Category: US Military

I listened to SecWar Hegseth’s speech today and it was actually pretty good. However, what caught my attention was his announcement that state governors can compete to host a new military base that will be home to 15,000 to 25,000 soldiers:

Hegseth invited governors to bidfor their state to be the home of the “next great American” base.

“We’re calling on every governor in the country and adjutant general, every tag across this great republic, to step up to the plate and bring us their best sales pitch,” the Defense secretary said.

“If your state wants the honor of hosting 15,000 to 25,000 of America’s great troops, show us why and how you’re going to do it, cutting through the red tape, offering up the land and rolling out the red carpet for our military families,” he said during the speech. 

Naval Station Everett in Washington state was the most recent base built inside the U.S., opening in the 1990s. The base is home to several guided-missile destroyers and Coast Guard ships.

Hegseth said the new base will not be a “soulless government installation,” arguing the Pentagon will “plan out and chart out a dynamic, self-sustaining power projection platform.” 

The Hill

You can read more at the link, but both the media and Hegseth are wrong about the newest base opened in the U.S., it was not Naval Station Everett. The newest base to open in the U.S. is Camp Blaz on Guam. The camp officially opened in 2023.

Besides people apparently not knowing Guam is part of the United States, what I found interesting about this announcement is what was not said which is where are these up to 25,000 troops coming from? They are not going to move from a base in the U.S. because that would force its closure which means they have to come from troops stationed overseas.

That means the main possibility to withdraw troops from overseas would be from Germany, Korea, or Japan. Fortunately for Korea the recent investment deal in the U.S. and the fact the ROK government built the new Camp Humphreys, makes it unlikely to be the place chosen for troop reductions.

Japan has few Army units and PM Takaichi has a great relationship with Trump. This leaves Germany as the likely target for future force reductions. For those looking for a future Europe assignment it is best get one in soon because in a few years there may be far fewer opportunities to get one.

More good news for Korea’s shipbuilding industry:

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a national security memorandum permitting foreign shipbuilders to build up to two ships in their parent shipyards for delivery to the United States, as the U.S. seeks to rebuild its Navy and shipbuilding industrial base.

The memorandum came as the U.S. is stepping up shipbuilding cooperation with Korea, which has committed to investing $150 billion in the U.S. shipbuilding sector as part of a total $350 billion investment pledge under last year’s bilateral trade and investment deal.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

INDOPACOM has been sending troops and assets to deal with Middle East contingencies for many years. This is nothing new. If these recent deployments lead to the collapse of the Iranian regime that means the U.S. can truly focus on the Pacific in the future instead of constantly dealing with crisis is the Middle East:

Former senior U.S. officials expressed concerns Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has “vacated” some of America’s key military deterrence assets in the Indo-Pacific amid the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran despite growing Chinese threats in what it calls a “priority” theater.

Their remarks came amid reports that Washington has moved parts of its THAAD missile defense system in South Korea to the Middle East, and is dispatching over 2,000 U.S. Marines of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) in Japan to the volatile region, while there is no operational U.S. aircraft carrier in the Indo-Pacific.

“A very large component of the American military capability that is there to deter in the Indo-Pacific has been vacated,” one former U.S. official said in a meeting with reporters.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I am not sure why servicemembers are struggling to pay rent or buy food when they have not missed a paycheck yet unlike their government civilian counterparts:

Visits to food pantries on U.S. military bases in Japan climbed in October during the federal government shutdown, according to an informal survey by Stars and Stripes. The Neighborhood Pantry at the Marine Corps’ Camps Foster and Kinser on Okinawa saw a steady rise in visits, said Angie Tomlin, the community support coordinator for both locations.

About 160 people visited the pantries in October, up from 146 in September and 122 in August, she said Tuesday at the Foster pantry. “We just hope this doesn’t last too long, because I feel like our island resources are going to run out at some point,” she said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Just another indication that the future of warfare is advanced drones:

South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace is partnering with U.S. manufacturer General Atomics to develop a multi-mission, short-takeoff-and-landing drone the companies call a “game changer,” Hanwha said in a Wednesday news release. The project will produce the Gray Eagle Short Takeoff and Landing unmanned aerial aircraft system, or STOL, a new variant of General Atomics’ Gray Eagle, itself an upgraded version of the widely used MQ-1 Predator.

