Latest news with #DefenseOne
Fox News
31-03-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Trump's 11th week in office set to focus on tariffs as president touts 'Liberation Day'
President Donald Trump's 11th week in office is slated to focus heavily on tariffs, including the roll-out of the president's promised "Liberation Day," when his reciprocal tariffs will be announced. "Liberation Day, I call it Liberation Day in America," Trump said from the White House last week, previewing April 2. "You'll be seeing tariffs. And I think I've been very fair. I have them set. But I think I've been very fair to countries that have really abused us economically for many, many decades." For weeks, April 2 has been touted as the day when Trump's trade policy emphasizing "America First" will be laid out in earnest and end the U.S.' reliance on goods made overseas. He is expected to roll out his reciprocal tariff plan on Wednesday, which will likely match other countries' higher tariff rates and aims to counter other trade barriers like burdensome regulations, value-added taxes, government subsidies and exchange rate policies and to negotiate with some countries to reduce those barriers. "For DECADES we have been ripped off and abused by every nation in the World, both friend and foe. Now it is finally time for the Good Ol' USA to get some of that MONEY, and RESPECT, BACK. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!" Trump wrote on Truth Social of April 2 earlier in March. The tariffs on Wednesday follow Trump already leveling a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports, 25% tariffs on goods imported from Canada and Mexico, and a 20% tariff on goods from China. Another 25% tariff on all cars imported into the U.S. will also take effect late Wednesday of this week. Trump is also expected to hold another conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week after the two world leaders also spoke last week as Trump and his administration continue working to help hash out a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine amid the ongoing war. On Sunday, however, Trump told NBC News that he is "pissed off" with Putin after the Russian president slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's leadership last week. Russia also carried out a series of attacks on Ukraine over the weekend amid ongoing talks to reach a potential peace agreement. "If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia's fault — which it might not be — but if I think it was Russia's fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia," Trump told NBC News. "That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can't do business in the United States," he continued. "There will be a 25% tariff on all oil, a 25- to 50-point tariff on all oil." Trump added that his anger will "dissipate quickly" if Putin "does the right thing." This week, Trump is also expected to assess options for his "Golden Dome" missile-defense project, according to Defense One. Trump signed an executive order in January to build a "a next-generation missile defense shield for the United States against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks." Trump dubbed the system the "Golden Dome" earlier this month, which is a play on Israel's air defense system, called the "Iron Dome." Trump's 11th week in office follows a break-neck pace of executive orders and actions since Jan. 20. Trump has signed at least 106 executive orders alone, which surpasses the number of executive orders signed by his predecessors in their respective first years in office since the Carter administration.
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
How F-35s became the new Tesla
F-35s are the most advanced fighter jets in the world, capable of flying at 1,200mph while staying virtually invisible to enemy radar, equipped with unrivalled surveillance capabilities and a devastating array of missiles. From its base in Fort Worth, Texas, Lockheed Martin every year churns out roughly 150 of the state-of-the-art planes, which have quickly become the backbone of modern Western air forces. As they are shipped out around the world, billions of dollars flow back into the US defence industry. But the planes need more than computer chips and galvanised steel to get off the ground: they depend on trust between the US and its allies, which has rapidly drained after Donald Trump suggested he could annex Greenland or Canada, and fell out spectacularly with Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky. Countries are now asking if they can still rely on America – and F-35s look as if they could be caught in the crossfire. Such is the anger at the US that some commentators are now comparing them to Teslas. The electric vehicles looked like the cars of the future not so long ago, until they were boycotted for their association with the Trump administration via the company's chief executive, Elon Musk. On Friday, Mr Trump poured salt in the wound as he suggested selling 'toned-down' jets to the US' allies, 'because someday they're not our allies, right?' He was referring to a new generation of F-47 jets – but the aircraft is decades away, and the only immediate impact of his comments will be to shake Nato countries' faith in a United States that looks increasingly unreliable. Allies are suddenly wary of relying on the US to supply the spare parts and software updates needed to keep their F-35s in the sky. Some even believe the jets harbour a secret 'kill switch' that could be casually flicked on by a temperamental president, although this has been strenuously denied by Lockheed Martin. It raises an awkward question for US allies: what's the point in having a fleet of the most advanced stealth fighter jets in the world if they won't be able to get it off the ground? One former defence official told Defense One news and analysis website that Mr Trump's repeated outbursts about seizing Greenland, Canada or the Panama Canal made it 'very hard to see how they remain with the [F-35] programme'. Canada, which was planning to buy dozens of the fighter jets, recently announced that it was examining 'other alternatives'. Portugal also appears to be getting cold feet. 