US to boost military presence in Europe for Russia threat

MADRID (AP) — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the U.S. will significantly increase its military presence in Europe for the long haul, including by establishing its first permanent presence in Poland, to bolster regional security after Russia ’s invasion of Ukraine . Meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the opening of the alliance’s annual leaders’ summit in Madrid, Biden said “NATO is strong and united” and that steps to be taken during the gathering will “further augment our collective strength.” Biden opened his p…

Biden vows US resolve to back Israel as USS Ford enters region

DefenseNews: President Joe Biden on Tuesday condemned the militant group Hamas for “sheer evil” for its shocking multipronged attack on Israel launched from the Gaza Strip that has killed hundreds of civilians, including at least 14 American citizens. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by phone earlier on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the situation on the ground. Biden spoke out of the actions he and other allies have taken to support Israel in the aftermath of the attack and expressed his horror a…

US-Russia dialogue is at unprecedented low level: Antonov The Ambassador

Russia - US dialogue is at an unprecedented low level. Trust is undermined, cooperation is collapsing even on issues of mutual interest, Russian Ambassador to US Anatoly Antonov said " Russian - American political dialogue is at an unprecedented low level. Trust is undermined, cooperation is collapsing even on issues of obvious mutual interest. Communication between the parties is limited today," Antonov said on the air of the Bolshaya Igra ("Big Game") show on Channel One, adding that the dialogue is "limited to the…

Congress wants more details on latest Ukraine aid request

WASHINGTON ― Several U.S. senators on Tuesday asked for additional briefings and reports on President Joe Biden’s new $13.7 billion funding request for Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s invasion. The White House budget office last week announced the latest Ukraine aid request, which includes $11.7 billion for security and economic assistance through December. It also seeks an additional $2 billion to reduce domestic energy costs driven up in part by the war. Defense spending panel chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont., told Defense News he wants Defense …

Before US pullout, watchdog warned of Afghan air force collapse

KABUL, Afghanistan — Months before President Joe Biden announced the U.S .’s complete withdrawal from Afghanistan last year, Washington’s watchdog warned that the Afghan air force would collapse without critical American aid, training and maintenance. The report was declassified Tuesday. Joe Biden The report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko, submitted to the Department of Defense in January 2021, underscores that American authorities had been alerted that Afghanistan’s air force did not have the capab…

DefenseNews :  Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to visit India soon, with the Kremlin currently finalizing the dates for his trip. This announcement was made by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who indicated that the exact dates will be revealed shortly. This visit marks Putin's first trip to India since the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022; his last visit occurred on December 6, 2021, during the 21st India-Russia Annual Summit in New Delhi. The upcoming visit is significant as it comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#…

US increasing non-lethal military aid to Ukraine

WASHINGTON: The United States plans to increase non-lethal military assistance to Ukraine, including deliveries of the first Humvee vehicles, having decided for now not to provide weapons, US officials said. The increase in non-lethal aid to Ukraine, which is grappling with a Russian-backed separatist movement in its east, is expected to be announced on Thursday during a visit to Kiev by vice president Joe Biden. The officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, described it as an expansion of US support for U…

Ukraine Scrambling for Clarity as US Downplays Halt to Arms Shipments

DefenceNews: US officials on Wednesday downplayed a White House announcement that Washington was pausing some weapons shipments to Ukraine, after the war-battered country was caught off guard and appealed for clarity. Ukraine is contending with some of Russia’s largest missile and drone attacks of the three-year war, and a halt to the provision of munitions — especially for air defense — would be a significant blow to Kyiv. “The Department of Defense continues to provide the president with robust options regarding military aid to Ukraine, cons…

DefenseNews: Look at the military firepower the US is providing to Israel

DefenseNews : Within hours of the horrific attack by Hamas, the U.S. began moving warships and aircraft to the region to be ready to provide Israel with whatever it needs to respond. A second U.S. carrier strike group departs from Norfolk, Virginia, on Friday. Scores of aircraft are heading to U.S. military bases around the Middle East. Special operations forces are now assisting Israel’s military in planning and intelligence. The first shipment of additional munitions has already arrived. For now, the buildup reflects U.S. concern that the de…

‘It Failed Miserably’: After Wargaming Loss, Joint Chiefs Are Overhauling How the US Military Will Fight

A brutal loss in a wargaming exercise last October convinced the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. John Hyten to scrap the joint warfighting concept that had guided U.S. military operations for decades.  “Without overstating the issue, it failed miserably. An aggressive red team that had been studying the United States for the last 20 years just ran rings around us. They knew exactly what we're going to do before we did it,” Hyten told an audience Monday at the launch of the Emerging Technologies Institute, an effort by the National D…

Turkey trains Kurdish peshmerga forces in fight against ISIL

Turkish soldiers are training Kurdish peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq and will give similar assistance to a new national army unit in Baghdad as part of the struggle against ISIL, a senior Turkish official said on Saturday. Turkish soldiers began special forces training with Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq three weeks ago, peshmerga spokesman Brigadier General Halgurd Hikmat said. The Turkish official said similar assistance would be given to  Iraq 's National Guard.

US Handed Over Seven Facilities To Afghan Military: Pentagon

Washington: "The US has officially handed over seven facilities to the Afghan Ministry of Defense," CENTCOM said, adding that the US has completed more than 95 per cent of the entire withdrawal process. The US has handed over as many as seven facilities to the Afghan military, the Central Command said on Tuesday, asserting that America has completed more than 95 per cent of its troop withdrawal and has entered the last phase of the drawdown from the war-torn country. Since the decision of US President Joe Biden, the Department of Def…

Congress passes Ukraine nuclear security funding

WASHINGTON — The House on Friday passed 230-201 an additional $12.35 billion Ukraine aid package, including money to help Kyiv respond to a potential nuclear security incident, as part of its stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown.  The package includes $35 million in defense nuclear nonproliferation funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration to prepare Ukraine for a potential incident from shelling at the besieged Zaporizhzhia power plant. The Senate passed the government funding bill, complete with the Ukraine nucl…

Russia attacked Ukraine with new ballistic missile

DefenseNews : The Kremlin fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile at Ukraine on Thursday in response to Kyiv’s use this week of American and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russia, President Vladimir Putin said.  In a televised address to the country, the Russian president warned that U.S. air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile, which he said flies at ten times the speed of sound and which he called the Oreshnik — Russian for hazelnut tree. He also said it could be used to attack any Ukrainian …

When will the war in Ukraine end? Experts Offer their predictions.

WASHINGTON and ROME — Germany’s promise early this year to send tanks to Ukraine marked the country’s latest concession and provided a cap to the gradual escalation in the kind of equipment allies were supplying. Indeed, when Russia invaded Ukraine last February, its allies resisted pleas for offensive aid and followed a narrow definition of protective equipment. In Berlin, leaders initially shied away from aid that didn’t fit the German definition of “defensive.” That’s changed, with Germany now pledging to deliver Leopard 2 battle tanks and …