Tag: China

On the technology front, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has designed a camera pod to carry on P-3’s and P-8’s that will provide video evidence of reckless intercepts by anybody who attempts them. We hear about the unsafe airmanship and dangerous maneuvers when they happen, but NRL is giving our maritime patrol aircraft the ability […]

United States Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson considered sharing the atomic bomb; in his plan to President Harry Truman. Secretary Stimson expressed a prophetic understanding of the global dynamics of what would soon become an international arms race for dominance of atomic and nuclear armament: The Cold War.  Secretary Stimson’s plan addressed the fundamental […]

China’s about to join an exclusive club for nuclear powers. After decades of development, 2016 could be the year the Chinese navy finally sends its ballistic-missile submarines—“SSBN” is the Pentagon’s designation—to sea for the first time for operational patrols with live, nuclear-tipped rockets. If indeed the Jin-class subs head to sea this year, China will achieve a level of nuclear strike […]

Chinese official says jets maintained a safe distance from American aircraft; urges Washington to halt such reconnaissance activities. China criticized Washington for deploying a U.S. reconnaissance plane near Chinese territory, but denied a Pentagon account that Chinese jet fighters conducted a risky close-range interception—the latest spat between the powers that fueled concern over the growing risks […]

WASHINGTON –  The Pentagon says two Chinese fighter jets flew within about 50 feet of a U.S. Navy reconnaissance plane Tuesday in international airspace over the South China Sea. The Pentagon characterized the incident as an unsafe intercept and said it is being reviewed. A U.S. military official says the two Chinese J-11 fighters flew […]

China’s Foreign Ministry denounced the latest Pentagon report on Chinese military developments, claiming that it was full of untruths and based on an outdated “Cold War” mentality. The report describes in detail the People’s Liberation Army’s advances in air, ground, sea, nuclear, and cyber warfare, as well as Chinese island building in the South China […]

Erik Prince. For a lot of folks, the mere mention of his name is guaranteed to evoke a visceral reaction. A philanthropist, businessman, and former U.S. Navy SEAL officer, Prince is best known as the founder of the private security company formerly known as Blackwater USA.  has branched out in a different direction. As the […]

When Zhang Hongbing was a young man during China’s Cultural Revolution, his loyalty to Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong knew no bounds. He even denounced his mother for speaking ill of the iconic leader and sent her to death. Zhang, a 62-year-old retired lawyer, no longer toes the party line, at least regarding those 10 violent and chaotic years from 1966 to 1976, […]

Hillary Clinton presents an interesting phenomenon when it comes to examining her professed—and practiced—foreign policy.

The U.S. Navy on Tuesday sent a guided missile destroyer within 12 miles of a disputed island in the South China Sea where China has built an airstrip — prompting China to scramble fighter jets and dispatch warships to “expel” the American ship. “USS William P. Lawrence exercised the right of innocent passage while transiting […]

The U.S. must modernize its nuclear force to remain on-par with near-peer adversaries Russia and China, a top Air Force general said Friday. Lt. Gen. Stephen “Seve” Wilson, the deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said the U.S. has no choice but to modernize and update its nuclear force if it wants to continue deterring […]

Reddit recently asked an interesting question, and I decided to expand on it here, at SOFREP. You’re in the CIA and you suspect a fellow agent to be a spy. They’re 25-35 and speak perfect English. What question do you ask to determine whether they grew up in the U.S.? Isaac Asimov once answered this questions […]