TODAY’S TOP 5
1. Odierno: Ukraine Shows Us ‘You Never Know What’s Around the Corner’
(Defense One) In the waning days of the Vietnam War, with anti-war fervor and the Watergate scandal roiling the nation’s capital, legendary commander and soon-to-be Army Chief of Staff Gen. Creighton Abrams lamented to his colleagues that they would never know what it was like trying to bring the Army home from an unpopular war while the government back in Washington was coming apart at the seams.
2. Iran admiral: US ships are a target in case of war
(Associated Press) Iran will target American aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf should a war between the two countries ever break out, the naval chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard warned Tuesday as the country completes work on a large-scale mock-up of a U.S. carrier.
3. Commentary: U.S. Army's Dismissive Attitude Toward National Guard
(M.E. Rehtt Flater in Defense News) The Aviation Restructure Plan, announced in January, has created deep fissures between the Active Army and the Guard, which might have been avoided through more careful planning. As a result, members of the Guard today question the Army’s appreciation of its historic roles and contributions. Staffers on Capitol Hill report the pushback has been fast and furious
4. $45.3M fund targets mental health in special ops
(The Hill) Lawmakers are planning to increase their focus on the health of special operations forces after more than a decade of steady deployments and heavy combat.
5. The Arms Race of the Future, Today
(Foreign Policy) The United States has spent $1 billion on a weapon that has no mission. And started an arms race with China in the process.
INDUSTRY
Bomber-Plane Budget by U.S. Air Force Projected to Double
(Bloomberg) The service’s total budget for bomber production and upgrades will jump to about $9.5 billion in fiscal 2020 from less than $5 billion for the year beginning Oct. 1, according to a Pentagon document obtained by Bloomberg News. After that, spending would remain greater than $9 billion a year before dropping to $8 billion in fiscal 2024.
Presidential Helo Contract Expected This Week
(Defense News) The contract for the next US presidential helicopter will be awarded this week, perhaps as soon as Wednesday evening, according to sources.
Army's Humvee Replacement Lauded As 'Model' Acquisition Program
(National Defense Magazine) Three companies — Oshkosh Corp., Lockheed Martin and AM General — are competing to replace thousands of Army and Marine Corps Humvees with their version of the joint light tactical vehicle.
Does My Face Look Funny? Aging Tomahawk Missile Getting a Nose Job
(Foreign Policy) Raytheon Missile Systems, of Tucson, Ariz., is experimenting with a variety of new high-tech sensors that could go on the nose cone of the missile. The Tomahawk was first fielded by the Pentagon in the 1970s and has since been used in Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and a variety of other countries where the U.S. military wanted to strike targets at long ranges.
US Clears Harpoon Missile Sale to Brazil
(Defense News) The US government cleared a $169 million sale of Boeing AGM-84L Harpoon missiles to Brazil, the Pentagon agency that coordinates foreign weapon sales said Tuesday.
MUOS passes Arctic test
(C4ISR & Networks) Operating from an ice camp above the Arctic Circle, a Lockheed Martin team transmitted large data files from Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellites during the U.S. Navy’s 2014 Ice Exercise in March.
Turkey to order first two F-35 fighter jets
(Reuters) Turkey has decided to order two F-35 fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin Corp, the government said on Tuesday.
Boeing Delivers Second AEW&C Aircraft to Turkey
(Defense News) Boeing has delivered the second aerial early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft to Turkey, the company announced. It said the delivery was made on schedule.
General Dynamic Canada to upgrade sonars on Portuguese frigates
(IHS Jane's 360) The Portuguese Navy is to modernise the AN/SQS-510 hull-mounted medium-range sonar system, equipping its three MEKO 200PN Vasco de Gama-class frigates in what is the latest in a series of incremental upgrades for the class.
CONGRESS
DoD makes last-ditch plea for compensation cuts in 2015
(Military Times) The Pentagon brass made a last stand Tuesday in the months-long battle for military compensation reform, imploring senators to back plans to trim troops’ pay raises and benefits in the fiscal 2015 budget.
Inhofe decries ‘reckless’ cuts to military compensation
(The Hill) The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday harshly criticized the Obama administration’s “reckless” proposals to rein in troop benefits.
