Archive: May 26, 2023

Ukraine’s Kinzhal intercepts should cool our hypersonic hype

In the past two weeks Ukraine reportedly intercepted seven Russian Kinzhal missiles – which travel at hypersonic speeds – using its Patriot missile defense system. It is widely believed that Patriot and other current missile defenses could not stop hypersonic weapons, which travel at speeds over Mach five, or five times the speed of sound.

So, what’s going on?

The claim that hypersonic weapons are invincible is one of the many beliefs about these weapons. Here’s why it’s wrong.

Kinzhal is an air-launched ballistic missile with fins that allow it to maneuver as it approaches its target. It is called “hypersonic” since its top speed is reportedly around Mach 10, which would give it a range of somewhat over 1,000 km. This system is not, however, what defense analysts typically mean by the term “hypersonic weapon” since it is not designed to glide over a significant fraction of its trajectory. Its high speed and ability to maneuver, however, mean that it poses a similar challenge as true hypersonic weapons to terminal missile defenses, like Patriot, that are used to defend against weapons of this range.

A maneuvering missile traveling at Mach 10 would be too fast for the U.S. Patriot PAC-3 and similar defense systems to intercept reliably. However, Mach 10 is roughly Kinzhal’s maximum speed, and its speed drops sharply as it reenters and travels through the increasingly dense atmosphere to hit a target on the ground.

Patriot is designed to intercept missiles at low altitudes, and my estimates show that Kinzhal slows enough during its dive that current versions of PAC-3 should be capable of intercepting it. Moreover, reports indicate that at least for the first of the Kinzhal intercepts, Ukraine was not using the most advanced version of the PAC-3 (called MSE, which is 25 percent faster than the previous version).

This analysis has two important implications.

First, Ukraine’s claims that it intercepted Kinzhal missiles are credible, and its defenses may be able to blunt a significant weapon in Russia’s arsenal.

Second and more generally, the medium-range hypersonic glide weapons like those the United States, Russia, and China are currently developing may not be as effective at performing key mission as advocates often claim.

A common argument for building hypersonic weapons is the desire to use them to destroy enemy missile and air defenses early in a conflict, to clear the way for subsequent attacks. Technical modeling, however, shows that the hypersonic weapons the United States has been developing – including the Air-Launched Rapid Response hypersonic Weapon (ARRW), the Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), and the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) – may also be vulnerable to interception by missile defenses.

In particular, reports about the speeds and ranges of these weapons imply that they begin the glide phase of their trajectory with a speed of about Mach 12 or less. Their speed decreases due to atmospheric drag during the glide phase – especially if they are maneuvering significantly – and will decrease even further as they dive into the thick atmosphere on their way to their targets on the ground. My estimates show that these effects will likely make these systems vulnerable to interception by systems similar to current versions of PAC-3, although intercepting them may require the advanced PAC-3 MSE.

The United States must assume it will face defenses like these in other countries — soon if not now.

To be able to evade such defenses, hypersonic weapons would need to be launched with even higher speeds. Doing so would significantly increase the intense heating they experience during flight, which is a key obstacle to developing these weapons. Increasing their speed also makes them larger and heavier, which reduces the number that aircraft can carry.

Adding propulsion, such as scramjet engines being developed for hypersonic cruise missiles, could help the weapon maintain its speed during the glide phase. But these engines are unlikely to be powerful enough to help much against the exponentially increasing drag encountered during the dive phase, which could leave these weapons vulnerable to interception.

Russian and Chinese hypersonic weapons similar to these U.S. systems (such as the Russian Zircon and Chinese DF-ZF and Starry Sky 2) are also likely to be vulnerable to defenses like PAC-3. In this sense, these weapons do not represent a revolution in threat beyond that posed by medium-range ballistic missiles.

The Ukrainian experience with Kinzhal may be a wake-up call for Russia. It should also be a wake-up call for the United States. Congress and the U.S. military need to think clearly about the missions these weapons can realistically accomplish and whether they justify the high priority and budget share they are getting.

David Wright is a visiting scholar in the MIT Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering’s Laboratory for Nuclear Security and Policy.

Intelligence community needs integration officer, DIA’s Berrier says

ST. LOUIS — The intelligence community needs an enterprise-level integration officer to help collaborate on complex challenges that cut across organizations, according to the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

In November 2021, the DIA — which analyzes and distributes information in support of combat-related missions and foreign intelligence — established a similar role within its agency, naming Greg Ryckman its deputy director for global integration.

