Category Archives: US Military

Latest leak highlights how many have access to US top secret material

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Classified documents revealing Ukraine military troubles and US intel gathering against allies were probably spread through gaming servers

The evidence emerging on the leak of classified US defence documents suggests that it was probably not some dastardly hacking or disinformation plot by Russia or the US, but rather another example of how carelessly Washington handles its secrets.

The least likely version of reality is the one being circulated among Kremlin supporters, that it was a clever piece of CIA distraction ultimately aimed at demoralising Russians by showing how many lives they had lost, and how badly their war was going in Ukraine.

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Ukraine’s air defences could soon run out of missiles, apparent Pentagon leak suggests

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Documents dating from February suggest looming risk to Ukraine’s ability to protect troops and vital sites from Russian airpower

Ukraine’s air defences risk running out of missiles and ammunition within weeks, an apparent leak of Pentagon documents dating from February suggests, as US defence officials raced to trace how the files became public.

One of the documents, dated 23 February and marked “Secret”, outlines in detail how Ukraine’s Soviet-era S-300 air defence systems would be depleted by 2 May at the current usage rate. It is unclear if the usage rate has since changed.

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White House blames Trump for 2021 Afghanistan troop withdrawal chaos

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Biden administration releases review saying president’s options were ‘severely constrained’ by decisions of predecessor

The US government has released a review of the chaotic 2021 troop withdrawal from Afghanistan which largely lays the blame on Donald Trump, saying President Joe Biden was “severely constrained” by the decisions of his predecessor.

The White House on Thursday publicly released a 12-page summary of the results of the US policies around the ending of the nation’s longest war, taking little responsibility for its own actions. The administration said most of the after-action reviews, which were transmitted privately to Congress, were highly classified and would not be released.

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Chinese balloon gathered intelligence from sensitive US military sites – report

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Huge balloon was able to send information back to Beijing in real time as it was flown above US territory, NBC News reports

A Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence as it flew over sensitive military sites in the US, despite efforts by the Joe Biden White House to thwart its espionage mission, new reports suggest.

China succeeded in flying the massive balloon over some military bases on multiple occasions and sent the information back to Beijing in real time, NBC News reported on Monday, citing two current senior US officials and one former high-level administrator. The balloon, which was the size of three school buses, was occasionally flown in a figure-eight formation over at least some of those sensitive sites before it was shot down in early February.

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Two US army Black Hawk helicopters crash on training mission in Kentucky

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Status of crew members not immediately known but Kentucky governor says deaths are expected

The governor of Kentucky has said deaths are expected after two US army Black Hawk helicopters crashed during a routine training mission over the state.

The status of the crew members was not immediately known, the US army’s Fort Campbell said in a statement to Reuters, without providing the number of people who were onboard.

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Afghans resettled in US fear being sent back as pathway to legal status stalls in Congress

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More than 78,000 Afghan refugees relocated to the US as part of Operation Allies Welcome, but few have gained permanent status

On the day he turned 24 earlier this month, Asmatullah checked the status of his asylum request online, hoping that an approval would be his birthday gift.

When he realized that his case was still pending, he took a deep breath and looked up at the California sky, more than 7,000 miles away from the city he grew up in but that he fears returning to.

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US strikes Iran-backed group in Syria after deadly attack on coalition base

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Airstrikes in retaliation to attack on base in north-east by suspected Iranian-made drone that killed US contractor

The US military has carried out airstrikes against Iran-backed forces in retaliation for an attack that killed an American contractor and wounded five US troops.

A day after the deadly attack on US personnel in Syria, which Washington blamed on a drone of Iranian origin, sources said a US base in Syria’s north-east was targeted in a new missile attack. US officials said there were no US casualties in the incident on Friday.

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US releases footage of Russian jet crashing into American drone over Black Sea

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Pentagon says video has been edited for length but shows events in sequential order

A remarkable video released by the Pentagon shows the moments before a Russian fighter crashed into a $32m US Reaper drone after spraying it with jet fuel on Tuesday morning over the Black Sea.

The declassified footage shows an Su-27 Flanker jet making two exceptionally close passes of the uncrewed drone, spraying fuel in front of it, a harassment tactic that US experts say has not been seen before.

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‘Path of error and danger’: China angry and confused over Aukus deal

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Deal is designed to counter perceived threat from Beijing but analysts in China say it could push region closer to conflict

When the UK, the US and Australia announced the details of their multibillion-dollar deal to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines on Monday, the reaction in China was both outrage and confusion.

The allies were “walking further and further down the path of error and danger”, said Wang Wenbin, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, on Tuesday. The Chinese mission to the UN accused the three countries of fuelling an arms race.

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Russia plans to recover wreckage of US drone downed over Black Sea

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‘I certainly hope for success,’ says senior Kremlin official of hopes of raising debris from seabed west of Crimea

Moscow has said it intends to recover the wreckage of a US drone brought down on Tuesday following an interception by Russian fighter jets, but the White House said the debris could be in such deep water that recovery is impossible.

“I don’t know if we can recover [it] or not, but we will certainly have to do that, and we will deal with it,” Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s security council, said on Wednesday. “I certainly hope for success.”

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Miscalculation fears rise after Russian fighter jet collides with US drone over Black Sea

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US accuses Russia of ‘unsafe and unprofessional’ intercept of MQ-9 Reaper drone over waters west of Crimea

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A Russian fighter has collided with a US Reaper drone, forcing it down into the Black Sea, in what US forces called an “unsafe and unprofessional” intercept.