US Senators: No A-10 Storage Compromise
(Defense News) A quartet of powerful US senators are warning that anything less than keeping the A-10 fully active in the Air Force is unacceptable, a day after a compromise about the retirement of the plane appeared to have been floated by the House Armed Services Committee (HASC).
Army's Odierno: Troops 'believe' in the A-10
(The Hill) An F-16 fighter does not provide the same kind of close air support to troops on the battlefield as the endangered A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno told lawmakers on Tuesday.
Defense Panel Chair: Russia's Actions Mean US Should Keep War-Funding Budget
(Defense News) Russia’s invasion of Crimea and alleged stoking of instability elsewhere in Ukraine means the US might need to maintain war-funding accounts that some have called a slush fund, says a key House appropriator.
HASC Chair McKeon: Sorry, Mr. Smith, No BRAC
(Breaking Defense) Hours after the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee put out legislative language to permit a Base Reduction and Closure round, the top Republican shot him down.
McKeon: U.S. ‘Big Stick’ is Being Whittled to a ‘Twig’
(Seapower) The outgoing chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) decried the debilitating effect of the recent U.S. budget crises on U.S. military strength and noted that the situation is likely to get worse.
GOP Pushing to Speed Up Deployment of Advanced Interceptors in Poland
(Global Security Newswire) A bill introduced last week by Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and 22 other GOP members of his chamber would require the Obama administration to provide a plan for how to achieve deployment of Phase 3 of the "Phased Adaptive Approach" for European missile defense by the end of 2016.
Cornyn calls for VA secretary resignation
(The Hill) Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) became the second senator to call for Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki's resignation on Tuesday, after reports surfaced that VA officials allegedly tried to cover up "secret wait lists" and falsified records at multiple VA clinics across the country.
House Republicans Look to Block U.S. Nuclear Security Work in Russia
(Global Security Newswire) House Armed Services Committee Republicans are looking to block the Obama administration from continuing nuclear security work in Russia until the Ukraine crisis has been resolved.
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
US Space Defense Funding Drops From Previous Projections
(Defense News) Pentagon funding for space programs is projected to fall 37 percent over the next four years when compared to last year’s projected spending over the same time period.
Pentagon pressured to show progress on assaults
(Politico) After a year of skirmishing on Capitol Hill, the intense debate on military sexual assaults is about to get a new central player — President Barack Obama, who faces a delicate decision in coming months on just how far to push the Pentagon to change a system that’s been largely static for decades.
Hagel Urges Congress Not to Alter Defense Budget Proposal
(Defense News) US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel urged Congress on Tuesday to give the Pentagon “flexibility” in its fiscal 2015 budget proposal one day after the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee proposed shifting billions of dollars to fund major weapons programs and undo Defense Department reform initiatives.
Unwritten code of silence among troops existed before killings of two Iraqi boys, survey found
(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) Three months before then-Army Staff Sgt. Michael Barbera was accused of fatally shooting two unarmed and deaf Iraqi boys in March 2007, a survey found that just 55 percent of soldiers and 40 percent of Marines in Iraq would report a unit member to superiors for injuring or killing an innocent noncombatant.
ARMY
Soldiers earn tab and wear BDUs in tough new jungle course
(Army Times) The Army is reclaiming the lost art of jungle warfare, and soldiers who make it through the new 21-day school can earn a tab and big bragging rights.
Sgt. Shawn Farrell II, killed in Afghanistan, returns to Ulster County this week
(Daily Freeman; Kingston, N.Y.) Shawn Michael Farrell II is coming home. The body of the 24-year-old U.S. Army sergeant, who was killed in action in Afghanistan last week, will arrive Wednesday morning at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Orange County and be escorted home to Accord, where his father lives, by members of his family and the military, the Accord and Kripplebush fire departments, the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, state police and the Patriot Guard Riders.
Soldier recovered from Lake Elmer Thomas
(KSWO; Lawton, Okla.) The body of the soldier that went missing Saturday has been recovered from Lake Elmer Thomas.
Schenecker’s diary illuminating, chilling
(Tampa Tribune) Before Parker Schenecker left for his military deployment in January 2011, he says he asked his wife if she would be OK alone with their kids or if he should get his mother or someone else to stay with her.
