Page 4 - Pentagon

Musk's refusal to have Starlink support Ukraine's attack raises questions

SpaceX founder Elon Musk's refusal to allow Ukraine to use Starlink internet services to launch a surprise attack on Russian forces in Crimea last September has raised questions as to whether the US military needs to be more explicit in future contracts that services or products it purchases could be used in war, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said on Monday. Excerpts of a new biography of Musk published by The Washington Post last week revealed that the Ukrainians in September 2022 had asked for the Starlink support to attack Russian naval vessels based at the Crimean port of Sevastopol. Musk had refused due to concerns that Russia would launch a nuclear attack in response. Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and claims it as its territory. Musk was not on a military contract when he refused the Crimea request; he'd been providing terminals to Ukraine for free in response to Russia's February 2022 invasion. However, in the months since, the US military has funded and ...

Why the likelihood of UFOs, aliens playing peekaboo with humans is remote

Among those who have reported sightings are highly trained pilots equipped with cutting-edge technology, but…

US will support allies as they resist China's 'bullying': Pentagon chief

Senior US officials have visited China recently, including Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in an effort to improve relations between the two nations and prevent a conflict

Surat bourse pips Pentagon as the world's largest office building

According to architects, it comprises over 7.1 million square feet of floor space. It took four years of construction work, which was twice hampered by Covid-related delays

US to send $500 million in weapons, military aid to Ukraine, say officials

The Pentagon will announce it is sending up to USD 500 million in military aid to Ukraine, including more than 50 heavily armored vehicles and an infusion of missiles for air defense systems, U.S. officials said Monday, as Ukrainian and Western leaders try to sort out the impact of the brief weekend insurrection in Russia. The aid is aimed at bolstering Ukraine's counteroffensive, which has been moving slowly in its early stages. It wasn't clear Monday if Ukrainian forces will be able to take advantage of the disarray in the Russian ranks, in the aftermath of the short-lived rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner mercenary group that he has controlled. An announcement on the aid package is expected Tuesday. This would be the 41st time since the Russian invasion into Ukraine in February 2022 that the U.S. has provided military weapons and equipment through presidential drawdown authority. The program allows the Pentagon to quickly take items from its own stocks and deliver them

US announces new $2.1 bn package of military aid to Ukraine, says Pentagon

The Pentagon announced Friday that it will provide an additional $2.1 billion in long-term weapons aid for Ukraine. The new assistance package will include funding for more Patriot missile battery munitions, Hawk air defence systems and missiles, and small Puma drones that can be launched by hand. The latest infusion of funding, one of the larger packages the U.S. has provided, comes as there are signs that Ukraine is beginning or about to begin the much anticipated counteroffensive to try to take back territory that has been seized by Russia. Unlike the U.S. equipment, weapons and ammunition that are more frequently sent from Pentagon stocks and delivered quickly to Ukraine, this money would be provided under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and is meant to be spent over the coming months or even years to ensure Ukraine's future security needs. In a statement, the Pentagon said the package shows America's continued commitment to both Ukraine's critical near-term ...

Allies to train Ukrainians on F-16s; Jets no magic weapons, warns Pentagon

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that European allies are developing a coordinated program to train Ukrainian forces on the F-16 fighter jet, but Pentagon leaders warned that it will be a costly and complex task and won't be a magic solution to the war. Austin said the allies recognize that in addition to training, Ukraine will also need to be able to sustain and maintain the aircraft and have enough munitions. And he said air defense systems are still the weapons that Ukraine needs most in the broader effort to control the airspace. There are no magic weapons, said Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who spoke alongside Austin at a Pentagon press conference. He said providing 10 F-16s could cost USD 2 billion, including maintenance. "The Russians have a thousand fourth and fifth-generation fighters, so if you're going to contest Russia in the air, you're going to need a substantial amount of fourth and fifth-generation fighters." As a result,

Leak of classified documents a deliberate criminal act, says Pentagon

Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira, 21, had been detained by authorities in connection with the document breach

Still assessing exactly what intel China got from spy balloon: Pentagon

The United States has said it is still doing an assessment of what exactly intelligence information China was able to gather from its spy balloon that flew over sensitive American military sites in February. The comments from the Pentagon came after a media report said the Chinese spy balloon gathered information about some of the US military sites through electronic signals. As of right now, we're still doing an assessment of what exactly the intel was that China was able to gather but we do know that the steps that we took provided little additive value for what they've been able to collect from satellites before, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters at a news conference here. The balloon had entered the United States from Alaska on January 28 and crossed through several States over various sensitive military sites, including Montana where the US stores some of its nuclear assets, before it was shot down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina

Suspected Iranian drone strike kills US contractor in Syria: Pentagon

A US contractor was killed and five US service members and one other US contractor were wounded when a suspected Iranian drone struck a facility on a coalition base in northeast Syria on Thursday, the Pentagon said. In a statement released late Thursday, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said US Central Command forces retaliated with precision airstrikes against facilities in eastern Syria used by groups affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard. The Defence Department said the intelligence community had determined the unmanned aerial vehicle was of Iranian origin. The airstrikes were conducted in response to today's attack as well as a series of recent attacks against Coalition forces in Syria" by groups affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, Austin said. Overnight, videos on social media purported to show explosions in Syria's Deir Ez-Zor, a strategic province that borders Iraq and contains oil fields. Iran-backed militia groups and Syrian forces control the area, which also has