According to Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, DIA’s director, that position has been invaluable. Speaking May 24 at the GEOINT Conference in St. Louis, Berrier compared the role to that of a U.S. Department of Defense “J3,” an operations officer with the authority to shift resources in response to emerging threats from adversaries like China and Russia.

“The DIA needed a J3 to be able to look across the enterprise and, with my authority, move things to where they needed to be,” he said. “I think that needs to happen in the IC as well.”

Berrier said in a 2021 statement announcing the office’s creation that the DIA’s goal in creating the position was to “go beyond” its observe and report mission and “illuminate opportunities to disrupt, degrade, deter and deny adversaries’ ability to and willingness to compete globally.”

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, who oversees the IC, said in a separate May 24 speech she’s happy with how the various agencies are collaborating to get after shared challenges. While she didn’t directly address the need for a high-level global integration director, she acknowledged there are opportunities for improvement.

“There’s still room to be had to grow, essentially, in the integration space,” Haines said. “I think it’s a constantly evolving process and one that we have to be disciplined in promoting.”

US Army receives mixed signals from industry on ‘radio as a service’

PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Army officials are considering what’s next for an initiative known as radio as a service, after receiving feedback from industry that swung from enthusiasm to skepticism.

The Army published a request for information regarding the as-a-service tack, a potential pivot away from the traditional means of buying and maintaining radios, and received 15 responses by March.

Input ranged from “folks wanting to be the the manager of the process, all the way to folks providing us everything that a lower tactical network needs,” Col. Shermoan Daiyaan, the project manager for tactical radios at the Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical, or PEO C3T, said May 24 at an industry conference in Philadelphia.

At the same time, other vendors came “back and said, ‘Nope, we’re not going to play,’” Daiyaan said. “That was a response, and that’s data. We’ll appreciate that and take that to heart.”

The Army has hundreds of thousands of radios — too many to quickly and cost-effectively modernize given security deadlines and constant competition with China and Russia, which have sophisticated signals intelligence that can cue onto communications. Service leaders have said the as-a-service method, while experimental, could drive down costs and boost adaptability.

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to demo data processing node

As initially teased in December by Army Under Secretary Gabe Camarillo, radio as a service would be more akin to a subscription offered by some makers of consumer products. It could mirror other deals in which companies furnish goods and services on a rolling basis, keep them up to date and handle quality control.

“We left that RFI very open, very generic. We approached it from: We don’t want to shape your response,” Daiyaan said. “It’s such a novel idea that we didn’t want to take things off the table.”

The colonel expects to speak with senior leaders about the effort in the coming weeks. PEO C3T is tasked with overhauling the Army’s battlefield connectivity tools.

“What we’re trying to figure out is if there’s something in there to explore,” Daiyaan said. “I believe there’s something there to explore.”

Malaysia inks light combat jet, maritime patrol aircraft deals

LANGKAWI, Malaysia — Malaysia has signed more than 40 agreements worth $2.2 billion for confirmed and potential defense acquisitions, including for light combat aircraft, armed drones and maritime patrol aircraft, at the ongoing Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace, or LIMA, exhibition here.

The largest of the contracts was a deal for 18 Korean Aerospace Industries FA-50 light combat jets. The Royal Malaysian Air Force will use these jets for the fighter lead-in training and light combat roles.

In February, it was announced that Malaysia had selected the FA-50 as its light combat aircraft, with KAI stating at the time the value of the order was $920 million. Malaysia has an eventual requirement for up to 36 jets.

Speaking to Malaysia’s national news agency Bernama, KAI chief executive officer Kang Goo-young confirmed the RMAF will begin receiving the FA-50 Block 20 “Fighting Eagle” aircraft in 2026, with the first four jets built in South Korea while the remaining 14 will be assembled locally.

He added that the jets will come with active electronically scanned array, or AESA, radars, although he did not identify the radar model.

South Korea’s LIG Nex1 is developing the ESR-500A AESA radar for the FA-50, while Raytheon Technologies announced earlier this month its PhantomStrike radar will be equipping the FA-50.

Among the other contracts signed at the LIMA ceremony was a deal for two maritime patrol aircraft from Italy’s Leonardo for $150.78 million.

