Chapter Three: North America

Abstract

The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review committed to nuclear modernisation, including development of lowyield warheads for SLBMs and, in the longer term, a modern nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile. Pentagon efforts to partner with Silicon Valley and technology firms to accelerate innovation have met some opposition from the sector, including refusal by Google staff to participate in the Project Maven AI initiative. The US army is fielding specially trained Security Force Assistance Brigades to provide trainers, advisors and mentors to partner other nations’ forces. It continues to balance the requirements of ongoing missions with the reorientation to traditional tasks, also improving its combat-training centres and hastening their reorientation to high-end combat. The US Air Force continues to face the challenge of an ageing inventory combined with the lower pace of delivery of replacement types. USAF chiefs are advocating an expanded number of operational squadrons: the target mentioned is 386 by 2030. Any question of whether the Pentagon wanted to sustain two combat aircraft manufacturers (Lockheed Martin plus one other) appears to have been resolved with Boeing picking trainer, tanker UAV, and helicopter orders that will help sustain its military business. The US Navy continues to try to balance rebuilding readiness with achieving early progress towards increasing platform numbers to achieve a 355-ship battle force target. After delays, Canada announced that a consortium led by Lockheed Martin (with the UK Type-26 design) was the preferred bidder for its Canadian Surface Combatant programme.