NAVY
Cyberdefenses for Littoral Combat Ship Getting Retooled
(Bloomberg) The U.S. Navy is “taking definitive steps” to improve the cybersecurity of systems that manage operations and logistics on its new Littoral Combat Ship, a service official said.
Three Navy P-3 Orions crushed in Japanese hangar collapse declared total losses
(Stars and Stripes) At least three of the Navy’s four P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft damaged when snow collapsed a Japanese contractor’s hangar in February were crushed beyond repair, according to a media report.
USNS Spearhead returns from maiden deployment
(Associated Press) A Navy ship that resembles a commercial ferry returned to Virginia on Tuesday following its maiden deployment to Europe and Africa, where military officials tested out some of its other capabilities aside from transporting people and equipment.
Frigate Rentz to be decommissioned
(San Diego Union-Tribune) The San Diego-based warship Rentz will be decommissioned Friday after nearly 30 years of service as the Navy continues to steadily remove Cold War-era frigates from the fleet. The Navy now has fewer than 15 frigates, a ship whose anti-submarine and marine interdiction role will largely be absorbed by the littoral combat ships that are now being introduced.
AIR FORCE
Dramatic ship rescue turns PJ training scenario into reality
(Air Force Times) Two days before thousands of airmen were join the 563rd Rescue Group for Angel Thunder, the largest combat search and rescue exercise of the year, the team at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., faced a real-life test of their skills.
Are Hill AFB airmen trimmer because of elevation?
(Standard-Examiner; Ogden, Utah) With an elevation of nearly 5,000 feet, the air is thinner at Hill Air Force Base and apparently, so are the airmen.
TERA, VSP window opens May 22 for some RIF-eligible officers
(Air Force Times) Some captains and majors facing a reduction-in-force board this October will be able to apply for Temporary Early Retirement Authority or voluntary separation pay beginning May 22.
USAF General: Partnerships, Proper Training Key for ISR Future
(Defense News) The future of ISR operations will increasingly rely on international participation, according to the head of the Air Force’s ISR Agency.
FAA: U-2 did not cause LAX control center computers to crash
(Air Force Times) The Federal Aviation Administration has determined a U-2 spy plane did not cause computers at Los Angles International Airport’s control center to crash.
Gen. Selva takes command of Transcom at Scott
(Belleville News-Democrat; Ill.) Gen. Paul Selva officially assumed command of the U.S. Transportation Command in a one-hour ceremony Monday afternoon featuring Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey and a bagpiper in a tartan kilt.
Airman convicted of videotaping woman in bathroom
(Air Force Times) A former technical sergeant was convicted Tuesday of one charge of videotaping a civilian woman while she was unclothed in a bathroom.
Officials sound off against Air Force expansion: Complex would cover 28K square miles in Midwest
(Dickinson Press; N.D.) Aviation, energy and government officials are up in arms against the U.S. Air Force’s controversial Powder River Training Complex expansion plan, which, if implemented, would extend into southwestern North Dakota.
MARINE CORPS
San Diego Marine Found in Tijuana After Weeklong Search
(KNSD; San Diego) A U.S. Marine reported missing by family members in San Diego was found Sunday in a Tijuana hospital unaware of his surroundings, his family tells NBC 7.
Investigation continues in front gate shooting
(The Daily News; Jacksonville, N.C.) The investigation of a fatal shooting at the main gate to Camp Lejeune last month continues, Marine officials said.
City pays $100G to former Marine who says Queens cops brutally beat him
(New York Daily News) A former Marine who claimed he suffered a fractured eye socket from a beating by cops in a Queens stationhouse has received a $100,000 settlement from the city, the Daily News has learned.
Marine veteran from Akron goes on global mission
(The Akron Beacon Journal; Ohio) Dave Smith has been to war. He lost close friends in battle, and later his best friend to suicide.
VETERANS
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki Says He Won't Resign
(Wall Street Journal) The head of the Department of Veterans Affairs said Tuesday he won't resign, but will work to rebuild confidence after the nation's largest veterans organization called for him to step down Monday amid allegations of inadequate treatment of patients at some VA facilities.