Malaysian defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein in October announced the selection of the ATR-72MP, which is based on the ATR-72 twin-turboprop regional airliner, for its longstanding requirement.

Leonardo says the ATR-72 is equipped with its Airborne Tactical Observation and Surveillance mission system, which integrates the aircraft’s sensor suite that includes a Seaspray 7300E V2 and enables it to perform a variety of missions, including maritime patrol, anti-submarine, airborne surveillance and intelligence gathering.

A deal with Turkish Aerospace Industries for its Anka medium-altitude long-endurance drones will see Malaysia buy three of the unmanned aircraft, which can be armed with guided bombs and missiles.

Malaysia’s acquisition of the drones is valued at $92 million and will be the first armed drones to enter service with the RMAF.

It was also announced at LIMA that Malaysia will lease four Sikorsky UH-60A+ Blackhawk transport helicopters from local company Aerotree Defence and Services. The helicopters are secondhand aircraft and will be flown by the Malaysian Army’s air wing for training and operational duties.

US, South Korea troops hold large live-fire drills

SEOUL, South Korea — The South Korean and U.S. militaries conducted large live-fire drills near the border with North Korea on Thursday, despite the North’s warning that it won’t tolerate what it calls an invasion rehearsal on its doorstep.

The drills, the first of five rounds of live-fire exercises through mid-June, mark 70 years since the establishment of the military alliance between Seoul and Washington. North Korea typically reacts to such major South Korean-U.S. exercises with missile and other weapons tests.

Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-launched more than 100 missiles, but none since it fired a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile in mid-April. It says the tests are a response to expanded military drills between the U.S. and South Korea, but observers say North Korea aims to advance its weapons development and then wrest greater concessions from its rivals in eventual diplomacy.

The U.S.-South Korean firing exercises, called “Combined annihilation firepower drills,” are the biggest of their kind. The drills have been held 11 times since they began in 1977, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry.

The drills involved 2,500 troops and 610 weapons systems such as fighter jets, attack helicopters, drones, tanks and artillery from South Korea and the United States, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry. The most recent exercises in 2017 drew about 2,000 soldiers and 250 weapons assets from both countries.

The drills simulated artillery and aerial strikes on front-line North Korean military facilities in response to an attack. The troops later practiced precision-guided attacks on simulated targets in the rear areas to “completely annihilate” North Korean military threats, according to a ministry statement.

It said South Korea will seek to establish “peace through overwhelming strengthen” to counter North Korean threats.

North Korea didn’t immediately respond to the start of the drills. Last Friday, its state media called the drills “a typical North Korea-targeted war rehearsal,” saying it “cannot but take a more serious note of the fact” that the exercises are held a few kilometers (miles) from its frontier.

The North’s Korean Central News Agency said the U.S. and South Korea would face unspecified consequences over “their madcap nuclear war racket.”

Earlier this year, the South Korean and U.S. militaries conducted their biggest field exercises in five years. The U.S. also sent the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and nuclear-capable bombers for joint exercises with South Korea.

USS Ronald Reagan pulls into Busan, South Korea, after 5 year absence

Moon Seong Mook, an analyst for the Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, said North Korea could use the South Korea-U.S. drills as a pretext to resume testing activities. He said domestic issues such as North Korea’s push to increase agricultural production during the rice-planting season could still affect its decision on weapons tests.

“North Korea can’t help feeling some burdens over the South Korea-U.S. joint firepower drills being held for the first time in six years and in the strongest manner,” Moon said.

In a meeting last month, U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced steps to reinforce their deterrence capabilities such as the periodic docking of U.S. nuclear-armed submarines in South Korea, strengthened joint training exercises and establishment of a new nuclear consultative group. Biden also issued a blunt warning that any North Korean nuclear attack on the U.S. or its allies would “result in the end of whatever regime” took such action.

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said the Biden-Yoon agreement revealed the two countries’ “most hostile and aggressive will of action” against the North. She threatened to further strengthen her country’s nuclear doctrine, saying, “The pipe dream of the U.S. and South Korea will henceforth be faced with the entity of more powerful strength.”

Worries about North Korea’s nuclear program grew after the North last year passed a law authorizing preemptive use of nuclear weapons. Many foreign experts say North Korea does not yet possess functioning nuclear-armed missiles.

