Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned Thursday that the Navy’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year would lead to a reduced naval fleet at a time when China is working harder than ever to achieve maritime dominance in the Indo-Pacific. Graham grilled top Navy leaders at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing by noting that the Biden administration’s latest budget plan would spend less on defense than almost any other year on record when compared to the nation’s gross do

The Navy warned this week that rising global temperatures are threatening to shut down facilities such as the Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia and the Marine training facility on Parris Island, South Carolina. That assessment was delivered Monday in the Navy’s Climate Action 2030 report, a 32-page assessment of how changing climate will affect the Navy’s mission. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said the Navy and Marines are in the “crosshairs of the climate crisis,” and s

The Navy has determined that last year’s grounding of the USS Connecticut on an underwater mountain was due to a series of preventable errors that failed to adhere to standard Navy procedures. The Navy’s command investigation into the event was released Monday, more than five months after the Navy released the commanding officers of the Seawolf-class attack submarine due to a loss of confidence. The Navy was able to determine in November that Cmdr. Cameron Aljilani and other

Top leaders at the Pentagon declined to flesh out President Biden’s controversial comment that the U.S. military would get involved if China attempts an armed takeover of Taiwan. On Monday in Japan, Biden said “yes” when asked if he is willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan. “That’s the commitment we made,” Biden told reporters. “We agree with the One China Policy, we signed onto it and all the attendant agreements made from there,” he added. “But the idea that i

America is in such dire need for baby formula that it might enlist the help of military planes to import emergency supplies from Europe. This week, President Biden announced the start of Operation Fly Formula, which called on the Pentagon to use contracted commercial aircraft to move formula into the United States as quickly as possible. The first flight, from Zurich, Switzerland, is expected to take place in the coming days. But on Friday, the Pentagon said military aircraft

A senior Marine warned Congress on Wednesday that the Biden administration’s plan to reduce the number of amphibious warships will make it much harder for Marines to complete their mission. “Our absolute bare minimum requirement for traditional L-class amphibious warships is 31. That’s composed of 10 larger deck LHA/LHD class, and 21 smaller LPD type class ships,” Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, deputy commandant of the Marine Corps for Combat Development and Integration, told a Hous

A government task force charged with explaining mysterious lights and objects in the sky patiently told Congress this week that its job is to keep U.S. aircrews safe from drones launched by U.S. adversaries, private sector gadgets and other airborne clutter that fills the atmosphere. But all anyone really wanted to do was talk about UFOs. The House Select Intelligence subcommittee on Intelligence Modernization and Readiness on Tuesday hosted the first public hearing in 50 yea

On May 10, the House passed legislation that would spend $40.1 billion to aid Ukraine in its war against Russia and support refugees displaced by the conflict that has lasted almost three months. Even before this bill is passed, Ukraine has become the largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the world. Between the start of Russia’s invasion on February 24 and early May, total U.S. military assistance to Ukraine reached $3.8 billion, while total economic and humanitarian aid

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday this week made his most straightforward pitch yet to Congress for a growing Navy budget that provides at least 355 ships over the next two decades. In April, the Navy released a shipbuilding plan that laid out three possible options, two of which would keep the Navy flat and a third option that calls for much more aggressive growth in the Navy’s shipbuilding budget. That plan frustrated several lawmakers who said