that you know how to use benefitsnd we have a lot of seniors who still don't know that there are new drug benefits coming. so, educating the people into are served by your programs is an incredible way of partnership because you more than anyone probably know where people are beuse you are seeing their claims, et cetera. so i would say continuing to help people understand what they have access to, what they need to do as we go through the unwinding, helping them to know they need to get vaccinated, all of these things, i think, is an area we uld love to continue to work. >> watch this if you go to c-span.org we go live now to the pentagon for today's defense department briefing. >> space plafor ausalia to

acquire conventnally armed powered submarines. he will have time for questions d then must depart. i ask you please limit the questions to that and 10 i will stick around to provide some non non-occus formation. >> it is gre to see you. yesterday you heardrom president biden, the ministers on the agreementor australia to acquire a conventionally armed nuclear powered sub-maureen through the australia, united kingdom and aucus. yesterday cleared t period to identify the pathway for australia to get this whe tting the highest nuclear nonproliferation and it will

have all three in undersea capability enhances deterrents an promoting stability in the indo--pacific. we have stood with our allies and partners to help sustain peace and stability in the indo--pacific. the optal pathway will sustain that. as the strategies described uned states must pursue a free open and secure world to protect our interest and those of allies and parpblgs. this advances the goal by building our military capability and twolliesnabling closer military planni. it is a generational opportunity to enhance theational security of all three nations. as the psident shared in his remarks th optimal pathway will delive deterrents in several phases. the first the united states and united kingdom will immediately increase port visits of

conventionally armed nuclear powered submarines in australia and will rotate uer fce west. this will ensure australian persnel can familiarize with how they operate and maintained and ho we can continue safely operatg together. the increased preparation of u.s. submarines will put rest regional stability and help australian use its own submarine enterprise. the next phase the united states intends it sell the virginia class submarines in the 2030's with the potential to sell up to two more ineeded. this will provide australia with a conventionally armed nuclear power submarine prior to the enduring capability. you will see three allied s.s.n. fleets in theindo--pacific. the final phase is the suprt

for s.s.n.auckus. which is design and constructed by the australia and u.k. with cutting edge u.s. technology. australia's acquisition of that will bolster the capability of one of our strongest allies by increasing t royalustralian navy range svivability and striking and increasing deterrence every phase of the optimal pathway will set the high epblgs nonprivige place and deters vie with new locations u.s. forces can operate and strengthen u.s. and allied capacity which is keyo modernizing and maintaining our competitive edge. threlightly san marino forces will strengthen security and but the rest stability for decades to come. we are also workin to modernize

our information sharing and expert control system to have implementation. it outlines the capacity to share information ia critical importance to howhe united states deters aggression. we wilwork closely with the u.s. government and congress and united kingdom and australia to identify optimal information sharing and develop rapid and scalable solutions to deliver on the president's vision for there partnership. with that, i would beelighted to tak qstions. >> have you will any direct communicion with the military airing concerns or issues about the auku seven and what are they and on the selection of the virginia class submarines that

you will sell what the criteria for which you select andhen you deliverhem. >> wn you talked about communication with military are you citing specific allies, partners? >> any other foreign military. >> we have will a number of conversatis with our allies and partners and civilian channels and military channels throughout the consult state active period and heard a substantial amount of thraoufpl for there partnership. regarding engagement with the people republic of china the state dertment did do that and i would refer you to them for the substance of that. i would highlight we have heard from secretary austin is open communication between our two countries is important for management andnderstanding what o another is thinking.

on the second estion regding virgin, why we chose that, it has been a robust 18 months of consultation trying to look at a wide variety in terms of which submarines will go that will go to rotate for submarine rotational forces wets and will picked o through the norl military process >> i have two questions about somebody marines in air force west. can you say that you will increase the number of u.s. submarines operating in the west compared to today? >> do you have another qstion? >> can you tl us -- can you ta a little bit about advantage ofaving the u.s.