Biden picks Brown to be Joint Chiefs chairman

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday announced he has nominated Air Force Gen. CQ Brown to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in a brief ceremony in the White House’s Rose Garden.

“Gen. Brown is a warrior, descended from a proud line of warriors,” Biden said, referencing Brown’s Vietnam veteran father as well as his grandfather, who led a segregated unit in World War II.

Brown’s command roles in the Indo-Pacific region, the Middle East and Europe give him “an unmatched firsthand knowledge of our operational theaters, and a strategic vision to understand how they all work together to ensure security for the American people,” Biden said, flanked by Brown, Vice President Kamala Harris and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

“While Gen. Brown is a proud, butt-kickin’ American airman, first and always, he’s also been an operational leader in the joint force,” Biden said. “He gained respect across every service from those who have seen him in action, and have come to depend on his judgment. More than that, he gained the respect of our allies and partners around the world, who regard Gen. Brown as a trusted partner and a top-notch strategist.”

If confirmed by the Senate, Brown — who has served as the Air Force’s chief of staff for nearly three years — will succeed Army Gen. Mark Milley as the military’s top uniformed officer.

Milley sat in the front row of the audience at the ceremony, next to Brown’s wife Sharene. Biden, wearing his signature aviator shades, thanked Milley and his family for their years of service.

“As chairman, you’ve led our military through the most complex security environment our world has faced in a long, long time,” Biden said. “We’ve strengthened our alliances from NATO to the Indo-Pacific, and built new partnerships like AUKUS [the trilateral defense agreement between the United States, U.K., and Australia]. … You’ve helped set our country and our military on a course that will put us in the strongest possible position to succeed in the years ahead.”

And Biden saluted Sharene Brown for her work to improve the quality of life for military families as part of her “Five and Thrive” initiative.

As chairman, Brown would advise the president on military matters, including the potential defense of Taiwan if China invades and NATO’s effort to support Ukraine in its fight to repel Russia’s invasion. He would also regularly consult with top military leaders across all services to gather their thoughts on strategy, operations and budgets, so he could present a range of options to Biden.

The Senate voted unanimously to confirm Brown’s nomination to become Air Force chief of staff in June 2020, which made him the first Black person to head a branch of the U.S. military, and he is expected to be easily confirmed as the nation’s top military officer. However, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., has placed a hold on Defense Department nominations over the department’s decision to provide leave and travel services so troops can obtain abortion services, which could create a stumbling block for Brown’s confirmation.

What Gen. CQ Brown would bring as chairman of the Joint Chiefs

During his three years as Air Force chief of staff, Brown has focused on overhauling the service, a plan he dubbed “Accelerate Change or Lose,” which has also become something of a mantra for him. This effort involves reshaping the service’s structure, changing how the service prepares for potential conflicts with major adversaries like China and Russia, and divesting old and outdated air frames like the A-10 Warthog, E-3 Sentry and older F-15C fighters, which he and other Air Force leaders say would be unsuited for future high-end wars.

Biden singled out Brown’s Accelerate Change or Lose strategy as exactly what the military needs.

“General, you’re right on,” Biden said. “To keep the American people safe, prosperous and secure, we have to move fast and adapt quickly. We have to maintain a combat-credible force capable of deterring and defeating any potential threat.”

A retired general officer familiar with the discussions told Air Force Times Biden strongly considered both Brown and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger for the job, but ultimately chose Brown.

Brown would be the second Black person to serve as Joint Chiefs chairman, with the first being Army Gen. Colin Powell under President George H.W. Bush. It would be the first time in the nation’s history that both the top civilian and uniformed leaders in the Defense Department are Black, as Austin is the first Black secretary of defense.

In June 2020, shortly after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, and days before the Senate voted to confirm him as chief of staff, Brown also made an emotional video in which he spoke about Floyd’s death and his own experiences as a Black person in the military. The video went viral, and observers say Brown’s frank talk helped spark conversations about racism and injustice in the military community.

Biden said that “unflinching” video shows Brown is “unafraid to speak his mind [and] will deliver an honest message that needs to be heard, and will always do the right thing when it’s hard.”

Biden said the video also showed “his deep love of our country, to which he’s dedicated his entire adult life.”

Republicans praised Brown’s nomination and called on him to remain out of politics should the Senate nominate him for the post.

Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, praised Brown as an “exceptionally qualified officer” and said he should maintain a “laser focus on readiness, deterrence and warfighting instead of politics.”

