On Tuesday, August 23, the U.S. Navy took delivery of its first operational HELIOS (High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance) laser system. The Lockheed-designed laser was installed aboard a San Diego-based destroyer earlier this year, and the company describes it as “the first tactical laser weapon system to be integrated into existing ships and provide directed energy capability to the fleet.”

On Wednesday, August 24, sixty-five soldiers and 135 government civilians started a yearlong test on the latest Patriot Missile System upgrade. This upgrade is the newest one since 2018. Starting in early June 2022, U.S. Army Operational Test Command’s (OTC) Air and Missile Defense Test Directorate (AMDTD) worked alongside Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 6th Air Defense Artillery Test Detachment (ADATD), 30th Air Defense Artillery Brigade and multiple government agencies to test the system update to ensure it is ready for Soldiers.

Also on Wednesday, the Pentagon has announced a new military assistance package for Ukraine, the largest to date with a whopping value of nearly $3 billion, as the country marks six months since the start of Russia’s all-out invasion and the 31st anniversary of its independence from the Soviet Union. The new tranche of aid from the U.S. government includes six more National Advanced Surface to Air Missile Systems, or NASAMS, and an unspecified number of counter-drone systems called Vampire, along with more artillery ammunition, radars, and other materiel. The planned transfers are expected to occur over the course of a number of years, underscoring a new and important focus on bolstering the Ukrainian military’s capabilities in the longer term, regardless of how the current conflict might evolve.

On Thursday, August 25, it was reported that China‘s military is engaged in a large-scale expansion of both nuclear and conventional missiles described in a U.S. Air Force Air University report as “incredibly” large and rapidly increasing. The report by the China Aerospace Studies Institute at the university said the People’s Liberation Army’s Rocket Force, formerly the 2nd Artillery, is expanding both in the sophistication of its missiles and size of its arsenal. The growth in both missiles and launchers was based on increasing numbers of Rocket Force brigades and highlights the rapid buildup.

On Sunday, August 28, the U.S. Navy sailed two warships through the Taiwan Strait in the first such transit publicized since U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan earlier in August, at a time when tensions have kept the waterway particularly busy. The USS Antietam and USS Chancellorsville are conducting a routine transit, the U.S. 7th Fleet said. The cruisers “transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State,” the statement said. China conducted many military exercises in the strait as it sought to punish Taiwan after Pelosi visited the self-ruled island against Beijing’s threats.

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