Hands Tied
We said this a million times to the Hill.[Continuing Resolutions] are really painful because we’re losing buying power. It’s already painful enough to plan for the budget without the CR freezing you to what you spent last year. No new starts. No ramp-up in production. And you wonder: if you’re in a race against China, is it … right to shackle ourselves? Why are we doing this type of thing to ourselves? It’s crazy … what happens … in May … you’re obviously under-obligating, because you just got your money and you’re just trying to award the contract.But you’re behind the power curve; therefore you can’t spend all the money, therefore ‘we’re going to take half your money.’ Its not at all logical, but that’s the current process.Heidi Shyu, undersecretary of defense for Research and Engineering, George Mason University seminar on defense acquisition [Nov. 4].
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
We’ve been here before. …To meet national defense objectives, we must adopt the mentality that challenge is not synonymous with impossible and contested is not the same as impenetrable. … Yes, we will have to fight to get to the fight, but we will get there.
Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost, head of U.S. Transportation Command, speaking on national security at the Airlift/Tankers Association Symposium in Denver [Oct. 29].
The Big One
This Ukraine crisis that we’re in right now, this is just the warm-up. The big one is coming. And it isn’t going to be very long before we’re going to get tested in ways that we haven’t been tested [in] a long time. As I assess our level of deterrence against China, the ship is slowly sinking. It is sinking slowly, but it is sinking, as fundamentally they are putting capability in the field faster than we are.U.S. Navy Adm. Charles Richard, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, at Naval Submarine League 2022 Annual Symposium [Wall Street Journal, Nov. 6].
Not In My Backyard
Spacefaring nations must minimize the risks to people and property on Earth of re-entries of space objects and maximize transparency regarding those operations. It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris.NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, condemning China’s practice of allowing uncontrolled spent rocket boosters to tumble back to Earth after days in orbit. [Washington Post, Nov. 4].
Eye Of The Tiger
The period of time in the transition into a great power, especially just before reaching there, is the time of highest risk in national security. … Now a battle has begun surrounding key military technologies to seize advantages in future wars. … We have to work hard on forging sharp offensive and defensive weapons and accelerate the development of trump cards to deter the enemy and win the war. … We are more thirsty for talented people than at any other time in history.Revisions made to the Communist Party Constitution in order to protect overseas interests [South China Morning Post, Nov. 6].
Look,…Over Here
It puts this thing within range of Russia. We are intentionally trying to be provocative without being escalatory. … We’re trying to deter Russian aggression, expansionist behavior, by showing enhanced capabilities of the allies.Lt. Col. Lawrence Melnicoff, U.S. Special Operations Command Europe, on the launch of a long-range cruise missile in the Arctic from a C-130 as part of the Air Force’s Rapid Dragon program, [Stars & Stripes, Nov. 9].
Robotic Warfare
Ukraine is the best test ground, as we have the opportunity to test all hypotheses in battle and introduce revolutionary change in military tech and modern warfare. … We have been convinced once again the wars of the future will be about maximum drones and minimal humans.Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation at a NATO conference in Norfolk, Va. [The New York Times, Nov. 15].