U.S. STRATEGIC COMMAND The United States Navy successfully launched an unarmed life-extended Trident II D5 (D5LE) from the ballistic missile submarine USS Kentucky off the Southern California coast June 17, 2022. The missile’s test launch, pictured, was one of four conducted June 15-17 as part of a Navy Commander Evaluation Test (CET), which validates performance of the Trident II D5LE strategic weapons system. The Navy conducts CETs and other missile flight tests to evaluate and ensure the system’s reliability, readiness and accuracy. An effective nuclear deterrent is essential to U.S. national security and the security of allies and partners. The…
The Watch
THE WATCH STAFF When the German Ministry of Defense lost transportation to the United States for its SARah-1 satellite, it had to scramble to find an alternative for getting the spacecraft to California for its June 18, 2022, launch. So, as the popular phrase asks: “Who you gonna call?” The answer: the National Guard. The SARah-1, pictured in illustration, was to be shipped by a Ukrainian commercial cargo plane to Vandenberg Space Force Base, but the ongoing war in Ukraine made those aircraft unavailable, according to a June 22 news release from the National Guard Bureau (NGB). Instead, the cloud-penetrating…
THE WATCH STAFF The United States, Canada and seven other NATO nations carried out a successful hunt for submarines during joint exercise Dynamic Mongoose, which is held every summer in the Norwegian Sea. Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom also took part in the June 13-24, 2022, anti-submarine warfare training conducted by NATO’s Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM). The exercise included three submarines, 11 surface ships and 16 maritime patrol aircraft. “The coordination between ships, submarines and aircraft can be difficult but is the most effective way to detect and track submarines,” Royal Netherlands Navy Commodore A.…
REUTERS Germany’s Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, has approved creation of a 100 billion euro (U.S. $107.2 billion) special defense fund that Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The money is destined to help rebuild Germany’s military, which has suffered years of neglect following the end of the Cold War. The government decided to amend the constitution to create the fund to exempt it from Germany’s so-called debt brake that enforces fiscal restraint. It needed backing from the opposition conservatives as well as the ruling coalition to reach the two-thirds parliamentary majority needed for…
REUTERS Finland, Sweden and Norway should consider organizing their air-defense control jointly in territories north of the Arctic Circle in coming years, the speaker of the Finnish parliament said. If Finland and neighboring Sweden’s applications for membership in NATO are successful, the Nordics could for the first time consider organizing parts of their defense jointly with their common neighbor Norway, which is already a NATO member. “We all three — Sweden, Norway and Finland — have relatively strong air forces and we have to control our borders and airspace,” said Matti Vanhanen, discussing NATO and security policy with Norway’s Prime…
THE WATCH STAFF Members of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) sharpened their skills during recent joint training and exercises with the United States military. The Bahamas and the U.S. are maritime neighbors whose bilateral partnership is essential to regional stability. Three Marines of the RBDF Medical Facility completed the Combat Medical Specialist Course at the Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston’s Medical Education and Training Campus (METC) in Texas. RBDF Petty Officers Charlon Johnson and Laurell Farrington, and Leading Seaman Deangelo Bain successfully completed the 16-week intensive course that included emergency medical technician (EMT) training as well as instruction in…
THE WATCH STAFF United States Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. met with Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) leaders in Ottawa to further strengthen the long and unique relationship between the two countries. During the June 8-9, 2022, visit, Brown, pictured, met with his RCAF counterpart, Lt. Gen. Al Meinzinger, and Maj. Gen. Sylvain Ménard, the chief of fighter capability, at National Defence Headquarters. Brown also took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the National War Memorial in the Canadian capitol. The RCAF leaders discussed the strategic importance of the Arctic as well as infrastructure and…
THE WATCH STAFF The United States Army plans to double the size of its cyber force — including beefing up its electronic warfare (EW) capability — to deter or defeat technologically skilled adversaries. The Army will grow its Cyber Mission Force teams and electronic warfare companies and platoons — boosting personnel from some 3,000 to “just over” 6,000 by 2030, an Army spokesperson said June 13, 2022, according to C4ISRNET, a military technology news website. Across active duty, reserves and the National Guard, the cyber branch will expand to more than 7,000. The boost in active-duty personnel comes as the Department…
REUTERS The global nuclear arsenal is expected to grow in the coming years for the first time since the Cold War while the risk of such weapons being used is the greatest in decades, a leading conflict and armaments think tank said. Russia’s February 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine and Western support for Kyiv has heightened tensions among the world’s nine nuclear-armed states, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) think tank said June 13 as part of new research. (Pictured: A mushroom cloud rises from a nuclear weapons test on the Marshall Islands in 1946.) While the number of…
REUTERS Diplomatic tensions between Canada and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are rising again, with each country accusing the other of using their military aircraft flying near North Korea for provocation and harassment. The PRC’s foreign ministry on June 6 warned Canada of potential “severe consequences” of any “risky provocation,” after Canada’s military the previous week accused Chinese warplanes of harassing its patrol aircraft monitoring North Korea’s compliance with sanctions. “The U.N. Security Council has never authorized any country to carry out military surveillance in the seas and airspace of other countries in the name of enforcing sanctions,” PRC…