Defense
U.S. House leaders on Jan. 18 unveiled a strategy that would divorce pending cuts to Pentagon spending from a coming fight over the nation’s borrowing limit, a plan that would give lawmakers time to focus on averting those cuts and passing a measure to keep the government running. – Defense News
As the tentacles of a fiscal calamity tighten, U.S. military leaders last week directed their staffs to begin cutbacks immediately and stand by for deeper cuts should the worst come to pass. – Defense News
The DoD office in charge of the Joint Strike Fighter suspended flight operations on the F-35B (STOVL) variant Friday for precautionary reasons after a problem was discovered with the fueldraulic system in the jet, officials confirmed for Defense News. – Defense News
The Pentagon on Thursday restructured the U.S. Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle program, saying budget pressures and technical issues had prompted it to delay the multibillion-dollar program by six months and scrap plans to develop prototype vehicles. – Reuters
The chiefs had largely signed on to the many defense-budget cuts to date, saying the force could absorb more risk, and the strategy had meant troops will do less. The fact that they’re sounding the five-alarm bell now should worry our elected officials. Reality across the force is surely even worse. – Time’s Battleland
The War
A U.S. drone killed four suspected al Qaeda militants on Monday in a strike in central Yemen, tribal sources said, in the third such attack in three days. – Reuters
The administration is nearing completion of a detailed counterterrorism manual that is designed to establish clear rules for targeted-killing operations but leaves open a major exemption for the CIA’s campaign of drone strikes in Pakistan, U.S. officials said. – Washington Post
In the latest twist in a high-level debate that has divided national security officials in the administration, the Pentagon announced Friday that the top official overseeing the military commissions system would not drop the charge of conspiracy against Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and the four other defendants in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. – New York Times
Missile Defense
It will be no easy task to preserve missile defense amid a budgetary environment with strong pressures for at times indiscriminate fiscal austerity. But given the growing missile threats faced by the United States and its partners, supporters of missile defense must face this calling. – American Foreign Policy Council’s Defense Dossier
Foreign Armies East
Taiwan’s military is developing an offensive surface-to-surface missile with a 1,200-kilometer range that could cover China’s central and southern regions, including Shanghai. – Defense News
United States is set to sell 30 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to Taiwan this year, along with 60 Blackhawk helicopters next year and additional Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile systems in 2015, according to Sen. James M. Inhofe – Washington Times’ Inside China
