11 Mar, 2023 10:46

Pentagon seeks billions to replace depleted munitions – Bloomberg

The Department of Defense will reportedly emphasize replenishing stocks of arms sent to Ukraine

The US Department of Defense plans to request more than $300 billion for weapons procurement and research and development efforts in the upcoming fiscal year, Bloomberg reported on Saturday, citing confidential papers. The spending will reportedly focus on replacing the munitions sent to Kiev and enhancing the US’ ability to fight China.

According to an internal budget document seen by the news outlet, the Pentagon is seeking atotal of $170 billion for new arms. Of this sum, $76.8 billion is being requested for the Navy and Marines, $61 billion for the Air and Space Force, and $15.7 billion for the Army, the report says.

In particular, the Department of Defense requested $400 million to acquire a new version of the Stinger air defense system, $199 million to purchase 541 Javelin anti-armor missiles, and $179 million to procure 28 additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), Bloomberg reported. The US has provided all of these types of armaments to Kiev to aid it in its fight against Russia.

The Pentagon also wants to boost its stock of long-range missiles, which would be critical in the event of a direct military confrontation with China, the report says.

In addition, the Pentagon also reportedly requested $145 billion for research and development projects. This includes $46 billion that would be earmarked for the Air Force, $27 billion for the Navy, and $15.7 billion for the Army.

The documents are scheduled for release on Monday, according to Bloomberg. The new fiscal year starts on October 1.

The Pentagon’s reported requests come after the administration of US President Joe Biden published a budget proposal on Thursday that would entail defense spending increasing by 3.2% to a total of $842 billion in 2024, with $6 billion pledged to Ukraine.

In recent months, there have been numerous media reports claiming that US arms stockpiles are being depleted due to the country’s support for Ukraine. Since the start of the conflict, the Pentagon has committed some $32.2 billion in military aid to Kiev, including tens of thousands of artillery rounds and thousands of anti-air and anti-armor systems.

Russia has repeatedly warned both the US and its NATO allies that supplying Kiev with arms would only prolong the conflict while making the bloc a direct participant in the hostilities.

(Fuck this shit!)

https://www.rt.com/news/572804-pentagon-ammo-spending-ukraine/

11 Mar, 2023 13:26

China could outmaneuver US ‘without firing a shot’ – retired general

Beijing has the upper hand in the Western Pacific, a former US Army vice chief of staff has warned

The US would be at a disadvantage if it engaged in a direct military confrontation with China over Taiwan, former Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army Jack Keane has suggested.

China possesses “more ships, more airplanes, [and] more offensive and defensive missiles than the United States” in the Western Pacific, Keane claimed on Friday in comments to Fox News, where he works as a senior strategic analyst.

The retired general predicted, however, that Beijing would likely opt for a different strategy whereby it would attempt to bring Taiwan under control by imposing a total blockade.

The retired general argued that China could prevail “without firing a shot,” rather than getting involved in a costly confrontation. To ensure that outcome, the leadership in Beijing would need to establish control over Taiwan’s airspace as well as sea lanes, Keane suggested.

The US would be well advised to beef up its “deterrence capability” in the region to “prevent a war,” the retired general added. To this end, Keane stated that Washington should increase weapons production as well as double down on arming Taipei.

According to the retired general, another important task for the US is to ensure that regional powers such as Australia, South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines are on board in case Washington faces off with Beijing militarily.

Addressing the delegates of China’s National People’s Congress last Sunday, outgoing Premier Li Keqiang emphasized Beijing’s determination to “advance the process of China’s peaceful reunification” while taking resolute steps to oppose Taiwanese independence.

The official also announced a 7.2% boost in China’s defense spending, taking it to some $230 billion.

In recent years, senior Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping, have repeatedly asserted that military options are not off the table regarding Taiwan.

Taiwan has been de facto independent since 1949, when the losing side in the Chinese civil war fled to the island and established its own administration. While most countries, including the US, profess to abide by the ‘One China’ principle and do not recognize Taiwan as an independent state, the self-governing island has long enjoyed close ties with Washington.

China considers Taiwan an inalienable part of its territory which is temporarily occupied by separatists.

https://www.rt.com/news/572807-us-general-china-advantage-us-taiwan/

11 Mar, 2023 13:35

US spy agency names frontrunner in hypersonic weapons race

Both Russia and China have conducted successful tests, but Beijing has an edge in the number of systems, a senior US official has claimed

China is outpacing Russia in terms of developing its hypersonic missile capabilities and may already have the means to strike Washington’s forces in the Pacific, a senior defense official told US lawmakers on Friday. As things currently stand, theUS does not have its own fully operational hypersonic missile.

In testimony before the House of Representatives’ Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Paul Freisthler, the chief scientist for science and technology with the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), compared the hypersonic capabilities of Washington’s two main competitors.

Freisthler stated that “while both China and Russia have conducted numerous successful tests of hypersonic weapons and have likely fielded operational systems,China is leading Russia in both supporting infrastructure and numbers of systems.”

Over the past two decades, he continued, Beijing “has dramatically advanced” its development of hypersonic missile technologies through “intense and focused”investment, development, testing and deployment efforts. This applies to both conventional and nuclear missiles, he added.

China has conducted a number of hypersonic tests, including one involving the DF-17 medium-range ballistic missile, Freisthler noted. This projectile, he said, has ahypersonic glide vehicle payload and an estimated range of at least 1,000 miles(1,600km), “enabling it to reach US military forces in Western Pacific.”