The new drone will offer “unprecedented runway independence, able to launch from warships to dirt fields and everywhere in between” and can be configured for electronic warfare, over-the-horizon targeting, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, according to General Atomics’ website.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Considering the revolution in drone warfare going on in Ukraine right now, every servicemember should learn how to fly and operate a drone:

The Pentagon wants more small, cheap, easily replaced drones in the hands of troops as quickly as possible, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he is cutting red tape to make that happen. Hegseth, dressed in a dark-colored suit, took to the Pentagon’s parade field on Thursday to record a video announcing his policies on new small drones — officially, unmanned aerial systems — and promoting his memorandum on the matter as an American Flag-bearing drone was flown to him by a service member. Hegseth said the memo would build off a June 6 executive order issued by President Donald Trump meant to boost America’s commercial drone manufacturing and integrate them into the nation’s transportation and military sectors. “This is the future,” Hegseth said over the buzz of the small drone and the blasting of Metallica’s 1991 hit song “Enter Sandman.”

“We’re in the fight. We’re in the fight to win it, and I’m never going to back down.” Hegseth’s new policies aim to cut through bureaucratic policies that limited the military’s ability to quickly purchase and field small drones with vast capabilities ranging from gathering intelligence to dropping small supplies to troops all the way to delivering lethal munitions on enemy positions. “Lethality will not be hindered by self-imposed restrictions, especially when it comes to harnessing technologies we invented but were slow to pursue. Drone technology is advancing so rapidly, our major risk is risk-avoidance,” Hegseth wrote. “The department’s bureaucratic gloves are coming off.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the biggest problem I see with this initiative is that American drone manufacturers make expensive drones with less capability than China’s DJI drones. They are way ahead of U.S. manufacturers right now, but the U.S. appears to now finally acknowledge it is time to catch up.

Osan AB has a new Wing Commander:

A fighter pilot with more than 400 combat flight hours assumed command of the U.S. fighter wing closest to North Korea in a ceremony at this base Friday. Air Force Col. Ryan Ley, an F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot, took charge of the 51st Fighter Wing from Col. William McKibban in front of roughly 250 airmen inside a hangar at Osan, roughly 30 miles from Seoul.

Ley was previously the deputy commander of the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. Prior to that, he was the chief of Combat Air Forces Division at the Directorate of Training and Readiness at the Air Force headquarters in the Pentagon.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Like I had speculated before it does appear that the general officer reductions being considered by the Pentagon could impact USFK and other organizations in the Pacific:

On Monday, Hegseth issued a memo that ordered a minimum 20 percent reduction of four-star active-duty positions and of general officers in the National Guard, as well as an additional minimum 10 percent reduction in general and flag officers — with an aim to “optimize” and “streamline” the U.S. military leadership.

The memo has given rise to speculation that the Pentagon could consider a potential change in the USFK leadership as it seeks to focus primarily on countering evolving threats from China while hoping that regional allies will step up to cope with other challenges, including from North Korea.

Reuters has reported that the USFK commander post and the head of the U.S. Army Pacific might be among the four-star positions that Hegseth might look at.

Asked if the secretary’s order for the reduction would affect the USFK, a U.S. defense official said the Pentagon has no announcements to make at this point.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if the USFK commander is reduced to a three star then the question becomes will the U.S. handover OPCON to the ROK military? This would mean a ROK four-star would lead the Combined Forces Command and the USFK three-star would be the deputy. Dropping the USFK commander to a three-star would put USFK in line with the three-star that commands USFJ.

Additionally if the USARPAC commander is reduced to a three-star shouldn’t the Pacific Fleet (PACFLT) and Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) commanders also be reduced to three-stars and just leave the INDOPACOM commander as the only four-star in the Pacific?