1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,640 All across America and around the world. This is veterans radio. This is veterans radio. 2 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:22,440 And now your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry. 3 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:28,200 And welcome to veterans radio. My name is Dale Throneberry, CW two helicopter type 4 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:35,800 pilot in Vietnam, 1969. Welcome to our program. I can't remember how many programs that Dr. Grant 5 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:40,800 has been on, but our guest today is Dr. Rebecca Grant. For those of you who have followed our 6 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:46,800 program, she is a military. I don't know, she knows everything that seems to be going on in the 7 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:52,160 military these days. So we're going to have her on in just a moment. And as I said, I want to 8 00:00:52,160 --> 00:01:00,080 welcome you. If you'd like to ask her a question today, you can call this number 734-822-1600. 9 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:07,560 734-822-1600. Before we get into the interview and the other things, I want to make sure that we thank 10 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:12,760 our sponsors. We can't do this program without them. And, you know, we've been very grateful 11 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:19,240 over the years to have legal out for veterans. I think they've been with us probably at least 19 12 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:24,320 of the 20 years that we've been on the air. So that will be legal help for veterans, legal help 13 00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:32,200 for veterans specializes in veteran disability claims. You can give them a call at 800-693-4800, 14 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:38,440 or you can go to their website, legalhelpforveterans.com. Actually, I think you can even start your 15 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:45,440 claim on their website. National Veterans Business Development Council, better known as NBBDC, 16 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:50,320 is the nation's leading third party authority for the certification of veteran-owned businesses. 17 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:56,640 For more information, you should go to their website, that's NVBDC.org, or give them a call at 18 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:04,640 888-237-8433. If you want to do business with the federal government and you claim to be a veteran-owned 19 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:09,840 business, you got to get certified. And they want to make it mainly because they want to make sure 20 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:13,720 that you actually are a veteran-owned business. It's not that there are people out there that 21 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:22,200 claim to be veteran-owned and are not. But, yeah, there are. But if you go through NVBDC and get 22 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:27,560 certified as a veteran-owned business, you get priority with the federal government and with 23 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:37,720 many corporations. So again, that website is NVBDC.org. We can give them a call at 888-237-8433. 24 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:42,920 We also want to thank the Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for their 25 00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:52,440 support. For more information, you can go to va.gov. And of course, we would never have gotten on the 26 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:57,400 air without the support of our local Veterans Service organizations. And that would be the Irwin 27 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:03,080 Presco and American Legion Post 46 and the Charles S. Kettles Vietnam Veterans of America, 28 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:09,000 Chapter 310, both of Ann Arbor, Michigan. If you would like to support Veterans Radio, 29 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:13,880 you can just go to our website. That's veteransradio.org and click on the donate button. 30 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:20,360 We've been doing this for 20 years. So right now, we're just asking for 20 bucks for 20 years. 31 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:25,800 If you'd like to become part of our list of corporate sponsors or even individual sponsors, 32 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:33,480 again, you can just send me an email directly. That's dale at veteransradio.org. And I will get 33 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:40,040 back to you as soon as I can to see what we can work out for you. We also do dedications if you 34 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:46,280 want to sponsor the Medal of Honor segment. That's another thing that's in there. And so we can 35 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:52,040 talk all about that if you are interested in that. I have one announcement for an upcoming event that 36 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:58,280 actually is for Veterans Radio. And that is on Sunday, May 26th. We are having a fundraiser at 37 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:04,120 the Carlisle Grill here in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It's out on Jackson Road. And it's one of those 38 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:10,920 where they split their proceeds for that day with Veterans Radio. So that is Sunday, May 26th. 39 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:18,040 It's a Carlisle Grill out on Jackson Road. Great food, great atmosphere. And we'll all be out there. 40 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:24,440 I'm hoping the vast majority of the Veterans Radio crew will be out there. And we hope to 41 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:30,440 meet all of you. Come on out there. So mark that calendar down on your calendar. Yeah, mark the 42 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:37,480 date on your calendar. Yes, May 26th. Carlisle Grill, Jackson Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Hope to see 43 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:43,880 you there. All right. So let's get right into it. There are so many things that are going on in the 44 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:49,960 world today that, you know, it takes someone for my, for me to have somebody like Dr. Grant be on 45 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:53,880 our program. So let me just give you a little background on her. As I mentioned, she's been 46 00:04:53,880 --> 00:05:01,000 on our program. Wow. This would be, I think it's her 10th year. So Dr. Grant is a National Security 47 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:07,400 Analyst, Analyst based in Washington, DC. She has a PhD in international relations from the London 48 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:12,120 School of Economics. She has worked for the RAND Corporation and then on the staff of the Secretary 49 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:17,720 of the Air Force, Chief of Staff of the Air Force. She founded her own independent research company 50 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:23,960 and she specializes in the research for government aerospace industry, clients ranging from 51 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:29,480 analysis of military campaigns to projects on major technology and so on and so forth. But 52 00:05:30,280 --> 00:05:35,800 now she has moved up a little bit in the world. I don't know if that's the right terminology, 53 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:41,320 but she is now the Vice President and Senior Fellow at the Lexington Institute and she will be 54 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:49,400 researching military and tech, aka artificial intelligence topics with them. So with that said, 55 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:53,320 I'm welcoming Dr. Rebecca Grant to Veterans Radio. Welcome. 