RR The Wire 1900Z December 23, 2023
PRECEDENCE: ROUTINE RR
DTG: 190023Z DEC 23
ICOD: 180023Z DEC 23
CONTROLS: Public Release
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BLUF: MARITIME ATTACKS EXPAND TO INDIAN OCEAN. SPAIN, ITALY LEAVE RED SEA TF.
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-International Events-
Indian Ocean: The M/V CHEM PLUTO was attacked with a kamikaze drone in the northern Indian Ocean, approximately 200 NM SW of Gujarat, India. AC: Though no one has yet claimed responsibility for this attack, this matches the typical attack profile of Iran, who has a history of conducting similar attacks in the same area.
Red Sea/HOA: Italy and Spain have followed France in leaving the US-lead maritime security coalition OPN PROSPERITY GUARDIAN. Both Spain and Italy have left this coalition due to the refusal to place their ships under US command. Some nations have claimed that they will be supporting the mission, but have pledged no naval support. Per the latest press releases, the Netherlands will be sending two staff officers, and Denmark will be sending one staff officer. Australia will be sending 11 staff officers, but no ships ATT. The U.K. has pledged to commit one ship (the HMS DIAMOND, already in theatre) to the operation.
-Analyst Comments-
This operation has (in effect) collapsed before it even began. The U.S. Navy does not need a coalition to provide maritime security, but the explicit lack of cooperation from allies speaks volumes on the diplomatic front. Since the dawn of naval warfare, projecting power around the globe via maritime supremacy has been a strong indicator of a nation’s standing in the world. If the U.S. has lost support for one for one of the simplest naval operations that is doctrinally possible (counter-piracy and missile defense against a non-state actor), this does not bode well for the U.S. Navy or for the United States’ standing in the world. This also highlights the issues of naval command that would be huge vulnerabilities in the event that conflict breaks out in the South China Sea. If the strongest naval force in human history cannot reliably defend unarmed merchant vessels, and leads the Task Force so poorly that allied naval powers publicly don’t want to be a part of it, there is little chance for success in a conflict that involves a near-peer threat.
Strategically, it is possible that the U.S. intends to launch an offensive operation against Yemen and/or Iran. After all, the US Navy has already demonstrated that, despite best efforts (and outstanding work on the part of the DDG crews so far) missile defense is challenging even under the best of conditions. As such, the U.S. is probably planning operations to strike targets within Yemen to ease the pressure on defensive efforts. However, even though DoD leadership has financial interest in Raytheon (the supplier for most of the munitions used by the Navy so far), the sheer lack of production capacity has cast doubts on what the DoD’s actual plan is. Following the Ukrainian war and the war in Gaza, US weapons stockpiles are at an all time low, and it’s highly likely that the DoD simply doesn’t have the munitions to launch a major offensive campaign. If OPN PROSPERITY GUARDIAN is really a cover for a more offensive effort, this would explain major allies parting with the plan, as no major nationstate has the desire to become entangled in yet another war that even the U.S. can’t pay for. Though it is costing up to $2 million per missile to shoot down Yemeni missiles/drones, other nations may see this as vastly cheaper than launching a major military campaign.
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Analyst: S2A
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Yanis Varoufakis (former Greek Minister of Finance) describes AI as a new form of capital that produces not goods, but behavioral modification. This is achieved by engineering perceptions.
The answers provided by ChatGPT, or the images rendered by StableDiffusion — as these increasingly inform our perceptions, they in turn define the reality we experience.
This is what makes AI so powerful — he who controls the AI, defines the reality of tomorrow.
⚡️🇺🇸 Some more things coming out for the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Under the preliminary drafts of the bill, the USAF is requesting a release of $57,000,000 USD ($57.0 Million) to retire all remaining 162 A-10 Thunderbolt IIs in current service. Apart of the 2023 NDAA, there was a clause for a few million dollars to be released every so often to gradually retire the (then) 250 airframes by 2034; however due to the push by the Dept of Defense to ‘shed’ obsolete or obsolescent airframes that cannot be overhauled or upgraded further without a whole new airframe, it appears the USAF wants to retire all 162 remaining A-10s by the end of 2026.
The USAF plans to fully divest the 340-total remaining A-10s entirely, including those that currently serve in a handful of Air National Guard units in some states; which will be replaced by F-15EX Eagle IIs (like what is already happening with the Michigan State Air National Guard’s A-10s), or F-35A/Bs.
Included ...
My older sister lives in the country in between Velma Oklahoma and Duncan Oklahoma near the Fuqua Lake area, this story was told by a rural mail delivery woman who delivers the mail in the country.
The incident happened while she was on her route, when she came upon to the mailbox a male Chinese nation came out brandishing a, AK-47 rifle being very hostile,
I don't know if he pointed it at her since it is against the law to do so but she was terrified and said she was never going back and that the location that had a guard tower. Was the sheriff department notified, I don't know, did she notify her supervisor, don't know. But word is from the country folk who live in the area they have seen the guard tower at the pot place;
I refuse to call it a farm because it is an insult to farmers.
And yes she was traumatized by that ordeal