame. Military training and aid alone won’t blunt China’s influence operations with Pacific Island states like Kiribati and the Solomon Islands. Instead, climate change assistance, targeted development aid, and much improved strategic messaging are much more likely to help keep Beijing at bay in these small but crucial island states that cover a huge portion of the Pacific.
RUSSIA THREAT– UKRAINE WAR
In northeast Ukraine, the Russians are coming — or maybe setting a diversion. Russian troops are pushing toward Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region, perhaps trying to seize the city liberated by Ukraine a year ago or maybe to redirect Ukrainian forces from the south.
Drone strikes rock Russian city that is home to key military base. Ukraine never acknowledges strikes on Russian soil, but the incursions are happening with increasing frequency.
AS I WROTE ABOUT YESTERDAY – Musk cut internet to Ukraine’s military as it was attacking Russian fleet. New details of the previously reported incident show how dependent the U.S. government has become on one company. My piece yesterday.
NORTH KOREA THREAT
North Korea says it has launched a new nuclear attack submarine. The purported nuclear attack submarine has been in development for years.
SPACE THREAT
After criticism from its top commander, Space Force adopts new mission statement. After the criticism this past May, Guardians weighed in. Now, the service has a new one.
US Space Force eyes partnerships for tactical satellite communications. To modernize its tactical satellite communications infrastructure, the service is trying to ensure that international partners can benefit from and contribute to those capabilities.
HOMELAND SECURITY
Did the Texas guard act as an illegal intel branch? Report breaks down an 18-month investigation into whether members of the Texas National Guard illegally spied on migrants.
SHOULD HAVE LEFT HIM ALONE – Coast Guard arrests Florida man in international waters running on seafaring hamster wheel. The Coast Guard ‘rescued’ and then arrested Reza Ray Baluchi for the stunt, and now he is facing federal charges.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
US drone flights limited since Niger coup. The restriction is likely hindering the international counterterrorism mission in West Africa.
Pentagon admits some ‘non-essential’ personnel have left Niger. Pentagon officials maintain “our force posture in Niger hasn’t changed” but admitted for the first time that some personnel have been pulled out of the country.
I’M SURE THERE IS MORE TO THIS STORY – Cuba arrests 17 for trafficking men to fight for Russia in Ukraine. A ‘human trafficking’ ring allegedly lured young Cuban men to fight in Ukraine with the Russian military.
British forces to get new rifles designed in the US. They are turning to the ArmaLite (AR) rifle to boost the lethality of some of its specialist forces.
Boeing offers F-15EX for Poland, but details are scant. The “price and delivery schedule” on a potential F-15EX sale to Warsaw are unknown, but Boeing clearly has high hopes for Poland as a market.
US MILITARY
Army approves next phase for augmented reality device. It’s the service’s “do-it-all” device, the Integrated Visual Augmentation System.
USAF, DoD working on new target drones to simulate 5th-Gen threats. Together last month they revived a dormant effort to build a target drone that can mimic cutting-edge adversary aircraft—and perhaps breathe new life into the Air Force’s plans for a “Next Generation Aerial Target.”
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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Map is wrong!! Bakhmut has been taken by Russia. Ukraine is attacking weakly on both flanks and going nowhere.