Obama backs Shinseki despite calls to resign
(The Hill) President Obama is standing by Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki despite two prominent veterans groups calling for his resignation, the White House said Tuesday.
Ex-Phoenix VA employee: 'Everyone knew about secret list' (With Video)
(KPHO; Phoenix) Yet another former employee of the Phoenix VA is coming forward to confirm there was indeed a secret patient list.
House VA Chair on Phoenix Scandal: 'It's Easier to Get a Bonus' Than Disciplinary Action (Video)
(Fox News) House Chairman of Veterans Affairs Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) joined Megyn Kelly on the Kelly File to discuss alleged revelations from whistleblowers at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Phoenix.
Investigator: VA employees in Colorado told to falsify records
(Colorado Springs Gazette) Employees at a veterans medical clinic in Colorado were instructed to falsify records to make it appear that patients were getting appointments close to the day requested, government investigators said.
VA employee: Wait list data was manipulated in Austin, San Antonio
(Austin American-Statesman) A Department of Veterans Affairs scheduling clerk has accused VA officials in Austin and San Antonio of manipulating medical appointment data in an attempt to hide long wait times to see doctors and psychiatrists, the American-Statesman has learned.
AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN
The U.S. Military Was No Match for Afghanistan’s Corruption
(Slate) Obama heard some of this bad news directly in an exit briefing a year ago from the outgoing head of the multilateral military force in Afghanistan, Marine Corps Gen. John Allen. According to the report, Allen told the president that corruption—not an incompetent military, not an inadequate police force, and not the Taliban’s sanctuary in neighboring Pakistan, all long-standing U.S. concerns—currently remains “the existential, strategic threat to Afghanistan.”
FBI director: Afghanistan withdrawal to worsen heroin problem
(Tampa Tribune) The increasing flow of pure heroin into Tampa and other American communities will only get worse if the U.S. pulls all its troops out of Afghanistan at the end of the year, FBI Director James B. Comey said Monday afternoon at FBI headquarters in Tampa.
Paying Homage to Bin Laden, Mosque Re-emerges as Bastion of Militancy
(New York Times) Rising from the heart of Islamabad, the Red Mosque has long been a barometer of militant Islam in Pakistan. In the 1980s it funneled fighters into the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan. In the ‘90s its leaders made an awe-struck pilgrimage to visit their hero, Osama bin Laden, at his farm outside Kandahar.
FBI agent arrested in Pakistan on weapons charge
(Washington Post) An FBI agent is being held on anti-terrorism charges in Pakistan after authorities found ammunition in a bag as he boarded a plane in Karachi, Pakistani and U.S. officials said Tuesday.
MIDDLE EAST
Israel Fears Economic Squeeze by Europe Ahead
(Wall Street Journal) As Middle East peace talks founder, Israeli leaders are bracing for the European Union to resume its effort to put an economic squeeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and other disputed territories that the EU considers illegal.
Egypt's Sissi: Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi Are 'Finished'
(Voice of America) Egypt's former army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi says the Muslim Brotherhood has no future in Egypt if he wins the country's presidential election later this month.
Iraq faces challenge to find solution for growing slums
(Al-Monitor) The housing crisis has been a curse on successive Iraqi governments, and the problem lasts despite attempts by some governments to find patch-up solutions. For example, the solution of the government of Saddam Hussein was to distribute land to the needy, thus leading to Baghdad expanding without appropriate urban planning.
Russia To Supply Yak-130 Jet Trainers To Syria
(Defense News) Russia’s state-owned arms exporter Rosoboronexport will deliver the first batch of nine Yakovlev Yak-130 jet trainers to the Syrian government by the end of this year. The contract for 36 aircraft is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016, a source close to the deal told local business daily Kommersant.
Saudi DNA results confirm neither Asiri nor Wuhayshi killed in US drone strike
(Long War Journal) Yemeni and Saudi officials today announced to Arabic media sources the completion of DNA testing on the corpse of an al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula militant killed in a US drone strike on the night of April 20-21.
EUROPE
General calls for allied strategy in any 'show of force' in Europe
(Air Force Times) Should the U.S. decide to conduct a “show of force” in Europe, European allies should do the same, a top U.S. Air Force official assigned to NATO said Tuesday.
Better than MREs: Pentagon beefs up aid to Ukraine
(USA Today) It's not F-16s or Patriot missiles but it beats the beef BBQ and vegetarian taco pasta in the MREs the Pentagon has been providing Ukraine's embattled military.
Russia says Ukraine vote not valid without talks with separatists
(Los Angeles Times) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday issued a veiled warning that the Kremlin won't recognize Ukraine's May 25 presidential election unless the Kiev government first submits to power-sharing talks with pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Russia to Expand Naval Presence in Black Sea as part of $2.4 Billion Fleet Expansion
(U.S. Naval Institute) Russia will undertake a significant naval increase in the Black Sea following the Russian seizure of Crimea, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said during a Tuesday teleconference.
Ukraine announces change in army command amid calls for volunteers to help quell uprising
(Washington Post) Ukraine’s interim government took additional steps Tuesday to reassert its control by appointing a new military commander and shoring up security forces, even as some leaders made urgent calls for volunteers to take up arms against pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country.
Italy May Build UAV School
(Defense News) The Italian Air Force, which has largely relied on US training for its UAV pilots, may build its own school — and open it to other air forces, officials said.
ASIA-PACIFIC
ISR role in Pacific grows
(Air Force Times) The Air Force is increasing its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations in the Pacific as the military shifts its focus to that region, but the current fleet and capability is not enough, the top Air Force general in the region said Monday.
Chinese and Vietnamese Ships Collide Amid Oil Rig Dispute
(New York Times) Tensions in the South China Sea intensified Wednesday as Vietnamese naval vessels collided with Chinese ships amid a heated standoff over an oil rig that China had placed off Vietnam’s coast.
Thailand PM Ousted by Constitutional Court
(Voice of America) Thailand's Constitutional Court has ordered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down from office, finding her guilty of abuse of power in a decision that further deepens the country's prolonged political crisis.
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
Afghanistan and the Colonel Kurtz Effect
(Kathleen J. McInnis in War on the Rocks) Like many of us national security geeks, I found American Spartan (reviewed here at WOTR by Joseph Collins) deeply fascinating, and not a little disturbing. Its pages recount the adventures of Washington Post reporter Ann Scott Tyson and her beloved, Major Jim Gant, as they waged counterinsurgency deep in the wilds of eastern Afghanistan. If nothing else, it is an honest, heartfelt account of their personal and professional struggles. And it is a tragic story, although the reasons for believing so probably differ depending upon one’s views of the Afghan campaign.
A Few Observations on the New Counterinsurgency Manual
(Linda Robinson in Small Wars Journal) The most important lesson that is submerged is that the United States cannot be the primary counterinsurgent. If it does not place the host nation front and center from the start, in concept and execution, it will not succeed in supporting a successful counterinsurgency. There are important statements to this effect in the opening chapter (1-5, 1-6)[i], but the manual does not proceed to organize itself around those statements and tell the practitioners how to put the host nation front and center. It is not until Chapter 10, “Indirect Methods for Countering Insurgencies,” that the issue is dealt with and then only partially.
How Putin Is Reinventing Warfare
(Peter Pomerantsev in Foreign Policy) The Kremlin, according to Barack Obama, is stuck in the "old ways," trapped in Cold War or even 19th century mindsets. But look closer at the Kremlin's actions during the crisis in Ukraine and you begin to see a very 21st century mentality, manipulating transnational financial interconnections, spinning global media, and reconfiguring geo-political alliances. Could it be that the West is the one caught up in the "old ways," while the Kremlin is the geopolitical avant-garde, informed by a dark, subversive reading of globalization?
China’s Underwater A2/AD Strategy
(Harry Kazianis in The Diplomat) It makes obvious sense that when studying any nation’s defensive doctrines or strategies you have to go to the source–to the native writings coming from leading scholars and researchers of that country. In the case of the People’s Republic of China, I would argue it is the only way to do it if you are looking to craft completely original research. Case in point: two prominent China scholars have uncovered a new twist in Beijing’s anti-access/area-denial strategy (A2/AD) that if fully deployed could have tremendous ramifications for U.S. defensive doctrine in the Asia-Pacific, the Air-Sea Battle concept, and beyond.
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento