Nuclear Talks in Doubt as North Korea Tests Ballistic Missiles, Envoy Cancels Trip
Hyonhee Shin and Joyce Lee | Reuters
North Korea test-fired two new short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, South Korean officials said, its first missile test since its leader, Kim Jong Un, and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to revive denuclearisation talks last month. North Korea test-fired two new short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, South Korean officials said, its first missile test since its leader, Kim Jong Un, and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to revive denuclearisation talks last month. Firing a ballistic missile would be a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the North from the use of such technology. North Korea has rejected the restriction as an infringement of its sovereign right to self-defense. North Korea launched the missiles from the east coast city of Wonsan with one flying about 430 km (267 miles) and the other 690 km (428 miles) over the sea. They both reached an altitude of 50 km (30 miles), an official at South Korea’s Defense Ministry said.
While Trump and Kim Talk, North Korea Appears to Expand Its Nuclear Arsenal
Sharon Shi and Clement Burge | Wall Street Journal
Over the past year, there have been handshakes, compliments and extravagant photo-ops—in Singapore, in Hanoi and even at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas. President Trump’s summit diplomacy has raised hopes around the world: Is North Korea now willing to surrender its nuclear arsenal? Analysts who pore over satellite images of the isolated country paint a different picture: North Korea’s scientists have ramped up production of long-range missiles and the fissile material used in nuclear weapons.
Boeing Drops Out of Massive Pentagon Nuclear Missile Program, Citing Unfair Competition
Aaron Gregg | Washington Post
Boeing says it will withdraw from a massive Pentagon program to replace America’s ground-based nuclear missiles, citing concerns with how the Pentagon has handled the procurement. The move makes Northrop Grumman the sole bidder for the massive contract, effectively locking it into a military program that should be worth tens of billions of dollars over several decades. “After numerous attempts to resolve concerns within the procurement process, Boeing has informed the Air Force that it will not bid Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) under the current acquisition approach," said Todd Blecher, a spokesman with Boeing’s defense, space and security division. “We’ve evaluated these issues extensively, and determined that the current acquisition approach does not provide a level playing field for fair competition.” The Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program, known as GBSD, makes up the ground-based leg of the United States’ nuclear strike capability. It is designed to replace the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, which have been in use since the 1960s. Loren Thompson, a defense consultant who works with Boeing, said the dispute arose from Northrop Grumman’s 2018 acquisition of a company called Orbital ATK, a dominant producer of rocket motors. “Because Northrop owns the biggest maker of solid rocket motors in America, Boeing doesn’t think it can price its missiles competitively,” Thompson said. He added that Northrop Grumman is now “headed for a monopoly” on the air-, land- and sea-based legs of the United States’ nuclear strike capability. Northrop makes the solid rocket motors on the Navy’s sub-launched missiles, and it also holds the contract to build the Air Force’s B-21 bomber.
Iran Is Gambling That Trump Is Afraid of War
Tony Karon | Nation
What’s the point of having the world’s most powerful military if we never use it, then–Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is said to have shouted at Gen. Colin Powell in 1992, over his reluctance to commit American force to the Balkan wars. President Donald Trump clearly agrees with Albright that the military is there to be used, but also with Powell that it should be kept out of quagmires in harm’s way. He has wielded the US military as a political prop—at the border, in symbolic air strikes against forewarned Syrian targets, and in a July 4 DC extravaganza. But, despite his bellicose tweeting, Trump has declined every chance for expeditionary adventurism.
Faulty Battery May Have Sparked Russian Submarine Fire
Matthew Bodner | Guardian
A malfunctioning lithium-ion battery may have sparked a deadly fire on a top-secret Russian nuclear submersible earlier this month that killed 14 naval officers, according to reports. The Kremlin has remained tight-lipped about the incident, citing the sensitive nature of the submarine, AS-31, also known as Losharik. But at a funeral service for the decorated sailors, a navy officer claimed they died preventing a global catastrophe, alluding to a threat from the nuclear reactor. But details of what took place, which have been leaked to the Russian press, suggest a different story. Investigators told the Kommersant newspaper that a leading theory behind the fire in the Barents Sea on 1 July is battery failure.
Text: China’s National Defense in the New Era
The State Council of the PRC
The State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China released a white paper titled “China’s National Defense in the New Era” on July 24.