Every Friday, The Diplomat looks out across the net to find the best articles and analysis involving defense, strategic affairs, and foreign policy. From America’s pivot to Asia, China’s growing military power, important defense trends, to the various territorial spats across the region, The Diplomat has you covered with what you need to know going into the weekend.
Here is our top ones this Friday. Have we missed something you think should be included? Want to share an important article with other readers? Please submit your links in the comment box below! Happy Friday!
Several nuclear and missile experts are accusing the U.S. Air Force of exaggerating the nuclear threats posed by North Korea and China’s cruise missiles in order to gain funding for its own nuclear modernization ambitions. Global Security Newswire has the story.
In a new occasional paper for the Jamestown Foundation, Andrew Erickson says that “China’s anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM), the DF-21D, has reached the equivalent of Initial Operational Capability. Although it probably has been deployed in small numbers, additional challenges and tests remain.”
The Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College released a new strategic assessment of the Asia-Pacific. Written by Dr. David Lai, the studies major conclusions include “The U.S. strategic shift toward Asia-Pacific is… not a choice but a necessity” and “the most dangerous blind spot [in the U.S. pivot] is that the Asia-Pacific nations disputing with China can misread U.S. strategic intention and overplay the ‘U.S. card’ to pursue their territorial interest.”
Similarly, the Center for National Defense Policy (CNDP) under the Academy of Military Sciences of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) released its own strategic assessment this week, which concluded that the Asia-Pacific has become a “new global center" of competition.
Taiwan plans to launch a fourth cyberwarfare unit on July 1st that will try to counter cyber-attacks on government websites.
Plus, the BBC looks at how you scrap an aircraft carrier.