DefenceTalkA top Pentagon official cautioned India on Wednesday that there are no guarantees for a special waiver from US sanctions if it buys new weapons platforms from Russia. Washington is alarmed at the prospect of India, an increasingly important US military ally and the world’s top defense importer, buying new systems from Russia, including its […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pentagon-official-cautions-india-over-buying-russian-arms-71826/

DefenceTalkWhen President Donald Trump announced the US would halt joint military drills with South Korea, he backed his controversial move by citing the “tremendous” costs of such exercises. On Monday, the Pentagon put a dollar amount — about $14 million — on the costs of Freedom Guardian, a large-scale joint drill that was to kick […]https://www.defencetalk.com/scrapped-drill-with-south-korea-would-have-cost-14-mn-pentagon-71732/

DefenceTalkThe Pentagon is not considering cutting back the joint US-South Korean military exercises that have drawn angry condemnation from Pyongyang ahead of a planned US-North Korea summit, an official said Thursday. “There’s been no talk of reducing anything. There’s been no talk of changing our scope,” Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said. The exercises “are defensive […]https://www.defencetalk.com/no-plans-to-cut-back-us-south-korea-drills-pentagon-71702/

DefenceTalkA comprehensive probe into last year’s deadly attack on US and local forces in Niger uncovered a series of avoidable blunders leading up to the assault, the Pentagon said Thursday. Four American soldiers and four members of Nigerien partner forces were killed in the October 4 ambush, when scores of jihadists overran their convoy in […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pentagon-probe-finds-training-command-issues-in-niger-ambush-71670/

DefenceTalkArtificial intelligence and its impact on weapons of the future has made US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis doubt his own theories on warfare. A question on the subject prompted the retired Marine general to give an impromptu seminar on his theory of war Saturday to reporters returning with him from a week-long tour of Europe. […]https://www.defencetalk.com/artificial-intelligence-poses-questions-for-nature-of-war-jim-mattis-71490/

DefenceTalkEven as the Pentagon hustles to ensure that its defenses keep pace with North Korea’s fast-growing rocket program, US officials increasingly are turning attention to a new generation of missile threat. These weapons under development by China and Russia — as well as by the United States — can fly at many times the speed […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pentagon-looks-to-counter-rivals-hypersonic-missiles-71476/

DefenceTalkToday President Donald J. Trump sent Congress a proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 budget request of $716 billion for national security, $686 billion of which is for the Department of Defense. The National Defense Strategy, which aligns with the National Security Strategy, connects strategy to the FY 2019 budget priorities, enabling the Department to compete, […]https://www.defencetalk.com/dod-releases-fiscal-year-2019-budget-proposal-71467/

DefenceTalkThe Pentagon on Monday unveiled a mammoth budget proposal for fiscal 2019 that would see a more than 10 percent boost in spending and add thousands of more troops across the US military services. The $686 billion spending plan — up from $612 billion in 2018 — is framed in the context of the Pentagon’s […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-budget-outline-calls-huge-pentagon-increase-cuts-state-71451/

DefenceTalkThe Nuclear Posture Review released today is a strategy to keep America safe with a deterrent that is modern and credible, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan said today in rolling out the strategy. The NPR reaffirms that the fundamental role of U.S. nuclear policy is deterrence and continues the clear commitment to non-proliferation and […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pentagon-releases-new-nuclear-strategy-71411/

DefenceTalkThe mystery surrounding the fate of a secret military satellite deepened Thursday when the Pentagon refused to answer even simple questions about whether the mission to launch it had gone awry. On Sunday, private space firm SpaceX blasted a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida carrying the secret government satellite, known as Zuma. US […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pentagon-mum-on-fate-of-secret-satellite-71048/