“I have also known him to be a thoughtful advocate of accelerating innovation so that our armed services can be ready to defend our country and deter potential threats, especially those from the Chinese Communist Party,” said Wicker.

House defense appropriations Chairman Ken Calvert, R-Calif., said Brown “must be focused on maintaining our edge in the air, land, sea and space and not be distracted by other issues that don’t ultimately result in the enhanced lethality of U.S. forces.”

Calvert praised Brown’s tenure as Air Force chief, noting he understood “we must innovate and equip our warfighters with the next generation of resources to secure our nation” in order to “surpass the technological advancements of China and other adversaries.”

In a Wednesday interview with Defense News, retired Gen. Dave Goldfein — Brown’s predecessor as Air Force chief of staff — said Brown’s skills, honed throughout his nearly four decades in uniform, and the bonds he’s created with counterparts across the world will be vital as the United States faces multiple challenges.

“When it comes to … Ukraine or China or Korea or Iran, or you name the challenges that he will face, he has built enough relationships and enough credibility that he can walk into the room and, in his very thoughtful way, provide his military advice and assessment of the risks involved, allowing the president and the senior civilian leadership to make the most informed decisions,” Goldfein said.

Since he first met Brown in the mid-1990s — when Brown was aide-de-camp to then-chief of staff Gen. Ron Fogleman and Goldfein was aide to the commander of Allied Air Forces Southern Europe in Naples, Italy — Brown has always been a deep thinker and a quiet consensus builder, Goldfein said. Those traits will serve him well as he advises Biden on the nation’s most pressing military matters.

“He really thinks things through,” Goldfein said. “He’s not usually the most vocal at the table, and he’s certainly not the loudest, but he always has the most to say. … When he spoke in a meeting, everybody was leaning forward, listening, taking notes.”

Goldfein pointed to the 2019 Pacific Air Chiefs Symposium at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii as an example of Brown’s skill in bringing together people from different backgrounds and with different interests to build common ground.

During that conference, attended by air chiefs from about 18 nations, then-PACAF Commander Brown set up a series of small panel discussions that brought every attending nation’s air chief to the table. During those talks, Goldfein said, the “chemistry” between Brown and the other Pacific nations’ air chiefs was evident.

“What struck me was the relationships that he’d invested in across the region, which were on display during the entire conference,” Goldfein said. “It was relationships built on trust, it was relationships built on confidence in each other, it was relationships built on how he valued each of them and their participation and their input. Because he’s such an incredible listener, they knew that he was paying attention to everything they had to say.”

Brown’s breadth of experience in some of the world’s most vital military theaters is unparalleled among general officers today, Goldfein said — particularly his time commanding the nation’s air forces in the Pacific and the Middle East, and serving as a senior leader in Europe.

“I don’t know that we’re going to find an officer who has had more time in joint operations, in every theater, than CQ Brown,” Goldfein said.

The kind of relationship-building Brown excelled at during the 2019 Pacific conference will be vital in his new role as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Goldfein said. Brown has already built up a considerable contact list of top leaders around the world, such as ambassadors, top defense ministers and heads of state, during his last three years commanding the Air Force, Goldfein said. He predicted that as chairman, Brown will be able to quickly form ties with international leaders he doesn’t yet know.

“When there’s a crisis and you need to talk to one of your counterparts, that’s the worst time to start building a relationship,” Goldfein said. “You want to build on relationships that you’ve already invested in. … He’s going to bring relationships — across the highest levels of government — with some of the most important countries we ever have to deal with.”

Rachel S. Cohen contributed to this report.

Army eliminates AeroVironment from future tactical UAS competition

WASHINGTON — AeroVironment, an early provider of Future Tactical Uncrewed Aircraft Systems to the U.S. Army, has been eliminated from the service’s competition for the next increment of the system.

The Army has long been working to select a Future Tactical Uncrewed Aircraft System, meant to replace its Shadow UAS fleet. In 2022, after a roughly four-year competition, the service awarded AeroVironment an $8 million contract to provide its Jump 20 system as an interim FTUAS capability for a single brigade. AeroVironment purchased Jump 20′s developer Arcturus in 2021. An undisclosed number of Jump 20s have been provided through U.S. security assistance to Ukraine.

AeroVironment declined a request for comment.

