Brooks Payne Thornhill

Check out today's POLITICO China Watcher by Phelim Kine for a mention of NBR's new report "Charting China’s Export Controls: Predicting Impacts on Critical U.S. Supply Chains": https://lnkd.in/grTrKwyZ #supplychains #exportcontrols #china

1

The?US Department of Defense (DoD)?has released an updated list of 'Chinese military companies' operating directly or indirectly in the US, adding container line COSCO and other prominent maritime firms to its list. #containershipping https://lnkd.in/er3PUvNz

3

1 条评论

Since Texas Machine-Gun & Ordnance is the country’s largest LMT Defense M203 40mm grenade-launcher distributor, we often get calls from #LawEnforcement & #Police departments about purchasing M203s for #LessLethal use. While an M203 can be pressed into a less-lethal role, it typically is a poor choice for such an application. ? The M203 is designed to chamber & fire the 40x46mm cartridge. The grenade-launcher developed from the age-old problem of wanting to “blow thine enemies to tiny bits” when you are not close enough to “lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe”. ? As a result, the M203 is an extraordinarily rugged & reliable weapon that you can issue to a knuckle-dragging infantryman who scored “potato” on the ASVAB, to use as a hammer for tent stakes & it will still function as a weapon. The ability to be mounted to an M16/M4 or other #Firearms, simplifies the issuing & employment of the launcher for #Military purposes. ? But features which make it a great military weapon, also make it a poor LE weapon. ? Firstly we have the “YouTube effect”, where trudging around with a “grenade-launcher” isn’t going to look very good on #SocialMedia. While a 40mm “less-lethal launcher”, such as the ALS launcher in the picture will chamber & fire any 40x46 munitions, it has a very different connotation than an M203. This is especially true if it is mounted to a rifle. Certain applications such as #SWAT where intimidation & ability to have both a lethal & less-lethal option on the same weapon is a desired effect, but that is an exception. ? Next is the limited ability to accept certain type of less-lethal cartridges. Most all military 40mm rounds are 40x46mm. But civilian 40mm less-lethal rounds are often longer than 46mm. Due to the M203’s design, it is limited in how long of a 40mm round it can accept. So an M203 is often only able to fire baton & barricade penetrator rounds. For applications such as SWAT, this may not be a problem. But to really harness the capabilities of the 40mm, a break-action launcher has tangible advantages of not being limited by the length of rounds. ? Finally we have cost. An M203 without a mounting system runs about 50% more than the ALS launcher which doesn’t need any mounting system & is ready to go out of the box. The LMT’s stand-alone M203 is a really slick system, but costs more than double what the ALS launcher costs. ? Like the clerk at Ammu-Nation in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, “ain't my business what you do with it”, when an LE agency wants to spend money on suboptimal less-lethal weapons such as an M203. But there certainly are better options for LE use than the M203.

33

6 条评论

With the clock quickly winding down to avoid a strike at our East & Gulf Coast #ports, RILA is urging the Biden-Harris administration to quickly intervene and ensure both parties reach an agreement. The ripple effects of a strike—port congestion, vessel delays and missed shipments, increased shipping costs, inventory challenges, and more—all amount to yet another round of #supplychain disruption and uncertainty. Our latest statement: https://lnkd.in/esSZn5J3

9

The "SHIPS for America Act of 2024" seeks to expand the fleet of U.S.-flagged ships engaged in international commerce to 250 in 10 years. Presently, the U.S. only has 80 oceangoing cargo vessels. In contrast, China, with shipbuilding capacity 232 times larger than that of the U.S., operates 5,500 such ships. The bill includes a provision that allows foreign-built ships to be counted towards the 250-ship goal until U.S.-built vessels can eventually replace them.