'The recent position of the United States, in the context of Nato... must make us think about the best options, because the predictability of our allies is a greater asset to take into account,' its defence minister Nuno Melo said this month. Germany, too, is increasingly looking askance at F-35s. Wolfgang Ischinger, former head of the Munich Security Conference, has suggested Berlin could cancel its orders after the US halted shipments of F-16 jets to Ukraine, following Mr Trump's disastrous Oval Office meeting with Mr Zelensky. Europe, which once depended on the US for two-thirds of its military equipment, is now freezing out American companies and attempting to shift its reliance on Washington. Experts believe France's aviation industry will be the big beneficiary of the backlash to F-35s, and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, is publicly talking up its Dassault Rafale jets. Jon Hemler, an aerospace analyst, said that other options for US-sceptical nations include the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Saab Gripen, or South Korea's KF-21 – but noted that all of them mean 'sacrificing' advantages that the more-advanced F-35 can provide. The response from US allies, which have collectively invested billions of dollars into the fighter jet programme, is stunning. Membership of the elite club with access to the fifth-generation jets was once highly sought-after. It was a source of humiliation for Turkey when it was expelled in 2019 by Mr Trump for purchasing a Russian missile system. Now some could turn their backs over persistent fears the aircraft is equipped with a 'kill switch' that could ground the jets. Credit: X/@sentdefender The F-35 Joint Programme Office (JPO) strenuously denies that this exists, saying that it is 'built on strong partnerships with US allies and partner nations' and has always been a 'collaborative effort' that 'meets the operational needs of all its users'. But Richard Aboulafia, a Washington-based aviation specialist, disagrees, arguing a kill-switch 'doesn't have to be a big red button'. He told The Telegraph: 'Of course, there's a kill switch. 'Anything with software or internet connectivity has a kill switch. That's just the way it works – welcome to modern society.' Software isn't the only potential issue – allies are also anxious about hardware. F-35s belonging to Nato countries could be crippled if the US decided it would stop shipping over replacement parts needed to keep them airworthy. 'It's like if you're in the UK and you buy a US car,' said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. 'If the United States were to shut off the flow of parts, you could scavenge parts for a while – but eventually, your car is not going to be running very well. If you had a fleet of cars, fewer and fewer would run when you can't mobilise the other ones.' Experts believe that even Israel, which has pushed for a degree of operational independence from the US, would not be able to keep its fleet running indefinitely without American-made parts. The F-35 Joint Program Office said in a statement: 'The programme operates under well-established agreements that ensure all F-35 operators have the necessary capabilities to sustain and operate their aircraft effectively. 'The strength of the F-35 programme lies in its global partnership, and we remain committed to providing all users with the full functionality and support they require.' Others are anxious about the US government's commitment to the F-35 programme after Mr Musk repeatedly suggested that its funding should be pulled. While analysts are sceptical that the Pentagon would scrap the programme altogether, limiting its F-35 purchases would inflate prices for US allies. In November, the Tesla chief executive tweeted criticisms of F-35s three times in the space of two days, attacking the planes as 'a jack of all trades, master of none', 'obsolete' and 'broken'. Mr Musk, who has since been appointed the US government's efficiency tsar, said in one post: 'In the name of all that is holy, let us stop the worst military value for money in history that is the F-35 programme.' But others believe that reports of the F-35's death have been greatly exaggerated. Denmark, where politicians are now fretting about the fate of Greenland as Mr Trump's repeated annexation threats, has already had its fleet of fighter jets delivered. And while many European countries are wobbling, both the Netherlands and Belgium have confirmed that they will keep buying them. Britain's flagship Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier was built for the specific purpose of accommodating F-35s, meaning it is effectively being 'held hostage', according to Mr Aboulafia. Analysts have also suggested that the US could look for new customers in the Middle East if it is spurned by Nato countries, opening up the programme to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Douglas Birkey, head of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies US think tank, believes the West simply does not have the luxury of a decade to secure another fifth-generation fighter jet. 'Planes like the F-35 are the price of winning in the modern era,' he told The Telegraph. But trust between the US and its allies is breaking down, and the consequences could outlive the F-35 programme. On Friday, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Boeing had won the contract to build the next-generation F-47s, declaring that America had sent a 'direct, clear message to our allies that we're not going anywhere'. Whether those countries still want to follow where the US is leading, or strike out on their own, is another question. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Space Force Says a Chinese Spacecraft Is Practicing Dogfighting Maneuvers in Orbit