56 00:05:54,200 --> 00:06:01,480 Dale, it's great to be back on Veterans Radio with crises at every point of the compass and so 57 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:08,600 much to talk about. You are correct. Let's just kind of tell our audience quickly what's, what's 58 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:14,520 going on at the Lexington Institute. How did you get over there? Yes, the Lexington Institute. I've 59 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:21,640 worked with them off and on for a long time. Great, a great firm in the same space as mine and we've 60 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:28,280 decided to work together. So I am actually their Vice President for Defense Programs. They also have 61 00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:35,000 an active interest in regulatory issues and technology and I'm running their defense programs 62 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:40,360 and we're interested in all the things that you're interested in, the health of the industrial base, 63 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:47,320 how we're coping with threats from abroad, and then the new challenges arising from AI and high tech 64 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:53,720 in our competition with China. So very exciting. New colleagues and new slate of issues to work on. 65 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:57,880 I think it's really exciting. So I went to their site today and I saw that one 66 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:03,320 article that you had written in there, which is kind of interesting, was about Lexington 67 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:11,400 as in Massachusetts, Lexington, April 19th, 1775. And you kind of tell us about, you know, 68 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:17,960 Paul Revere, you know, the British are coming and so forth. I thought this was kind of a really cool 69 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:25,400 article. Lexington is named after the battles of Lexington and Concord that took place there in 70 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:33,160 1775 and that was really our first battle as a nation. And it was those two battles in Boston that 71 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:39,000 led George Washington to go north and to help Boston form up its army and led then about a year 72 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:45,640 later to the Declaration of Independence. And I love the story of what Dr. Joseph Warren did 73 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:50,920 and his intelligence network in Boston that detected that the British were going to move 74 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:57,080 towards Lexington and Concord. Of course, what the British wanted was Sam Adams and John Hancock 75 00:07:57,080 --> 00:08:03,000 who were in Lexington. Hancock had actually grown up in Lexington and he was hiding out there. 76 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:07,880 And then in Concord, of course, were all the guns and gunpowder for the Minutemen. And 77 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:14,520 Joseph Warren alerted his friends Paul Revere and William Dawes. Dawes went out by the Boston 78 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:21,400 neck. Revere hopped the ferry over across the river, picked up a horse and rode into history. 79 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:26,280 And it just, it still gives me chills to think about what those Patriots did in the great country 80 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:32,120 that we have created here and all began right there on the green in Lexington, the shot heard 81 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:39,240 round the world. Absolutely. One thing, something that we all need to remember. I think, I think 82 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:45,160 it is really important. So, all right, let's get, where would you like to begin today? 83 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:51,560 Let's, oh, I know, let's talk about, well, obviously the, the elephant in the room and that's, 84 00:08:51,560 --> 00:08:57,560 that's Israel and Hamas. Yes, I think it's an excellent place to begin. You know, I know I just 85 00:08:57,560 --> 00:09:02,920 talked about Lexington and the formation of America and how important this republic is, 86 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:08,520 what a great nation that we've become. And we have now so many responsibilities around the world. 87 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:14,200 Diving straight in, so President Biden is at work today in the White House and he had a conversation 88 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:20,760 with Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of Israel. And what they're talking about is they've got a really 89 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:28,680 good ceasefire plan. Egypt has worked hard on this. So has Israel. So has our CIA director Burns, 90 00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:35,800 the government of Qatar, of course, who are the interlocutors with Hamas. And really, you know, 91 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:42,200 hoping and putting the pressure on for Hamas to accept this ceasefire would be about a three to 92 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:49,560 six week ceasefire, allowing more humanitarian aid to go into Gaza. And then the hope of the 93 00:09:49,560 --> 00:09:55,960 partners in the region is that that temporary ceasefire would lead to a longer lasting peace. 94 00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:00,920 And Israel's made some big concessions on the timing of the release of hostages 95 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:07,640 and all of that. So again, just really, really watching to see Secretary of State Anthony Blankin, 96 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:14,520 who's been in China and we'll talk about that, but he goes next to Saudi Arabia to help continue to 97 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:20,120 put the pressure on there. You know, what really strikes me here is our military forces are so 98 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:27,640 committed right now in this region. We saw the great help that our US military gave 99 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:34,680 when Israel was attacked by Iran. We're talking over 300 drones and missiles. 80 of those were knocked 100 00:10:34,680 --> 00:10:41,240 out by a combination of our ships, Navy ships in the Red Sea and I think some aircraft. But of 101 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:47,800 course, we really helped with that early warning to the Israeli Defense Forces. But, Dale, I know 102 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:54,200 I'm just struck that we have forces right now, the Army building ready to put in place the 103 00:10:54,200 --> 00:11:01,400 pier that will go along the coast in Gaza. Israel has actually done their seaside of that. 104 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:09,560 We have C-130s, the US and the Kingdom of Jordan are regularly using C-130s to drop 105 00:11:09,560 --> 00:11:17,080 humanitarian relief supplies into northern Gaza. Of course, we're giving a great deal of military 106 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:24,920 aid to Israel. And then in the Red Sea, we have our US destroyers along with some allies, which 107 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:31,560 sometimes can include Britain, France, South Korea, and a few others. They're out there basically 108 00:11:31,560 --> 00:11:36,840 playing zone defense against the Houthis. They had incoming, the Houthis fired, I think, three, 109 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:43,320 four times just this past week, ballistic missiles, various things, you know, trying to keep that 110 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:49,880 borough and end up straight open. And then don't forget our US forces that are in Syria, in the 111 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:55,640 small garrisons, they're kind of keeping an eye on ISIS. Our US forces that are part of the 112 00:11:55,640 --> 00:12:02,200 coalition still in Iraq. So we have US military men and women servicemen from all branches 113 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:10,120 all over that region. And they are really making the difference in keeping the lid on Iran and 114 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:15,880 Iran's back militias at this point. And I hope that we're going to see a resolution here. But, 115 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:20,360 you know, Hamas has been holding out for about five months. They are not, you know, they're a 116 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:26,360 terrorist group. They don't do diplomacy. They don't like to agree to things. But this is really 117 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:32,760 a handcrafted ceasefire deal. And there will be further talks in Cairo this week. And going on, 118 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:38,680 hopefully we'll see a ceasefire and then at least a partial release of hostages. So that's 119 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:39,680 just today. 