The Army wants its FTUAS to be a vertical take-off and landing aircraft, so it can be runway independent. Additionally, the service wants the system to offer improved maneuverability and the capability to be controlled on the move. Other planned attributes include a reduced transportation and logistics footprint and a quieter system than is offered today to avoid enemy detection.

The service in fall 2021 opened competition for a permanent system and, earlier this year, the Army selected five companies, including AeroVironment, to build prototypes. Now, the Army is awarding contracts to move into the design phase to Griffon Aerospace, Northrop Grumman, Sierra Nevada and Textron Systems — all of the competitors except AeroVironment.

The Army did not disclose the value of each contract awarded in a May 24 statement.

Since late February, the Army has evaluated the five submissions’ performance, cost, schedule, risk and modular open systems approaches, according to the service’s statement.

The effort going forward will include a series of design reviews. Then, competitors will be chosen to demonstrate capabilities in actual flight and will go through third-party verification of modular open system architectures.

If competitors pass through those gauntlets, each team will provide air vehicles, mission systems packages, payloads and ground controllers among other tools and manuals in order to go through qualification testing and operational assessments, the Army stated earlier in the competition.

The system is scheduled to enter full-rate production in the second quarter of FY26.

General Atomics, Spain’s Sener push sale of Reaper pods in Europe

MADRID — General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is looking to deepen its ties with Spanish partner Sener Aeroespacial to sell that company’s multipurpose NATO Pod to drone customers in Europe.

On display at the U.S. company’s stand at the Feria Internacional de Defensa y Seguridad (FEINDEF) exhibition here in mid-May, the vendors aim to market the pod as a fully flight-certified carrier for whatever payloads operators of the MQ-9A unmanned aerial vehicle want to deploy.

“We are working with our partner Sener to establish a memorandum of agreement to cover emerging business opportunities,” C. Mark Brinkley, senior director of strategic communications at General Atomics, told Defense News in an email.

The company announced in December that the NATO Pod had flown for the first time at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, on one of its MQ-9A, or Reaper, drones. During this test, the pod featured a payload built by Arpège SAS, a French subsidiary of Rhode & Schwarz, that implements satellite monitoring systems.

The NATO Pod is designed and manufactured by Sener Aeroespecial in Europe to meet NATO airworthiness standards and enhance payload options for both MQ-9A and MQ-9B drones. The vendors have previously stated that its development was driven to provide customers with a European-made, customizable enclosure for carrying national sensor suites on their Reapers.

The companies hope that Spain will be the first buyer, though there is no official word to that effect. Other MQ-9A European operators include the U.K. – which also recently acquired the MQ-9B variant alongside Belgium – France, Italy, and the Netherlands.

Biden seeks legislation to invest in Australia, UK defense industries

The Biden administration is asking Congress to make the Australian and British industrial bases eligible for grants and loans under the Defense Production Act as part of their efforts to advance the trilateral AUKUS agreement.

Biden announced that he would seek legislation to designate Australia as a “domestic source” under Title III of the Defense Production Act – a privilege currently only enjoyed by Canada – when he met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the G7 summit in Japan on Saturday.

His remarks came after the Pentagon submitted an April 28 legislative proposal to Congress that would amend the law to add both Australia and the U.K. to Title III, which would allow the president to direct grants and loans to companies in each country as if they were U.S. companies.

“Doing so would streamline technological and industrial base collaboration, accelerate and strengthen AUKUS implementation and build new opportunities for United States investment in the production and purchase of Australian critical minerals, critical technologies and other strategic sectors,” noted a joint U.S.-Australia statement released after Biden’s meeting with Albanese.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategies, Plans and Capabilities Mara Karlin told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday that using Defense Production Act grants for the Australian and British industry would help implement the technology-sharing components of AUKUS, known as Pillar II. These capabilities stand apart from the plan to help Australia develop its own nuclear-powered submarine fleet. They include joint development on hypersonic weapons, quantum technologies and artificial intelligence.

“Pillar II – the scope, the scale, the complexity of it – it’s really unlike anything that we have ever done,” said Karlin. “We’re still looking, of course, at what it would mean for specific AUKUS projects.”

“This is a two-way street,” added Karlin. “Given of course the security environment, given the rapidly evolving technological environment, we need to be able to work with one another as much as possible.”

When the House passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act last year, it included an amendment from Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., that would have put Australia and the U.K within the purview of the Defense Production Act. However, Congress dropped the provision in the final bill after negotiations with the Senate.

