ASP Defense Policy Working Group

We are a group of @amsolidarity members and Christian democrats who seek to reform our armed forces and defense policy in accordance with Just War principles.

[American Solidarity Party 🧡 @AmSolidarity]

Insightful 🧵. You can’t adequately address the challenges that AI poses to society unless you have a clear notion of what human beings are for and why human dignity matters.

[Ethan Yang 🇺🇸 🇻🇦 @EthanYang001]

@AcidOllie @MarkGaleotti @EvansRyan202 My view is whether or not Ukraine and Russia reconcile is ultimately up to the Ukrainians to decide, not Western outsiders like us.

[Anthony King @antbruceking]

For sure, the battlefield is changing. Mass mechanised manoeuvre may well be 20th century. But the idea that tanks are irrelevant on the 21st century battlefield is profoundly mistaken. Try to take a defended urban area without them. Vulnerability does not mean obsolescence.

[American Solidarity Party 🧡 @AmSolidarity]

Reminder that that the congressional proclamation that established Memorial Day declared it a “day of prayer for perpetual peace,” and every year since then the presidential proclamations of the holiday have followed that tradition.

Pray (and work) for peace.

[American Solidarity Party 🧡 @AmSolidarity]

Please take some time today to pray for those who have fallen in the service of our country. Pray that no Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine is forgotten. And pray that none may die for an unjust cause and that peace is restored to a wounded world.

[Ethan Yang 🇺🇸 🇻🇦 @EthanYang001]

Funny you say thar, because the more I've read about Woodrow Wilson, the more I have come to realize what an absolute disaster he was not only for the United States but for Europe and the rest of the world as a whole.

[Challenger Research @ChallgrRes]

Drones are a genuine capability shift.

But @Noahpinion - the "drones win wars" argument has some significant problems.

[The Chieftain @Chieftain_armor]

After reading it, I'm trying to understand the point of emphasis. If it is that drones provide a cheap alternative to air forces or indirect fires, he's absolutely correct. However, the technology behind them is hardly new. Want a small man portable system capable of killing a tank which is controlled by a 15km fiber optic cable with a camera in the nose? Welcome to the 1980s FOG-M and 1990s EFOGM. Nations like the US do not need the use of drones to kill the enemy, they are pretty good at it without drones. What they do need to do is to prevent drones from other nations from killing them, which reduces the problem set and associated cost. That's not to say that the US cannot use drones offensively and indeed it plans on doing so when suitable, they're cheaper than Tomahawks after all, but war doesn't stop in bad weather conditions which limit drone activity and cold weather does do a number on battery life.

The Ukraine conflict is both understating and overstating the effect of drones. Currently Ukraine runs four people per drone and the typical reaction time for a "call for fire" is about 20-30 minutes. That's not going to stop an armored brigade. On the other hand, we can also assume that drones will become more responsive and less manpower intensive and thus more dangerous.

On the other other hand, counter drone defenses are a major source of effort. He mentions lasers, but not microwaves. It's possible to harden a drone, but it makes it more expensive with a smaller payload. It's possible to put a computer into a drone for autonomous operation or even swarm operation (Remember the BAT munitions being kicked around a while ago?), but again that makes things heavier and more expensive. In effect, the drone will turn into just another guided missile. (And is it really that much cheaper than firing off a couple of 155mm BONUS rounds, which will get to the vicinity of the target 20km away in 2 minutes?). And of course you have the RWS modifications which are installed on an sorts of vehicles. 7.62mm is plenty good enough to kill a drone, systems like the Bullfrog are showing great promise on such mini-CIWS concepts. Indeed, the difficult bit isn't keeping a modern armored formation alive, it's in keeping an unarmoured formations (and the sustainment elements) alive. The M1 tank already has an RWS mounted on its top, kindof hard to fit one to a rifleman's helmet. Currently the only place on the front line of Ukraine more dangerous than being in a tank is being not in a tank. Overall the US Army's position is that the overall threat of drones can be mitigated to a level akin to that of the ATGM or artillery. Something you need to respect and take measures against, something which will cause losses even if those measures are implemented, but not something which will stop you.

From the purely economic perspective, indeed, the drone era has made even small militaries far more effective, but that can be mitigated. More importantly, one must avoid falling into the Jeune Ecole trap of thinking drones make other assets obsolete instead of complementing them. To a large extent, you get what you pay for, and drones, even by the score, do not provide the same "right here, right now, no matter the conditions" capability that more expensive assets can provide.

For a pretty in depth discussion on the problems and limitations, look up the Army Futures Command youtube channel and the 6 hours of public panels for the problems of the Ground Air Littoral.

As an aside, his assessment that drones were decisive on the Nagorno Karabach war is disputed by analysts. They were more, in gamer terms, a win-harder card, but what won was proper application of combined arms of which the drones were a part combined with determination. Example https://t.co/UmNaNg21fI

[Emily Zanotti 🦝 @emzanotti]

Pardon my French but Woodrow Wilson fucking sucks and if there’s anyone in hell, it’s him.

[American Solidarity Party of Wisconsin @aspofwisconsin]

If some haven't figured it out yet, there's a pattern here just as there was one before, and it's one that instills neither confidence nor fear.

[Monarchists of America @MOA_Official1]

“Imperialism is good when its my side” you could literally just say that and you wouldnt be a hypocrite.

[American Solidarity Party of Wisconsin @aspofwisconsin]

The tragedy of this is that—like so many other things—war has become a partisan issue. It isn't, and it never should be.

We're causing immense harm to the world and ourselves based on a demonstrably false rationale, yet 50 Senators refuse to do the right thing.

[Edward Feser @FeserEdward]

Of all the things I’ve said in defense of unpopular Catholic moral teachings over the years – on abortion, sexuality, social doctrine, or what have you – I don’t think anything has generated more undiluted hostility and unreasoning, spittle-flecked rage than what I’ve said against intentionally killing civilians and obliterating civilian infrastructure during wartime. It is truly extraordinary. I never would have guessed it. Make of it what you will.

[American Solidarity Party of Wisconsin @aspofwisconsin]

That's hard to believe given that the war already ended after the first day and that Iran has been "desperate" to make a deal for over a month. 🙄

[American Solidarity Party 🧡 @AmSolidarity]

My “This is not a Golden Calf” t-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt.

[American Solidarity Party of Wisconsin @aspofwisconsin]

Prior to the start of this war, Iran had a breakout time of approximately one year. Now that it has been "won" (repeatedly), Iran has a breakout time of approximately one year.

We have accomplished nothing other than chaos, destruction, and death.

[American Solidarity Party of Wisconsin @aspofwisconsin]

It's incredible that this still bears repeating, but...

1: The Strait of Hormuz closed because of this conflict.

2: This administration's own Director of National Intelligence testified under oath that Iran was not actively developing a nuclear weapon.

[American Solidarity Party of Wisconsin @aspofwisconsin]

Hegseth: "...the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless naysayers..."

Reality: The war that was already "won" has cost over $25 billion, killed thousands of civilians, depleted critical munitions, and prompted an even more hostile regime than before.

[American Solidarity Party of Wisconsin @aspofwisconsin]

@FeserEdward @thenewdigest "In this sense, it is entirely possible that military action could destroy an enemy’s immediate military capacity while simultaneously increasing its long-term danger."

This is precisely why we must adopt a longer-term view in our conception and application of foreign policy.

[American Solidarity Party 🧡 @AmSolidarity]

Very encouraging