120 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:45,080 Well, I was going to ask you about this, you know, because, you know, we're seeing all these protests 121 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:51,080 all over the country right now, which is really not unusual for, you know, when we have these 122 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:57,080 international flare-ups out there. And this is just asking your opinion that it doesn't have to, 123 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:02,120 you don't even really have to answer. But do you think that Israel did kind of overreact? 124 00:13:02,680 --> 00:13:07,720 I mean, not overreact. I mean, you had to react. But I mean, they overplayed their hand 125 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:11,720 as far as they're going into Gaza. 126 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:19,720 I think Israel had no choice but to reestablish security. And I'll tell you one thing that really 127 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:27,720 proves that is the absolutely unprecedented attack that Iran unleashed several days ago now on 128 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:32,720 Israel. You know, this is a scenario I've been in the national security business a long time. And this 129 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:38,720 was always a hypothetical scenario. No one really thought it would come to pass. And yet we 130 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:44,720 saw it happen. You know, Iran was not deterred by anything the White House said or anything that 131 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:50,720 Israel did. Now, the good news is the attack failed between Israel and the U.S. Most of the 132 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:55,720 missiles and drones were shot down. But as to whether Israel's overplayed their hand, I think there 133 00:13:55,720 --> 00:14:00,720 was no question. And frankly, President Biden's been very clear about his ironclad support for 134 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:08,720 U.S. security. The situation on the ground for the last quite a little while has been that Israel's 135 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:14,720 defense forces have completed most of their operations in Gaza, except for that southern portion 136 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:21,720 that ends down at the Rafe Gate by the border with Egypt. They are about 10 kilometers, more or less, 137 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:29,720 from the Rafe checkpoints. There's a large area there set aside for the civilians that is a no-fighter. 138 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:36,720 It is a no-fire zone. And, you know, at this point Israel continues to say that they are ready to move 139 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:41,720 into Rafe. They've said that now for several weeks. And really what they're doing, I think, is 140 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:49,720 they're trying to keep the leverage on Hamas. I mean, nothing here can move forward unless Hamas will 141 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:57,720 also agree to a ceasefire. And right now I see Israel keeping up the military pressure because they 142 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:05,720 believe that the only thing that keeps Hamas even at the negotiating table is to have this option to go 143 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:09,720 into Rafe if Hamas backs down. 144 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:16,720 Right. And I think I agree with you. And I think the idea of, you know, working with a terrorist organization 145 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:26,720 that doesn't necessarily, you know, keep their promises on a regular basis. I mean, if I were part of 146 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:34,720 the Israeli military, I would, you know, it's like you want to go out there with a really big stick and just 147 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:42,720 say, okay, come on, you know, here's your opportunity to end this, but you're not taking advantage of that. 148 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:50,720 And, you know, so we just, we have to keep pushing until you finally say, you know, especially when they're, 149 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:57,720 you know, they're all inside of the, you know, the civilian population. And we, you know, we've had experience with that 150 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:05,720 before ourselves and how difficult it is to fight when the enemy is inside of the civilian population. 151 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:13,720 It's such a difficult decision-making process for the troops on the ground. 152 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:21,720 Yes, it's incredibly difficult. And remember that Hamas, you know, Hamas is the worst of the worst. They are 153 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:29,720 basically a criminal gang. They've run Gaza since the Israelis withdrew in 2005, 2006. The place is a mess. 154 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:38,720 They don't care. They're not popular in the region, believe me. Hezbollah hates them. There are reports in the 155 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:44,720 Washington Post recently that even residents within Sa'a Gaza are very frustrated. And of course, who wouldn't be 156 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:52,720 with the devastation that's going on, you know, it's pretty clear that Hamas doesn't care a lot about the people of Gaza. 157 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:59,720 And Hamas doesn't, they don't work, you know, this is not the PLO. This is not even the regime in Iran that has, you know, 158 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:08,720 has a government. Hamas doesn't recognize any, not the Oslo Accords from 1993, nothing that's followed since then. 159 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:16,720 So they really leave the region very little choice, but to demand a ceasefire. And then of course, the question of what happens next 160 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:24,720 will step one, of course, this humanitarian aid that's poised and ready to go. I hope step two will be a fast normalization 161 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:32,720 of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. That was on track before this happened. I think part of Hamas's motive was to, 162 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:40,720 was to deter that. This whole reason needs to move on and the Hamas era needs to end, you know, for the good of Gaza as well as 163 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:42,720 everyone else in the region. 164 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:54,720 Right. Yeah, I mean, it's been a power, powder cake for how many decades, centuries, which brings me to the idea of this, 165 00:17:54,720 --> 00:18:01,720 of Iran, you know, sticking their, their two bits into this whole thing with all those drone attacks. 166 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:06,720 What do you think they were trying to accomplish with that? 167 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:15,720 I wouldn't even want to try to guess what. First of all, Iran is just, they're just stupid. You know, they are a, a 168 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:23,720 theocracy. They are not, they don't, they're not, you know, a country that's out to achieve things and have elections and they 169 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:32,720 have elections, but they are a theocracy and they're on just an entirely different plan than nearly every other state on the 170 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:43,720 planet. And I think that they wanted to show that they could launch these attacks. It's very interesting to me that the, the 171 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:53,720 targets apparently in Israel for this Iranian attack some days ago were largely the, the air base down there on the, on the 172 00:18:53,720 --> 00:19:02,720 eastern side. And they, it's almost like they really wanted to, to go after things they knew they could get really good targeting data on. 173 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:14,720 Even so, the attack was a massive failure for Iran. And you have to step back, you know, about 15 years and look at how much Iran has 174 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:22,720 complicated the problem in Hamas. I know it is Iran that supplies the know-how and the way to make the missiles and supplies a lot of 175 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:28,720 the rockets and missiles to Hamas. You know, Iran has just made this whole situation worse, but this is what they want to do. 176 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:38,720 Same with their sponsorship of the Houthis in Yemen. And now their Iranian spy ship still sits in the Red Sea, you know, Iran's on the 177 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:44,720 other side of the Persian Gulf. Their ship sits in the Red Sea giving targeting data to the Houthis. It's been there for a couple years. 