DefenceTalkPresident Donald J. Trump today promised to rebuild the U.S. military and called for a 12-carrier Navy during a visit to the future USS Gerald R. Ford in Newport News, Virginia. Trump addressed the pre-commissioning unit of the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier on the ship’s hangar deck. He told the crew that if Congress passes […]https://www.defencetalk.com/trump-calls-for-12-carrier-navy-promises-rebuilt-military-69371/

DefenceTalkTop US generals warned lawmakers Tuesday that aging equipment, chronic underfunding and understaffing have severely impacted military readiness, as the Republican-led Congress hopes to usher in a spending bonanza under President Donald Trump. The president has repeatedly said the vast US military is suffering from massive shortages and has vowed a “great rebuilding” of the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/tales-of-woe-from-us-military-ahead-of-likely-spending-boost-69014/

DefenceTalkPresident Donald Trump will “rebuild” America’s vast military, boost its anti-missile capabilities and prioritize defeating the Islamic State group, according to the first policy statements published on the White House website Friday. Published moments after Trump was inaugurated president, the statements say he will end limits on Pentagon spending agreed by Congress and the Obama […]https://www.defencetalk.com/trump-aims-for-unquestioned-us-military-dominance-68877/

DefenceTalkAfghanistan on Saturday welcomed the Pentagon’s decision to deploy some 300 US Marines to the volatile province of Helmand, where American forces engaged in heated combat until their mission ended in 2014. The Marines will head to the poppy-growing southern province this spring to assist a NATO-led mission to train Afghan forces, in the latest […]https://www.defencetalk.com/afghanistan-welcomes-return-of-us-marines-to-helmand-68767/

DefenceTalkSoldiers offloading some 2,800 pieces of equipment from 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, including 87 tanks and 144 Bradley fighting vehicles, in the German port city of Bremerhaven in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve. The convoy is heading for Poland for the upcoming NATO exercise.https://www.defencetalk.com/largest-deployment-of-us-armaments-since-cold-war-arrives-in-germany-68764/

DefenceTalkThe US Marines on Monday resumed flights of their controversial Osprey aircraft in Japan, less than a week after a crash off the southern island of Okinawa sparked local protests. Last Tuesday an MV-22 Osprey made what Marines called a “controlled landing” just off the Okinawan coast during a night training flight that left the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-military-resumes-osprey-flights-in-japan-after-crash-68702/

DefenceTalkUS forces conceded Saturday that its air strikes “very likely” resulted in civilian casualties in Afghanistan’s volatile Kunduz province, pledging a full investigation into the incident which triggered angry protests. The strikes early Thursday killed at least 30 people, many of them children, after a Taliban assault left two American soldiers and three Afghan special […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-forces-say-airstrikes-very-likely-caused-afghan-casualties-68543/

DefenceTalkThe contributions of coalition partners in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are invaluable, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said today at the opening of the counter-ISIL small group defense ministerial at Hexagone Balard, the new French defense ministry building in Paris. The secretary, in prepared remarks, said the coalition defense […]https://www.defencetalk.com/noose-tightening-around-isil-in-mosul-carter-says-68493/

DefenceTalkThe Mosul offensive is a critical test for the Pentagon’s strategy against the Islamic State group, which relies on local forces and keeping as many Americans as possible away from combat. After IS overran large parts of Iraq and Syria in early 2014, the United States formed a coalition that launched an air campaign to […]https://www.defencetalk.com/battle-for-mosul-a-key-test-for-us-military-strategy-68408/

DefenceTalkThe US military said Saturday it had detected an unsuccessful launch by North Korea of a powerful medium-range missile capable of hitting US bases as far away as Guam. UN resolutions prohibit North Korea from using ballistic missile technology, and this latest test came as the UN Security Council is debating fresh sanctions on Pyongyang […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-military-detects-failed-north-korean-missile-launch-68405/