52

4 条评论

A congressional probe reveals significant cyber/espionage risks from Chinese-made cargo equipment in U.S. ports, with findings that Chinese manufacturer ZPMC has pressured U.S. port operators for remote access, raising concerns over potential data breaches & system interference. With maritime operations critical to national infrastructure, addressing these vulnerabilities is crucial. CRG’s SME-Based Opportunities, INTERIM Advice & Differentiators: Opp - Mitigate Cyber Risks from Foreign Equipment: Chinese-made port equipment poses cyber threats and espionage risks. - Advice: Deploy AI & ML to monitor foreign equipment for data anomalies & unauthorized access. Use zero-trust architecture and enhance firewall defenses to prevent remote access exploitation. - Differentiator: CRG’s SMEs advise on AI-driven threat detection offering proactive, real-time security, setting clients apart with robust defenses against evolving cyber threats. Opp - Secure Port Operations: Ports need advanced cyber measures against potential sabotage. - Advice: Implement quantum-resistant cryptography, secure comms, and stringent access controls to protect critical port systems. - Differentiator: CRG’s focus on advanced encryption and secure protocols ensures clients maintain resilient and secure port operations. Opp - Strengthen Vendor Compliance: Managing risks from foreign equipment requires stringent vendor oversight. - Advice: Establish strict cybersecurity standards for vendors, mandate transparent practices, and enforce compliance with regular audits. - Differentiator: CRG’s compliance frameworks ensure all suppliers meet top cybersecurity standards, making our clients leaders in secure port operations. Opp - Adopt U.S.-Made Secure Technologies: Reducing reliance on foreign equipment is key to long-term security. - Advice: Fast-track U.S.-made port tech adoption using government grants and incentives for secure system upgrades, focusing on superior domestic alternatives. - Differentiator: CRG accelerates transitions to secure, U.S.-produced technologies, positioning clients as proactive leaders in national security compliance. Opp - Build Public-Private Partnerships: Collaboration is essential for enhanced cyber resilience. - Advice: Engage in partnerships across sectors to share intelligence and resources, creating a unified defense against cyber threats. - Differentiator: CRG’s collaborative approach helps clients build resilient, cooperative frameworks, enhancing overall cybersecurity and operational resilience. Securing U.S. ports against cyber risks requires innovative, multi-layered strategies. CRG guides firms in implementing cutting-edge solutions to protect critical infrastructure. Connect at crgroupinc.com or [email protected]. #CRG #CyberSecurity #PortSecurity #AI #QuantumTech #SupplyChainSecurity #NationlSecurity #NationalDefense #CISA #DHS

2

China's growing naval and commercial fleets threaten to usurp America's dominance at sea. Senior Fellow Michael Roberts stresses that Chinese maritime dominance is a massive security threat—and Congress needs to act now to prevent it: https://lnkd.in/egrTn4Nq

11

Vice President of Kansas Company Pleads Guilty to Crimes Related to Scheme to Illegally Export U.S. Avionics Equipment to Russia and Russian End Users. https://lnkd.in/eYGW5Ak9 #UKSanctions #Russia #EUCommission #ExportControl #TradeWar #TSECS #SanctionsUpdate #TurkishSociety #Sanctions #USA #OFAC #BIS #TradeUpdates #GlobalTrade #TradeCompliance #InternationalRelations #EconomicSanctions #TradeRegulations #TurkishExports #TradePolicy #SecurityMatters #ForeignPolicy #ComplianceNews #EconomicSecurity #CrossBorderBusiness

2

1 条评论

HOUTHIS POISED TO RAMP UP RED SEA ATTACKS FOLLOWING RECENT LULL Whether naval operation have degraded Houthi capabilities or the Iran-backed militants were simply regrouping, the latest warnings suggest that a resurgence of attacks targeting vessels in the Red Sea is imminent. Check out the article: https://t.ly/n7Mjb #laufer #supplychain #redsea

