By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III called the US a Pacific nation and stressed the overwhelming importance that Asia has in a visit to Singapore.
Plus, he got in a good shot at Russia in a response to a Chinese army officer that was well-received by the audience at the Shangri-La Dialogue last week.
“Let me be clear. The United States can be secure only if Asia is secure,” Austin said. “That’s why the United States has long maintained our presence in this region. And that’s why we continue to make the investments necessary to meet our commitments to our allies and partners.”
The US has been strengthening ties with its Pacific allies in order to counter the growing threat from China. Among them, the Pentagon is working with Japan to build a glide phase interceptor to defend against hypersonic weapons. It’s also co-producing fighter jet engines and armored vehicles with India, and working closer with Japan and South Korea to share early-warning data on North Korean missiles in real time.
And then there was that exchange with a colonel from China’s People Liberation Army, who blamed the invasion of Ukraine on the US and its allies.
Austin responded by saying, “I respectfully disagree with your point that the expansion of NATO caused the Ukraine crisis. The Ukraine crisis obviously was caused because Mr. Putin made a decision to unlawfully invade his neighbor.”
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The Pentagon is trying to fix a crucial problem for Ukrainian forces – the shortage of artillery shells.
The US military is opening its first major arms factory since the Russian invasion. The Universal Artillery Projectile Lines facility will produce 30,000 artillery shells per month, ranging from 155mm howitzer shells to mortar shells. Added to current production, that will allow the Defense Department to reach its goal of 100,000 shells per month – almost ten times more than were being produced just a few years ago.
General Dynamics built the plant in about ten months with help from a Turkish defense company, Repkon.
“We are building new production lines across the country and we are expanding our contracts with existing production facilities to increase their production speed and capacity,” said Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth. “And we couldn’t increase our production rates without the skilled expertise of the Americans who work in these arsenals and facilities around the country.”
The assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, Douglas Bush, told the New York Times, “When government and industry work together and Congress gives us sufficient latitude, we can still do great things in this country really fast.”
The new plant in Mesquite, Texas is equipped with long-stroke, high-tonnage forging capabilities which will allow it to make shells much faster than factories in Pennsylvania that also make them. According to the Times, laser scanners are used instead of human inspectors to ensure the shells are made properly.
“This plant is an important example of how we are modernizing our World War II-era organic industrial base,” Wormuth said at the opening ceremony for plant May 29.
Army Opens New Munitions Facility > U.S. Department of Defense > Defense Department News
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One of NATO’s newest members is buying more cruise missiles for its soon-to-be delivered F-35 fighter jets.
FInland’s defense ministry said last week it was acquiring more Lockheed Martin AGM158B Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-Off Missile – Extended Range. Finnish forces had previously equipped their F/A-18C/D warplanes with the baseline model of the missile.
The range of the latest version of the missile is roughly 1,000 km – more than three times as far as the older one. Deliveries of the new weapon won’t start until next year, when Finland will receive the first of its F-35s.
In 2021, Finland agreed to buy 64 F-35s from Lockheed Martin to replace its F/A18s in a deal valued at $9.4 billion. At the time, Lockheed said the F-35 deal would provide Finnish industries “unique digital capabilities that leverage fifth-generation engineering and manufacturing.”
Finland became NATO’s 31st member a little more than a year ago. It asked to join the alliance in 2022, three months after Russia invaded Ukraine.
That was seen as a setback for Vladimir Putin. Before Finland (and later Sweden) were added to the alliance, the Russian leader had complained of NATO’s expansion. After Russia invaded Ukraine, public opinion in Finland rose to 80 percent in favor of joining NATO.
Since the invasion, Finland has given Ukraine more than $2 billion in security assistance.
Finland spends 2.3 percent of its GDP on defense. That’s a higher percentage than NATO’s two percent goal for its member nations.
