GLOBAL MILITARY UPDATE

As many readers know, I periodically update readers of this blog about military developments that are occurring around the world, but which receive little publicity. Given that Matthew 24:6 prophesied that “wars and rumors of wars” will characterize the latter days of our age before Jesus Christ returns, and given that Daniel 8:23-27, 11:40-45, Ezekiel 38-39, Joel 2, Zechariah 14, Revelation 16:12-18 and Revelation 19 all predict massive global wars will occur in the closing years of our age, I think it behooves us to be aware of the latest military developments concerning, weaponry, alliances, etc.

The first two links have some very important news. The Russian S-400 air defense system is considered to be a world-class air defensive system. It is reported to be so good that Turkey decided to buy it rather than a NATO-built air defense system. A recent event indicates Turkey may have bought an air defense system that is already obsolescent. The first link reports that Ukraine destroyed a Russian S-400 system with a single Neptune cruise missile. This is of huge importance to all military forces and defense contractors everywhere. It means that (A) Ukraine has a much more sophisticated defense industry that previously thought or (B) the Ukrainian missile was fitted with upgraded NATO-designed technology that was being battle-tested in combat conditions. I think option B is the most likely correct answer. Apparently, the accounts of the destruction of the S-400 system indicate the Ukrainian missile penetrated all defensive systems built into the S-400 system. Such a development should give pause to Russia concerning any plans to widen the Ukraine war to include NATO nations. The second link reports Ukrainian missiles and drones were fired at a Russian dry dock facility, and that the attack succeeded in damaging or destroying two Russian warships (a submarine and a large surface ship). Such an outcome would indicate Russian warships in its Black Sea fleet are becoming more vulnerable.

The third link reports that Poland has taken another in a series of important steps to becoming a major conventional weapons power in Europe. It is purchasing almost 500 HIMARS artillery launchers/rounds for its artillery forces along with a range of other weaponry. The HIMARS artillery system has been used very successfully by Ukraine in fighting Russian forces. Poland hopes to eventually produce the HIMARS system in Poland, but the demand for the system is so great that deliveries are not expected to reach Poland until 2025. When Poland receives this weaponry, it will be among the major military powers in Europe. Poland does not yet have nuclear weapons; if it possessed them, it would be a major power already. Having been conquered and divided between German and Russian powers in past centuries, Poland is determined to become strong enough to defend itself from any attack from any direction. My advice to Poland would be to have air defense systems active at all times to defend against Russian missiles and warplanes coming from Kaliningrad in any future Russian attack vs. NATO. Those Russian missiles would take mere minutes or seconds to reach Polish targets so Poland must have their defenses on a hair-trigger alert mode.

Now let’s look at US Navy issues. The Navy is in the process of decommissioning its “Littoral Combat Ships” (fourth link). These ships were badly-designed from the beginning. They were under gunned and under-armored from the start. I have regarded them as little more than aluminum coffins in any major fleet actions. Billions of dollars were wasted building them for US Naval purposes; however, decommissioning them may be a bad idea. They could easily be transferred to the US Coast Guard which could use them for drug-interdiction, sea-rescue and anti-submarine missions along US coasts. Doing this would preclude the need to waste money building new Coast Guard ships when these navy ships would do nicely for Coast Guard purposes. The fifth link contains an analysis of the Navy’s ship-building strategy. It mentions the Navy’s plan to decommission Navy cruisers and other surface combatants, a plan I strongly disagree with. At the very least, these ships should not be decommissioned until new ships are built and ready to replace them. Also, in any war with China, we need all the ships we can muster to carry out missions during a time when warships will be lost. We must have replacement ships with skilled crews available to move into the front lines during any war. An aging but well-maintained and well-crewed warship is far better than having nothing to replace ships sunk in combat. The sixth link details the concerns of Congress that the Navy has not met its goal of having 66 nuclear submarines. It only has 49 at present, and the article does not reveal how many of those 49 subs are actually sea-worthy and not being modified or upgraded in port facilities. The seventh link reports a Navy ship, the USS Zumwalt, is being readied to receive new hypersonic missiles systems. That is great news, but don’t hold your breath on this actually happening. This isn’t going to happen for months…or even years. The link states the new system will be installed on the ship circa 2026-2027. Translation: the hypersonic missile system it will receive is nowhere near ready to be installed yet.

Now lets look at the US army. The Biden administration, ever self-intoxicated with all things electric, is seriously thinking of building tanks powered by electric batteries (eighth link). This a fool’s venture. Where will any such tank be deployed? There are NO electric-charging stations anywhere in the world at which it could recharge. If they are deployed to a war zone and have to sit immobile for hours while their batteries recharge, they will be sitting ducks for enemy weaponry. A gas-powered tank can refuel within minutes and be on its way. a gas-powered tank also has far superior range to an electric tank. A gas-powered tank can also be refueled from a mobile oil tanker truck. Will electric tanks carry with them mobile electric power plants to generate enough electricity to recharge a fleet of tanks? The idea of electric tanks and armored vehicles is a madcap idea that is best forgotten quickly. Electric tanks and armored vehicles would make the US army much weaker in many ways. The heavy weight of an electric battery big enough to operate a tank would be so heavy that such a tank may not even be transportable by any heavy-lift aircraft in the US inventory.

Now let’s consider some foreign military developments. New Zealand has realized that it must replace its small and aging navy ships with modern vessels (ninth link). A major military exercise was held on Indonesian soil featuring mostly Indonesian, American and Australian forces, but there were also British, French and Singaporean forces participating (tenth link). Clearly, it is the ongoing Chinese militarism threatening the entire Indo-Pacific region which is pushing all nations threatened by China together. Another piece of evidence supporting this conclusion is the recent strategic security pact signed between the nations of Australia and the Philippines (eleventh link). Japan is undergoing a major military build-up and it needs to do so. It has been held back by its pacifist Constitution for decades, but Japan is now making a major effort to make up for lost time in its current military expansion (twelfth link). This is essential as Japan’s very existence is threatened by nuclear-armed North Korea and China in its neighborhood. Finally, Israel has deployed a very high-tech surveillance plane which features AI-equipped technologies (thirteenth link). The final link also includes a discussion about how to integrate AI systems into human-controlled commands.

The above are some insights into what is being publicly released to the media and general public about new military weaponry, developments, etc. What ought to really concern us is what we are not being told regarding military weaponry and systems that have been deployed but about which no one knows anything…yet.

GLOBAL MILITARY UPDATE

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