178 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:54,720 So much so that this is the second ship. They had to swap the first one out. You know, so Iran's role as a troublemaker in this region just cannot be overstated. 179 00:19:54,720 --> 00:20:03,720 None of these conflicts would be at the level of devastation and death toll that they are right now if it were not for Iran's hand in this. 180 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:12,720 And of course, behind that now, China, which supports Iran by purchasing nearly all of Iran's oil. 181 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:20,720 So it is his end. And then we'll talk later about Iran's billion dollar deal with selling drones to Russia. 182 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:29,720 So, you know, Iran's role in this is terrible. Of course, they have really enriched. They violated all their nuclear agreements. 183 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:39,720 You know, Iran doesn't really need to enrich uranium. Most nations buy uranium on an open market for power plants. Iran could do the same. 184 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:45,720 They have no need for this nuclear complex, except that they want to be close enough to a nuclear weapon. 185 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:57,720 So, you know, it's just terrible what's happened with Iran and it's been so much worse in the last over the last decade and really brought up the level of conflict and tragedy in the Middle East. 186 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:15,720 I couldn't agree with you more. I'm just thinking here the metaphor of the idea of somebody, you know, putting a stick in a hornet's nest and swirling it around because there are other countries in that whole area, you know, not including Israel, 187 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:28,720 and of course, then, you know, we're involved too. That would just as soon just, and I don't want to use the terminology of military terminology, but just eliminate the Iranian problem if they could. 188 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:35,720 We'd love to get rid of this Iranian regime. You know, I think everyone understands Iran's people suffer as well. 189 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:46,720 But what keeps it going is the theocracy, the fact that Iranians Revolutionary Guard Corps are also in business. They make a lot of money off of selling all these things. 190 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:54,720 So it's a business and, you know, that's why they have all their militia that they train inside Iraq. 191 00:21:54,720 --> 00:22:04,720 And then they like their whole policy is to stoke revolution and chaos, and they'd like to drive the United States and Israel and I suppose everybody else out. 192 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:14,720 The only good news here is they have become extremely unpopular in the region and nearly everybody else is wanting to isolate them. 193 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:26,720 It was very significant to me, although they were quiet about it, that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia allowed its airspace to be used for the defense during the defense of Israel against the Iran attack. 194 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:42,720 And again, Iran had really telegraphed that that was coming. But it's hard, you know, Iran is as before the revolution and the ayatollahs had a, you know, fantastic cultural history and we'd all like to see that type of Iran come back. 195 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:50,720 But we're pretty long way from that right now and with their alliance with China and Russia, they are just terrible, terrible problem. 196 00:22:50,720 --> 00:23:09,720 I was, I was seeing, you know, we talked a little bit earlier about the idea of, you know, when we were talking about drones, that you know they're becoming so sophisticated, and that there is a concern of, you know, because a drone can come in at, you know, 50 feet, 100 feet off the ground. 197 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:24,720 And do we have the technology, I mean, we haven't, we showed that we did, you know, high up in the air, but do we have the technology to protect ourselves or other, you know, allies in the world from these low flying drones? 198 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:46,720 Well, we have the technology, but it depends on where we're talking about protecting. And, you know, of course, the big question is protecting the United States, but let's start overseas for a moment. And one thing that Central Command did just in the last couple of months is enhance some of their counter UAS or counter drone systems. 199 00:23:46,720 --> 00:24:06,720 So they've got a pretty good ability. And, you know, if you're a, if you're a serviceman out there somewhere in the Central Command area of operations, whether you're on the deck of a destroyer or you're at a base inside Syria, you know, you've got to layer your drone defenses so that the small drones as well as the larger ones are taken care of. 200 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:24,720 Now, the good news there is once these drones are spotted, they are very, very vulnerable. They're extremely vulnerable to fighter jets. Our fighter jets have actually been shooting down Iran drones here and there for years once they got too close to special forces or other encampments in the ground. 201 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:49,720 But, you know, now every US base has to think about this, this counter UAS system. And, you know, one question that's come up here is, you know, how vulnerable are troops to these type of drones? I mean, remember that it was a drone attack that killed the three American soldiers, the three Army soldiers in Jordan back in January. 202 00:24:49,720 --> 00:25:06,720 And, you know, that I think we're waiting to get the final investigation on what happened. I think there was an unfortunate gap in coverage and tragic. And yet it tells you that that anti drone coverage is one of the key priorities for the US. 203 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:21,720 One thing that has been a problem in Washington is because of the delay in the budget. The Central Command has had trouble saying, hey, we need a little bit of money to quick speed up this drone solution for this base here in the Middle East. 204 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:32,720 And it's been really difficult. The Army's been bending over backwards to try to get that to them. But it has gotten pretty tough. And I think there have been some delays, you know, that we didn't want to see. 205 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:40,720 But anything abroad now is going to have to have really, really serious counter drone capabilities. No question about it. 206 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:41,720 Wow. 207 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:46,720 You know, this world is a scary place sometimes. 208 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:57,720 We're talking with Dr. Rebecca Grant here on Veterans Radio. And one of the questions that you had suggested is, you know, since we've already been talking a little bit about Iran. 209 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:05,720 You mentioned that Iran, North Korea and Russia are getting together for some meetings. That's, it sounds very ominous to me. 210 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:22,720 I know as if all the cooperation wasn't bad enough. There's actually been several high level diplomatic meetings between such despicable characters as Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoryug and his North Korean counterparts. 211 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:31,720 They frequently met with Iran. Iran actually hosted a summit for African nations in the last couple of days. 212 00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:46,720 Oh, it's just terrible. Because, you know, what has happened since the Ukraine war began two years ago is we have now seen the cementing of an alliance which consists of Russia and China. 213 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:55,720 Remember, Xi Jinping visited in Moscow, you know, just a little bit before the invasion and said, sure, no problem. 214 00:26:55,720 --> 00:27:04,720 Vladimir Putin, we don't mind if you invade Ukraine. On top of that is now the relationship, very tight relationship between Russia and Iran. 215 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:17,720 A strong relationship between Iran and China and then North Korea, who has supplied, I believe, 67 shipping containers of artillery shells to Russia so far. 216 00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:23,720 So they've been meeting and it's sort of we always are tracking the cooperation and what we think is going on. 217 00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:28,720 But these diplomatic meetings on top of it are just insult on injury. 