A US European Command statement said the collision happened just after 7am on Tuesday morning, when two Russian Su-27 fighter jets flew up to the MQ-9 Reaper drone over international waters west of Crimea. The statement said the Russian pilots sought to disrupt the US aircraft before the collision.

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Russian downing of US drone marks escalation of confrontation near war zone

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Russia’s and China’s ‘signalling’ to US aircraft in international airspace is nothing new, but downing a craft is a worrying development

On any given day around Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, Russian and Nato aircraft and naval vessels, manned and unmanned, buzz around in close proximity, a constant recipe for a superpower crisis along the edges of a war.

The stakes are raised by the fact that both sides have thousands of nuclear warheads as a weapon of last resort, and the risks are raised considerably by reckless behaviour.

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What is the Aukus submarine deal and what does it mean? – the key facts

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The four-phase plan has made nuclear arms control experts nervous … here’s why

In a tripartite deal with the US and the UK, Australia has unveiled a plan to acquire a fleet of up to eight nuclear-powered submarines, forecast to cost up to $368bn between now and the mid-2050s. Australia will spend $9bn over the next four years.

From this year Australian military and civilian personnel will embed with US and UK navies, including within both countries’ submarine industrial bases. From 2027 the UK and the US plan to rotate their nuclear-powered submarines through HMAS Stirling near Perth as part of a push to step up training of Australians.

Embedded personnel and port visits: Australian military and civilian personnel will embed with the the allies’ navies. US nuclear-powered submarines will increase their visits to Australian ports, with Australian sailors joining US crews for training.

Submarine rotations: From 2027 the UK and the US plan to rotate one UK Astute class submarine and up to four US Virginia class submarines through HMAS Stirling.

Sale of US Virginia-class submarines: From the early 2030s – pending approval by Congress – the US intends to sell Australia three Virginia-class submarines, with a potential option for two more if required.

SSN-Aukus: A combination of UK submarine design and US defence technology will contribute to the development of the new SSN-Aukus submarine – intended as the future attack submarine for both the UK and Australia. Both Australia and the UK intend to start building SSN-Aukus submarines in their domestic shipyards before the end of this decade. The first such boat may enter into UK service in the late 2030s, but the Australian navy will receive its first Australian-built SSN-Aukus submarine in the early 2040s.

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Veterans give searing testimony on US withdrawal from Afghanistan at hearing

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Witnesses described the chaos and panic of the 2021 US departure during the Republican inquiry, which had people in tears at times

Military members and veterans of the Afghanistan war offered harrowing eyewitness testimony of the chaotic and deadly withdrawal from the country’s longest conflict, during an hours-long congressional hearing on Wednesday. They also pleaded with Congress to help the Afghan allies left behind.

In searing, sometimes graphic detail, several witnesses recounted their experiences as active-duty service members sent to assist with the evacuation of US troops and civilians from Afghanistan as the Taliban swept to power in August 2021.

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Pentagon accused of blocking effort to hand Russia war crimes evidence to ICC

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Defence department reportedly unwilling to share intelligence over fears precedent could be set against US soldiers

The Pentagon has been accused of blocking the sharing of US intelligence with the international criminal court (ICC) about Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

The Biden White House and state department have been a proponent of cooperation with the Hague-based ICC, as a means of holding Russian forces accountable for widespread war crimes, but the defence department is firmly opposed on the grounds that the precedent could eventually be turned against US soldiers.

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Australia will put nuclear safety ‘above all else’ as it builds submarines, vice admiral says

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In interview with Guardian Australia, Jonathan Mead moves to allay concerns as Aukus partners prepare to announce detailed plans

Australia will put nuclear safety “above all else” as it begins the “generational challenge” of building and operating nuclear-powered submarines under the Aukus pact, the government’s top adviser has said.

Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead has moved to allay concerns – both at home and across the region – about nuclear safety as Australia, the US and the UK prepare to announce their detailed plans within days.

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Daniel Duggan says he faces ‘gross injustice’ if extradited to US in speech from Sydney prison

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The former US marine pilot urges his audience to ‘say no to politically charged extraditions of Australian citizens’

In a speech from prison, the Australian pilot Daniel Duggan has said he faces a “gross injustice” if extradited to the US and, potentially, a “cruelly long sentence”, warning Australia against acquiescing to the demands of powerful countries.

The address, dictated by Duggan from his prison cell to his legal team, and read on his behalf on Saturday night in Sydney, urged his audience to “say no to Australia being a political lackey to any foreign government, as allies can be dangerous too”.

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Biden pledges more Moscow sanctions: ‘Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia’ – as it happened

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Speaking before a crowd of thousands in the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle, Joe Biden hailed the resilience of Ukraine’s people and the benevolence of Poland and other western allies in helping fend off the Russian invasion.

“Autocrats only understand one word: no.” Biden said. “No, you will not take my country. No, you will not take my freedom. No, you will not take my future. I’ll repeat tonight what I said last year at the same place. A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never be able to ease the people’s love of liberties. Brutality will never grind down the will of the free. Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia, never.”

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US and Ukraine ‘still having discussions’ amid pressure to supply F-16 jets

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UN ambassador says US must ensure Ukrainians ‘have the training necessary … to use weapons systems we provide’

The US ambassador to the United Nations indicated on Sunday that the White House could reverse its refusal to supply F-16 jets to Ukraine.

“We’re still having discussions on the ground with the Ukrainians,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield told CNN’s State of the Union, adding that Washington was working “very closely and directly” with Kyiv to identify “what their needs are and when they need them”.

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