TODAY’S TOP 5
1. U.S. special forces struggle with record suicides: admiral
(Reuters) Suicides among U.S. special operations forces, including elite Navy SEALs and Army Rangers, are at record levels, a U.S. military official said on Thursday, citing the effects of more than a decade of "hard combat."
2. 4-star: Armed attackers in Ukraine are Russian troops in disguise
(Military Times) The Russians aren’t fooling anyone. That’s the stark message from the Supreme Allied Commander Europe and four-star chief of U.S. European Command, Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove.
3. An Officer Corps That Can’t Score
(William Lind in The American Conservative) The most curious thing about our four defeats in Fourth Generation War—Lebanon, Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan—is the utter silence in the American officer corps. Defeat in Vietnam bred a generation of military reformers, men such as Col. John Boyd USAF, Col. Mike Wyly USMC, and Col. Huba Wass de Czege USA, each of whom led a major effort to reorient his service. Today, the landscape is barren. Not a military voice is heard calling for thoughtful, substantive change. Just more money, please.
4. Why There Will Be A Robot Uprising
(Defense One) Computer scientist and entrepreneur Steven Omohundro says that “anti-social” artificial intelligence in the future is not only possible, but probable, unless we start designing AI systems very differently today.
5. F-35 Engine Cost Up, Sustainment Down
(Defense News) The price tag for the Lockheed Martin F-35 joint strike fighter, the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program, increased $7.4 billion in 2013, according to a new US Defense Department report.
INDUSTRY
Two U.S. arms programs face live-or-die reviews after costs jump
(Reuters) An unmanned U.S. Navy helicopter built by Northrop Grumman Corp and a precision ship-landing system built by Raytheon Co face mandatory reviews that could lead to their cancellation after quantity reductions drove unit costs sharply higher in 2013, the Pentagon announced on Thursday.
Navy Issues Restricted UCLASS Draft Request for Proposal
(U.S. Naval Institute) The U.S. Navy released a long-awaited draft request for proposal (RFP) for the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft on Thursday afternoon.
Foreign Firms Chase African Deals With New Facilities
(Defense News) In just the past three months, five global defense companies have announced plans to open factories, maintenance facilities and marketing offices in four southern and east African countries.
An-70 passes Ukraine state tests
(IHS Jane's 360) The Ukrainian-designed Antonov An-70 propfan tactical transport plane has passed state acceptance trials and is finally ready to enter series production, Antonov said on 11 April.
Thai Navy May Build Second Patrol Boat Under BAE License
(Defense News) Thailand may build a second offshore patrol vessel under a license granted by BAE Systems and is also starting to think about exporting the ship to other navies in the region, according to a senior executive at the British-based defense contractor.
German P-3C Orion upgrade approved by US State Department
(IHS Jane's 360) The US State Department has approved a USD250 million upgrade package for Germany's eight Lockheed Martin P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced on 11 April.
Foreign Delegations Invited to Eurosatory Conference on Helos
(Defense News) The French Army Air Corps has invited some 20 foreign delegations to attend a three-day visit, with a focus on combat helicopters, at the Eurosatory trade show, an Army officer said April 17.
CONGRESS
McConnell Calls for US to Arm Ukraine, Blames Obama for Russian Invasion
(Defense News) The US Senate’s top Republican on Thursday said America should send weapons to the Ukrainian military as that country teeters on the brink of war with Russia.
Ayotte: Russia talks shouldn't delay sanctions
(The Hill) Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said preliminary talks between diplomats from the U.S., European Union, Ukraine and Russia should not be "used as an excuse to delay implementation of tougher sanctions" on Russia's banking and financial sector.
US Congress Stymies Pakistani Naval Modernization Efforts
(Defense News) Despite close defense ties with China, Pakistan still relies on the US to help it upgrade key defense areas. However, hostility from US lawmakers has effectively halted progress in some areas with Pakistan’s Navy particularly hard hit.
Northrop CEO urges Congress to pass cybersecurity legislation
(Reuters) U.S. weapons maker Northrop Grumman Corp on Thursday urged U.S. lawmakers to enact cybersecurity legislation that would limit the liability of U.S. companies and enable them to take more decisive action to protect their computer networks.
McCain: NATO allies must spend 2 percent of GDP on defense
(The Hill) Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said NATO members needed to spend at least 2 percent of their GDP on defense in order to stop Russia from invading neighboring countries.
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Ukraine crisis: US boots on the ground in Poland is an option, Hagel says
(Christian Science Monitor) While Pentagon officials say that they are most interested in ratcheting down tensions with Russia, they are nonetheless considering sending US ground forces into Poland.