218 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:37,720 The trouble is I don't see this alliance, the four of them falling apart anytime soon, because it suits everybody's interest right now. 219 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:43,720 You know, Iran is staying in business because China will still buy the oil, even though they're evading sanctions. 220 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:50,720 And because Russia will buy the drones, Iran has actually set up drone production inside Russia. 221 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:55,720 And they're looking to produce about 6,000 drones a year. 222 00:27:55,720 --> 00:28:07,720 I know. And then you go back to North Korea and I have to compliment Veterans Radio because you have always in talking with you over the years kept an eye on North Korea. 223 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:11,720 Sometimes it's in the headlines and sometimes not, but it's become very, very dangerous. 224 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:19,720 And the worst thing with North Korea, two things. One is they still just will not talk to the US. 225 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:28,720 And secondly, we believe that North Korea is supplying artillery shells to Russia for the war in Ukraine. 226 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:36,720 And in return, Russia may be assisting North Korea with nuclear or missile design technology. 227 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:42,720 That's really bad. You know, I mean, some of this is old Russians, old Soviet technology to begin with. 228 00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:46,720 But as we all know, North Korea wants a very strong nuclear deterrent. 229 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:58,720 They are a nuclear weapons state. And to have created this geopolitical opportunity, you know, this wasn't going on three years ago before that disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. 230 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:05,720 Yes, they were closer relations with Russia and China and all this, but you didn't have this out in public in your face. 231 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:11,720 Heavy arms transfers, economic relationship between all of them. 232 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:19,720 And on top of that, China also is providing some advanced technology to Russia, not full weapons systems. 233 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:25,720 No, just the semiconductor chips and other things like that that are helping Russia keep its high tech edge. 234 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:32,720 So we have a really, really serious axis there between these four countries. 235 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:40,720 And at the center of all of it, honestly, is China and their ambitions. 236 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:44,720 Holy moly. 237 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:52,720 You know, when you're talking about China, of course, let's take a little bit of a look at them. 238 00:29:52,720 --> 00:30:09,720 You mentioned that, I mean, I've been reading about China, you know, they threaten Taiwan, they threaten this, and then, you know, they're supporting the Russians, but then they have, you know, these minor flare ups of, you know, conflicting ideas. 239 00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:12,720 With the Russians, and you don't really know what's going on. 240 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:18,720 Could you have any sense of what really is happening in China? 241 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:25,720 Well, you know, China is not really very subtle and China wants to be the world's technological superpower. 242 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:31,720 And they'd like to be the military superpower, certainly in the Pacific, if not everywhere else. 243 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:37,720 You know, it's hard even to just know where to begin with China. 244 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:42,720 We already talked about how China is helping Russia with advanced technologies. 245 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:48,720 And, you know, China's support for Russia is the reason that Russia can keep fighting in Ukraine. 246 00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:51,720 There's just no two ways about it. 247 00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:54,720 Again, huge financial leverage. 248 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:59,720 So, but let's look at a couple of the other things that are going on back to the Pacific for a moment. 249 00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:09,720 This year, and last year too, but this year especially, has seen some really worrying encounters between China's Coast Guard, 250 00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:15,720 and, which is huge, and the Philippine Navy. 251 00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:22,720 Now, you know, remember, Dale, the Philippines are a treaty ally of the United States. 252 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:26,720 And yes, there was a time there where we, you know, Clark Air Force Base was closed down, 253 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:32,720 the Pacific Bay, all that was gone. But that's changed with the new government and the new threats from China. 254 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:34,720 And we're back to close relations with the Philippines. 255 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:42,720 We actually have a treaty obligation to treat an attack on the Philippines as an attack on the United States. 256 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:46,720 And my point here is China is walking very close to this line. 257 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:53,720 There are Coast Guard vessels have used water cannons on the Philippine vessels that resupply of our very tiny island. 258 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:57,720 That is Filipino Island that the Chinese think is theirs. 259 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:03,720 So the Chinese are really rubbing right up against this conflict line. 260 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:12,720 And this is the sort of thing, I mean, that is just much, much more serious and provocative than anything we've seen them do in the past. 261 00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:19,720 They are really flexing their military power in the Pacific in a way that we just have never seen before. 262 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:29,720 And the idea is, I had a, it's interesting, I had a Philippine student this last semester and she gave a presentation on the Philippines. 263 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:32,720 And it's thousands of little islands. 264 00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:44,720 And just, you know, the idea of, you know, as you mentioned, you know, the Chinese Coast Guard ships getting close. 265 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:59,720 Again, if that stick in the hornet's nest on a regular basis in all kinds of different areas, that, you know, it has to be, I'd hate to be a politician or a Secretary of Defense or state or anything right now. 266 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:12,720 You know, I'm trying to deal with that because I know you mentioned that, you know, that Secretary of State Blinken is in China, or he was in China, hoping to accomplish what? 267 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:16,720 Yes, he just left in China. He actually met with Xi Jinping. 268 00:33:16,720 --> 00:33:19,720 The diplomacy, oh my goodness. 269 00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:32,720 So just in the last couple of weeks, the State Department, of course, called China before Iran attacked Israel to ask China to ask Iran to not attack Israel. 270 00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:34,720 I'm not making this up. 271 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:47,720 I mean, so that didn't really go so well, nor was it. Secretary Blinken, among other things, asked China to knock off giving Russia the advanced technologies. 272 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:49,720 Oh, so how's that going to go? 273 00:33:49,720 --> 00:34:05,720 And then don't forget, I don't want to go into it too much here, but don't forget, there's the fentanyl problem. China provides the precursor chemicals for fentanyl that come across through southern border cartels and kill Americans. 274 00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:06,720 Right. 