The D Brief: Pentagon’s shutdown alarm; US-China military talks; US to OK ATACMS strikes?; RIP, Lt. Jones; And a bit more.

SecDef Austin’s warning to House Appropriations: Rather than fully fund the government, thereby averting another shutdown at the end of the month, House Republicans’ latest planned short-term funding bill would set back a wide range of important Pentagon initiatives, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a letter to House Appropriators this week. 

Background: “House GOP leadership Friday rolled out a plan that involves linking a six-month stopgap…with legislation backed by former President Trump and hard-line conservatives that calls for stricter proof-of-citizenship requirements to register to vote,” The Hill reported Monday evening. But that plan, like several House GOP funding efforts in the spring, seems unlikely to pass the Democrat-led Senate unless some kind of compromise is forged. And such a compromise appears unlikely in the House, where Republicans hold a slim majority that puts Speaker Mike Johnson at the mercy of some of the lower chamber’s more isolationist, far-right lawmakers like Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Greene. 

Austin: Several efforts related to U.S. competition with China would be slowed or delayed by a short-term bill, known as a continuing resolution, the Pentagon chief outlined on page four of his 11-page letter. Other setbacks include delays to artillery production increases; the Defense Department’s Replicator drone acquisition program; the Air Force’s B-21 program; and the Navy’s Columbia Class (nuclear-armed) submarine replacement program. Another CR would also halt change of station moves across the services, delay the construction of six child development centers, 10 new family housing construction projects, and much more, said Austin. 

“These actions subject service members and their families to unnecessary stress, empower our adversaries, misalign billions of dollars, damage our readiness, and impede our ability to react to emergent events,” Austin warned in his letter. “We have already lost valuable time, having operated under 48 CRs for a total of almost five years since 2011,” he reminded lawmakers. “A six-month CR takes us far too close to the April 30, 2025 deadline for a permanent sequestration order,” as required by law, Austin warned. 

“I am fully aware of the political pressures that will challenge the Congress from fulfilling its duty before our national elections conclude,” said Austin. “The Department stands ready to assist Congress in any way possible to ensure it has the  information and resources to pass this essential legislation,” he added. Read over his letter in full (PDF), here. 

Related: Trump urges shutdown unless vote-restricting bill passes. In late August, GOP candidate Donald Trump urged his party to shut down the government unless Congress passes a bill to make it harder to register to vote. Defense One's Brad Peniston writes that Speaker Johnson appears to be heeding Trump’s call, which, budget consequences aside, is part of a long-term effort to reshape the electorate to GOP advantage under the guise of curtailing nearly non-existent vote fraud. The Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, has called shutdowns “completely irresponsible.” The two are scheduled to debate tonight at 9 p.m. ET.

Additional reading: 

• Alabama Sen. Tommy “Tuberville’s theatrics return, blocking the promotion of Lloyd Austin’s top military aide,” the Washington Post reported Monday;
• “Decision on junior enlisted pay boost not expected until November,” Army Times reported Monday.  

Welcome to this Tuesday edition of The D Brief, brought to you by Ben Watson with Bradley Peniston. Share your newsletter tips, reading recommendations, or feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 1813, a U.S. Navy flotilla defeated a British force on Lake Erie, chasing the British from the region and securing Ohio and Michigan as U.S. territory. More than a century later, the Navy would name a new class of tough, small frigates for flotilla commander Oliver Hazard Perry.

Developing: U.S. officials are allegedly on the brink of authorizing Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles inside Russia, Juliegrace Brufke of Axios reported Monday, citing House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul. Those missiles include U.S.-provided Army Tactical Missile System munitions, which could travel as far as 190 miles. 

That authorization will reportedly be delivered by State Secretary Antony Blinken, who will join his British counterpart David Lammy on a trip to Ukraine on Wednesday, Matt Miller of the State Department announced Tuesday morning. The two will also travel to Poland for talks with NATO officials on Thursday, Miller said. 

Blinken also confirmed Ukrainian allegations that Russia has received a shipment of ballistic missiles from Iran, with that vessel reportedly arriving at a Russian port in the Caspian Sea last Wednesday. “Russia has now received shipments with these ballistic missiles, and will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine, against Ukraine,” Blinken said Tuesday in London. “This development and the growing cooperation between Russia and Iran threatens European security and demonstrates how Iran's destabilizing influence reaches far beyond the Middle East,” he added. 

