Global Scans · Military · Weekly Summary

• Until the opportune moment arrives, North Korea will strive to modernize its outdated conventional military capabilities and structures while ambitiously pursuing advancements in nuclear technology to enhance its preparedness for war against the South Korea-U.S. alliance. The Diplomat
• US Air Force bombers working in conjunction with U.S. Navy submarines could decimate a Chinese invasion fleet and save Taiwan. The Telegraph
• Washington expected Iraq to do more to help counter Iran-backed armed groups operating out of Iraq after the killing of three U.S. soldiers that has been blamed on hardline Iraqi factions. Dinar Recaps
• Diehl Defence, a leading defence contractor in Germany, plans to integrate the Slinger system onto a lightweight 4 x4 platform. Army Recognition
• EOS Australia has announced a deal with Diehl Defence, Germany, under which EOS will supply its advanced Slinger anti-drone system. Army Recognition
• The attacks by the United States inside Iraq and Syria are a strategic error that will only add to tensions and instability in the Middle East heightened by Israel's military campaign in Gaza. Al Jazeera
• The United States warned of more retaliatory strikes after it hit Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria overnight in response to an attack that killed American soldiers in Jordan amid Israel's war on Gaza. DNyuz
• Washington, given the unfavorable experiences from the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions, is reluctant to accept the risk of a ground invasion in Iran, a country claimed to possess advanced military capabilities, particularly in missiles and drones. Hasht-e Subh
• The U.S. military on Friday launched air strikes against 85 targets linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards and pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and Syria, with President Joe Biden warning that Washington would continue retaliation for last weekend's drone attack that killed three U.S. soldiers in Jordan. DNyuz
• The Pentagon is planning to spend billions on military construction on Guam through fiscal year 2028, including $2 billion to build a missile defence system. Defense One
• Personnel from the Royal Australian Navy will begin training in Guam in 2024 in preparation for Submarine Rotational Force West, the detachment from the US Navy that will base themselves in Perth in preparation for the first Virginia Class subs, which will be maintained in Australia. SoftIron HyperWire
• UK security will be boosted through a vast new contract we have awarded - worth £2 billion - that will ensure the long-term availability and resilience of critical assets used by Royal Navy ships and submarines over the next 15 years. Defence Equipment & Support
• More than one million displaced Palestinians fear a new Israeli military onslaught after the Israeli defence minister pledged to attack Rafah, an area once described as a safe zone. Al Jazeera
• Israel's military will next focus on Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled following Israeli operations further north. CNN
• The worry in Washington has been that Beijing is ahead of the United States in developing the military use of drones and its growing drone fleets could swarm and confuse the radars and air defences of U.S. warships, and critical bases in Guam and Japan. Yahoo News
• Military and defence use of AM equipment will become more dominant as a use case due to the present global situation and will help to refurbish the old equipment, which many armed forces are struggling with in an on-demand repair initiative. 3D Printing Industry
• In conflict, the U.S. could target Chinese command and control to ensure its naval and air assets survive, which Chinse military leaders could interpret as the first phase of a counterforce strike on Chinese nuclear capabilities. SpringerLink
• To deter existential threats to the American homeland would require a more limited number of nuclear weapons sufficient to survive a possible nuclear first strike - a counterforce strike - by an adversary. SpringerLink
• Deterrence seems to have worked vis-a-vis the Soviet Union and against the Warsaw Pact, where nuclear weapons were directly implicated, although it did not prevent war in Korea, Vietnam, or Iraq, where nuclear weapons were a distant and vague threat. The National Academies Press
• Russia and China both argue that their own nuclear upgrades are necessary because US plans, including nuclear force modernization, missile defence programs, and the development of high-precision conventional weapons, threaten their nuclear deterrents. SpringerLink
• Russia's modernization and expansion of its nuclear arsenal, including its stockpile of nonstrategic nuclear weapons, reflected Russia's belief that it could use the threat or actual first use of nuclear weapons in order to de-escalate an armed conflict on favorable terms. SpringerLink
• Kim has ramped up weapons testing, including this week's launch of a flurry of cruise missiles, which analysts said the North could be supplying to Russia for use in Ukraine. The Daily Star
• The deaths this week of three American soldiers in an attack on a US military base on the Jordanian-Syrian border by an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia alliance potentially mark a watershed that could send regional tensions spinning out of control. Eurasia Review

Last updated: 08 February 2024