275 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,720 That's always an issue that he raises as well. 276 00:34:09,720 --> 00:34:20,720 But what the State Department is trying to do is there was a period where there was no dialogue, remember the balloon that was shot down in February 2023, and that period there was no discussion going on with Chinese. 277 00:34:20,720 --> 00:34:28,720 So they want to try to at least keep the talking open. Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, was there a few weeks ago as well. 278 00:34:28,720 --> 00:34:38,720 But let's go to the military strategy piece for a moment. You know, this is, is just such, on the other hand, we have Secretary of State Blinken. 279 00:34:38,720 --> 00:34:49,720 We have Secretary of State Blinken visiting Xi Jinping. Then we have our US Space Force talking about the dazzling, breathtaking new capabilities that China has in space. 280 00:34:49,720 --> 00:34:56,720 And we're talking military capabilities. And because it's the Space Force, they can't really tell us any more than that. We probably wouldn't understand it anyway. 281 00:34:56,720 --> 00:35:04,720 But it's some bad stuff, right? In China's ability to interfere either with satellites on orbit or with the communications links with them. 282 00:35:04,720 --> 00:35:15,720 We had the Department of Homeland Security issue a report a few weeks ago that revealed that China had hacked the State Department last summer. 283 00:35:15,720 --> 00:35:30,720 This was just the investigation, but it concluded that they still really didn't know how China had managed to get the secret encryption keys to break into the State Department and the Commerce Department and 391 other prominent Americans and a bunch of Western Europeans. 284 00:35:30,720 --> 00:35:39,720 So we know the cyber attacks is going on. The Department of Energy is worried about China cyber attacks on the electric grid. 285 00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:46,720 And then back to the Pacific and the Philippines. The Army and others have really decided they just have to switch the strategy. 286 00:35:46,720 --> 00:35:58,720 It's what they call a gray zone warfare. They don't want to go into a direct World War Three with China, but they need to be able to hop around those islands and take action where necessary. 287 00:35:58,720 --> 00:36:04,720 So that leads to a greater emphasis on the ships like we've been talking about, freedom navigation. 288 00:36:04,720 --> 00:36:12,720 Also on aircraft like the V-22 Osprey and the V-280 Valor that will provide that future vertical lift. 289 00:36:12,720 --> 00:36:26,720 The Army and the Pacific Command and the Navy want to be able, and the Marines of course, want to be able to, if China tries to go into a little island out there, they want to get there first or already be there to deter that becoming a flashpoint. 290 00:36:26,720 --> 00:36:36,720 And so that's something I think we'll hear a lot more about in the future of this new distributed strategy for staying one step ahead of China out in the Pacific. 291 00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:40,720 All right, we need to take a break. 292 00:36:40,720 --> 00:36:49,720 So we were talking here with Dr. Rebecca Grant. We've been talking about China. We've been talking about Russia. We've been talking about Iran. 293 00:36:49,720 --> 00:36:53,720 We've got many more things to talk about when we come back. 294 00:36:53,720 --> 00:36:59,720 So stay tuned. You're listening to Veterans Radio and we will be right back after our Medal of Honor segment. 295 00:37:23,720 --> 00:37:35,720 Veterans Radio, the number is 1-800-693-4800. They're experts in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Their number again, 1-800-693-4800. 296 00:37:35,720 --> 00:37:46,720 Kilmer's company was defending a vitally important Korean hill position well forward of the main line of resistance during an assault by large concentrations of hostile troops. 297 00:37:46,720 --> 00:37:58,720 Kilmer repeatedly braved intense enemy mortar, artillery, and sniper fire to move from one position to another, administering aid to the wounded and expediting their evacuation. 298 00:37:58,720 --> 00:38:11,720 Painfully wounded himself when struck by mortar fragments while moving to the aid of a casualty, he persisted in his efforts and inched his way to the side of the stricken marine through a hail of enemy shells falling around him. 299 00:38:11,720 --> 00:38:25,720 Haunted by the devastating hostile fire, he skillfully administered first aid to his comrade, and as another mounting barrage of enemy fire shattered the immediate area, unhesitatingly shielded the wounded man with his body. 300 00:38:25,720 --> 00:38:30,720 Kilmer was mortally wounded by flying shrapnel while carrying out this heroic action. 301 00:38:30,720 --> 00:38:34,720 The Medal of Honor series is a production of Veterans Radio. 302 00:38:34,720 --> 00:38:42,720 Military veterans touch everyone's life. I'm guessing right now you're thinking of a veteran, a close friend, relative? Maybe it's you. 303 00:38:42,720 --> 00:38:47,720 Even the toughest among us sometimes need help, but don't know where to turn for support. 304 00:38:47,720 --> 00:38:54,720 You don't need special training to help a veteran in your life. If you know a veteran in crisis, don't wait. Reach out. 305 00:38:54,720 --> 00:38:58,720 Call the Veterans Crisis Line at 988, then press 1. 306 00:38:58,720 --> 00:39:07,720 A message from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 307 00:39:07,720 --> 00:39:19,720 We're back here on Veterans Radio, and just a quick reminder to you that that little PSA that we just heard about, 988, that's a suicide crisis line, not just for veterans, it's also for civilians. 308 00:39:19,720 --> 00:39:28,720 And so we are encouraging people to put this on a wall someplace if you have, I don't know if anybody that's having a crisis is to just dial 988. 309 00:39:28,720 --> 00:39:31,720 Usually for veterans, you press 1. 310 00:39:31,720 --> 00:39:41,720 But it's important to have that number available to you. Mental health is one of the biggest issues that we have not only in the military, of course, but also across the country. 311 00:39:41,720 --> 00:39:48,720 We are talking with Dr. Rebecca Grant, and I'm going to let's talk briefly if we can about Ukraine. 312 00:39:48,720 --> 00:39:54,720 I mean, the way that, you know, Congress was dilly-dallying around with the funding that they needed. 313 00:39:54,720 --> 00:40:04,720 They finally got some of it evidently, you know, that's going to be able to help them out. Is it enough or is it, do you think it's too late? 314 00:40:04,720 --> 00:40:14,720 I'm really glad. You know, the vote was a difficult one, and I'm really glad they've got that Ukraine funding moving. It's never too late. 315 00:40:14,720 --> 00:40:21,720 Having said that, the situation with Russia has taken a real turn for the worse. 316 00:40:21,720 --> 00:40:39,720 And General Kovale, who was the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, you know, US Army, was here in Washington a few days ago, testifying just a couple of things that he told Congress, you know, yes, Russia has lost 2,000 tanks in Ukraine and 315,000 dead or wounded. 317 00:40:39,720 --> 00:40:47,720 But Russia's frontline troop strength has increased from 360,000 to 470,000 over the past year. 318 00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:53,720 Russia is ready to buy or bring into service 1,200 new tanks per year. 319 00:40:53,720 --> 00:40:57,720 They're planning on producing over 3 million artillery shells per year. 320 00:40:57,720 --> 00:41:03,720 And then of course, there's that $1 billion deal with Iran to build up to 6,000 drones per year. 321 00:41:03,720 --> 00:41:16,720 So basically, Russia has re-armed. This is very, very serious for NATO and for our NATO partners like Poland, who spent, Poland spends 4% of their budget on defense. 322 00:41:16,720 --> 00:41:27,720 They are buying, they bought a lot of US Abrams tanks. They're buying more. The reason they're buying tanks is they sent all their tanks to Ukraine in 2022, darn near all of them. 323 00:41:27,720 --> 00:41:38,720 So we have, no matter what happens in Ukraine, as Kevoli has said, we're going to have a very, Russia will be larger, more lethal and angrier with the West than when it invaded. 324 00:41:38,720 --> 00:41:47,720 So that's the overall situation. And that tells you why continued US support for Ukraine is so important. I get it. It's very frustrating. 325 00:41:47,720 --> 00:41:57,720 I don't think anyone likes the way that the war has gone. I think there are a lot of frustrations with the White House despite their firm support. 326 00:41:57,720 --> 00:42:05,720 There have been frustrations with the way the aid has been requested, the way it's been given and the fact, frankly, that it's been given in dribs and drabs. 327 00:42:05,720 --> 00:42:16,720 I have to say it, no air power is really difficult when you've got an 800 mile front and Russians dug in with three layer deep mine belts down in the south. 