Russia has launched an intercontinental ballistic missile in a test launch that comes as the Kremlin approaches the two-month border of its war with Ukraine.
We will share the details of this launch, plus the new weapons that the United States began training Ukrainian troops on, and the death of a Hawaiian Navy officer.
This is defense and national security, your nightly guide to the latest developments in the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. For the Hill, I’m Ellen Mitchell. Subscribe here.
Russia is testing the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile
Russia on Wednesday conducted a test launch of its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, according to the country’s defense ministry.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday that Russia had notified the United States before the test, so “we were not surprised by it and did not consider it a threat to the United States or its allies.”
Kirby added that the Ministry of Defense “remains focused on Russia’s illegal and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine.”
Test details: The rocket was launched at 15:12 Moscow time from the silo of the Plesetsk State Test Space in the Arkhangelsk region, a region in western Russia about 1640 miles north of Moscow.
The defense ministry said the missile flew to the Kura test site on the Kamchatka Peninsula, which runs along the Bering Sea, before landing in a “designated area” in Kamchatka.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has said that once the Sarmatian test program is completed, the weapon will be used by the country’s strategic missile forces.
A veiled threat: Russian President Vladimir Putin said in March 2018 that his country’s new missile system would make any US missile defense system “useless” and warned the West that it had “failed to control Russia.”
On Wednesday, Putin congratulated his military on the launch and said he would “think of those who are trying to threaten Russia,” the ministry said in a statement.
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CAPITOLIA POLICE SAYS “NO THREAT” AFTER EVACUATION, PLANE WARNING
The U.S. Capitol and a nearby building were briefly evacuated Wednesday night after an apparent false alarm about an army plane that was in the area aiming to parachute for a pre-match event at Nationals Park.
Capitol police initially issued an evacuation signal for the Capitol and other nearby buildings due to a “possible threat” from a plane, although they later tweeted shortly before 7 pm that “there is no threat.” Police announced everything after 8 p.m.
Read more here.
The United States begins to train Ukrainian howitzers
Howitzer artillery and shells for the system have arrived in Europe, and US troops have begun training Ukrainian forces on how to use them, a senior U.S. defense official said Wednesday.
In the last 24 hours, four flights have arrived in Europe with military aid to Ukraine from a $ 800 million package approved by the Biden administration last week.
“Some of these flights do involve howitzers,” the official told reporters. “In the next 24 [hours]there will be additional flights coming from the United States to the howitzer region. ”
Details are limited: The official also said that the training of “a small number” of Ukrainians on how to use howitzers began in an unnamed country outside Ukraine, and the training is expected to last one week.
Slightly more than 50 Ukrainians will be trained under the system, and these troops will then return to their country to train their counterparts, the official said.
Next: The United States is expected to send 18 howitzers and 40,000 artillery shells to Ukraine as part of the latest multimillion-dollar presidential download package.
Read more here.
CORRECTION OF PENTAGON PROBLEMS ON COMBAT PLANS
On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Ukraine had “received additional platforms and parts to be able to increase the size of its fleet, the size of its aircraft fleet.”
But Kirby admitted on Wednesday that he had made a mistake and that Ukraine had received only parts of other countries, not “whole planes”.
“I was wrong. They didn’t get whole planes from another nation. I was given to know that an offer made by another nation in the region was actually effective.” I was wrong to say that in the past they were given a whole plane. I’m sorry for the mistake, “Kirby said.
Ukraine also quickly set out to clear up the confusion, with its air force tweeting that the country had not received new aircraft from partners! With the assistance of the United States Government, [the Ukrainian Air Force] receive spare parts and components for the restoration and repair of the aircraft fleet in the Armed Forces, which will allow [us] to put more equipment into operation. ”
A Navy officer died while training in Hawaii
A junior officer in the U.S. Navy died over the weekend while training with Marines at a base in Hawaii, the service said Wednesday.
A 29-year-old lieutenant, Aaron Fowler, “did not respond during training” at the Hawaii Marine Corps base in Kaneohe Bay on Sunday and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, according to a Navy statement.
Limited details: No further details were released on the incident, which is currently being investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigation Service and local authorities.
Since January, Fowler has been assigned to the Mobile Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit 1, a unit that eliminates the dangers of land and sea explosions, and is based in San Diego, California. It entered the Navy in 2012 and went into service after graduating from the Naval Academy in May 2018, according to the service.
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ON THE NUMBERS TOMORROW
- Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will speak at the Friends of Europe on current and future relations between the United States, the European Union and China at 9 am
- The Vandenberg Coalition will host a virtual discussion on “the role of the great strategy for advancing US interests, today’s national security challenges and the vision of the next president’s foreign policy” at 12 noon.
- The Mitchell Institute’s Forum on Nuclear Deterrence and Missile Defense will hear Peter Prye, Executive Director of the Working Group on National and Internal Security, at 1 p.m.
- Defense One will host a virtual forum on artificial intelligence with Matt Turek, program manager of the Information Innovation Office at the Advanced Defense Research Projects Agency, and Brett Vaughn, chief AI officer at the Navy, at 1 p.m.
- The Brookings Institution will discuss “Protecting Civilians in Partnership Military Operations” at 1:30 p.m.
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This is for today! Check out The Hill’s Defense and National Security pages for the latest coverage. I’ll see you tomorrow!
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