submarine outside over the island chain in terms of deterring chinese aggression in the region? >> having three allies operating arou the indo--pacific is critical. i think that tracks nicely to the next question. aukus is about caring for prosperity a security and w have a robust history of collaborating together. it will take us to another lev of interoperability. i would highlight the signicance of sharing this formation with australia. you probably know the last time we did so was 1958 so it is a sign of how close this relationship is. for that to occur in a responsible way it is important australia developtewardship

practices. that is why we have mulple phase phaoultommitment approach. >> thank you regarding e virginia class of somebody marines australia will purchase, has a specific model been selecd or is that down the road and will it be what is on the production line that the u.s. is purchases, will they have the v.p.m. to irease missile capacity or is this tailored to australia? >> first it is worth noting australia will get these in about a decade and faster than i suspect a lot of folks might have expected when this was announced 18 months ago. australia will be purchasing a mix of new submarines and old submarines and it looks like to will be two with the- excuse me -- three with the pential for two more needed. as i noted earlier, th cohort folks looked at a wide range

of options and came down to virginia as the right approach and virginia -- the three saw that that made sense. as you know, these subarines are going to be special because of their stealth, range a endunce so they will be a meaningf deterrent in the region. >> good to see you. on the info sharing back to the question you answered just a little bit before, is that a real showstopper? these countries are all i participants. you don't anticipate tha being a problem with thenfo sharing with australia, do you? >> jim, allies and partners ar the heart of the defense strategy and realizing that 2022 national defense strategy and we

have to lower the barriers of working with them and information is a piece of it. you are right these are two of our closest allies we have stood shoulder to shoulder more were of the lt 100 years. we have processes to figure out and to make sure the are two pills of aukus, this is number one the nuclear powered somebody marine b there is the cooperation on advanced capability. know nor that to be realized we will need clear transparent robust information sharing practices. it is a great case study. these arehe two right aies to make it reaand we lk forward to working with our colleagues in the u.s. gornment including the coress to make that a reality. >> we have time for a couple more. >> thanks for doing this. to follow up on jim's question,

can you drill down a little bit toalk about what are the specific obstacl -- after 18 months do you have a sense of what some of the pieces of itar an what kind of information sharing needs to get changed? >> you know, joe, we spent a lot of time the last 18 months figuring out how we can ensure to deliver on this historic pledge by the three heads of state. so we have looked hard at different changes that might need to ppen. i would say there i more to be done along those lines. but i can assure you that we will do all we can to both deliver on the somebody marines and on the advance capability piece. we are in very close consultation with our colleagues at the state department with the icar but ihink we have bee pleased to see robust partis support for making it a reaty

anregularing the generational leap we see in this alliance. >> thank you. appreciate your time. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2023] >> just a few things at the top and i will get right to your questions. first of all, i would like to highlight u.s.-european statement confirming to russian su27 aircraft conducted unsafe and unprofessional intercept with a u.s. air force intelligent unmanned aircraft that was operating within international air spacever the black sea. to recap at approximately 7:03

a.m. central european time one of the russian aircraft struck the propeller of the mq9 forcing forces to have to bring it down. several times before the collision the s.u.27 dumped fuel on and flew in front of the mq9. this demonrates a lack of compensation. u.s. air forces in europe. africa routinely fly aircraft over sovereign territory and international air space in tkaord nation with applicable hocks nation and international laws to bolster defense and they support allied partner and u.s. national objectives. as the u.s. favorss in europe, air force africa commander u.s. and allied aircraft will continueo operate in international air space and call on the russians to conduct negligence professionalland

safely. in separate news the secretary concluded a successful visit to the memes with leaders in majority, iraq, israel. it served to deepen partnerships and enable the exchange of views on shared regional and global challenges. specific topics of discussion included ongoing coalition led defe isis operations in iraq and syria, concerning range of threats posed by iran including destabilizing regional activities and provision of unmanned ariel systems to russia to use in their war against ukraine and implementing commitments bysraeli and palestinian in deskhaeuting violence in the west bank. the secretary had the opportunity to talk to a number of u.s. service members serving in the central command area of responsibility and thanked them and their families for their commitment to mission, service appear safe guarding our nation. secretary austin and the chairman of the joint chiefs of

staff will host the 10th eting of the ukraine defense contact group tomorrow virtually in the peagon and will allow for the secretary, chairman and senior defense leaders to discuss ongoing efforts to provide tkroeupb with the means -- ukraine with the means to defend itself. with that i will take your questions. we will start with route reuters. >> has anyone reached out to their counterparts from russia regarding the mq9. what can you detail more what the mission was and where it was being piloted from? >> sure. in terms of secretary austin talking to his counterpart, not at this point to my knowledge. d.o.d. officials have not spoken specifically to russian authories on this particular incident. i do know the state department is raising our concerns about

