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The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration warned airlines on Friday to exercise caution when flying over Mexico, Central America and parts of South America, citing the risks of potential military activities and GPS interference. The FAA said it had issued Notices to Airmen covering Mexico and Central American countries, as well as Ecuador, Colombia and portions of airspace within the eastern Pacific Ocean. The warnings began on Friday and will last 60 days, it said. Tensions between the U.S. and regional leaders have ramped up since the Trump administration mounted a large-scale military buildup in the southern Caribbean, attacked Venezuela and...

After eight decades of dormancy, the US Marines have restored a historic World War II airstrip on Peleliu, a small island that is part of the Pacific nation Palau. This strategic move, completed after months of repairs by US naval engineers, saw the landing of a KC-130J long-range tanker aircraft on June 22. The move comes amid escalating tensions between China on one side, and Taiwan and the US on the other. The Peleliu airstrip is one of several bases the Americans are eyeing or have already prepared in the context of growing tensions in the South China Sea and...

A frightening flesh-eating disease is currently making its way across Australia, and puzzled scientists and officials aren’t sure how to stop this mysterious condition from wreaking havoc. Cases of an infection known as Buruli ulcer have spiked in recent years in the country, rising 150 percent from 74 cases in 2013 to 186 in 2016. It shows no signs of slowing down; last year saw a projected 286 cases. The infection causes unsightly skin ulcers that destroy the skin and the soft tissue around it. Complicating matters is the fact that scientists aren’t sure how it is spread or how...

spent the morning at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment’s release of their new report “AirSea Battle: A Point of Departure Operational Concept” (you can find the report here as well as the briefing slides). Lots to unpack here from the 123 page report, the author’s brief and the lively discussion that followed. CSBA says that China’s military modernization aims at denying U.S. air and maritime freedom of maneuver and access in the Western Pacific (WestPac) by targeting bases and ships with precision guided missiles. China’s buildup of increasingly capable anti-access/area-denial “battle networks” will, over time, make the current...

On Tuesday, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments will release their new report “AirSea Battle: A Point of Departure,” at an event on the Senate side of the Hill, hosted by Senators Joe Lieberman and John Thune. This is the follow on to an initial paper written by CSBA’s Andrew Krepinevich that examined some of the underlying assumptions driving the new joint Navy-Air Force concept intended to find ways to ensure access in the Western Pacific and the Gulf in the face of ever more capable Chinese and Iranian precision guided weapons and anti-access battle networks. Pentagon sources tell...

USS TARAWA, At Sea (NNS) -- Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 1 is scheduled to return to Naval Station San Diego, after spending more than half a year deployed to the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans, the Mediterranean, and Persian Gulf. The three-ship USS Tarawa (LHA 1) strike group deployed to the Western Pacific in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the global war on terrorism. “This was the most successful deployment I've experienced. It had nothing to do with me and everything to do with the young Sailors and Marines on board Tarawa," said Capt. Peter Murphy, Tarawa’s commanding officer....

WASHINGTON - Hoping to learn more about undersea volcanoes, scientists sent a camera-equipped submarine down to take a look. They got more than they bargained for, witnessing a deep-sea eruption. "At first we really didn't understand what was going on," said Bob Embley, chief scientist on the mission, which involved nearly three dozen researchers. "We were seeing billowing clouds coming up and turning yellow. There was sulfur and rocks were flying out," said Embley, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. "We realized we were the first to witness a deep-sea volcano during...

THE RISING SEA DRAGON IN ASIA By Jeff Head, January 2004 In the 1990's the Poeple's Republic of China embarked on an unprecedented military buildup to modernize their aremd forces, increase their qualitative functioning and put them in a position to be able to better carry out the geo-olitical dictates of the Red Chinese government. This necessarily includes being able to develop themselves to a point that they could credibly confront the other armed forces in the region who may stand in the way of those geo-political directives, in particularly the United States. The buildup has covered the spectrum...