Courtney said he hopes that Biden’s endorsement at the G7 would spur Congress to pass his legislation into law this year.

Defense Production Act

“Under current law, the [Defense Production Act] allows the president to stimulate investments in technology in both U.S. and Canadian companies to allow our nations to tackle pressing national priorities in partnership with private companies, as we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Courtney told Defense News in a statement. “By expanding the definition of a ‘domestic source’ to include both Australia and the United Kingdom, we can accelerate innovation in critical technologies to fulfill the goals of the AUKUS security agreement.”

Both Biden and former president Donald Trump used the Defense Production Act to procure vital medical supplies amid significant supply chain disruptions during the pandemic. The White House also invoked the Defense Production Act in March in the hopes of speeding up hypersonic weapons development. Adding Australia and the U.K. to Title III could allow defense contractors in both countries to take advantage of U.S. grants and loans for their own hypersonics programs.

Biden also used the Defense Production Act last year to unlock $43 million in funding to address critical mineral shortfalls in large-capacity batteries. China largely controls the global supply chain for critical minerals like cobalt needed to produce these batteries.

Putting Canberra within the purview of the Defense Production Act could stimulate U.S. investment in Australian mines. The Australian government’s geoscience agency notes that Australia remained the world’s largest lithium producer in 2021, controlling 53% of the global market. It is also among the world’s top five producers of cobalt and antimony, an alloy largely controlled by China that is needed to make bullets and ammunition.

Congress allocated $600 million in Defense Production Act funding as part of a Ukraine aid package last year, in part to shore up critical mineral supply chains that were further disrupted after Russia’s invasion. The State Department also developed a minerals security partnership to bolster these supply chains with 10 other allies, including Australia.

Austin hopes F-16 training for Ukrainian pilots will begin in weeks

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday he hopes that training for Ukrainian pilots on American-made F-16 fighter jets will begin in the coming weeks, bolstering Ukraine in the long run but not necessarily as part of an anticipated spring counteroffensive against Russia.

Austin spoke as defense leaders from around the world assembled for a virtual meeting to discuss the ongoing military support for Ukraine. They were expected talk about which countries will provide F-16s, and how and where the pilot training will be done.

The officials will also get an update on the war effort from Ukrainian leaders, including preparation for that anticipated counteroffensive and how the allies, who have faced their own stockpile pressures, can continue to support Kyiv’s fight against Russia.

“We’re going to have to dig deeper, and we’re going to have to continue to look for creative ways to boost our industrial capability,” Austin said before the military leaders began their closed session. “The stakes are high. But the cause is just and our will is strong.”

European countries have said they are talking about which countries may have some of the F-16s available. The United States had long balked at providing the advanced aircraft to Ukraine, and only last weekend did President Joe Biden agree to allow other nations to send their own U.S.-made jets to Kyiv.

“We hope this training will begin in the coming weeks,” Austin said. “This will further strengthen and improve the capabilities of the Ukrainian Air Force in the long term. And it will complement our short-term and medium-term security agreements. This new joint effort sends a powerful message about our unity and our long-term commitment to Ukraine’s self-defense.”

The leaders will also likely discuss Ukraine’s other continuing military needs, including air defense systems and munitions, artillery and other ammunition.

It was not immediately clear whether they will make any firm decisions on the F-16 issue, but initial steps have begun.

Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said Tuesday that training for Ukrainian pilots had begun in Poland and some other countries, though Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said training was still in the planning phase. The Netherlands and Denmark, among others, are also making plans for training.

“We can continue and also finalize the plans that we’re making with Denmark and other allies to start these these trainings. And of course, that is the first step that you have to take,” Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said, adding that initial discussions about who may have F-16s available to send is underway.

Ukraine has long sought the sophisticated fighter to give it a combat edge as it battles Russia’s invasion, now in its second year.

The Biden administration’s decision was a sharp reversal after refusing to approve any transfer of the aircraft or conduct training for more than a year because of worries that doing so could escalate tensions with Russia. U.S. officials also had argued against the F-16 by saying that learning to fly and logistically support such an advanced aircraft would be difficult and take months.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said this week that the U.S. decision on the F-16 was part of a broader long-term commitment to meet Ukraine’s future military needs. He said the jets would not be relevant in any counteroffensive expected to begin shortly.