China defence budget raised by 7.2%, 3 times India's, one-third of America

Actual defence spending during the year will rise to $225 billion, a single-digit budget increase for the eighth consecutive year

No evidence of fraud so far in weapons to Ukraine, says Pentagon IG

The Pentagon's inspector general said on Tuesday that to date his office has found no evidence that some of the billions of dollars in weapons and aid to Ukraine has been lost to corruption or diverted into the wrong hands, but cautioned that those investigations are only in their early stages. Keeping military aid to Ukraine protected from waste or fraud has become a critical part of keeping continued support for Ukraine intact in Congress, where some lawmakers have already begun to question why the US is spending so much to help Kyiv. Robert P. Storch was pressed by Congress members several times about any fraud findings. He said that a number of tips and allegations have come in to a new hotline, but that there have been limited findings to date, with many reports pending. Storch, who was testifying with other Pentagon leaders before the House Armed Services Committee, repeatedly said he did not want to talk about investigations that have not yet been completed. Rep. Mike Rogers

Looking forward to continue to foster ties with Indian military: Pentagon

The United States is looking forward to continue to develop and foster its relationship with the Indian military, the Pentagon has said. The US and India enjoy a good partnership. We look forward to continuing to develop and foster our relationship with the Indian military, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig Gen Pat Ryder told reporters at a news conference here on Friday. In 1997, defence trade between India and the US was almost negligible, today it stands above USD 20 billion. Last month during a press conference, Ryder said that India is a "great example" of countries who are choosing security assistance from the US, underlining that it was ready for any response to wean them away from Russia. India has faced flak from US lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, for choosing to abstain from a UN vote to rebuke Russia's invasion of Ukraine. US officials have expressed concern over India's purchase of the S-400 missile systems by Russia. In October 2018, India signed a U

Investing in defence ties with India for balance in Indo-Pacific: Pentagon

The US is making investments in defence ties with India to uphold a favourable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific, a top Pentagon official told lawmakers Thursday indicating that strengthening ties with New Delhi is one of the key factors to address the pacing challenge from China. "Earlier this month, the US Government launched the inaugural technology initiative with India, including in-depth discussions about opportunities for co-production of major defence platforms," Ely Ratner, the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during a Congressional hearing on China. "We are making significant investments in our defence ties with India to uphold a favourable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region," he said. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said the US has invested in the Quad partnership with India, Australia, and Japan. "We are aligning with like-minded partners around the world to strength

Want to be India's 'premier partner' in its extraordinary growth story: US

The US wants to be not only India's security partner of the first resort but also its premier partner in its extraordinary growth story, the Pentagon has said. These remarks were made by Pentagon Press Secretary Brig Gen Patrick Ryder on Wednesday while responding to a question on the recently launched India-US initiative on critical emerging technologies, which has a significant defence component in it. The high level of participation from across the US government, US industry, and our universities is unprecedented, and sends a strong signal that the United States wants not only to be India's security partner of first resort but to be the premier partner in India's extraordinary growth story, Ryder said. The Department of Defence is excited to work with other US agencies and partners as part of the White House-led United StatesIndia Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), he said. We look forward to sharing more information on our defence cooperation with India a

China conducted spy balloon programme for several years: Pentagon

The Chinese balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast was part of a large surveillance programme that China has been conducting for "several years", the Pentagon said Wednesday. When similar balloons passed over US territory on four occasions during the Trump and Biden administrations, the US did not immediately identify them as Chinese surveillance balloons, said Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary. But he said "subsequent intelligence analysis" allowed the US to confirm they were part of a Chinese spying effort and learn "a lot more" about the programme. He refused to provide any new details about those previous balloons. When pressed, Ryder would only say that the balloons flew over "sites that would be of interest to the Chinese". One of the possible incidents was last February. Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, the adjutant general in Hawaii, tweeted about a balloon over Kauai a year ago. He said US Indo-Pacific Command "detected a high-altitude object floating in t

Chinese surveillance balloon spotted over Western US airspace: Pentagon

The US is tracking a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been spotted over US airspace for a couple days, but the Pentagon decided not to shoot it down due to risks of harm for people on the ground, officials said Thursday. A senior defense official told Pentagon reporters that the U.S. has very high confidence it is a Chinese high-altitude balloon and it was flying over sensitive sites to collect information. One of the places the balloon was spotted was Montana, which is home to one of the nation's three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. The Pentagon announcement comes days before Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to China. It's not clear if this will affect his travel plans, which the State Department has not formally announced.

'India a great example of countries choosing security assistance from US'

In 1997, defence trade between India and the US was almost negligible, today it stands above $20 billion

Pentagon reiterates importance of India-US defence, security relationship

India has been designated as a major defence partner of the United States

US faces pivotal years in countering China, says Pentagon chief Austin

The US is at a pivotal point with China and will need military strength to ensure that American values, not Beijing's, set global norms in the 21st century, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday. Austin's speech at the Reagan National Defence Forum capped a week in which the Pentagon was squarely focused on China's rise and what that might mean for America's position in the world. On Monday it released an annual China security report that warned Beijing would likely have 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035, with no clarity on how China would seek to use them. On Friday in a dramatic nighttime rollout, Austin was on hand as the public got its first glimpse of the military's newest, highly classified nuclear stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, which is being designed to best the quickly growing cyber, space and nuclear capabilities of Beijing. China is the only country with both the will and, increasingly, the power to reshape its region and the international order to suit its ...