9

#China #Navy - ?China hosts foreign naval officials amid South China Sea tensions - excerpts from Reuters News Agency The Chinese Navy on Sunday kicked off a biennial meeting of top foreign naval officials in the port city of Qingdao, in a show of military diplomacy that will be closely watched for signs of more engagement between China and the United States. The four-day event with delegations from 30 countries comes during heightened tensions in the South China Sea, as U.S. treaty ally Manila is in an increasingly?fraught standoff?with Beijing over the strategic waterway, which could be a potential flashpoint for U.S-China relations. Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler will attend the Western Pacific Naval Symposium on behalf of the United States, according to a source familiar with the matter. Other country delegations include Australia, France, India, South Korea, Russia and Britain, state media reported. Participants will hold closed-door talks on Monday, with seminars on topics such as addressing maritime security challenges. They will also discuss the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, a set of guidelines formulated a decade ago, meant to de-escalate tensions between militaries at sea. It has not since been updated to cover drone warfare. A January preliminary meeting discussed the creation of a working group to prevent drone collisions at sea, state media reported. The event overlaps with annual U.S.-Philippines large-scale joint military drills beginning on Monday, which will occur outside Philippine territorial waters for the first time. Tensions are particularly high around the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, where Manila has accused Beijing of "harassment", including the use of water cannons against Philippine vessels. The United States, Japan and the Philippines signed a cooperation agreement at a trilateral summit last week, where leaders expressed concerns over China's "dangerous and aggressive behaviour" in the South China Sea, which Beijing slammed as "bloc politics". "The U.S.-Philippines joint drills this time cover a bigger region, involve more troops and include exercises out of its original defensive scope such as anti-submarine and anti-missile drills," said Cao Weidong, a military expert and former researcher at China's PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute. Story continues, for full report click below: https://lnkd.in/eJ6RjG3q

5

Happy to share our latest news analysis with you --- 'Quad' cements ties with coast guard patrols amid China concerns Leaders of the “Quad” countries pledged to launch joint coast guard patrols to monitor vessels fishing illegally in the Indo-Pacific, as U.S. President Joe Biden feted the Australian, Indian and Japanese leaders in a diplomatic push to further institutionalize the partnership ahead of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's departure from his post and as Biden enters the twilight of his presidency. While the imminent departure of leaders in the U.S. and Japan — both seen as key drivers of the evolving Quad partnership — has prompted questions about its future, the four countries offered no signs that the alliance could be in jeopardy, announcing a raft of measures during their meeting Saturday in Biden’s home state of Delaware. In a joint statement, the four leaders said their countries' coast guards will conduct a joint operation next year that will see Japanese, Australian and Indian coast guard members board a U.S. Coast Guard vessel operating in the region. This first-ever “Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission” is meant to “improve interoperability and advance maritime safety,” the leaders said, with future missions expected to take place on a rotational basis across the Indo-Pacific. In another sign of the importance the partners put on securing Asia's critical waterways, the leaders, who claimed to be “more aligned than ever before,” reached a deal to expand the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness initiative from Southeast Asia to the entire Indian Ocean region. The initiative, which acts as a check on a number of illegal activities at sea, was first launched at the Quad leaders’ summit in Tokyo in 2022. Together with the expansion, the program will include "new sophisticated technologies to improve the maritime domain picture" and associated programs, such as a maritime legal dialogue and the Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific (MAITRI). But while officials in Washington have cautioned against seeing the work of the U.S.-led grouping as being directed at Beijing, comments made by Biden caught by a hot mic following opening remarks suggested that counterbalancing China is still very much at the forefront of Quad policy. “China continues to behave aggressively, testing us all across the region,” he told fellow Quad leaders as he started the summit's group session. Click here to read the full news analysis

6

Article 3/4 in our article series leading up to Association of the United States Army - AUSA 2024 next week: ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ??????????????????. Uncrewed platforms have become essential in both modern and future military operations, playing a crucial role in military logistics by ensuring ???????????? ?????? ???????????? ???????????????? to troops on the battlefield. These uncrewed platforms, which transport important loads to the front line, must navigate constantly changing environments and threats. ????????-???????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? enhances their ability to adapt, providing superior situational awareness and supporting both human and autonomous decision-making. Typically, it is the combination of highly configurable geospatial analysis that provides real value in complex scenarios. For instance, in a military drone delivery scenario, when a frontline unit faces a hostile environment with ammunition and medical supplies running low, geospatial analysis can be combined to automatically determine a suitable drop-off location and an optimal UAS route. The route can be calculated to avoid enemy detection, maintain communication with HQ, troops and GNSS, and ensure that weather conditions are suitable and that there are adequate escape routes. By synchronizing the arrival of the UAS with ground troops, ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???? ??????????????????, ?????? ?????????????? ?????? ??????????????????. Visit us at booth #3543 and learn more about how Carmenta's geospatial analysis enhances #UAS capability for military logistics by providing accurate, timely, and actionable information for decision-making, planning, and executing operations in diverse and often challenging environments, or to experience a live demo. #AUSA #ResupplyMissions #Unmanned

