Pentagon Addresses Climate Change
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The Pentagon released a Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap on Monday that details its plans to address climate change, reports The Hill. The military is integrating climate change threats into its “plans, operations, and training” in an attempt to mitigate the impacts of global warming. DefSec Chuck Hagel said, “Rising global temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, climbing sea levels, and more extreme weather events will intensify the challenges of global instability, hunger, poverty, and conflict. They will likely lead to food and water shortages, pandemic disease, disputes over refugees and resources, and destruction by natural disasters in regions across the globe.” The report states that climate change will affect the DoD’s ability to “defend the nation” and “poses immediate risks to US national security.”
Significant Pentagon acquisition reform may finally become reality, according to Defense News. For months, House Armed Services Committee leaders have been conducting a major reform study and insiders say much of it could become law. A 55-member New Democratic Coalition is also producing recommendations to “streamline and upgrade the acquisitions process.”
As new information technologies are developed, the security challenges and potential threats that accompany them must be addressed, according to FederalTimes. An entire industry exists to help secure these products, including anti-virus software and malware detectors, security services firms, and offices dedicated to protecting information technology.
The USS America, the Navy’s newest and most technologically advanced amphibious assault ship, was commissioned over the weekend during a formal ceremony during San Francisco Fleet Week, according to SEAPOWER.
The State Department confirmed last week that the US will resume sales of military hardware to Vietnam, according to The Motley Fool. They denied the move is related to increasing threats from China, instead touting the Vietnamese government’s improved record on human rights and citing unspecified “US security interests.”
Navy officers are twice as likely as enlisted service members to get seven to eight hours of sleep at sea, the minimum recommended by medical professionals, despite their increased responsibility and higher pay, reports Navy Times.
Canada approved an $800 million, sole-source purchase of next-generation Raytheon Sea Sparrow missiles for their Navy, reports National Post. If the decision stands, the Lockheed Martin/Raytheon group will have the inside track in major Canadian defense procurement, with no competitive bidding process.
The Navy Reserve is extending up-or-out rules to sailors in the Individual Ready Reserve in an effort to trim the ranks, reports Navy Times. The new rules became effective Oct. 1 and will impact many of the 40,000 sailors in this inactive pool of reserve manpower.
Defense One believes that canceling the upcoming UCLASS competition is necessary so that it can be redefined from a stealthy maritime surveillance platform into a more useful program. Threats from long-range ballistic and cruise missiles, including from China, are pushing aircraft carriers further from enemy shores, beyond the range of their aircraft. Without a long-range penetrating aircraft, flattops will be irrelevant against sophisticated adversaries.
The Navy is creating a plan to retake control of the electromagnetic spectrum, reports Breaking Defense. The new concept no longer relegates electronic warfare to specialized aircraft such as the EA-6B Prowler and its replacement, the EA-18G Growler, but makes the Growler the foundation of a network encompassing the entire force, from unmanned aircraft to surface forces and even submarines.
A GAO report concludes that Tricare spends $259 million a year on medications it is not obligated to cover and should align its policies on compounded medications with existing regulations or change those rules, according to Military Times.
The Motley Fool analyzes how Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman produce earnings for shareholders, and which contractor has the better chance of doing so in the future.
AeroVironment won a $19 million DARPA contract for Phase II of the Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN) contract, reports C4ISR&Networks. TERN will use small ships as mobile sea-based launch and recovery platforms for medium-altitude Navy and Marine unmanned aircraft systems.
