 | 5/27/2022 |
Morning Recon
Good Friday morning and welcome to MORNING RECON. On this day in 1972, Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev and U.S. President Richard Nixon, meeting in Moscow, sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) agreements. At the time, these agreements were the most far-reaching attempts to control nuclear weapons ever.
RealClearDefense Today's Exclusive: Today's Top Stories
NATIONAL Senator Wants DoD Climate Change Goals Locked into Law
By Rebecca Kheel, Military.com: “As the military services roll out their climate change plans, a key senator is pushing to ensure the goals are met by enshrining them in law.”
Why Are Spare Parts on the Unfunded List? Senator Asks Navy's Top Officer
By Caitlin M. Kenney, Defense One: “Sailors are cannibalizing parts to keep equipment operational.”
Updated Autonomous Weapons Rules Coming for the Pentagon:
Exclusive Details
By Valerie Insinna & Aaron Mehta, Breaking Defense: ""We want to make sure, of course, that the directive still reflects the views of the department and the way the department should be thinking about [autonomous] weapon systems,” Michael Horowitz told Breaking Defense in an exclusive interview."
Funding Sought for More ‘Responsive’ Satellite Launches
By John M. Donnelly, Roll Call: “Bipartisan group of representatives wants $150 million to launch satellites from aircraft.” BlackSky, Maxar, Planet Win 10-Year NRO Contracts
By Sandra Erwin, Space News: “The National Reconnaissance Office said the 10-year deals with three companies are the agency's largest ever commercial contracting effort.” Could a Stealth Makeover Save the A-10?
How To Drag the Warthog Into the Future
By Alex Hollings, Sandboxx News: “Make no mistake about it, the Warthog has earned every bit of its hero-worship throughout the past twenty years of combat operations.” Boeing Starts Delivering New Round of A-10 Wings
By Greg Hadley, Air Force Magazine: "More than two and a half years after the Air Force finished its first round of re-winging efforts for the A-10, Boeing started delivering new wing sets to the service earlier this month.
Read more Top Stories at RealClearDefense.com including: Navy Separates More Than a 1,000 Sailors for COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal
INTERNATIONAL U.S., SYRIA:
U.S., Kurdish Officials Call Turkish Threats of Military Operation in Syria ‘Serious’
By Amberin Zaman & Jared Szuba, Al-Monitor: “Ankara's threats come amid a spat with NATO allies over Finland and Sweden’s request to join the Western alliance.” UKRAINE WAR:
Putin Is Desperate:
Russia Is Sending Ancient T-62 Tanks to Ukraine
By Stavros Atlamazoglou, 1945: “ The Russian military is running out of modern tanks to deploy to Ukraine and is resorting to using antiquated T-62 medium battle tanks.”
U.S., MIDDLE EAST:
U.S. Treasury Targets Hamas Financial Network
By Joe Truzman, FDD's Long War Journal: “Treasury’s designated six companies either allegedly controlled by Hamas or used to illicitly transfer funds.”
Read more International Stories at RealClearDefense.com including: UN Motion To Reinforce North Korean Sanctions Fails on Russia, China
COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS
The 30-Year Shipbuilding Program is Not Enough
By Steven Wills, RealClearDefense: "Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Mike Gilday is facing a challenging budget environment this year as he seeks to retire older and less capable ships while trying to make the force “more lethal” and eventually grow to 355 manned and unmanned ships."
Open-Source Data is Everywhere—Except the Army’s Concept of Information Advantage
By Maggie Smith & Nick Starck, Modern War Institute: "Three months ago, as Russia invaded Ukraine, the world watched as Twitter exploded with real-time data, reporting, and analysis of the unfolding conflict."
Mysterious South China Sea Missile Launch
By Joseph Trevithick, The War Zone: “Video has emerged on social media that is said to show an apparent launch of a missile, possibly from a submarine, as viewed from a Cathay Pacific Boeing 777 flying over the South China Sea.”
“China’s Columbus” Was an Imperialist Too:
Contesting the Myth of Zheng He
By Peggy-Jean M. Allin & Steven R. Corman, Small Wars Journal: “Chinese officials emphasize that, unlike Christopher Columbus or other Western voyagers, Zheng He “did not occupy a single piece of land.”"
Read more Commentary and Analysis at RealClearDefense.com including: Are the Marines Inventing the Edsel or the Mustang?
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