The US Space Force has accused China of "dogfighting in space," a term that usually refers to fighter jets caught up in an aerial, close-range battle. During a defense program conference this week, Space Force vice chief of space operations Michael Guetlein said that the military arm had observed "five different objects in space maneuvering in and out and around each other in synchrony and in control," as quoted by Defense One. The Space Force is "starting to see our near-peers focusing on practicing dogfighting in space with satellite-on-satellite," he said. If confirmed, the practice could indicate an escalation in the defensive military capabilities of world powers in orbit, highlighting a heating up "space arms race." As Defense One reports, Guetlein's comments were referring to maneuvers made by three experimental Chinese satellites — called Shiyan-24C, as well as two still unidentified space objects dubbed Shijian-605 A and B — last year. At the time, the Space Force observed the objects carrying out a "series of proximity operations" in low-Earth orbit, according to Guetlein. The Shijian-6 system is believed to be capable of "electronic intelligence" allowing satellites to eavesdrop on communications, including naval comms traffic. "They are practicing tactics, techniques, and procedures to do on-orbit space operations from one satellite to another," Guetlein said. The Space Force general said that the satellites are just one of several activities of US adversaries in space, including Russia's "nesting doll," satellite demonstration in 2019, which involved smaller spacecraft closely following the movement of US satellites. China has similarly been accused of having its satellites "zigzag" across different altitudes and come uncomfortably close to US satellites. Guetlein accused Russia and China of breaking internationally agreed-upon rules. "Unfortunately, our current adversaries are willing to go against international norms of behavior, go against that gentleman's agreement, and they're willing to do it in very unsafe and unprofessional manners," he said, as quoted by Defense One. As a result, Guetlein argued there was a growing "capability gap" between the US and its adversaries, which could end up putting the country's assets at risk and allow other countries to claim control over the space domain. "We're only going to be as good as the amount of resources that we're willing to put towards space superiority," he said at the event this week. More on satellite-on-satellite action: China Joins SpaceX in Ruining Astronomy for Everybody
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Putting Missile Interceptors In Space Critical To Defending U.S. Citizens: Space Force Boss
New space-based interceptors called for in President Donald Trump's Golden Dome missile defense initiative are all about addressing threats as quickly and as far away from the U.S. homeland as possible, according to U.S. Space Force's top officer. The Golden Dome (formerly known as Iron Dome) plans come amid broader discussions and concerns about the weaponization of space. Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman talked about Golden Dome and other topics during an interview broadcast online as part of Defense One's State of Defense 2025: Air Force and Space Force virtual conference today. Golden Dome was first rolled out publicly in an executive order in January and proposes a huge expansion of America's missile defense architecture. 'It's not just that we want space-based interceptors, we want them in [the] boost phase,' Saltzman said. 'We want them to achieve their effects as far from the homeland. So they've got to be fast, they've got to be accurate.' The boost phase is where ballistic missiles, as well as highly maneuverable hypersonic boost-glide vehicles that use ballistic missile-like rocket boosters, are moving slowest and are at their most vulnerable. The bright plume of hot gas also makes them easier to spot and track for an intercept attempt. It is also a short engagement window and any such intercept is likely to occur well within an adversary's territory. This all presents particular challenges for boost-phase missile defense concepts using air, sea, and/or ground-based assets, as you can read more about here. The U.S. military has moved to develop and field space-based anti-missile capabilities multiple times in the past only to abandon those plans due to technical complexities and high costs. Space-based weapons were a particularly key element of the Reagan-era Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), infamously dubbed 'Star Wars' by its critics, and which never came close to achieving its ambitious goals. Speaking today, Gen. Saltzman acknowledged those challenges, but also made clear that he felt they were surmountable. 'I think there's a lot of technical challenges,' he said. 'I am so impressed by the innovative spirit of the American space industry. I'm pretty convinced that we will be able to technically solve those challenges.' 'We've got a pretty amazing space industrial base and I'm pretty sure they're going to solve most of those technical problems,' he continued. 'So, from that standpoint, I think it's just about how fast you want to go, you know, how fast can we leverage the technology, and put it in place and test it, [and] get a demo out there so you can see what's possible.' Gen. Saltzman also addressed broader concerns about the potentially destabilizing impacts of weaponizing space. Space Force's top officer countered, as he and other American officials have in the past, by highlighting examples of how this is already happening. China and Russia, in particular, have significant and still-expanding arsenals of space-based and terrestrial anti-satellite capabilities. 