Sweden stepped up its defense activities in the Baltic Sea region in August 2020 due to what a high-ranking official called “a deteriorating security situation” as Russia and NATO conducted military operations there. The Swedish Armed Forces said they initiated a “high-readiness action,” pictured, in the southeastern and southern Baltic Sea region due to the “current, extensive military activity.” Sweden is not a NATO member. The military said the goal “is to strengthen maritime surveillance in the Baltic Sea at sea and from the air.” The Baltic News Service reported that four Russian naval ships were detected near Latvian territorial…
The Watch
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The newly formed U.S. Space Force is deploying troops to a vast new frontier: the Arabian Peninsula. Space Force has a squadron of 20 Airmen stationed at Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base in its first foreign deployment. The force represents the sixth branch of the U.S. military and the first new military service since the creation of the Air Force in 1947. Future wars may be waged in space, but the Arabian Desert already saw what military experts dub the world’s first space war — the 1991 Desert Storm operation to drive Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Today,…
The coronavirus pandemic that infected more than 108 million people worldwide by mid-February 2021 laid bare more than the grocery store shelves ravaged by panicked buyers from Texas to Tokyo. The manufacturing lockdown in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) caused by the spread of COVID-19 exposed critical weaknesses in supply chains that left U.S., European and Indo-Pacific leaders searching for products ranging from personal protective equipment to pharmaceuticals. It also prompted a call to action: Build supply chain resilience to keep history from repeating itself. The eye-opening shortages of the pandemic are spurring calls for new partnerships. The United…
Nuanced approach required for defense, safety, security Dr. Adam Lajeunesse and Dr. P. Whitney Lackenbauer Canada’s 2017 defense policy — Strong, Secure, Engaged — depicts the Arctic region as “an important international crossroads where issues of climate change, international trade, and global security meet.” Changing physical and human geographies, new economic opportunities and the heightened interest of foreign state and nonstate actors are generating new security dynamics in the North American Arctic. While popular media typically depict contested boundary lines or the status of water disputes, Russian bombers entering airspace identification zones and a Russian military buildup in the Eurasian…
Russia and People’s Republic of China demonstrate malign potential in Arctic Troy J. Bouffard and Dr. Cameron D. Carlson Russia’s top armed forces leader, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, authored an article in 2013 stating that the “role of non-military methods in achieving political and strategic goals has significantly surpassed the effectiveness of the power of weapons.” His words came after the failed use of information operations (InfoOps) during the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004 and the Russo-Georgian War in 2008. Russia refocused its InfoOps and executed a stunningly successful demonstration in Crimea during annexation in 2014, illustrating that strategic implementation…
U.S. Global Engagement Center combats disinformation and propaganda THE WATCH Staff The United States Congress established the Department of State’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) in 2017 to lead and coordinate interagency efforts to combat propaganda and disinformation from Russia, Iran, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and nonstate foreign terrorist groups. With its new mandate and expanded resources, the GEC established threat teams, including a Russia Team, China Team, Iran Team and Counterterrorism Team. The GEC also created an Analytics and Research Team and a Technology Engagement Team to use the latest data analytics tools and technology to ensure success.…
A history of NORAD’s Russian aircraft intercepts DR. BRIAN D. LASLIE U.S. and Canadian fighter aircraft intercepting Soviet — and later Russian — bombers has long been a mainstay of the defense of North America. The cat-and-mouse game between the air forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the combined air forces of Canada and the United States began before the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) officially started operations in May 1958. Soviet aircraft presented a threat to North America that needed to be countered. The earliest visual contact with Soviet aircraft was recorded August 1, 1950.…
THE WATCH Staff Great power adversaries of the United States — the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia — are pursuing multiple strategies to undermine the sense of security that oceans of distance once afforded defenders of North America. Both countries are developing hypersonic weapons that can reach the U.S. and travel at more than five times the speed of sound. The PRC is investing in the infrastructure of nearly 70 countries worldwide through its One Belt, One Road (OBOR) program, giving it political influence and access to deep-water ports from which to project power. These adversaries are even…
Special Forces deploy to Alaska to simulate oil field defense Story and photos by 10TH SPECIAL FORCES GROUP (AIRBORNE) PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE Editor’s note: The names of those serving in the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) are withheld for the safety of the Soldiers and their families. Special Operations Command North (SOCNORTH) teamed up with Air Mobility Command to deliver a tailored special operations task force north of the Arctic Circle on minimal notice in September 2020. SOCNORTH deployed a task force composed of a crisis response force planning element and a Green Beret team from the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne)…
NORAD hones air defenses, readiness with Arctic exercise THE WATCH STAFF Ongoing threats from great power competitors are placing ever-greater importance on military exercises by Canada and the United States that stress troop readiness and air defense capabilities as the mission of protecting the approaches to North America becomes increasingly complex. The binational North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) conducted Operation Noble Defender in the Arctic in September 2020 as Russian military incursions along the periphery of Canada and the U.S. persisted. “As competitors seek to bolster their presence and increase military operations in the Arctic, NORAD remains vigilant and…