US military braces for Irma; The logic of N. Korea’s nuke-tests; How Tokyo, Seoul might arm up; Why NATO can’t move forces like Russia; and just a bit more...
More than 5,000 U.S. Navy sailors and their families are evacuating the Naval Air Station Key West, in the beautiful Florida Keys — where nearly 80,000 other Americans call home, CNN reported Tuesday. (Personnel and inmates at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay are sheltering in place, says Navy Times.)
Irma is now a Category 5 hurricane with winds in excess of 180 miles per hour, with forecasters calling it “one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic,” the Washington Post reports. “It is in the direct path of the storm as currently forecast, leading local officials there to announce that the area would be under mandatory evacuation orders beginning Wednesday.”
Miami’s 2.7 million people are urged to stock up on food and water as city officials began “evacuating those with special needs” this morning, the Post writes.
Overnight, President Trump approved an emergency declaration for Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. That move “authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts.”
So far, Florida Governor Rick Scott “has activated 100 members of his state’s National Guard and said he has directed all 7,000 members to report for duty on Friday,” the Post adds. Scott also lifted tolls on highways across the state to better facilitate evacuation efforts.
On standby: The U.S. Navy’s “amphibious assault ship Kearsarge, the dock landing ship Oak Hill and the embarked Marines of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit,” the same crew that helped out for last week’s Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, Navy Times reports. “The Marines have eight MV-22B Ospreys, three CH-53E Super Stallion heavy-lift helicopters and three UH-1Y Venom light helicopters aboard the Kearsarge. The Marines can purify water, deliver relief supplies, conduct aerial reconnaissance and provide engineering capabilities if called upon.” More here.
What about Guantanamo Bay and its 1,500 or so U.S. personnel? They are sheltering in place, Miami Herald’s Carol Rosenberg reports.
You can track the latest updates from the storm over at CNN or at the National Hurricane Center, here.
From Defense One
Here's What the US Could Sell South Korea and Japan to Counter North Korea // Marcus Weisgerber and Patrick Tucker: Trump doubles the allowable size of Seoul's warheads and promises to transfer more sophisticated weapons to Asian allies.
Russia Has 100K Troops On the Move. Here’s Why NATO Can’t Do the Same // Elisabeth Braw: From mismatched rail lines to red tape, a host of obstacles show why NATO needs its own version of Russia's upcoming Zapad 2017 exercise.
Building an H-Bomb in Plain Sight // Alex Wellerstein: Usually countries build nuclear weapons in secret—but not North Korea.
The Clear Logic of the Latest North Korean Test // Joshua Pollack: Kim Jong Un has a predictable purpose and a plan.
South Korea Is Right // Peter Beinart: Trump has characterized its policy as "appeasement." But Seoul's approach is far more sensible than Washington's.
Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of The D Brief by Ben Watson and Bradley Peniston. OTD2007: Israeli jets destroy an undeclared nuclear reactor in Syria. Have something you want to share? Email us at the-d-brief@defenseone.com. (And if you’re reading this on our website, consider subscribing. It’s free.)
More eyes on North Korea? The U.S. and South Korean militaries “have agreed to deploy US aircraft carriers, bombers and stealth fighters around the Korean Peninsula,” Japan’s NHK News reports.
ICYMI: SecDef Mattis promised "a massive military response" to any North Korean “threat to the United States or its territories, including Guam, or our allies,” he said on Sunday after meeting with the president, VP Pence and top national security advisers, CNN reported. Mattis: "We are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea, but as I said, we have many options to do so.” More here.
About that alleged H-bomb… “North Korea’s sixth nuclear test on Sunday released 140 kilotons of TNT equivalent,” The Diplomat’s Ankit Panda reported Monday off of “a new U.S. intelligence assessment.” More on the nuclear guessing game, here.
And on Thursday: “The U.S. military will deploy additional [THAAD] missile interceptor launchers to its base” in Seonju, South Korea, Yonhap News agency reports this morning. Some residents aren’t pleased, “arguing the THAAD battery could turn the village, some 300 kilometers south of Seoul, into a military target, and that electromagnetic waves emanating from its powerful radar could cause health and environmental problems.
Signs of the imminent deployment were detected in the morning when some 360 police troops — much more than the usual 200 staff — were dispatched to the THAAD deployment site apparently to prepare for possible clashes with protesters.” More here.
Also from the region: The “MV-22 Osprey that crashed off Australia’s eastern coast in early August has been recovered and will soon be analyzed as part of an ongoing investigation into the incident that killed three Marines,” Stars and Stripes reports this morning. “The aircraft was recovered in about 165 feet of water approximately 18 miles off the coast of Queensland by the USNS Salvor and Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit One, with the assistance of the MMA Pinnacle Offshore Supply Ship, the statement said. The Osprey is in Townsville, Queensland, where it is being prepared to be taken to Hawaii for analysis.” Story, here.
Pro tip for life in Afghanistan: Do not open fire on a NATO helicopter. Two gunmen died in Kabul on Tuesday when they attempted just that, and met the business end of the helicopter’s guns when the soldiers manning them fired back, AP reports. More here.
Lockheed’s helicopter-based missile detection system passed its Preliminary Design Review, SeaPower magazine reported Tuesday. “The AOEW [Advanced Off-Board Electronic Warfare] system will provide MH-60 helicopters with enhanced electronic warfare surveillance and countermeasure capabilities against anti-ship missile threats...The U.S. Navy awarded Lockheed Martin a $42 million contract for the system design and development phase. Lockheed Martin expects to be awarded the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the contract, which has options for six units, in later this year.
The AOEW AN/ALQ-248 can work independently or with the ship’s onboard electronic surveillance sensor, SEWIP [Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program] Block 2 AN/SLQ-32(V)6, to detect an incoming missile and then evaluate where it is going. AOEW then uses radio frequency countermeasure techniques to deter the missile.” More here.
The U.S. Navy is broadening how it credits sailors for participating in combat, Military.com reports. According to a late-August, all-Navy message, “Marines and sailors can begin to receive awards bearing new ‘C’ and ‘R’ devices, indicating the award was earned under combat conditions or for remote impact on a fight, a condition that would apply to drone operators, among others.” Read on, here.
And finally today: A moving tale of perseverance. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Kenneth Dwyer has been in his job as Hunter Army Airfield’s garrison commander since June. But the Savannah Morning News reports that 11 years ago, Dwyer’s career was almost cut short when he and his fellow Green Berets found themselves pinned down in a fight with insurgents at a bazaar in south-central Afghanistan’s Oruzgan province. One insurgent fired an RPG at Dwyer’s humvee, resulting in the loss of his “left hand and eye,” as well as leaving him “unable to move his right arm and barely able to speak.”
SMN picks up his story, here.