“We fully expect Putin will use them inside Ukraine,” National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said Tuesday morning in a call with reporters. Ballistic missiles like these are “incredibly fast,” Kirby said, making them notably harder to intercept than, say, Iranian-designed “Shahed” drones. 

Coming shortly: U.S. sanctions against Iran Air, the nation’s flag carrier, will be announced later Tuesday, Kirby said. Other U.S. allies could follow with similar sanctions against the airline, he said. 

The toll of war: “The worst thing is that we’ve all become used to death,” one Ukrainian officer lamented to Oliver Carroll of The Economist. “That’s it: the concept of human life, human losses, human blood. No longer tragedy, just statistics,” he said. 

Analysis: Why there’s no easy answer to Russia’s glide bombs, according to officials and analysts who spoke with Defense One’s Sam Skove, who just returned from another trip to eastern Europe. 

Why it matters: Russia is dropping as many as 3,500 glide bombs a month. Weighing up to 6,000 pounds, some contain enough explosives to level entire buildings with a single strike. Kyiv’s troops cite the weapon as a key reason for Russian advances in eastern Ukraine.

Why are they so difficult to counter? In short, because few officials can seem to agree on exactly how to counter them. “For one, the number of Ukraine’s long-range Western missiles is relatively limited,” one researcher from RAND told Skove. “A better approach might be to send Ukraine more Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, or AMRAAMs,” he said. Continue reading, here. 

Developing: Sweden is trying to make it easier to transfer its Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine in the coming months. Officials there paved some procedural hurdles for that when they announced a new $440 million aid package for Ukraine on Monday, according to Reuters. “About half of the value of the package consisted of parts needed in Sweden's production of the latest model Gripen E fighters for its own air force,” the wire service reported from Stockholm. That would free up older jets for potential transfer sooner than later. Tiny bit more, here.  

Related reading: 

• “A woman is killed near Moscow as over 140 Ukrainian drones target Russia, officials say,” the Associated Press reported Tuesday; 
• “Biden administration sends Congress long-awaited Ukraine strategy report, sources say,” Reuters reported Monday;
• And “More Ukrainians Want to Negotiate an End to the War. Soldiers Don’t Agree,” the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

U.S., China renew military-to-military talks: America’s top officer in the Indo-Pacific region spoke to a Chinese general this week in a video teleconference, defense officials at Indo-Pacific Command announced Monday. Here’s a photo of the conversation, via the U.S. military. 

Involved: Indo-PACOM’s Adm. Samuel Paparo and Gen. Wu Yanan, the commander of the People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command.

“Paparo underscored the importance of sustained lines of communication between the U.S. military and the PLA, noting that such discussions between senior leaders serve to clarify intent and reduce the risk of misperception or miscalculation,” Paparo’s team said in a readout. They also said Paparo “reinforced the PLA’s obligation to comply with international laws and norms to ensure operational safety,” and urged China’s military “to reconsider its use of dangerous, coercive, and potentially escalatory tactics in the South China Sea and beyond.” 

FWIW: We haven’t yet been able to locate a readout from the Chinese side. 

From the region: 

• “North Korea's Kim Jong Un vows to exponentially boost nuclear arsenal,” Reuters reported Tuesday from Seoul; 
• “N. Korea unveils new 12-axle transporter erector launcher,” Seoul’s Yonhap news agency reported Monday; 
• “China Harnesses a Technology That Vexed the West, Unlocking a Treasure Chest,” the Wall Street Journal reported Monday from a “nickel rush” in Indonesia.

Duct fans fly again, in drone form. Could a one-minute test flight of a half-century-old propulsion concept lead to the next big thing in logistics? On Tuesday, Piasecki Aircraft Corporation announced that a drone had executed a pair of hovering tests on Sept. 6 at its facility in Essington, Pennsylvania, using tilt-duct rotors designed to take off like a helicopter but fly with the efficiency of a conventional jet. Defense One’s Patrick Tucker has more, here.

And lastly today: We say goodbye to former Army Ranger James Earl Jones, who passed away Monday at the age of 93. A highly decorated actor, Jones was perhaps most famous for voicing Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” film series. But your D Brief-ers particularly enjoyed his lower-profile work as Lt. Lothar Zogg in “Dr. Strangelove,” and as Adm. James Greer in several Tom Clancy novels that were turned into films like “Patriot Games” and “Clear and Present Danger” in the early 1990s. 

There will never be a voice like his. “Rangers lead the way.” Rest in peace, sir.