Group calls for DoD to withdraw from Prayer Day event
(Military Times) Longtime critics of Christian conservatives’ influence in military culture are demanding the Pentagon back away from involvement in a National Day of Prayer event on Capitol Hill next month, saying it’s a thinly veiled rally for far-right fundamentalists.
DISA tests a move away from CAC
(C4ISR & Networks) The Defense Information Systems Agency is taking a first step away from the Defense Department’s longtime security backbone, the common access card, with a small, early pilot exploring derived credentials.
ARMY
Fort Drum soldier dies from combat injuries
(Army Times) An infantryman from Fort Drum, N.Y. has died from combat injuries after his unit was attacked by small-arms fire in Pul-e-Alam, Logar province, Afghanistan, the Defense Department has reported.
Fake Army Ranger befriended ex SEAL Marcus Luttrell
(Houston Chronicle) Daniel Lee Marshall Jr. didn't just masquerade as an Army ranger by wearing ribbons or rank he didn't earn, or by driving around in a pick-up truck with a Purple Heart license plate he did not deserve.
Kennedy beats Bisping to stay perfect in UFC
(Army Times) Like many fighters before him, Tim Kennedy wanted to shut Michael Bisping up. That didn’t happen Wednesday night. But the sergeant first class in the Texas Army National Guard can take some solace in a five-round unanimous decision over “The Count,” which he earned by smothering Bisping on the mat for almost half of their fight in Quebec City, Quebec — and by more than holding his own in stand-up exchanges for the other half.
Woman rabbi serves as chaplain with 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan
(Fayetteville Observer) Army Capt. Heather Borshof expects the questions. "What's that on your uniform?" passers-by ask the chaplain for the Fort Bragg-based 330th Movement Control Battalion. It's the Ten Commandments topped with a Star of David, the symbol for Jewish chaplains.
Army couple in documentary told from caregiver's point of view
(Military Times) The timing couldn’t be better: In a month dedicated to military and veteran caregivers, a documentary about an Army couple’s struggles after devastating combat injuries will premier at one of the world’s top film festivals.
Rapping medic dispenses care with a smile and a rhyme
(Army Times) If you bust your leg, he busts a rhyme. The hiphop stylings of Staff Sgt. Shareef Stokely, a Fort Drum, N.Y., medic, went viral this week after a video of him rapping to a pint-sized patient ricocheted from YouTube to the “Today Show.”
NAVY
New arrest in Navy's 'Fat Leonard' scheme
(San Diego Union-Tribune) Discreet handoffs of cash-filled envelopes and classified Navy documents have led to the arrest of a fourth Navy official in the widening bribery investigation centered on Malaysian businessman “Fat” Leonard Francis, according to a complaint unsealed in San Diego federal court Thursday.
Bonhomme Richard, 31st MEU search for missing ferry passengers
(Navy Times) The amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard is helping search for hundreds of passengers missing from the Sewol, a South Korean ferry that capsized and sank Wednesday.
Navy chopper rescues lost mother, daughter lost in Guam jungle
(Stars and Stripes) Sailors from Andersen Air Force Base rescued a 44-year-old woman and her 11-year-old daughter from the jungles of Guam on Thursday after they became separated from friends and family on a spring break hiking trip, according to media reports.
Fighter jet squadrons return to Oceana (With Photo Gallery)
(Virginian-Pilot; Norfolk) Dozens of Navy families separated for nine months reunited this morning at Oceana Naval Air Station after three squadrons of fighter jets flew off the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman and landed in Virginia Beach.
AIR FORCE
DoD to start living quarters allowance debt collections May 4
(Air Force Times) Civilian employees assigned to U.S. Air Forces Europe-Africa and Pacific Air Forces who were overpaid for their housing allowance — some months, some years — must begin repaying the debt May 4, unless they have been granted a waiver.
SAFB reviewing surveillance footage for images of attempted abduction suspect
(Belleville News-Democrat; Ill.) Scott Air Force Base security forces have released a description of the suspect accused of trying to lure two children into a van, causing the base to go on high alert.
Air Force leader to give 2014 commencement speech at the Citadel
(The Post and Courier; Charleston, S.C.) Deborah Lee James will give the graduation speech to the Corps of Cadets at the military college's 2014 commencement on May 10. James, who took the helm as secretary of the Air Force in 2013, leads the department's more than 690,000 active-duty, Guard and Reserve airmen as well as civilian staff. She oversees a $110 billion budget.
94th Fighter Squadron returns to Langley on Friday
(Virginian-Pilot; Norfolk) The 94th Fighter Squadron will return to Langley Air Force Base on Friday after a four-month deployment to Japan.
MARINE CORPS
Marines pull out of Afghanistan's Nimroz province
(Marine Corps Times) Earlier this month, the Marine Corps quietly took leave of Nimroz province, consolidating its operations in Afghanistan to a single province and completing another chapter in its drawdown efforts.
Marine shot, another robbed; manhunt continues (With Video)
(First Coast News; Jacksonville, Fla.) Three suspects are still at large after one shot a military veteran in the face. The suspects may now be linked to another crime involving another Marine.
Body of Crowley Marine Killed at Camp Lejeune Returns Home (With Video)
(KXAS; Fort Worth) Lance Cpl. Mark N. Boterf, 21, died on April 8 after a single gunshot wound to the chest while on sentry duty at the main entrance to the sprawling Camp Lejeune base.
VETERANS
Vets group seeks Medal of Honor for Civil War Col. Robert Gould Shaw
(Military Times) A veterans group will present a petition next week to the New York delegation of Congress asking that the Medal of Honor be awarded to Civil War Col. Robert Gould Shaw, who commanded the first unit of free African Americans recruited into the Union army.
VA: Man will get warning instead of $525 citation for $.89 drink refill
(WCSC; Charleston, S.C.) Officials with the VA Medical Center in downtown Charleston say a North Charleston man who was initially federally charged with a $525 fine for an $.89 drink refill will instead be given a warning.
Veterans forgoing use of county services centers across Minnesota
(Minneapolis Star Tribune) Minnesota veterans who were deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan have returned to their families, friends, jobs or school. But rarely do they visit county veterans services offices — not even those vets with post-traumatic stress disorder.
WWII Topeka airman's remains finally coming home
(The Topeka Capital Journal; Kan.) The remains of a 22-year-old Topeka airman from World War II have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial in Leavenworth, the Department of Defense said this week.
AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN
Nearly 300 Laghman residents rise up against Taliban militants
(Khaama Press) Around 300 Laghman Laghman residents launched armed campaign against the Taliban militants in Alingar district.
Taliban inmates break out of Afghan prison
(Associated Press) An official says three Taliban insurgents escaped from a prison in northern Afghanistan using weapons smuggled into the facility in a jailbreak that killed three police guards.
Detention of Taliban commander by UAE disrupts Afghan peace talks
But in recent interviews, U.S. officials raised doubts about Motasim’s role as a prominent peace negotiator, saying his ties to the Taliban leadership had faded in recent years. The officials added that Motasim’s arrest was unrelated to his role as a peace negotiator. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the sensitive matter.
Analysts Warn of Regional Proxy Conflict in Afghanistan
(Voice of America) With the political situation in Afghanistan in flux and international forces due to leave the country by the end of the year, the debate in neighboring Pakistan is focusing on prospects for increased cooperation with Afghanistan and Iran.
Pakistanis tired of 'hide and seek' over Taliban talks
(Deutsche Welle) Not many people in Pakistan expect much from the peace talks between the government and the Taliban, but after months of futile negotiations, they are getting increasingly frustrated.
MIDDLE EAST
Sunni Discontent Fuels Growing Violence In Iraq's Anbar Province
(National Public Radio) Violence has reignited in western Iraq, with Islamist fighters taking over much of Anbar province three months ago. A renegade al-Qaida group has set up its headquarters in Fallujah – the city where hundreds of U.S. soldiers died a decade ago, trying to wrest it from insurgent control.
ISIS' 'Diyala Division' lauds foreign suicide bombers, including Dane
(The Long War Journal) The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham's "Diyala Division" recently praised 26 suicide bombers, including 24 foreign fighters who conducted suicide attacks in the province of Diyala over the past several years.
Syria presses offensive in Homs' Old City after talks break down
(Los Angeles Times) The crackle of gunfire and the sound of shelling resounded in this central Syrian city Thursday as army troops pressed an offensive in the Old City after a breakdown in talks between the government and rebels.
European jihadists form ISIS brigades in Syria
(Al-Monitor) Recent reports in the European press and evidence from social media implicate European jihadists fighting with the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) in atrocities committed in the vicinity of Aleppo, in northern Syria. The reports, moreover, suggest that European jihadists in Syria are more numerous than official statistics indicate. Indeed, they point to the existence of entire French-speaking and German-speaking brigades in the Aleppo region.
Turkish Election Restores PM's Command Over Procurement
(Defense News) Turkey’s recent local elections restored Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s slipping political power and command over major defense program decisions, analysts and officials said.
