ADM. GEENERT SAYS CHINA RAPIDLY MODERNIZING NAVY

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

Greenert: China Moving Quickly to Modernize Navy

By Claudette Roulo

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

ASPEN, Colo., July 26, 2014 – China’s naval modernization program is moving at a rapid pace, the chief of U.S. naval operations said here yesterday.
Navy Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert spoke at the Aspen Security Forum on his way home from meetings with his Chinese counterpart, Adm. Wu Shengli.

China is participating in this year’s Rim of the Pacific Exercises. “They're doing about average compared to all the other fleets, which is interesting,” Greenert said. “… Average is good -- it's good enough; it's not what they thought. It's a little difficult, multinational exercises.”

China expressed interest in continuing to develop the military-to-military relationship through exercises and personnel exchanges, he said.

The two leaders discussed the need for developing maritime protocols for their navies and civilian mariners, the admiral said.

“It was a good visit, it was frank, it was respectful,” he said.

Greenert said he was the first U.S. service member to be allowed aboard China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, something he wasn’t sure would happen on this trip. He also met with some of the carrier’s crew.

The Liaoning is a refitted Russian aircraft carrier.

“We went, not stem-to-stern, but throughout a lot of it,” Greenert said. “Then we went to a submarine. Then we went to a destroyer -- about a 2,000-ton ... almost the length of a football field -- and then on one of their patrol craft.”
The Chinese aircraft carrier is “very Russian,” Greenert said.

“That means it's big, it's heavy and it's onerous,” he explained.

But, the admiral said, the Chinese have completely upgraded their carrier. They stripped out all the old Russian-style equipment “and everything they put in is very modern and Chinese.”

The carrier is still being worked on at a shipyard in Dalian, in northeast China, he said.

China will build another carrier like the Liaoning relatively soon, Greenert said.
“It'll look just like this one, they said -- ski ramp, about the same tonnage, 65,000-70,000 tons. … They're moving on a pace that is extraordinary,” the admiral said.
Greenert said Wu told him the ship is the basis for research and development of what will be a blue-water, aircraft-carrier-focused navy.

"I think that he may be wanting to do this on his watch,” he said. “He's got about four-and-a-half more years to ... have this carrier out to sea like we do, with a series of destroyers around it and the ability to launch and recover aircraft in the tens and maybe twenties. But I'm not overly concerned right now, they have a lot of work to do."

DOD REPORT ON SEQUESTRATION IMPACT ESTIMATES

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

DOD Releases Report on Estimated Sequestration Impacts

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 15, 2014 – Defense Department officials today released a report that documents the cuts to military forces, modernization and readiness that will be required if defense budgets are held at sequester-levels in the years beyond fiscal year 2015.

The report fulfills a commitment made by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel “to provide details on the effects of these undesirable budget cuts,” officials said in a news release announcing the report.

The report says sequester level budgets would result in continued force-level cuts across the military services. The Army would be reduced to 420,000 active duty soldiers, along with 315,000 in the National Guard and 185,000 in the Army Reserve. The Marine Corps would drop to 175,000 active duty personnel. The Air Force would have to eliminate its entire fleet of KC-10 tankers and shrink its inventory of unmanned aerial vehicles. The Navy would be forced to mothball six destroyers and retire an aircraft carrier and its associated air wing, reducing the carrier fleet to 10, the report says.

Modernization also would be significantly slowed, according to the report. Compared to plans under the fiscal 2015 budget, the department would buy eight fewer ships in the years beyond fiscal 2016 -- including one fewer Virginia-class submarine and three fewer DDG-51 destroyers – and would delay delivery of the new carrier John F. Kennedy by two years.

The services would acquire 17 fewer joint strike fighters, five fewer KC-46 tankers, and six fewer P-8A aircraft, the report says, adding that many smaller weapons programs and funding for military construction also would see sharp cutbacks.

In addition, the report says, the Defense Department would invest about $66 billion less in procurement and research funding compared with levels planned in the fiscal 2015 budget.

The report notes that sequester-level budgets would worsen already-existing readiness shortfalls across the force and would delay needed training to prepare the joint force for full-spectrum operations.

Overall, the report says, sequester-level cuts would result in a military that is too small to fully meet the requirements of its strategy, thereby significantly increasing national security risks both in the short- and long-term.

“As Secretary Hagel has said, under sequester-level budgets, we would be gambling that our military will not be required to respond to multiple major contingencies at the same time,” officials said in the release announcing the report.

DEFENSE OFFICIALS REQUEST BUDGET TO COVER MISSILE DEFENSE MODERNIZATION

FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Officials Call for Continued Ballistic Missile Defense Modernization
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 9, 2013 - Senior defense officials underscored the importance of ballistic missile defense modernization efforts requested in the fiscal 2014 budget proposal during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee today.

The budget requests $9.2 billion in fiscal 2014 and $45.7 billion over future years to develop and deploy missile defense capabilities.

Madelyn Creedon, assistant secretary of defense for global strategic affairs, told the panel these capabilities will both protect the U.S. homeland and strengthen regional missile defenses.

Navy Vice Adm. J.D. Syring, director of the Missile Defense Agency, joined Creedon during the afternoon hearing in citing disturbing trends in Iran, North Korea, Syria and elsewhere around the globe.

"The threat continues to grow as our potential adversaries are acquiring a greater number of ballistic missiles, increasing their range and making them more complex, survivable, reliable and accurate," he reported. "The missile defense mission is becoming more challenging as potential adversaries incorporate [ballistic missile defense] countermeasures."

The administration remains committed to developing proven and cost-effective missile defense capabilities through the phased advance approach to regional missile defense, Creedon noted in her written statement.

"This approach puts emphasis on a flexible military toolkit with forces that are mobile and scalable," she said. As a result, "they underwrite deterrence in peacetime, but can be surged in crisis to meet defense requirements," she said.

Creeden reported on progress on three policy priorities: sustaining a strong homeland defense, strengthening regional missile defense and fostering increased international cooperation and participation.

She emphasized the importance of continually improving the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system in place to protect the U.S. homeland against potential limited intercontinental ballistic missile attacks.

The budget request, she said, supports this effort as well as enhancement of ground-based interceptors and deployment improved sensors, she said. The proposal also includes funding to implement regional missile defense approaches that Creedon said will be tailored to the unique deterrence and defense requirements of Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific regions.

Missile defense, she noted, is an integral part of a comprehensive U.S. effort to strengthen regional deterrence, and plays a central role in DOD's strategic guidance released in January 2012.

While promoting these efforts, the United States is striving to build stronger relationships with allies and partners to cooperatively address the ballistic missile threat, and to help build partner capacity to do so, she said.

Syring reported, for example, that the Missile Defense Agency "is engaged either bilaterally or multilaterally with nearly two dozen countries and international organizations," including NATO and the Gulf Cooperation Council. "We have made good progress in our work with our international partners, and I want to continue those important efforts," he said.

"We have had some very significant successes over the last several years, ... but we cannot afford to stand still," echoed Creedon. "To the contrary, we need to reevaluate the threat continually and adapt as necessary."

The fiscal 2014 budget request reflects DOD's goals of retaining the flexibility to adjust and to enhance its defenses as the threat and technologies evolve, she said.

"Our most vital security commitments – the defense of the United States and the protection of our allies and partners and our forces around the world – demand nothing less," she said.