'Depends on where you sit, right, you know? But to say that it's the responsibility for the U.S. government to protect its citizens from emerging threats makes perfect sense to me,' Saltzman said. 'And we clearly see a country like the PRC [People's Republic of China] investing heavily in these kinds of threats, whether it's hypersonic [weapons], whether it's threats from space. And so now it's time for the U.S. government to step up to the responsibilities to protect American citizens from those threats.' Saltzman's comments here notably follow Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael Guetlein's remarks at the McAleese and Associates annual Defense Programs Conference earlier this week about how China especially is expanding its ability to 'dogfight' in space. 'There are five different objects in space maneuvering in and out around each other, in synchronicity and in control. That's what we call dogfighting in space,' Guetlein said, according to Breaking Defense. 'They are practicing tactics, techniques, and procedures to do on-orbit space operations from one satellite to another.' 'Gen. Guetlein referenced Chinese satellite maneuvers observed in space. China conducted a series of proximity operations in 2024 involving three Shiyan-24C experimental satellites and two Chinese experimental space objects, the Shijian-6 05A/B,' a Space Force spokesperson subsequently clarified to that outlet. 'These maneuvers were observed in low Earth orbit. These observations are based on commercially available information.' 'Unfortunately, our current adversaries are willing to go against international norms of behavior, go against that gentleman's agreement, and they're willing to do it in very unsafe and unprofessional manners,' Guetlein also said, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. 'The new norms of behavior in space, unfortunately, within the past three years: jamming, spoofing, dazzling … cyber hacks are happening all around us on a day-to-day basis.' Space Force officials have publicly highlighted this reality in the past. Gen. Saltzman has also already been a notably outspoken advocate of treating space as just as much of a potential arena for active warfare as the air, sea, and land below. He has also been among those pushing for the U.S. military to acquire new so-called 'counter-space' capabilities, which could include additional types of space-based weapon systems, as well as ones within Earth's atmosphere. 'What I think we're really recognizing is now space is a contested war-fighting domain, and that's what's new, not that the military is considering offensive and defensive operations,' Saltzman said today. 'Militaries always conduct offensive and defensive operations to contest the domains to meet military objectives. We just recently had to up our game, if you will, because space has become a warfighting domain.' 'I talk about six categories of counter-space weapons. [There are] three that are ground-based, jammers, directed energy, and then kinetic capabilities, like we've seen the PRC use with missiles attacking satellites. And then those same three categories can be done from space, from satellites on orbit, jamming, and directed energy, and kinetic capabilities,' he continued. 'So those six categories all have to be invested in, because each one is optimized for different types of targets, whether it's low earth orbit, whether it's in geosynchronous orbit, [or] whether it goes out further than that. How much you need in each weapon is kind of what we're working through in terms of a strategy. But you really have to invest across all those. PRC is showing us that because they're investing in all those.' This is fully in line with what Saltzman told TWZ and other outlets about his service's counter-space priorities at a roundtable on the sidelines of the Air & Space Forces Association's 2025 Warfare Symposium earlier this month. The only counter-space systems that the U.S. military currently acknowledges possessing are variants of the Counter Communications System (CCS), which are ground-based jammers. However, there have been clear indications over the years that there may be more in the classified realm. It is worth noting that U.S. officials are broadly in alignment with critics of weaponizing space about the potentially catastrophic downstream impacts of any sustained campaign of attacks on assets in orbit. Gen. Saltzman and others have stressed a need therefore to focus on non-destructive counter-space capabilities to reduce potential risks, but also the need to be prepared for the worst. 'We have to plan for those bad scenarios, and we have to defend ourselves, and hopefully we can be so strong that we deter any kind of attack or any kind of progress into the space domain,' Saltzman said today. Whether or not Golden Dome's anti-missile interceptors in orbit or the U.S. military's other counter-space plans become a reality, the prospect of mass weaponization of space is increasingly on the horizon. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
National security analyst: it's 'about time' U.S. attacks Houthis
The U.S. conducted a series of strikes on areas of Yemen held by the Iran-backed Houthis. Kevin Baron, national security analyst and former executive editor of Defense One, discusses the implications of the attack and what message it sends to Iran. He also reacts to Trump's dismantling of the U.S. government-funded media network Voice of America and the country's role in peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