328 00:42:16,720 --> 00:42:25,720 But we are seeing some Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure in other places. And I think the aid is going to come in time. 329 00:42:25,720 --> 00:42:31,720 You know, one thing about those North Korean artillery shells that Russia likes to fire is, fortunately, some of them are duds, not all of them. 330 00:42:31,720 --> 00:42:34,720 You don't know which ones, but that's not the best ammo in the world. 331 00:42:34,720 --> 00:42:43,720 So, you know, NATO is stronger than ever in support of Ukraine. And I'm glad that Congress, I know it's really hard, but I'm glad they've passed this. 332 00:42:43,720 --> 00:42:51,720 And I think Ukraine still has a good chance here to kick more Russians off its territory and get to a place where we can talk about a more reasonable peace settlement at some point. 333 00:42:51,720 --> 00:42:57,720 That would be that would be good because isn't isn't the Russian economy suffering from this? 334 00:42:57,720 --> 00:43:04,720 You would think but I am told that the International Monetary Fund says Russia's GDP will increase by 2% this year. 335 00:43:04,720 --> 00:43:11,720 And that's because they are able to circumvent sanctions. And again, because China does not pay any attention to sanctions. 336 00:43:11,720 --> 00:43:17,720 China buys all the oil, China buys all this right and Russia's economy was kind of small and terrible anyway. 337 00:43:17,720 --> 00:43:20,720 You know, Putin doesn't care about that. He will keep fighting. 338 00:43:20,720 --> 00:43:28,720 And so what we're seeing here is that we now have a generational problem and we're going to have to defend against Russia for a really long time. 339 00:43:28,720 --> 00:43:36,720 It's serious in a way it hasn't been before. And the best thing for that will be for Russia not to win in Ukraine. 340 00:43:36,720 --> 00:43:43,720 We have got to lose or we will be have a far more serious security problem in Europe. 341 00:43:43,720 --> 00:43:46,720 Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. 342 00:43:46,720 --> 00:43:56,720 Let's talk about some of the new new aircraft and new military equipment that is going on out there. 343 00:43:56,720 --> 00:44:00,720 You know, we have a new airplane. 344 00:44:00,720 --> 00:44:01,720 Right. 345 00:44:01,720 --> 00:44:05,720 Right. The Doomsday plane. 346 00:44:05,720 --> 00:44:10,720 You know, after all we've just talked about, you can see why they call it the Doomsday plane. Right. 347 00:44:10,720 --> 00:44:11,720 I guess. 348 00:44:11,720 --> 00:44:24,720 Actually, it's had that nickname for a while. But this is very interesting. This is what you all may know really as the E4B or the Pentagon's name for it is the Survivable Airborne Operations Center. 349 00:44:24,720 --> 00:44:31,720 This is the plane that can be up flying as a command and control post in the event of a nuclear war. 350 00:44:31,720 --> 00:44:36,720 So it's hardened and against EMP. It's got all sorts of everything in it. 351 00:44:36,720 --> 00:44:42,720 But these E4s, which are based out at Off-Foot Air Force Base, are, they're getting old. 352 00:44:42,720 --> 00:44:47,720 So they're going to be replaced with about 8 to 10 aircraft. 353 00:44:47,720 --> 00:44:57,720 Fascinating. The announcement just came out that Sierra Nevada Corporation out of Sparks, Nevada, which is near Reno, a little suburb of Reno, 354 00:44:57,720 --> 00:45:07,720 is the winner in this contract. Now, what's interesting is that Sierra Nevada won because Boeing, who had made these planes in the past, 355 00:45:07,720 --> 00:45:16,720 dropped out of the bidding process. And this was largely due, the government said, hey, this is a huge program, $13 billion. 356 00:45:16,720 --> 00:45:19,720 You guys got to give us basically a firm fixed price. 357 00:45:19,720 --> 00:45:27,720 Boeing was unwilling to bid on that stunning, I've never seen Boeing drop out for something like this. 358 00:45:27,720 --> 00:45:30,720 Now, Sierra Nevada Corporation, you'll be saying, who are they? 359 00:45:30,720 --> 00:45:38,720 And you may know them from the Scorpion or the Supertacano, but what they do is they, what we call, they integrate. 360 00:45:38,720 --> 00:45:44,720 They put box, they put really nifty boxes on airplanes like the C-130 and others. 361 00:45:44,720 --> 00:45:52,720 And so I actually think, although this is a huge win for Sierra Nevada, it's really going to change it when this runs through 2036, 362 00:45:52,720 --> 00:45:59,720 this one, the work will be done. But I think they're an excellent choice because basically what you do is you buy a jet, 363 00:45:59,720 --> 00:46:05,720 like a 747 or something else, and you put a whole bunch of boxes and gizmos and gear on it. 364 00:46:05,720 --> 00:46:08,720 I mean, more than you can imagine. And it's all got to work. 365 00:46:08,720 --> 00:46:15,720 But that's what Sierra Nevada specializes in. So the Air Force knows them very well from their work for special operations and the Air Force and others 366 00:46:15,720 --> 00:46:18,720 and classified programs and all manner of stuff. 367 00:46:18,720 --> 00:46:25,720 So I think Sierra Nevada actually will do a very good job with their Boomsday plane and with Russia and its nuclear weapons, 368 00:46:25,720 --> 00:46:28,720 China increasing its nuclear forces. 369 00:46:28,720 --> 00:46:36,720 You can see why the Air Force needs to modernize that airborne command and control aircraft. 370 00:46:36,720 --> 00:46:44,720 Speaking of modernization, there was an article that I saw from the Lexington Institute. 371 00:46:44,720 --> 00:46:57,720 It says, the logic of aircraft carrier strike groups and that we are the only nation, evidently, that has sustained a fleet of these large deck nuclear power aircraft carriers across the globe. 372 00:46:57,720 --> 00:47:07,720 I would say we have 11 of these things. But Congress has slowed down the building of new ones. 373 00:47:07,720 --> 00:47:10,720 Oh my goodness, Congress. 374 00:47:10,720 --> 00:47:13,720 These guys are, you know. 375 00:47:13,720 --> 00:47:18,720 No, I don't know. Well, that's okay. This is Washington. We say mean things about them all the time. 376 00:47:18,720 --> 00:47:26,720 I would think so. I mean, we have, even out here in the middle of the world, we never seem to say nice things about Congress anymore. 377 00:47:26,720 --> 00:47:33,720 That's true. That's true, understandably. In this case, this was really a surprise. 378 00:47:33,720 --> 00:47:40,720 So the law of the United States requires that we maintain 11 carrier strike groups. 379 00:47:40,720 --> 00:47:46,720 And, you know, we have a really big defense budget right now. It's going to be for obvious reasons. 380 00:47:46,720 --> 00:47:49,720 For all the reasons we've just discussed, it's really quite big. 381 00:47:49,720 --> 00:47:58,720 But the Navy and the Pentagon, you know, Secretary of Defense Austin, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, 382 00:47:58,720 --> 00:48:04,720 decided to cut back on new aircraft carriers and slow them down. 383 00:48:04,720 --> 00:48:07,720 Just the most inexplicable decision. 384 00:48:07,720 --> 00:48:11,720 What we're doing right now is we're buying the Ford, the Gerald R. Ford class. 385 00:48:11,720 --> 00:48:18,720 You know, Gerald Ford, long before he was a Congressman and then President, served on aircraft carriers in World War II. 386 00:48:18,720 --> 00:48:23,720 And he was, you know, he was a Navy man. So the newest carrier, the Ford, is named after him. 387 00:48:23,720 --> 00:48:29,720 It's really nifty design. Same hull as the Nimitz, but it's a little bit bigger. 388 00:48:29,720 --> 00:48:35,720 They moved the island, which is that stack, the tower on the deck, a little bit further back. 389 00:48:35,720 --> 00:48:43,720 And that gives them a little bit more room to what they call spot the deck and move aircraft around as they're doing flight operations. 390 00:48:43,720 --> 00:48:49,720 These aircraft carriers, the Ford class have electromagnetic catapults, so it's not steam anymore. 391 00:48:49,720 --> 00:48:53,720 And it took a while to get them working, but they work now. 392 00:48:53,720 --> 00:48:58,720 And the Ford, which was over in the Middle East, they had a, oh, 250-day deployment. 393 00:48:58,720 --> 00:49:02,720 And they did about 10,000 sorties with these electric catapults. 394 00:49:02,720 --> 00:49:12,720 Worked great. The reason for the electric catapults is partly because they now want to be able to launch drones that are a little bit lighter. 395 00:49:12,720 --> 00:49:16,720 And with the old steam catapults, it was just blast them off. 396 00:49:16,720 --> 00:49:18,720 But with the electromagnetic, throw them into the air. 397 00:49:18,720 --> 00:49:25,720 Throw them into the air. They're all the same. Everybody's got to be heavy because we're going to, all the planes had to be heavy and rugged. 398 00:49:25,720 --> 00:49:30,720 They're being thrown into the air. But the electromagnetic catapults can be dialed up or down. 399 00:49:30,720 --> 00:49:34,720 And so they can launch smaller aircraft and all this. 400 00:49:34,720 --> 00:49:39,720 And, you know, the Navy, I think of the future, will have a lot of drones and unmanned aircraft. 401 00:49:39,720 --> 00:49:45,720 They're already getting the MQ-25 Stingray, which is a combination tanker and surveillance drone. 