SGT. JUSTIN SMITH/10TH SPECIAL FORCES GROUP (AIRBORNE) Gen. Glen D. VanHerck uses a story to illustrate why the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) are implementing a digital strategy to redefine homeland defense: In 2015, a man flew a gyrocopter through restricted airspace — undetected — before landing on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. For VanHerck, the incident is emblematic of a rapidly changing security environment that requires NORAD and USNORTHCOM to accelerate efforts to better recognize, anticipate and act — “deter, deny, respond” — to threats that could range from…
The Watch
THE WATCH STAFF In an era of increased threats from potential adversaries, the United States and Canada are demonstrating their ability to defend North America across all domains during exercise Vigilant Shield. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) conducted the annual homeland defense exercise April 11-19, 2023. Vigilant Shield is a binational exercise designed to “assess and enhance the readiness of NORAD and USNORTHCOM, its components and mission partners” to defend the continent from attack, according to an April 10 news release. NORAD is a binational command between Canada and the U.S. It provides…
THE WATCH STAFF Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, the commander charged with homeland defense of the United States, recently outlined the creeping influence of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in North America to Congress. Incursions such as the recent one by a high-altitude spy balloon are a threat, but VanHerck and Army Gen. Laura J. Richardson, commander of U.S. Southern Command, reminded the House Armed Services Committee of the PRC’s increasing investment in Latin America and the Caribbean. VanHerck said the PRC is being “very aggressive” in the Bahamas, where China’s ambassador “uses the information space to undermine us each…
THE WATCH STAFF What once seemed like futuristic technology is now a necessity to defend the United States Homeland, says Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, who leads U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), delivered March 23, 2023, to the Senate Armed Services Committee. “I think the future of homeland defense is vastly different than what we see today,” he said of the “future types of systems” that will be needed, according to a March 24 story by the defense technology website C4ISRNET. “It’s likely (to include) autonomous platforms, airborne, maritime platforms, unmanned platforms with domain-awareness…
ELENA FARNSWORTH Things are heating up at the top of the world. With heightened international tensions and a warming Arctic region, the United States’ National Strategy for the Arctic, released in 2022, prioritizes countering and deterring Russia and the People’s Republic of China in the High North. As such, the Pentagon is reallocating and increasing resources and future personnel at the U.S. Department of Defense’s northernmost installation, which was previously known as Thule Space Force Base (SFB). On April 6, 2023, the U.S. Department of Defense renamed it Pituffik Space Base, which recognizes Greenlandic cultural heritage and better reflects its…
THE WATCH STAFF President Vladimir Putin hailed a Russian Navy frigate departing from the Northern Fleet’s home port of Severomorsk in January 2023 as having no equal. Equipped with Russia’s most sophisticated sea-based Tsirkon hypersonic missile system, the frigate set out on a global voyage to join naval vessels from China and South Africa for a joint military exercise in February. The warship produced sensational headlines, which Russia used for propaganda as a signal to the United States and its NATO allies. The reality is much different. The Russian frigate, the Admiral Gorshkov, is being continuously monitored, tracked and contested…
THE WATCH STAFF The mission of Arctic search and rescue at its most basic is saving lives. But when the United States military trains for combat search and rescue and personnel recovery (SAR/PR) with allies, it also strengthens operational capabilities. “The ability to operate and succeed given the … harsh Arctic operating environment forever complicates any rescue, which is why it is so very important to exercise and reinforce rescue skill sets and capability,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Joseph Alkire III, deputy commander of the 611th Air Operations Center based at Alaska’s Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER). Alkire’s comments came…
THE WATCH STAFF The barren and unforgiving Arctic terrain of the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex (JPARC) is where the United States military and its allies train in extreme conditions. High above the vast landscape that is the size of the U.S. state of Indiana, the world’s most advanced warplane — the F-35A II Lightning stealth fighter — conducts operations, too. The multirole F-35A II rules its domain no matter the environment. “We have a motto that ‘we’re ready to go at 50 below [zero degrees Fahrenheit],’ ” and it does get that cold sometimes, Col. David Berkland, commander of…
THE WATCH STAFF Navy SEALs aboard black-rubber raiding boats skim across a choppy sea off Alaska under the watchful eye of an F-22 Raptor. Later, they parachute from high above their target zone near an isolated coastal town. The commandos conduct reconnaissance in the fog using drones equipped with the latest in artificial-intelligence technology. They operate from an expeditionary camp of Quonset huts supported by heavy-lift CH-47 Chinook helicopters from the Alaska National Guard. This latest chapter in an ongoing series of exercises known as Operation Noble Defender fulfilled its purpose once again — demonstrating the ability of U.S. Northern…
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Mexico’s Army and National Guard announced July 7, 2022, a “historic” seizure of more than a half-ton of fentanyl at a warehouse in the northern city of Culiacan. Mexican prosecutors followed up that news a day later by reporting that a half-million fentanyl pills were confiscated at another warehouse in the city. Culiacan is the capital of Sinaloa state, home to the drug cartel of the same name. “This is the largest seizure in history of this lethal drug,” Assistant Public Safety Secretary Ricardo Mejia said of the first haul, which took place July 2 and netted…