the incident directly with the russian government so i would refer you to them for the details. in terms of the mission of the mq9 it is anisr platform and they have been flying over the plaque sea including before the current contradict started. it is an important waterway so it is not appearen common mission for us to be flying in international air space. >> can you tell what precautions are going forwardith an armed aircraft? >> i'm not going into get into the specific profile ofhis particular aircraft. the mq9 s the ability to be armed. was again conducting an isr mission innternational space sothing we have been doing for some time. in terms of the times of tactic, techniques and procedure we take

to protect our aircraft i won't get into the spefrls. the key point here is while intercepts in and of themselves are not that uncommon theact that this te of behavr from the russians pilotis uncommon and you fortunate and unsafe and would echo the call on the russians to coinue to fly safely. >> was this collision itself an accident on russia's behalf and is the.s. responding as such? >> we are continuinto accession exactly whahappened, but i think based on the anxious of the russian pilots it is clear that was unsafe, unofessional and i think that the actions speak for themselves. what we saw again were fighter aircraft dumping fuel in front of this a.v. and getting so close to the airaft that it actually damaged the propeller

on the mq9. we asssed that it likely called se damage to the russian rcraft as well, to our knowledge. we know that the aircraft, the russian aircraft, did land. i won't go into where know landed but it is demonstrative of very unpfessional airmanship. >> will the u.s. try to recover the dre? >> i don't have anything right now provide in terms of recovery operations. if i have any we will update it. >> is this video of the incident? are you going to release the video? where in the block seaid it -- black sea did it ppen and how close to russian air space? and did you say that this partular one was unarmed?

>> i didn't say whether it was or not. i won't get into the mission profile. it was conducting an isr mission. in tms of the specific david, i can't get more specic othethan the black sea region in international air space well clear of any type of -- it was international air space. i'm sorry, the other part of your question. >> video? >> we are going through the declassification process ande will updaylight you in ter of imagery with this incident. i'm laser focused on your queson. >> this is a quick one. you haven't said reaper but is it accurate to say it is an mq9 reaper? >> i will stick with mq9. joe. >> a mq9 potentially contains

sensitive technology. is the u.s. military undertaking any effort to recover the mq9? is it in the waters of the black sea? has russia recoved it? is there a u.s. naval asset that could undertake that recovery? >> again i won't get into the specifics of what is on this particular aircraft other than again it is a isr platform. because of the damage, we were in a position to have to essentially crash it into the black sea. to my knowledge at this point in time the russians have not recovered that aircraft. but again, in terms of our recovery efforts, don't have any updates to provide right now. i would refer you to nav air in terms of assets inhat rion. >> thank you.

regarding north korea as somebody with cruise missiles, it is possible to monitor a nuclear warhead on a cruise missile. what is the situation of escalating procation such as nuclear provocation by north rea? >> let me make sure i think so. what is the readiness of the u.s. to respond to a nuclear provocation by north korea? i think we have been very clear that we are --ere north korea deploy a nuclear weapon it would be the end of the north korean region but we are working to deter aggression and preserve security and that will continue to be our focus.

we will go to carl. >> a quick clarification. what did the fighter strike the mq9 with? feels it the wing? >> i can't tell y specifically what portionf the aircraft, but the fact that it essentially ran into the mq9. >> and separately onkraine, there's a report from the battlefield that the ukrainians ar running out of munitions. is that a concern for the pentagon and what is the pentagon doing to alleviate that problem? >> since beginning of this campaign we are doing everything we can to meet ukraine's needs whether it is ammution, air defense, armor. you have heard us talk that. tomoow's discussion will be another opportunity to bring the international community together to focus on ukraine's most urgent needs to include ammunition. that wil continue to be our focus and you have heard

secretary austin and others say we are committed to making sure they have what they need to be successful. >> is there an assessment that the pentagon has of why they are running out of ammunition? is it because they are expending it too fast? is it not making it to the battlefield in time. >> i would have to refer you to the ukrainians about their specific efforts to supply tv individual unitsment we are working closely with them and our international partners to get them what they need. and it is important to take a step back anlook at the progress that has been made. while recognizing that there's a tough fight ahead into the spring and summer, our focus will be working with national armaments directors and ukrainians to get them the ammunition they can and get it to the front lines as quickly as possible. >> you got us throh the time line of the mq9 intercept.