Iran Gets an Unlikely Visitor, an American Plane, but No One Seems to Know Why
(New York Times) On Tuesday morning, Iran had an unlikely visitor: a plane, owned by the Bank of Utah, a community bank in Ogden that has 13 branches throughout the state. Bearing a small American flag on its tail, the aircraft was parked in a highly visible section of Mehrabad Airport in Tehran.
EUROPE
Diplomats Demand End To Violence in Ukraine
(Defense News) Diplomats agreed on Thursday that all sides in Ukraine must end violence though the groups that have been provoking conflict in several cities — pro-Russian Ukrainian militants — were not party to the agreement.
Leaflet tells Jews to register in East Ukraine
(USA Today) World leaders and Jewish groups condemned a leaflet handed out in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk in which Jews were told to "register" with the pro-Russian militants who have taken over a government office in an attempt to make Ukraine part of Russia, according to Ukrainian and Israeli media.
Poland Fears Putin’s ‘New Russia’ Doctrine
(Defense One) Just weeks ahead of taking over NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission in Eastern Europe, Poland’s defense minister is worried about a possible “Putin doctrine” that aims to recreate the Soviet Union with a “New Russia.”
Iranian Officials Warn Russia Not to Dismiss U.S. Sanctions Threat
(Wall Street Journal) Russian President Vladimir Putin has belittled the threat of more American sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine. But Iranian officials and businessmen are privately warning the Kremlin not to be so dismissive.
NATO’s Back in Business, Thanks to Russia’s Threat to Ukraine
(Time) Back in 1993, during the earliest days of the Clinton Administration, Senator Richard Lugar of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee warned that with the Soviet Union history, NATO needed to “go out of area, or out of business.”
Snowden Appears on Putin Call-In Show
(Wall Street Journal) Edward Snowden made his first major public appearance in Russia on Thursday on a call-in show with President Vladimir Putin, who told the fugitive ex-National Security Agency contractor that personal privacy is better protected in Russia than in the U.S.
ASIA-PACIFIC
China to debut at RIMPAC while Russia bows out
(Honolulu Star-Advertiser) Russia's out and China is in. Two years ago it was the other way around.
Journalists Charged With Defaming Thai Navy
(Wall Street Journal) Two journalists were charged Thursday with defaming the Royal Thai Navy in an article about the trafficking of Myanmar refugees.
China launches campaign to purge Internet of porn, rumors and, critics say, dissent
(Washington Post) China has unfurled a vigorous new campaign to clean up the Internet, to purge it of everything from pornography to “rumors” that might undermine Communist Party rule, a crusade that critics say is a renewed attempt to silence grass-roots voices and stifle dissent.
China Details Vast Extent of Soil Pollution
(Wall Street Journal) The extent of China's soil pollution, long guarded as a state secret, was laid out in an official report that confirmed deep-seated fears about contaminated farmland and the viability of the country's food supply.
U.S. officials warn Burma that attacks on Rohingya Muslims, aid groups are hurting ties
(Washington Post) American officials are warning that attacks on minority Muslims and foreign aid groups in Burma are threatening the nascent thaw in relations between Washington and this former pariah state.
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
Instead of mothballing Navy ships, give them to our allies
(Michael Moran in The Los Angeles Times) A bitter debate has raged in the Pentagon for several months about the wisdom of taking the nuclear aircraft carrier George Washington out of service to save money. The Washington, at 24 years old a relatively young vessel, is due for a costly refit, a routine procedure that all of the 11 large carriers in service undergo regularly.
Never Again – Until Next Time
(Janice Elmore in War on the Rocks) Armenia (1915–18), Ukraine (1932–1933), the Nazi Holocaust (1938–1945), Cambodia (1975–1979), Rwanda (1994), Bosnia (1992–1995), Darfur (2001–present). The events that took place during these periods in these countries resulted in more than 17 million deaths related to 20th century genocides or ethnic cleansing, each with little or late reaction by the community of nations. Leaders of Western democracies piously vow that “never again” will they allow such actions to take place, their hollow words translating to “Never again — until next time.”
How to defang Russia, China
(Christian Science Monitor Editorial Board) President Obama visits Japan next week while Vice President Joe Biden heads to Ukraine. Both countries urgently seek American help to fend off a bigger neighbor from taking their land. Russia has already snatched Crimea from Ukraine and could take more. China, meanwhile, keeps sending ships and planes around Japan’s Senkaku Islands, claiming ownership and risking a confrontation.
The U.S. must stand behind its security obligations
(Former Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff in The Washington Post) On the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, Gen. James Mattis admonished the 1st Marine Division to “[d]emonstrate to the world there is ‘No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy.’ ” That motto could serve as a guiding principle for sound national security policy. Regrettably, our allies wonder whether the United States is demonstrating the reverse.
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento