Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Rights groups say Iranian security forces killed, tortured protesters in Kurdish city WINEP’s Henry Rome: Iran’s misunderstood nuclear law Ukraine loses U.K.-supplied tank in push for counteroffensive breakthrough Ukraine reports some successes in counteroffensive against Russian forces WINEP’s Nickolay Mladenov: Beyond Oslo: Reflections on peace, promise, and possibility Fighting between rival US-backed groups in Syria could undermine war against the Islamic State group Clashes resume between factions in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp White House: Still work to do on Israel-Saudi normalization North Korea says it has produced a ‘tactical nuclear attack submarine’ U.S., South Korea, Japan agree to accelerate missile tracking cooperation WaPo’s David Ignatius: Raimondo finds a China facing a reality check Islamists kill dozens of civilians and soldiers in two attacks in MaliIn The News
Iran
Human rights activists say that at least eight people, including a child, were killed in the violent suppression of protests in the western Iranian city of Javanrud, while dozens of others were beaten and arbitrarily detained by security forces. – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
In a rare move, the Taliban’s foreign minister has criticised its leading economic ally and political supporter, Tehran, for the high number of executions in Iran, Farsi media reported. – Middle East Eye
An investigation has been launched by the UK’s justice secretary after a suspected terrorist accused of passing information to Iran fled prison on Wednesday. Daniel Abed Khalife was in Wandsworth Prison when he escaped by clinging onto the bottom of a food delivery van. The 21-year-old is accused of trying to leak information to Iran and leaving fake bombs at a military base before his arrest in January. – Iran International
Henry Rome writes: To be sure, Khamenei has shown some flexibility on such red lines over time. But for now, at least, Iran is unlikely to agree to any steps that require dismantling capabilities (e.g., removing advanced centrifuge cascades). For the right price, however, it may be willing to keep taking easily reversible steps such as increasing international monitoring, slowing its accumulation of enriched material, and delaying the installation of more-advanced centrifuges, regardless of consistency with parliament’s nuclear law. – Washington Institute
Nakissa Jahanbani, Muhammad Najjar, Benjamin Johnson, Caleb Benjamin, and Muhammad al-‘Ubaydi write: The United States and its allies and partners should therefore prioritize the production and sale of low-cost air defense systems capable of striking the relatively slow-moving but mass-producible Iranian drone systems and increase transfers to partners threatened by Iranian proxies. They should also maintain pressure on Iran and its allies — through targeted sanctions and diplomacy — to stop the production and use of these drones. As the gray-zone conflict between Iran and the United States deepens, disrupting Tehran’s drone proliferation will become increasingly imperative to advance peace and stability in the region and beyond. – War on the Rocks
Russia & Ukraine
Every few days, Russian occupation authorities on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula parade newly caught “traitors” in front of the cameras. For some, the crime consisted of playing Ukrainian songs in public, running a pro-Ukrainian social-media account or tying yellow cloth strips, a sign of resistance to Russian rule, to fences and trees. Other detainees include shopkeepers and gas-station attendants who had refused service to Russian soldiers. Still others stand accused of more-serious acts of resistance: blowing up railroad tracks or gathering intelligence for Ukrainian missile and drone strikes. – Wall Street Journal
Russian forces struck and immobilized a British tank supplied to Ukrainian forces for the first time as Kyiv pushes some of its best equipment into a salient in the southeast in search of a breakthrough. – Wall Street Journal
At least 16 people were killed and more than 30 injured in a Russian aerial attack on a shopping district in the eastern city of Kostyantynivka, the worst such attack in recent weeks and a fresh sign that Russia is singling out towns near the front lines used by both civilians and Ukrainian soldiers. – Wall Street Journal
The work is painstakingly slow. Two explosives specialists armed with metal detectors can take over a month to clear a plot of Ukrainian farmland around half the size of a football field riddled with mortars, artillery shells and unexploded fuses. – Wall Street Journal
When Britain announced it would supply Ukraine with depleted uranium rounds designed to penetrate tank armor, Russia decried the move as escalation. U.S. officials has had a simple response: If you don’t like it, leave Ukraine. – Washington Post
Three months into Ukraine’s inching counteroffensive, Russian occupying forces have largely been able to hold their positions, often by learning from past mistakes. They have reconstituted decimated units, swapped in new ones and turned from sweeping attacks to the defense of heavily fortified front lines, showing that despite heavy losses, Moscow is willing to dig in for the long haul and wait for the resolve of Ukraine’s Western backers to diminish. – Washington Post
NATO has no indication that drone debris found on Romanian territory was caused by a deliberate Russian attack on Romania, its chief said on Thursday. – Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday singled out military units in the east and south for their actions against Russian troops and other officials reported some breakthroughs in a counteroffensive to reclaim Russian-occupied territory. – Reuters
The discovery of drone debris on Romanian territory this week has left some local residents fearing that the war in neighboring Ukraine could spread into their country, as Russian forces bombard Ukrainian ports just across the Danube River from NATO-member Romania. – Associated Press
Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld and Michal Wyrebkowski write: Criminalization of sanction evasion is still put on the back burner in a curious display of legislative lethargy in some parts of the EU. Soon, if the EU manages to get through its trilogue process, there will be an EU law that introduces criminal offenses and penalties for violation of EU sanctions. But then again, there remains a question of judiciary independence and whether Brussels will put enough pressure on leaders cozying up to Putin, such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. – Foreign Policy
Zoltan Barany writes: The enduring misperception among Western analysts and officials of Russia’s military strength has serious consequences. In the early phases of the current war, it may well have tempered the support in Western capitals that Ukraine has so desperately needed. Uncritical acceptance of reports and data emanating from Moscow encouraged many to believe in the inevitability of Russia’s eventual victory. Yet the effectiveness of Russia’s troops is unlikely to improve as the war grinds on. […]By recognizing and ignoring Russian propaganda and instead studying and identifying the actual vulnerabilities of Russia’s military, the United States and its allies may be able to develop new and better approaches that could allow them to help Ukraine prevail and to hasten the end of the war, just as the United States did with the Soviets’ war in Afghanistan. – Foreign Affairs
Israel
Several thousand protesters supporting the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul rallied in front of the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on Thursday, before a pivotal hearing next week on the legality of the first major bill of the overhaul. – Associated Press
The US State Department condemned Israel on Thursday for moving forward with the legalization of three wildcat outposts located deep in the West Bank. – Times of Israel
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday warned terror groups “not to test” Israel during the upcoming Jewish holiday season, and vowed a “crushing” response if they launch attacks. – Times of Israel
Editorial: The Palestinian people deserve better leadership that will bring them into the future, instead of dwelling on the lies and distortions of the past, in which Abbas is clearly still living. – Jerusalem Post
Nickolay Mladenov writes: In the end, what the Oslo Accords succeeded in forging a path toward mutual recognition. However, the aftermath of the Accords emphasized that mutual recognition cannot exist in a vacuum. It must be nurtured and sustained through constant dialogue, understanding, and compromise. A series of missed opportunities, mistakes, and a lack of political will have marked the decades since Oslo. And as we stand at this juncture, it is essential to recall the original spirit of Oslo—one of hope, cooperation, and mutual respect. – Washington Institute
Ghaith al-Omari writes: Today, many of these achievements persist. Yet the failures are also real, and the disenchantment with Oslo is the overwhelming sentiment among Palestinians. Understandable as such disenchantment may be, a collapse of the Oslo edifice will come with a hefty price for the Palestinians, not only as individuals but also as a people seeking self-determination. The “burn-it-to-the-ground-and-start-anew” approach may be emotionally satisfying, but a wiser, more responsible course would dictate preserving Oslo’s achievements and addressing whatever shortcomings that can be addressed in today’s environment until a more opportune moment for high diplomacy is reached. – Washington Institute
Liat Collins writes: The terror attacks (and incitement) that accompanied Oslo and every other attempted peace process with the Palestinians, including the 2005 disengagement from Gaza, proved that peace with the Palestinians is not just elusive but an illusion. Thirty years might be a significant anniversary, but it’s no cause for celebration. – Jerusalem Post
David Matas writes: It is not unusual in judicial review outside of Israel for such a situation to arise. Courts outside Israel, where the test for a threshold application is similar to the test in the underlying application, have held that, in the threshold application, the applicant must show a likelihood of success in the underlying application. – Jerusalem Post
Syria
The head of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) pledged to meet Arab tribal demands in eastern Syria and fix “mistakes” he said had been made in administering the region, seeking to defuse tensions that fuelled days of deadly fighting. – Reuters
Two Syrian men have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of membership in extremist groups, and one of them is suspected of involvement in a 2013 attack in eastern Syria in which more than 60 Shiite fighters and civilians were killed, prosecutors said Thursday. – Associated Press
The weeklong clashes between rival U.S.-backed militias in eastern Syria, where hundreds of American troops are deployed, point to dangerous seams in the coalition that has kept a lid on the defeated Islamic State group for years. That could be an opportunity for the radical group to reemerge. – Associated Press
Lebanon
Clashes resumed in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, with heavy gunfire and shelling wounding several people and prompting residents of the camp and the surrounding area to flee on Friday. – Associated Press
Over a thousand Syrian refugees each week fleeing to Lebanon from their country’s worsening economic and financial conditions “could create harsh imbalances” in the small Mediterranean nation, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati warned Thursday. – Associated Press
Robert G. Rabil writes: Political Maronitism metaphorically resembles the myth of Sisyphus who is condemned by the gods to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity only to have it roll down again once he got it to the top. Suicide was not an option for Sisyphus and his struggle against defeat may have gained him definition and identity. Similarly, Political Maronitism today is a struggle against defeat, but the problem is that the boulder Lebanon’s Maronites are carrying to the top of the hill may crush them on the way down, should they not learn the lessons of their history. – The National Interest
Saudi Arabia
The U.S., Saudi Arabia, India and other nations are discussing a possible infrastructure deal that could reconfigure trade between the Gulf and South Asia, linking Middle Eastern countries by railways and connecting to India by port, according to U.S. officials aware of the conversations. – Reuters
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday that U.S., Israeli and Saudi leaders have put many of the elements of a pathway to normalization on the table but there is still much work to do. Sullivan spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One as President Joe Biden flew to India to attend a G20 summit. – Reuters
Jane Nakano writes: Meanwhile, landing a deal to supply the initial two units is no guarantee that a potential subsequent deal to build part of a 16-unit fleet that Saudi Arabia seeks to have by 2040, would not go to another supplier as eager as China. Few other decisions could be more consequential to the United States and the global order as to whether to export nuclear power technology to Saudi Arabia. – Center for Strategic and International Studies
Middle East & North Africa
Abu Dhabi sovereign investor Mubadala Investment Company this week formally opened its Beijing office amid warming ties between the world’s second-largest economy and the Gulf Arab states, five people with knowledge of the matter said. – Reuters
Bahrain aims to collaborate more with Israel on technologies that help it manage water and cope with climate change, as part of a broader boost in relations between the two countries, its Ambassador to Israel said on Thursday. – Reuters
Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu (Otzma Yehudit) on Thursday said he visited the United Arab Emirates last week, where he attended a series of meetings on the subject of the Abraham Accords. – Jerusalem Post
Qatari envoy Mohammed al-Emadi traveled to the Gaza Strip this week, according to several reports in Palestinian and regional media. Emadi has played a key role in Gaza over the years. In March, he urged Israeli officials to work to de-escalate tensions, and his trip this time also coincides with tensions along the Gaza border. – Jerusalem Post
Aaron Stein writes: It is not, however, in U.S. or European interests. America’s deferential approach to Turkish policy vis-à-vis the Black Sea is understandable. However, total U.S. deference to Ankara makes little sense. The way forward is to scrupulously follow the terms of the Montreux Convention while using Romanian minesweepers to enhance NATO’s Black Sea presence, thereby getting Ukrainian grain flowing once again. – War on the Rocks
Donald Kirk writes: The nuclear issue was too sensitive, too divisive and too controversial to raise in a trilateral conversation. The U.S., however, sought to reassure South Korea and Japan of the American commitment on nuclear defense by having a nuclear submarine, capable of firing warheads, dock at the port of Busan. At Camp David, the leaders chose to stick to generalities. They may have shown their desire to cooperate on defense but avoided saying what they would do should war again engulf the region. – The Hill
Korean Peninsula
North Korea claimed Friday to have launched a new “tactical nuclear attack submarine,” in a ceremony full of pomp and self-congratulation at the Sinpho shipyard on the North’s east coast. – Washington Post
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol asked Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Thursday if Beijing could do more as a U.N. Security Council member to address North Korea’s nuclear threat. – Reuters
For the first time in nearly four years new staff have been allowed at the Russian embassy in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, the delegation said on Thursday, after anti-pandemic measures blocked most travel and lead many embassies to close. – Reuters
Defence chiefs from the U.S., South Korea and Japan on Thursday jointly condemned North Korea’s recent test of missiles and agreed to accelerate missile tracking cooperation, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defence said in a statement. – Reuters
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said on Thursday it would be a “huge mistake” for North Korea to exchange military support with Russia for use in Ukraine, while a top former U.S. intelligence official said there would likely be limits to what Pyongyang would get in return. – Reuters
Over the past year North Korea has moved to boost its navy with new nuclear weapons, including an underwater drone, warships, and its first operational missile submarine, unveiled on Friday. North Korea’s navy has historically been dwarfed by the country’s land forces, and overshadowed by its rapidly advancing ballistic missile program. – Reuters
China
China remains willing to work with Italy to improve trade and investment ties, the commerce ministry said on Thursday, even as the only Group of Seven power to join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) considers quitting the Beijing-led scheme. – Reuters
China’s Premier Li Qiang met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Indonesia, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Thursday. – Reuters
David Ignatius writes: China now needs the United States and other Western economies it had disdained after the 2008 financial crash, when Beijing spoke of a West in permanent decline. Premier Wen Jiabao lectured the audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2009 about the West’s “unsustainable model of development characterized by prolonged low savings and high consumption.” – Washington Post
South Asia
Deepening global rivalries will overshadow this week’s gathering of the world’s largest economies in India, as the leaders of China and Russia stay home and the U.S. seeks to strengthen ties to India as a counter to Beijing. – Wall Street Journal
Inside a sprawling golf resort south of New Delhi, diplomats were busy making final preparations for a fast-approaching global summit meeting. The road outside was freshly smoothed and dotted with police officers. Posters emblazoned with the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi bore the slogan he had chosen for the occasion: One Earth, One Family, One Future. – New York Times
Pakistan’s main border crossing with Afghanistan was closed for a second day on Thursday, leading to a build-up of trucks laden with goods, after clashes between security forces from the two countries. The busy border crossing had closed on Wednesday after Pakistani and Afghan Taliban forces started firing at each other, according to local officials. – Reuters
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Friday the United States was willing to work with India to help craft a communique at the end of the Group of 20 Summit in New Delhi over the weekend, but it would be a challenge. – Reuters
The White House expects to see meaningful progress on GE jet engines and civil nuclear technology in upcoming bilateral talks between U.S. President Joe Biden and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Thursday. – Reuters
India has proposed that a G20 statement condemning the war in Ukraine also accommodate the views of Russia and China to avoid an impasse for the divided bloc, Indian officials said on Thursday. – Reuters
The Taliban, facing international sanctions and a dire economic outlook at home, have intensified efforts to leverage Afghanistan’s vast natural resources. From oil to copper, gold and lithium, the Islamist leadership, unrecognized by any nation as Afghanistan’s legitimate government, has inked multibillion-dollar mining deals with Chinese and other foreign companies. – Voice of America
Asia
China poses no threat to Australia, and will not do so in future, Li Zhaoxing, a former foreign minister, said on Thursday, as the two nations resumed a high-level dialogue track after a break of three years. – Reuters
Indonesia has asked the United States to begin talks on a trade deal for critical minerals so that exports from the Southeast Asian country can be covered under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, an Indonesian ministry said on Thursday. – Reuters
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy called China’s position on the release of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant “unfair” and “false” during a visit to Tokyo on Thursday. – Reuters
The Philippines has signed a free trade deal with South Korea, its president said on Thursday, completing four years of negotiations between the countries on trade and investment ties. – Reuters
Australia and China have made progress in returning to “unimpeded trade” and more is needed, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday as he met Chinese Premier Li Qiang at a regional summit in Indonesia. – Reuters
Australia and the Philippines on Friday agreed to hold annual defence ministers’ meetings as the two nations upgraded bilateral ties to a strategic partnership amid rising security challenges in the region, including in the South China Sea. – Reuters
Europe
The U.K. is set to re-enter the European Union’s flagship scientific research program, according to two people familiar with discussions, the biggest step by the U.K. to tighten ties with the bloc since Brexit. – Wall Street Journal
Kosovo’s president on Thursday accused Serbian investigators of dragging their feet over an inquiry into attacks on NATO peacekeepers earlier this year in which dozens of troops and police officers were injured, some of them seriously. – Associated Press
Romania was not the first country to show up at this strange party. Its defense minister, Angel Tilvar, admitted on Wednesday that parts of an Iranian-made drone from Russia’s recent attacks on a Ukrainian port on the Danube were found on the territory of his country, a member of NATO. – New York Sun
Elisabeth Braw writes: That makes it imperative for Western countries to monitor sudden disinformation surges. Companies operating in unfriendly countries should create contingency plans or reduce their operations there. And ordinary citizens should verify information before sharing it so they don’t unwittingly spread hostile regimes’ falsehoods. It’s in everyone’s interest to blunt the power of these ugly and cowardly campaigns. – Wall Street Journal
Africa
Islamist militants staged separate attacks on a passenger ferry and a military camp in northern Mali on Thursday, the government said, killing dozens of civilians and soldiers in a region of the West African nation that is increasingly controlled by armed groups. – New York Times
Chad’s interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby spoke with the U.S. envoy to the United Nations about challenges to holding an election, the envoy said on Thursday, more than two years after bypassing the central African country’s constitution to install himself as leader. – Reuters
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema will visit China from Sunday, China’s foreign ministry announced on Friday, bringing the indebted African country’s long-running struggle to restructure its external debt to its biggest creditor’s door. – Reuters
The Pentagon is repositioning some troops and equipment within Niger and will withdraw a small number of non-essential personnel “out of an abundance of caution,” U.S. officials told Reuters on Thursday, the first major American military movement in Niger since a coup in July. – Reuters
Armed militants stopped cars, shot at passengers and set vehicles on fire during an attack on a village in Anglophone Cameroon’s South West region on Thursday, residents and a Reuters reporter said. – Reuters
Adekeye Adebajo writes: The US must now halt its traditional deference to Paris on Sahel matters to avoid being tarred with the same neocolonial brush. Any ECOWAS military intervention would be widely perceived as symbolizing a Franco-American Trojan horse to protect Western interests in Niger. Washington must instead strongly back regional mediation efforts by ECOWAS and the AU, bolstered by the UN. – Bloomberg
The Americas
Canada on Thursday appointed a judge to lead a probe into alleged foreign interference into the country’s politics, months after security officials told politicians that they believe China’s Communist Party paid agents to thwart rivals to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the 2021 general election. – Wall Street Journal
A retired Colombian army officer pleaded guilty in a U.S. court on Thursday to conspiring and supporting a plot to kill Haitian President Jovenel Moise, shot dead in his bedroom two years ago, a brazen assassination that created a destabilizing power vacuum. – Reuters
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro will visit China over Sept. 8-14, China’s foreign ministry said on Friday, marking renewed engagement between the two countries amid deepening tensions between Beijing and Western capitals. – Reuters
The governments of El Salvador and the United States will revive the Peace Corps program in the Central American country, after the U.S. agency concluded that security conditions have improved following a seven-year freeze blamed on deadly gang violence. – Reuters
P. Michael McKinley writes: This is a far cry from where Washington could be with Latin America; then again, it has been at this juncture before and found a way to rebuild. The difference this time is that a changing global geopolitical landscape may make it more difficult to convince governments in the hemisphere that a revitalized strong relationship with the United States remains in their interest. On the evidence so far, it will be a heavy lift. – Center for Strategic and International Studies
United States
Editorial: U.S. gasoline prices have risen 60 cents a gallon this year as Saudi Arabia and Russia command the oil market. The Administration flogs jobs created by its green-energy subsidies, but how many more are its climate policies destroying? Employment in oil and gas extraction is 15% lower than before the pandemic. Sorry, Mr. President, unemployed roustabouts in Alaska aren’t going to be installing solar panels in the tundra. – Wall Street Journal
Philip Bump writes: Reinforcing that discomfort makes sense as a tactic. So does winking at Trump’s long-standing sympathy with Russian President Vladimir Putin, including after the expanded invasion of Ukraine. But the argument is not simply cynical. As the rhetoric of his 2008 opponents makes clear, a real threat to democracy exists. Trump’s power over the right and his rhetoric about the left combine to foster both sincere and broadly unjustified anger at the system — and to make it valuable to feign that anger to appeal to his supporters. – Washington Post
Robert Peters writes: The current U.S. nuclear arsenal was designed for a world in which Russia did not have 2,000 non-strategic nuclear weapons and did not invade its neighbors or threaten NATO states with nuclear strikes. It was a world in which China would follow American leadership toward nuclear disarmament—not build nuclear weapons to reach parity. The current U.S. arsenal is simply insufficient to deter a China and a Russia that are on the march. If America does not build the arsenal needed to ensure peace, it will suffer the consequences. – Heritage Foundation
Cybersecurity
A Russian national found guilty of hacking into corporate earnings databases to steal and trade on nonpublic information about companies like Tesla and Roku was sentenced Thursday to nine years in prison. – Wall Street Journal
North Korean hackers targeted Russian diplomats and successfully breached a Russian aerospace research institute earlier this year, Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) said in a blog post published Thursday. – Reuters
Microsoft researchers said on Thursday they found what they believe is a network of fake, Chinese-controlled social media accounts seeking to influence U.S. voters by using artificial intelligence. – Reuters
State-backed North Korean hackers are reportedly targeting security researchers using at least one zero-day vulnerability, Google warned in a report released Thursday. – The Record
The U.S. Justice Department unsealed indictments on Thursday against nine individuals associated with the Trickbot and Conti cybercriminal gangs, the latest in an ongoing campaign against digital crime organizations. – The Record
Eleven Russian nationals alleged to have been part of the criminal group operating the Trickbot malware and Conti ransomware schemes were sanctioned Thursday by authorities in the United States and United Kingdom. – The Record
The city council of Seville, Spain, was still recovering Thursday from a cyberattack that officials have attributed to the LockBit cybercrime gang. The council said it will not pay a ransom of $1.5 million demanded by the hackers, according to local media reports. The incident has affected a broad range of city services, including police, firefighters and tax collection. – The Record
Erica Lonergan and Jacquelyn Schneider write: Moreover, some disruptive events may prove too difficult, costly, or simply impossible to deter or defend against; these are the challenges in which resilience will be essential. Given these rising stakes, the United States must be prepared to accept some measure of risk—specifically, accepting that some disruptions are inevitable and that failures may occur in the short term. As new kinds of digital threats and warfare capabilities emerge, it is critical that the United States take resilience seriously—or it will find itself floored by attacks that its friends and rivals will be able to withstand. – Foreign Affairs
Defense
The U.S. Army is scrapping its current upgrade plans for the Abrams main battle tank and pursuing a more significant modernization effort to increase its mobility and survivability on the battlefield, the service announced in a statement Wednesday. – Defense News
The U.S. Army will soon provide incentives for larger defense companies to incorporate technology developed through small businesses as part of competitive development programs, the service’s undersecretary said Sept. 6 at the Defense News Conference. – Defense News
The Army’s top civilian over acquisitions has approved the next phase of development for the service’s “do-it-all” device, the Integrated Visual Augmentation System. – Defense News
As the U.S. Marine Corps considers how to move weapons around contested waters to resupply forces ashore, it’s copying an unusual source: drug traffickers. – Defense News
The U.S. Marine Corps will test out its first stern landing vessel at an Army event this spring, a top general said Wednesday, as the service prepares to create a fleet of shore-to-shore connectors to support Marines operating in the Pacific. – Defense News
The U.S. Marine Corps is interested in using unmanned submersibles or surface vessels as motherships for swarms of one-way drones, according to a top modernization official. – Defense News
Ira Stoll writes: In defense as in other domains, the incentives of capitalism reward excellence and spur innovation. Plenty of technologies initially developed for military use have spun off productive peacetime applications—radar, jet engines, the internet, cellphones, sport-utility vehicles and khakis, to name only a few. – Wall Street Journal