![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/1138px-RMS_Titanic_2-e1491875270982.jpg\" "\\"Image")
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Sea State<\/strong><\/p>\n The USN needs an extra $2.1 billion<\/a> this year to address immediate readiness shortfalls, says Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson. Testifying last week<\/a> before the House Armed Services Committee on the impact a new Continuing Resolution<\/a> would have on naval readiness, Richardson argued deterrence would be diminished without the extra funds. But, according to The Diplomat, <\/em>the Navy\u2019s deterrent effect is already blunted, with its fleet \u2018still more-or-less deploying at peacetime levels\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n Norway will start construction of the world\u2019s first ship tunnel<\/a> in 2019. The Stad Ship Tunnel will allow vessels to avoid a particularly nasty patch of sea on Norway\u2019s south-west coast (apparently even the Vikings were intimidated<\/a>!) The tunnel will accommodate cruise and freight ships up to 16,000 tonnes and allow leisure boats access. The passageway will be<\/a> 1.7km long, 37m high and 26.5m wide, and is estimated to cost 2.7 billion kroner (AU$416 million). Wired<\/em><\/a> explains a bit more about the engineering process and how exactly you go about removing nearly eight billion kilograms of rock from a mountain.<\/p>\n Fancy a low-risk life and death experience? Check out \u2018Titanic the Exhibition\u2019<\/a>, which opened in Sydney this weekend. Attendees receive a ticket which correlates with a real-life former passenger<\/a>, and upon leaving find out if they were among the 1,500 casualties.<\/p>\n Flight Path<\/strong><\/p>\n Following unconfirmed reports<\/a> that the US is considering a fresh round of arms sales to Taiwan\u2014with the F-35 Lightning II, upgraded F-16 and the THAAD on the table\u2014the Taiwan government has welcomed<\/a> the prospect of acquiring the F-35, but says it doesn\u2019t need a THAAD (sparing us Beijing\u2019s reaction). According to The Diplomat<\/em><\/a> the F-35\u2019s a bad option for Taiwan because it\u2019s too expensive, and the runways and support infrastructure it needs would be quickly taken out of action by the PLA Air Force and missiles fired from the mainland. The Diplomat<\/em> suggests that upgrading Taiwan\u2019s SAM capability would be a better investment.<\/p>\n US military officials and commercial airline executives will come together at a summit<\/a> in May, to examine ways of stemming the flow of military pilots to more lucrative civilian airline positions\u2014a symptom of the nationwide pilot shortage<\/a>. Military pilots are highly sought after<\/a> by civilian airlines, since they only require 750 practice hours before flying for a major airline, compared with 1,500 hours for regular civilians. The US Air Force could lose 1,600 pilots<\/a> in the next four years as they become eligible to leave the service.<\/p>\n Rapid Fire <\/strong><\/p>\n \u2018You try to be friends with everybody, but we have to maintain our jurisdiction now\u2019, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said last Thursday<\/a>, as he ordered the military to deploy to the country’s unoccupied islands and reefs, excluding Scarborough Shoal, in the disputed South China Sea to assert its sovereignty. Duterte’s order is likely to displease China, representing a potential provocation of the country he moved to embrace just months ago, after declaring\u00a0a ‘separation’ from the United States.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Last week, China announced details of a recent donation of military equipment<\/a> to Guyana. According to reports<\/a>, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has gifted the equipment \u2018in a bid to enhance bilateral ties and bolster the South American country’s defence capabilities\u2019. The donation consisted of\u00a031 pieces of equipment, including patrol boats, bulldozers and fuel tankers, as well as a team of officers to assist and train Guyana Defence Force\u00a0troops in the use of the equipment.<\/p>\n And speaking of unlikely military coupling, Canada and the Ukraine have signed a new defence cooperation agreement<\/a> aimed at identifying areas of mutual cooperation, including \u2018defence policy, defence research, development and production, and military education\u2019.<\/p>\n And tanks are in order it seems<\/a> for one lucky man who found $2.5 million worth of gold bars in an ex-Iraqi army tank he bought off eBay! The lucky man told reporters, \u2018you can\u2019t exactly take five gold bullion bars down to Cash Converters without questions being asked, so we called the police.\u2019 Moral of the story: buy more tanks on eBay.<\/p>\n Zero Gravity<\/strong><\/p>\n The 33rd Space Symposium<\/a> has just finished up in Colorado and there\u2019s been plenty of decent coverage: Space.com <\/em>gives some bite-sized highlights<\/a>, while SpaceNews<\/em> relayed comprehensive perspectives<\/a> and some<\/a> interesting<\/a> op-eds<\/a>.<\/p>\n SpaceX\u2019s recycling success is still reverberating (now in GIF-form<\/a>) as focus shifts to the Falcon Heavy<\/a> reusable rocket, and a clearer picture of future targets<\/a> and savings<\/a> emerges. After initial scepticism about the whole idea of using a pre-loved rocket, the success has reportedly interested<\/a> Russian space agencies. Jeff Bezos has revealed he\u2019s been selling stock in his company Amazon (US$1 billion annually!<\/a>) to fund Blue Origin<\/a>, his space venture. It seems to be paying off\u2014at the symposium, the company teased<\/a> its lunar-landing program Blue Moon<\/a> for the first time<\/a>, reiterated plans to begin suborbital space tourism<\/a> in late-2018, and detailed three new rockets<\/a> that may be flight-tested this year.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also been an active week for space news in the Pentagon. The US Air Force announced a number of changes to space command and control structures, including a new three-star position<\/a> and a rebranded National Space Defense Center<\/a>. Gen. Jay Raymond, head of USAF Space Command, argued that a space war is \u2018not a fight that anybody wins<\/a>\u2019. There may be no choice about fighting one, however, and in a separate speech Gen. John Hyten, Commander of US Strategic Command, warned<\/a> that \u2018if deterrence fails, [the US] will be prepared to deliver a decisive response\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sea State The USN needs an extra $2.1 billion this year to address immediate readiness shortfalls, says Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson. Testifying last week before the House Armed Services Committee on the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":597,"featured_media":31301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[52,271,1068,1721,1869],"class_list":["post-31300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-china","tag-f-35","tag-pentagon","tag-rodrigo-duterte","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n