402 00:49:45,720 --> 00:49:51,720 So the Ford class is a great, you know, it's the new redesign that we really need. 403 00:49:51,720 --> 00:49:55,720 Got a couple of them in the dry dock down in Newport News right now. 404 00:49:55,720 --> 00:49:58,720 But Congress said, oh, nope, let's just, let's just wait. 405 00:49:58,720 --> 00:50:01,720 Let's just take a couple of years and pause this shipbuilding. 406 00:50:01,720 --> 00:50:06,720 Meanwhile, here's China with its fourth aircraft carrier. 407 00:50:06,720 --> 00:50:12,720 Each one's a little different, but this fourth one is a much more sophisticated design. 408 00:50:12,720 --> 00:50:17,720 Again, trying to use electromagnetic catapults that they've copied from the U.S. 409 00:50:17,720 --> 00:50:21,720 Now, China's carriers are not as good as the Ford class. 410 00:50:21,720 --> 00:50:25,720 For one thing, they are not nuclear-powered, which ours are. 411 00:50:25,720 --> 00:50:28,720 But they only need to go down and harass the Philippines. 412 00:50:28,720 --> 00:50:31,720 So they are capable of creating a lot of trouble. 413 00:50:31,720 --> 00:50:36,720 And it's just an inexplicable decision at this point to delay the shipbuilding plan. 414 00:50:36,720 --> 00:50:40,720 You know who really hurts is the suppliers. 415 00:50:40,720 --> 00:50:46,720 Because you've got over 1,200 companies that build part of an aircraft carrier, 416 00:50:46,720 --> 00:50:51,720 a lot in Virginia, but really throughout the United States in various places. 417 00:50:51,720 --> 00:50:54,720 And you can't just say, hey, can you come back in five years? 418 00:50:54,720 --> 00:51:01,720 We might want to put this order for these grappling hooks into you five years from now. 419 00:51:01,720 --> 00:51:04,720 We don't need it now, but can you have this ready then? 420 00:51:04,720 --> 00:51:07,720 It's not interchangeable parts in a lot of cases. 421 00:51:07,720 --> 00:51:12,720 So it's really inexplicable in the face of what China is doing. 422 00:51:12,720 --> 00:51:16,720 And I hope Congress has a chance to correct that in the budget. 423 00:51:16,720 --> 00:51:18,720 I hope that's one of the things that they'll do. 424 00:51:18,720 --> 00:51:22,720 I learned something when I was reading this article. 425 00:51:22,720 --> 00:51:26,720 I was not aware that the nuclear power submarines. 426 00:51:26,720 --> 00:51:28,720 They can stay out forever. 427 00:51:28,720 --> 00:51:35,720 Almost says they require refueling only once during their 50 year life. 428 00:51:35,720 --> 00:51:38,720 That was amazing to me. 429 00:51:38,720 --> 00:51:40,720 I couldn't imagine that. 430 00:51:40,720 --> 00:51:41,720 That's really cool. 431 00:51:41,720 --> 00:51:42,720 That is really cool. 432 00:51:42,720 --> 00:51:46,720 That reactor core overhaul is a very, very, very special thing. 433 00:51:46,720 --> 00:51:50,720 Yeah, they can stay out about as long as they can have canned goods. 434 00:51:50,720 --> 00:51:55,720 They talk to the submarines, especially about eating their way down to the bottom of the hull. 435 00:51:55,720 --> 00:51:59,720 Yeah, that's understandable. 436 00:51:59,720 --> 00:52:00,720 Yeah, they're limited by a child. 437 00:52:00,720 --> 00:52:03,720 But yeah, that's what makes them so special in the aircraft carriers too. 438 00:52:03,720 --> 00:52:11,720 And with the carriers, the nuclear power gives them the ability to go at speed and to launch and recover at speed, which is very, very special. 439 00:52:11,720 --> 00:52:15,720 Do the nuclear submarines have the same capability? 440 00:52:15,720 --> 00:52:20,720 Yeah, pretty much, because they can run that way, they are not operationally limited. 441 00:52:20,720 --> 00:52:23,720 They don't have to pop back up for fuel or whatnot. 442 00:52:23,720 --> 00:52:30,720 And so they can go into a position for whatever mission they're doing, whether it's a nuclear deterrence or something else. 443 00:52:30,720 --> 00:52:36,720 And they can stay in that position tactically far, far longer than a non-nuclear powered submarine can. 444 00:52:36,720 --> 00:52:39,720 Well, we've talked about a lot of things today. 445 00:52:39,720 --> 00:52:42,720 We haven't been able to solve a whole lot of problems. 446 00:52:42,720 --> 00:52:46,720 We've pointed out a number of problems that we have to keep ourselves aware of. 447 00:52:46,720 --> 00:52:53,720 As we come up to the top of the hour, Dr. Grant, anything that you would like to add to our conversation? 448 00:52:53,720 --> 00:52:58,720 All these crises around the world just tell me how important our U.S. military is. 449 00:52:58,720 --> 00:53:02,720 Our six service branches have never been more important. 450 00:53:02,720 --> 00:53:05,720 And I'm so grateful to all the men and women who are serving now. 451 00:53:05,720 --> 00:53:09,720 And to all the veterans who have given us this great tradition of excellence. 452 00:53:09,720 --> 00:53:13,720 It's what's going to keep our Republican shape and keep our allies together. 453 00:53:13,720 --> 00:53:16,720 So thank you, veterans and active service members. 454 00:53:16,720 --> 00:53:18,720 Boy, we need you. 455 00:53:18,720 --> 00:53:19,720 Boy, we do. 456 00:53:19,720 --> 00:53:20,720 And we got to help these. 457 00:53:20,720 --> 00:53:23,720 Yeah, I think we're going to have to help some recruiting. 458 00:53:23,720 --> 00:53:27,720 It sounds like with everything else that's going on in the world. 459 00:53:27,720 --> 00:53:28,720 That's right. 460 00:53:28,720 --> 00:53:37,720 Well, the America's military has never been more important than every crisis headline that we've talked about just shows you that that's the one thing we know we can count on. 461 00:53:37,720 --> 00:53:39,720 That is the United States military. 462 00:53:39,720 --> 00:53:41,720 And I think that that's important. 463 00:53:41,720 --> 00:53:47,720 You know, I mean, we've kind of taken this role of the world's protector from, you know, the bad guys. 464 00:53:47,720 --> 00:53:51,720 And, you know, sometimes we get bad press because people think that, you know, 465 00:53:51,720 --> 00:53:53,720 we're sticking our fingers where they don't belong. 466 00:53:53,720 --> 00:53:59,720 But if we don't stick our fingers in there, the world would be a total chaos. 467 00:53:59,720 --> 00:54:00,720 That's right. 468 00:54:00,720 --> 00:54:06,720 And we can see that Russia and China, Iran and North Korea would really like to make the world the way they want it. 469 00:54:06,720 --> 00:54:12,720 And it is our US military that is at the forefront of making sure that that cannot happen. 470 00:54:12,720 --> 00:54:29,720 And that the world has a chance to live in freedom and trade in peace and have it be the kind of world that we want with American leadership and that it we have never relied so much on the US military as we are today in this competition with China and all their nasty allies. 471 00:54:29,720 --> 00:54:41,720 Well, Dr. Rebecca Grant again is enlightened all of us and all of you out there. And we'll be bringing her back again probably in another three months to catch up with what's happening in the world then. 472 00:54:41,720 --> 00:54:47,720 So Dr. Grant, thank you so very much for being on our program. 473 00:54:47,720 --> 00:54:51,720 I love the opportunity of giving you this whole time period to explain what's happening. 474 00:54:51,720 --> 00:54:55,720 Oh, thank you. A pleasure to speak with Veterans Radio. Thank you. 475 00:54:55,720 --> 00:55:00,720 Okay, we will see you again. 476 00:55:00,720 --> 00:55:01,720 Thanks. 477 00:55:01,720 --> 00:55:14,720 All right. Hey, while you're out there, folks, I got one thing I wanted to point out to you. We're talking about how the world is kind of looks at, you know, we're responsible for everybody because nobody else can step up and take care of people. 478 00:55:14,720 --> 00:55:26,720 There's a book I want to recommend to all of you if you get the opportunity and that the book is entitled United America by Peter Shinto, S-H-I-N-K-L-E, Peter. 479 00:55:26,720 --> 00:55:38,720 And it's a story of Franklin Roosevelt and his Secretary of Defense at the Time War, Harry Stimson. It's a great story of how we were able to rally everybody during World War II. 480 00:55:38,720 --> 00:55:48,720 It's an audiobook. The story is amazing how they got Republicans and Democrats to work on this particular, obviously, on the World War II situation. 481 00:55:48,720 --> 00:56:01,720 And fascinating, the stories of FDR, Stimson names, older people recognize it, you know, the Wilkes of the world, the Tafts of the world. 482 00:56:01,720 --> 00:56:08,720 And I'd really encourage you to read this story because there's so much that could be taken out of this that we could use today. 483 00:56:08,720 --> 00:56:16,720 So the title of the book is United America, the author is Peter Schinkel, S-H-I-N-K-L-E, you can get it on Amazon. 484 00:56:16,720 --> 00:56:23,720 I encourage you to do that. Good book to read, good book to hear, and it makes a lot of things on you. 485 00:56:23,720 --> 00:56:33,720 So next week is our benefits program. We're going to be talking about answering your questions about what you want to know about the Veterans Health Care System and other disability sections. 486 00:56:33,720 --> 00:56:54,720 So until next week, this is Dale Throneberry for all of us here at Veterans Radio. You are dismissed.