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Baiting a Reckless North Korea to Keep China on the Sidelines

9/29/2017

 
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Following North Korea’s recent threat to “shoot down” U.S. warplanes that are in international airspace, President Donald Trump warned North Koreaon Tuesday that any U.S. military option would be “devastating” for Pyongyang.

The escalating rhetoric is being denounced by the American left, whose appeasement brought us to this situation. Now they are attacking the president’s public comments as bellicose or provocative.

Perhaps, but there may be a deeper strategy at play.

Given China’s declaration of neutrality should North Korea attack first, it may well be Trump's strategy to provoke a military attack by North Korea.

In 2010, the North Koreans attacked South Korea by torpedoing the warship Cheonan and by shelling Yeonpyeong Island. With that recklessness in mind, the name-calling and flying American warplanes just outside North Korea's airspace may be an attempt to bait the North to attack again.

If North Korea even made the attempt to shoot down an American warplane, then a devastating U.S. counterattack would be justified, and China would be less likely to try to defend North Korea.

​Regardless of which side fires the first shot, it is hard to see how this ends in any other way than North Korea being destroyed.

Did the U.S. Already Respond Militarily to North Korea’s Nuclear Test?

9/29/2017

 
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In a recent issue of Defense Technology Alert, I described the hypersonic kinetic weapons programs being pursued by the U.S. Defense Department.

In a most fascinating turn of events, South Korean seismologists have announced an unexplained event immediately following North Korea's latest nuclear weapons test.

Exactly 8½ minutes after North Korea’s underground hydrogen weapon detonation on Sep 3, seismologists were surprised
to register another seismic event at the nuclear test site. Not matching the characteristics of another bomb, earthquake or landslide, subsequent satellite imagery of the test site revealed a horizontal shift, indicating a collapse.

Occam’s razor would tell us the most likely answer was that the tunnels simply collapsed from the stress of the nuclear test. But given Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ comments on Sept. 19 about
possible “kinetic” military options for North Korea, the hypersonic technology we've discussed recently may well be in play.

​Check out
the History channel’s video for an interesting overview of the hypersonic kinetic technology.

NATO Ally Turkey Boasts of Ability to Shoot Down U.S. Aircraft

9/29/2017

 
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In the latest example of Turkey’s estrangement from NATO and the U.S., Turkey’s state media on Wednesday released an infographic describing all of the American bombers, fighter aircraft and cruise missiles that were targetable by the Russian air defense system that Turkey has agreed to purchase.

Although untested in current Syrian hostilities, the 250-mile-range S-400 is Russia's state-of-the-art air defense system, and the $2.5 billion sale marks a dramatic departure from the common interoperability standards expected of a NATO country.

The inevitable outcome is that Turkey’s putative allies will simply close off Turkey’s airspace to combined air operations, and any defensive scenarios as all NATO aircraft and Turkey’s air defense batteries will automatically view each other as hostile military targets when the S-400 systems go operational.

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Click here to read more.

U.S. Marine Commandant Wants Star Trek-Style Holodeck for Command-Level War Games

9/29/2017

 
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On a lighter note, the commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps has just described his interest in training his midlevel and senior commanders in a Star Trek-style holodeck scenario.

His intent is to allow them to take the role of a previous commander and re-fight historical battles. This would allow his warfighting commanders and staff officers to improve their combat decision making through experiencing the stress and mistakes of such engagements in training.

In our
Defense Technology Alert reports, we have often described augmented-reality or virtual-reality training focused on the individual or squad-level unit. By this tasking, the commandant has imagined a much more comprehensive and fascinating application for his unit commanders and their battle staff.

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Click here to read more.

No Safe Place in Next War: The Army’s Expanded Battlefield

9/29/2017

 
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The same technology that flattens our world, connecting us to family, friends and business associates around the globe, can also be used as a weapon in economic and military conflict.

Both seamless and ubiquitous, this dystopian future of an omnipresent and unrelenting battlespace is well-described in an excellent article by Breaking Defense.

The myriad levels at which future conflicts will be fought will range from non attributable psychological operations via social media and cyber disruptions all the way to open kinetic warfare.

This means our institutions will need broader policy responses in a world where the line between competition and conflict is much less blurred than it has been down through history.

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Click here to read their fascinating essay.
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    Author

    Kevin Massengill is an entrepreneur, investor, and award winning Fortune 500 senior executive with a track record of massive business growth.

    View my profile on LinkedIn

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