10

So this is starting to make the rounds. I didn't know it was published until I got a link via Signal from a combat medic working in #Ukraine. There's a lot that went into this conversation, which occurred during the Association of the United States Army - AUSA conference in #DC some weeks ago. A typical journalistic tendency is to focus on the negatives, but I can assure all involved that the conversation included acknowledgement of work being done by many of the companies (both mentioned and not mentioned) -- and by individual people -- people like Lito V. -- to make sure mistakes of 2022 aren't repeated moving forward. (I'm hesitant to tag a bunch of people, so feel free to tag yourself or others in the comments don't be shy!) The #defense and #drone #industry folks in the #US are making efforts to be better -- whether by moral choice or various external pressures. My hope is that we keep the pressure on and promote change and #innovation. A very important note and a special shout out to the companies who hired people like me to go into Ukraine and find out the truth about their platform's performance in Ukraine: The fact is, these folks recognized that even partial failure was unacceptable -- at minimum they decided that NOT KNOWING about their platform's performance capabilities was in itself unacceptable. This indicate an important level of self-awareness and prioritization of fixing the issue early and/or finding the #truth of their platform's efficacy and relevance in modern peer combat. In the early months, the fog of war and a confusing bureaucracy amid freshly minted martial law limitations would prohibit open communication in and out of the country, making early intervention and end-user coordination next to impossible. I don't hold grudges toward companies who earnestly provided equipment with the expectation that it would perform -- I do hold grudges against those who sent unfinished product with a self-proclaimed high TRL (the basis of which bordered on fraud) into the combat environment where friends would be put at unnecessary risk. This isn't a question: people died because of that act, some people whose names I knew even if it was just their Signal codename. Skydio, AeroVironment and Anduril Industries among many others could have done better at the time -- the important thing now is to focus on #solutions and moving forward so we can stop #russiaisaterroriststate, ensure that #ukrainewillwin, and build the United States a stronger #nationaldefense and greater capability to support our allies. #strongertogether

11

1 条评论

Unmanned ground vehicles rapidly finding their place on battlefields Read more on the link below. #defense #sbir #military #jointwerx @jointwerx @blackhaysgroup #governmentcontracts #smallbusiness #entrepreneurship #venturecapital #consulting #strategy #leanstartups #startup #growthhacking

1

As a former Joint Interagency Task Force South Tactical Analysis Team member assigned to several embassy assignments for almost 15 years, I agree with Canadian Naval Officer and liaison to JIATFS Patrice Deschenes’s article regarding the dire situation in Haiti. JIATFS is uniquely positioned to influence a disruptive force in countering the cocaine flow from Colombia and Venezuela to the United States through the Caribbean. In fact, there have been a few successful like operations that have disrupted transnational criminal organizations of such magnitude that changed the cocaine flow and situation on the ground of a few vulnerable countries such as Guatemala. The highly successful HSI led National Aviation Trafficking Investigation (NATI) coupled with the Colombian Air Force strategy ZEUS, served to uniquely and significantly disrupt the cocaine flow through Central America from Venezuela from Venezuela by denying the use of high performance and capacity U.S. registered aircrafts. This operation also served to decrease the violence and corruption caused to these vulnerable Northern Triangle countries. My book, “Final Flight Queen of Air,” provides great insight as the mission and purpose of National Aviation Trafficking Investigation and how it provided partner nation’s leverage of their resources to contribute to this high successful operation. Partner nation law enforcement and military members actually testified in the case against the Texas based Debra Lynn Mercer Erwin who built a pyramid scheme and provided US registered jets to Transbational Criminal Organizations. #NSC #southcom #northcom #usn #uscg #usdoj #jiatfs #desantis #fdle #florida #jamaica #canada #bahamas https://lnkd.in/eN_K_B69

6