Mediterranean

Allies

America Must Act In Libya Against Turkey, Russia

    Turkey’s recent intervention in Libya is intensifying a proxy war and regional energy competition that threaten vital U.S. interests, while Washington mostly observes from the sidelines. As fighting grows in the Mediterranean country, the United States urgently needs to assume an overdue leadership role to end or mitigate this spiraling conflict. The time […]

Air Warfare

Royal Navy Lands 1st F-35B on New Carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth

"We're not going to pretend it's easy,” Rear Adm. Keith Blount, assistant chief of the Naval Staff told reporters. “But this isn't unfathomably difficult for us. We are enjoying going back into the big time, and this is one of those big steps on that ladder. It's hugely exciting and should be reassuring to those back home and to those on this side of the Atlantic."

Air Warfare

NATO, Russia Prep Biggest War Games Since Cold War

WASHINGTON: Within the next several weeks, both Russia and NATO will kick off some of the largest military exercises since the end of the Cold War. Hundreds of thousands of troops, tens of thousands of vehicles, hundreds of aircraft, and dozens of warships will charge into action in a series of mock engagements stretching from […]

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Air Warfare

US Ships, Planes Challenge 22 Countries’ Claims — Not Just China’s

WASHINGTON: In 2016, the Defense Department flew aircraft or steamed ships through territories claimed by Albania, Brazil, Italy, Japan, Malta, and, well, China, according to the Pentagon’s annual report released today. So should Beijing be relieved it was not the sole focus of American Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPS) or should it feel slighted that it […]

Allies

Russia Builds ‘Arc Of Steel’: Adm. Ferguson

WASHINGTON: “We are observing the manifestation of a more aggressive, more capable Russian navy,” the US Navy’s top commander in Europe said today. And if that fleet is Putin’s seagoing hammer, missile bases ashore are his land-based anvil. Complementing Russian naval modernization, Adm. Mark Ferguson said, we have seen “the construction of an arc of […]

Air Warfare

Russians In Syria Building A2/AD ‘Bubble’ Over Region: Breedlove

WASHINGTON: In keeping with its increasingly aggressive behavior over the past two years, Russia is deploying lethal and long-ranged anti-aircraft defenses to keep Western forces out of three key regions: the Baltics, the Black Sea, and, now, the Levant. From where NATO’s top commander Gen. Philip Breedlove sits, the Russian forces flowing into Syria don’t look […]

Naval Warfare

Do Marines Have To Hitchhike At Sea? The Real Story

WASHINGTON: Is the US Navy really so short of warships that Marines must catch a ride on foreign vessels, like heavily armed hitchhikers? The answer is, well, sort of. Where there’s smoke, there’s often fire — the Marines definitely could use more amphibious warfare ships — but on this story, politicians, lobbyists, and some of […]