NEWS AND ANALYSIS:
The Marine Corps plans to carry out a test firing of the new Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, or NMESIS, anti-ship missile in exercises this week near Taiwan.
The precision-guided anti-ship missiles, with a range of about 100 miles, were deployed during the recent U.S.-Philippines Balikatan military drills for the first time, riling China.
The missiles represent one of the nation’s key advanced weapon systems designed to deter China from attacking Taiwan.
During Balikatan, the remotely fired missile system was deployed by the Marines to Batanes, a small island in the strategic Luzon Strait located midway between the northern Philippines and the southern end of Taiwan.
That location is close to where Chinese warships and warplanes have engaged in months of military operations in what the Pentagon calls a pressure campaign against rival Taipei.
This week the Philippines navy announced that the NMESIS will be deployed as part of a joint Marine Corps exercise with the Philippines called Kamandag. A test firing is also expected.
Philippines navy spokesman Capt. John Percie Alcos told reporters Tuesday that the deployment of NMESIS in the exercises this week is designed to improve joint operations.
“Whether [NMESIS] will be fired or not depends on the actual situation or actual criteria that will be met on the day of the maritime strike demonstration,” he said, adding that the deployment is not aimed at any third country.
The test firing, if it occurs, will be carried out near Burgos, in the northern part of the country.
Capt. Alcos said the navy plans to purchase the NMESIS from the U.S.
Asked about Chinese concerns about the joint exercises, he said no nation has the right to interfere in Filipino military deployments.
“We will continue to deploy and train with our allies [with] the objective of enhancing combined operations,” Capt. Alcos said.
Deployment of NMESIS by the Marine Corps during Balikatan marked a significant milestone in the U.S.-Philippines alliance.
“We are expeditionary by nature, and training on the Batanes with our Philippine allies and the precision fires capabilities of the NMESIS advances our mutual maritime defense in an austere and geographically dispersed environment,” said Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, the U.S. Joint Task Force commander.
“Today marks a significant day for the Marine Corps and an important step in our Force Design journey. The training we conduct during Exercise Balikatan continues to validate our modernization efforts and improves our ability to defend our shared interests within the region.”
The NMESIS will strengthen deterrence with a “flexible and expedient sea denial capability,” the statement said.
The missiles are delivered by C-130 transport and deployed on a remotely controlled truck that improves their survivability in a conflict.
With tensions high over Taiwan, NMESIS could be deployed close to the island to be ready to strike invading Chinese ships during an assault.
NMESIS joins another U.S. missile system that was deployed to the Philippines during past exercises and which remains in the country — the Typhon land-based Mid-Range Capability missile system.
Typhon can fire 1,000-mile-range Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of hitting China.
China’s military has not commented directly on the deployment of the NMESIS. But a spokesman recently denounced the Balikatan exercises.
“We sternly warn the Philippine side to cease its infringements and provocations, and stop offending China’s core interests in any form,” Chinese Senior Col. Zhang Xiaogang said May 8.
The Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong sailed in waters north of the Philippines around the time the NMESIS was deployed to the island in the Luzon Strait.
IG: Pentagon failed to comply with payment integrity law
The Pentagon failed to follow a 2019 law passed by Congress to identify and reduce improper payments, according to a Defense Department inspector general report.
The law, the Payment Integrity Information Act, requires all federal agencies to comply with six requirements.
The IG audit found that two requirements were not met: The Defense Department failed to conduct adequate risk assessments and did not publish reliable estimates of improper and unknown payments for fiscal year 2024, which ended in September.
The Pentagon created 48 payment integrity programs last year and reported improper and unknown payment estimates of $1.1 billion for six programs. Improper payment risk assessments were made for 20 programs, the report said.
Improper payments are those that should not have been made, were made in incorrect amounts or to ineligible recipients or for ineligible goods or services.
“As a result, the DoD produced unreliable estimates for the 14th consecutive year and did not comply with the PIIA for the 4th consecutive year,” the report said.
“Without identifying all programs, producing adequate risk assessments, and publishing reliable estimates in the DoD Agency Financial Report, the DoD does not have the controls in place and DoD leadership and Congress cannot accurately determine whether the DoD has the resources needed to reduce its improper payments.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday in a video on X that the Department of Government Efficiency found $10 billion in savings by canceling wasteful Pentagon contracts, including through reducing large numbers of consultants.
According to the IG report, the Pentagon reported $1.087 billion in improper and unknown payments, including $635.3 million in improper payments and $451.4 million in unknown payments.
“The DoD will not be fully compliant with payment integrity requirements until the DoD can produce reliable estimates. Only when the DoD publishes reliable estimates will DoD leadership be able to rely on this compliance measure to assess the DoD payment integrity, such as the estimated improper and unknown payment rate of less than 10 percent,” the report said.
The Pentagon has come under fire for failing annual audits.
In November, Michael McCord, then-undersecretary of defense and chief financial officer, announced that the Pentagon had failed its seventh consecutive annual audit of its $834 billion annual budget.
The annual audit was done by the inspector general and an independent public accounting firm that examined $4.1 trillion in assets and $4.3 trillion in liabilities.
Air Force think tank warns Chinese space attacks are difficult to deter
China’s military is expected to conduct attacks on U.S. satellites and their support structures during a future conflict and such attacks will be difficult to deter, according to a report by the China Aerospace Studies Institute, an Air Force think tank.
“The perception that space underpins U.S. military superiority and economic performance may make U.S. space assets an irresistible target for [Chinese military] planners during a conflict and present an increasing challenge to U.S. deterrence efforts,” the report states.
The report urges the Space Force to build countering space weaponry that can be used to target and destroy Chinese satellites.
During the Biden administration, the Space Force was prohibited by policymakers from building most “counterspace” weapons.
According to the report, the military needs to develop and deploy space weapons.
“Counterspace capabilities add to strategic stability through a deterrence-by-punishment strategy that increases the costs of attacking the U.S. space architecture for a potential challenger,” the report said.
Expanding space arms will give military planners greater options for responding to Chinese space attacks and tailor actions better to Chinese provocations.
“Weapons to be developed and deployed could include communication jammers and spoofers, high-powered lasers, high-powered microwaves, co-orbital capabilities, and cyber capabilities,” the report said.
The report assessed the dynamics of deterring space attacks between the U.S. and China. Deterrence often fails as a result of political factors, including leadership motivation, world views, the dominance of offensive weapons, and ambiguity in strategic signaling.
Building up U.S. space power to dissuade China for attacking satellites may be impossible, the report said.
Growing advanced Chinese military capabilities and Beijing’s active defense strategy mean the U.S. military will likely attack Chinese command and control systems, including those in space, the report said.
As a result, in a future war, “it is advantageous for both sides to conduct offensive actions against space assets in a conflict to negate the precision firepower of the other,” the report said.
On Taiwan, the Chinese military’s goal of having the power to take the island by force by 2027, will also make it difficult to deter space attacks.
China’s offensive strategy also could lead to a first strike in a future conflict, increasing the inability of the U.S. to deter a Chinese attack on satellites.
The Chinese military’s “emphasis on offensive action and the U.S. military’s dependence on space may make U.S. space assets irresistible targets,” the report said.
China views the U.S. as a malign actor in space, the report said.
Greater intelligence-gathering in space is needed, the report says.
The Space Force currently operates 600 sensors targeting 1,000 space targets among about 9,500 satellites currently in orbit.
The report was prepared by Center for Naval Analyses’ specialists Kevin Pollpeter, Elizabeth Barrett, and April Herlevi.
• Contact Bill Gertz on X @BillGertz.