we have that the aircraft was struckt 7:03 eastern but how lo were they with the aircraft beforend and were there any radio communications from the russiansr the united states? >> on the latter part of your question, no, none that i'm aware of. and i would ask that you go back andonfirm this with ucon but based on the infortion i have here it seems li approximately 30 to 40 minutes they were flying in th vicinity of this mq9 and that at 7:03 is when -- 7:30e a.m. cenal is when ey collided with it causingt to crash. >> the.s. forces had to bring down the aircraft.

does that main that the united states pilotedt to the crash site? >> we brought it down. >> and is there any u.s. naval assets currently in the block sea? -- bck sea. >> i would he to refer you to nav air for that. laura. >> can you talk more about the damage to the mq9? was it unfliable and that is why you had to bring it down? and can you say more about how often this kind of things happens that russian aircraft harass u.s. drones and aircraft? >> i don't have any stastics in terms of intercepts but as i highlighted the fact that intercepts of aircraft are not uncommon in and of themselves, it is not a daily occurrence, the vast majority of those

intercepts are what we would consider safe and professional. just wanting to see what is there, you are flying alongside it to see what is there. in this paicular case, agn, they collid with the aircraft, damaging the propeller and esntially putting it in a situation where it was unfly believe and uncontrollable and we took it down. >> i just want to confirm any communication with alies such as turkey about potentialecovery of the drone? and is the any concern >> will be a hypothetical. russia does not have the drone. that would be a hypothetical question. in terms working with allies and partners i don't have anything to announce but iwe do i will be se to let you know.

>> i know you don't want to share lots of information. are you able to say whether the into nine was flying near ukraine o near the peninsula? i believe yo said the russians did not recover the drone. have you seen any effort by the russian navy to try to recover the drone? >> on your latter question i am not going to get into that. in terms of where it was flying, it was well clear of any territory in ukraine. it was in the international airspace over international water. >> during secretary austen's visit to egypt, he helped that she held meetings with officials

even though all press was banned. in a similar situation they refused to proceed. the biden they want to keep -- when presented with a choice of autocrats and those who stand with democracy, can you explain why he decided to proceed with those trips? >> our relationship with egypt is an important, strategic partnership. the secretary communicated a reason to meet with counterparts. when it came to the press conference of that portion, having looked further into it, the egyptians lived uto what they had agreed upon. some of the lessons learned out of that was in terms of making sure that we were on the same sheet when it came to understanding press access. we will continue to work that. >> they also agreed beforehand

there would be a ban on journalists? >> we did not agree to a ban on jourlists. we agreed to an official photographer that would come into sessions. a portion that was open to the press was subsequently not held so therefore there was not an opportunity to cover that. sometimes these meetings are very small, sometimes there is not the opportunity for media to come in. it is something that we have noted and we will continue to work closely with governments to ensure there is press access. >> regarding the budget, the last few years of services have pursued to invest strategy and congress hasn't necessarily bought into that. this year the air force is looking to retire more than 300 aircraft, doubled the amount last year. congress, last year it didn't give that full amount. is there a sense things have

changed on the hill, tt there is a willingness to improve greater divestments or is this becoming a cat and mouse game of shoot with a higher number knowing you are going to get less, to try to get to where you want to be? >> when it comes to the air force budget specifically,e will refer you to them to talk specifics. i don't want to answer for congress. having observed this process i think like anything there is a continuing dialogue inerms of what the services -- the service is required to meet the requirements and working closely with congress and the department of defense to identify what those offsets might be to ensure we can modernize throughout all the services. in a lot of ways, that communication has increased. you are seeing some of the fruits of that labor. i refer you to air force for the specifics. thank you every much, everybody. appreciate it.

>> up now, more of our live coverage this afternoon. at 3:45 eastern, president biden is in monterey park, california to outlaw -- outline efforts to reduce gun violence. to increase the number of background checks on gun sales nationwide. at 4:45, general chance saltman, the chief estates operations will be testifying on the priorities of his military branch. he is preparing to meet before the subcommittee on strategic defense. you can watch both of these events live on c-span. also stream them live on c-span now, our free mode -- our free mobile video app were on c-span.org. >> c-spanshop.org c-span's onli store. browse to our latest