The DF-17 may have been fielded as early as in 2020, the official suggested.

As for Russia, Freisthler noted that it has deployed three hypersonic systems – the Kinzhal nuclear-capable air-launched missile, the Avangard strategic range glide vehicle, and the Zircon anti-ship cruise missile.

Hypersonic missiles travel at a high speed and boast high maneuverability, which makes themincredibly difficult to intercept.

While in recent years both Russia and China have been making strides in developing hypersonic technologies, the US is widely believed to be lagging behind the two as it has yet to field a fully operational weapon of this type.

Moreover, Russia has already deployed itshypersonic capabilities in actual combat. On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that the recent massive missile strike on Ukrainian military and energy infrastructure in response to Kiev’s deadly terrorist incursion across the border in Bryansk Region used the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system.

The same day, Colonel Yury Ignat, the spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, admitted that the country’s air defenses did not possess the capability of shooting down hypersonic missiles.

https://www.rt.com/news/572810-hypersonic-race-china-leader/

11 Mar, 2023 09:43

Russia accuses US of double standards in Balkans

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claims Washington is championing Bosnia’s territorial integrity while trampling on Serbia’s

The US only advocates territorial integrity when it suits its own agenda, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has argued. Her comments came after Washington criticized Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik for his supposed secessionist ambitions.

Zakharova insisted that theUS had no issue with undermining Serbia’s territorial integritywhen Washington recognized the breakaway province of Kosovo as independent back in 2008.

In a Friday post in her Telegram channel, she addressed her counterpart in the US State Department, Ned Price, writing: “Unbelievable. Ned, try replacing ‘BiH [Bosnia and Herzegovina]’ with ‘Serbia,’ ‘the Republika Srpska’ with ‘Kosovo,’ ‘the Dayton Peace Agreement’ with the ‘UN Security Council Resolution 1244’ and you get a diagnosis – split personality disorder.”

The Russian diplomat claimed that in 2008, Washington rode roughshod over the UN Security Council after a resolution which, among other things, reaffirmed the “commitment of all Member States to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia” and called for “substantial autonomy and meaningful self-administration for Kosovo.”

Having signed up to this ruling, the US still “recognized Kosovo’s independence,violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the multinational Serbia,” Zakharova insisted.

Earlier on Friday, Price expressed concern over remarks made the previous day by Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska – one of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constituent parts. According to the US official, Dodik “made repeated threats about the Republika Srpska’s secession from Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

In a press statement, Price was quoted as claiming that the Bosnian Serb leader had used “separatist rhetoric and threats to the Dayton Peace Agreement” – which he described as “irresponsible” and “dangerous.”

In contrast, the State Department official hailed the “Euro-Atlantic” stance of the Bosnian authorities and pledged to “continue to uphold BiH’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and multiethnic character.”

Price also warned that Washington would “hold responsible those who seek to undermine BiH’s institutions and the Dayton Peace Agreement.”

Bosnia and Herzegovina in its current form declared independence in 1992 amid the turbulent dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, following a referendum which was boycotted by Serbs. A bloody war between different ethnic and religious groups ensued, with the Dayton Agreement brokered between the then-leaders of the Republic of Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina putting an end to it three years later.

At present, the country is made up of the predominantly Serb-populated Republika Srpska and the mainly Croat-Bosniak-populated Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

https://www.rt.com/news/572791-russia-accuses-us-double-standards-balkans/

11 Mar, 2023 10:01

US ally to ban Russian steel, aluminum imports

Canada’s announcement coincides with the implementation of Washington’s previously announced 200% tariff on Russian aluminum

Canada will restrict imports of aluminum and steel products from Russia in what Ottawa calls an effort to undermine Moscow’s ability to fund its ongoing military operation in Ukraine, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced on Friday.

The ban includes unwrought and sheet aluminum and finished aluminum products, like containers and other household items according to the statement. It also covers iron and non-alloy steel, and semi-finished and finished steel products such as tubes and pipes. Freeland did not specify when the new ban is to take effect.

“We continue to do everything we can to cut off or limit the revenue used to fund Putin's illegal and barbaric invasion of Ukraine… Canada, and our partners, have already sanctioned the Russian Central Bank and capped the price of Russian oil and gas. And now, we are ensuring Putin cannot pay for his war by selling aluminum and steel in Canada, in coordination with action taken by the United States today,” Freeland declared.

Canada made the announcement on the same day that a new 200% US customs duty on Russian aluminum and related products came into effect. The measureeffectively bans US purchases of the metal from Russia.

According to official data, Canada imported 45 million Canadian dollars ($32.5 million) worth of aluminum and 213 million Canadian dollars ($153.7 million) worth of steel products from Russia in 2021. While Russian metals were not directly targeted by Ukraine-related Western sanctions last year, many buyers nevertheless shunned imports from Moscow. According to S&P Global and Canadian trade statistics data, Canada’s imports of Russian aluminum dropped to about 2,500 metric tons in 2022, from over 9,000 metric tons in both 2020 and 2021. Steel imports plunged to about 36,000 metric tons from over 113,000 metric tons in 2021.

Russia is the world’s second-biggest producer of aluminum after China, with a global market share of nearly 6%. Russian authorities have vowed to respond to sanctions by redirecting metal exports from Western countries to alternative markets, such as China, Türkiye and South East Asia.

(Another Bidan and Trudeau plan to give more trade for China. Bidan is wholly owned by China.)

https://www.rt.com/business/572793-canada-bans-russian-steel-aluminum/