The Watch

THE WATCH STAFF Defense leaders from 21 nations — including the Bahamas, Canada, Mexico and the United States — discussed their challenges during the recent 2022 Caribbean Nations Security Conference (CANSEC) in Bridgetown, Barbados. The April 5-7 conference, co-hosted by the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) and U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), highlighted the enduring relationships between the U.S. and its Caribbean neighbors. The talks focused on ways to enhance regional cooperation to confront threats that range from natural disasters to transnational organized crime to “competition between authoritarianism and democracy,” according to an April 7 news release from SOUTHCOM. “These areas of…

THE WATCH STAFF As the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has worked to increase its influence in the Western Hemisphere over the past two decades, one thing is apparent: Beijing has no plans to slow its activity. A Joint Action Plan (2022-2024) from the China-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) reinforces the PRC’s intentions to increase engagement in the region across a range of economic sectors, according to a January 12, 2022, report in The Diplomat online magazine. The PRC is South America’s leading trade partner and a major source of direct investment and loans in energy and…

THE WATCH STAFF Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing has become a scourge of the “blue economy,” contributing to the depletion of global fish stocks. In the Caribbean, many countries are classified as “fish dependent” and IUU fishing has a large impact on the region’s food security, according to a July 19, 2021, report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The report said local catches have decreased because of IUU actors, forcing some nations to increase imports of seafood and impose catch quotas. “It is our quest in the Caribbean to partner with all international agencies to…

REUTERS Finland will decide whether it will apply to join the U.S.-led NATO alliance in the next few weeks, Prime Minister Sanna Marin, pictured, said on April 13, 2022, underlining a shift in security perspectives since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland and fellow Nordic state and neighbor Sweden are close partners with NATO but have shied away from joining the 30-member alliance, founded in 1949 to counter the Soviet Union during the Cold War. “We have to be prepared for all kinds of actions from Russia,” Marin told reporters at a joint news conference in Stockholm with her Swedish counterpart. She said the option to…

REUTERS Canada will boost military spending slightly over the next five years and review its overall defense policy in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the government said on April 7, 2022. The annual budget promised to spend more than U.S. $6.4 billion extra between 2022-23 and 2026-27 on the Armed Forces. Officials said this meant the defense budget in 2022-23 would be 2.7% higher than had initially been forecast. Canada currently spends 1.36% of GDP on defense, and a senior government official said the new spending should push that up to 1.5% by 2026-27. That is still…

THE WATCH STAFF U.S. Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond often asserts that Earth’s orbital domain must remain “accessible, stable and secure.” The U.S. Space Force (USSF) is taking an important step to realize that goal by acquiring technology to provide Raymond’s service with a real-time picture of space. The USSF awarded Slingshot Aerospace a U.S. $25-million, 39-month contract March 31, 2022, for its Digital Space Twin, according to a news release from the contractor. The contract was funded by Space Systems Command and the USSF’s venture branch, SpaceWERX, according to the news release. It also includes pilot programs…

THE WATCH STAFF With a record-setting flight test, the U.S. Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have reached another milestone in the development of a Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC). The vehicle tested was the Lockheed Martin version of a HAWC cruise missile, which set a record for hypersonic flight — greater than five times the speed of sound — under scramjet power, DARPA reported in an April 5, 2022, news release. The test was the second successful flight in the agency’s HAWC program. In 2021, a vehicle configuration from the contractor Raytheon also reached hypersonic…

THE WATCH STAFF A U.S. Navy warship has visited the Bahamas for the first time since the onset of the COVD-19 pandemic. The Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Porter’s scheduled stop in Nassau April 3-7, 2022, was hailed as a “wonderful illustration” of the partnership between the countries by Chargé d’Affaires Usha Pitts of the U.S. Embassy. “We have to remember that some country will patrol the ocean, will make a show of force and will hold other countries accountable for their behavior. I thank God it is the U.S. doing it and that we have the tools, like USS Porter,…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Australia’s government in March 2022 launched Space Command, a new defense agency tasked with securing the country’s place in an “already contested” cosmos. Defence Minister Peter Dutton said the command would be modest in its early stages. He gave no detailed staffing or budget figures. In a speech to the Australian Air Force, he said space “will undoubtedly become a domain that takes on greater military significance in this century.” “Space is becoming more congested and is already contested, particularly as the boundaries between competition and conflict become increasingly blurred through grey-zone activities,” the minister said. Dutton positioned…

U.S. STRATEGIC COMMAND Within the past 20 years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has demonstrated an interest in the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean, but is its claim to the northernmost sea legitimate? The Arctic Council’s answer is a resounding “no.” The Arctic Council is an organization comprised of the eight nations whose borders touch the Arctic Ocean: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States. The council’s decisions revolve around environmental action, scientific programs and assessment, and emergency preparedness, and they provide recommendations to other world organizations. Council members have claims to territory within…