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Lawmakers move to limit Trump authority to launch nuke after nuclear button size tweet | WASHINGTON U.S. lawmakers are offering legislation to limit President Donald Trump's ability to launch a nuclear first strike after he heckled North Korea's leader about the comparative size of his "nuclear button.", Democratic Sen. Ed Markey, of Massachusetts, and Rep. Ted Lieu, of California, have sponsored legislation that would require the president to receive congressional approval before initiating a first-use nuclear strike from the United States. The two took to Twitter to rally support for their legislation after Trump bragged in a tweet Tuesday evening that he had a "much bigger" button than North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. , "No one person should have the power to decide when the U.S. will be the first to use nuclear weapons," Markey's tweet reads in part. Retweet, if you agree, he asked and as of Wednesday morning, more than 3,800 had. In a hallway interview Wednesday afternoon, Senate's No. 2 Republican John Cornyn, of Texas, expressed discomfort with the inflammatory talk on both sides. He stressed the need for a diplomatic solution and hailed the efforts of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to engage China. "That's a very serious issue, and I don't know how anybody's interests are served by escalating that rhetoric," Cornyn said. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, A handful of congressional Democrats had earlier in the day taken to Twitter to decry Trump's saber rattling, in somewhat stronger terms. House Armed Services Committee member Ro Khanna, D-Calif. tweeted the Markey-Lieu legislation urgently needs to pass this Monday, the day the House returns. Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a U.S. Army veteran who lost both her legs in the Iraq war, dissed Trump as "Cadet Bone Spurs" a reference to his draft deferment during the Vietnam War and urged him to worry more about mass U.S. military casualties in such a conflict. Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, a member of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee called Trump's tweet "reckless beyond words.", Trump mocked that assertion, writing "Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger more powerful one than his, and my Button works!", But despite ratcheting up the tension, Trump doesn't really have a nuclear button. The process for launching a nuclear strike is secret and complex and involves the use of a nuclear "football," which is carried by a rotating group of military officers everywhere the president goes and is equipped with communication tools and a book with prepared war plans. If the president were to order a strike, he would identify himself to military officials at the Pentagon with codes unique to him. Those codes are recorded on a card known as the "biscuit" that is carried by the president at all times. He would then transmit the launch order to the Pentagon and U.S. Strategic Command. Earlier on Tuesday, Trump sounded open to the possibility of an inter-Korean dialogue after Kim made a rare overture toward South Korea in an address. But Trump's ambassador to the United Nations insisted talks would not be meaningful unless the North was getting rid of its nuclear weapons. In response to Kim's overture, South Korea on Tuesday offered high-level talks on Jan. 9 at the shared border village of Panmunjom to discuss Olympic cooperation and how to improve overall ties. The South said Wednesday that North Korea's state-run radio station announced the North would reopen a cross-border communication channel. If there are talks, they would be the first formal dialogue between the Koreas since December 2015. Relations have plunged as the North has accelerated its nuclear and ballistic missile development that now poses a direct threat to America, South Korea's crucial ally. The U.S. administration, however, voiced suspicions that Kim was seeking to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington. Pyongyang could view a closer relationship with Seoul as a way for reducing its growing international isolation and relief from sanctions that are starting to bite the North's meager economy. "We won't take any of the talks seriously if they don't do something to ban all nuclear weapons in North Korea," U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters at the United Nations. "We consider this to be a very reckless regime. We don't think we need a Band-Aid, and we don't think we need to smile and take a picture.", The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ben Cardin, said Trump's tweet was "not befitting the president" and embarrassing on the world stage. He welcomed possible talks between Pyongyang and Seoul and said the U.S. must work with China toward a resolution. "That's their neighbor on the Korean peninsula, and it's good to have talks between North and South," Cardin said. "What the US needs to do is a diplomatic surge to resolve the crisis.", , |
McMaster Not much time left to deal with North Korea | SIMI VALLEY, Calif While laying out a tease of President Donald Trump's new National Security Strategy, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the president's national security advisor, warned that "there's not much time left" to deal with the threat from North Korea. McMaster, speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum, identified North Korea as the greatest threat to the United States, adding that it is "increasing every day" and saying North Korean Kim Jong Un is "getting closer and closer" to having a full nuclear deterrent. McMaster also reiterated that the administration still seeks denuclearization from Pyongyang as the end goal, something experts warn is no longer possible following a year of ICBM tests that have shown greater and greater range, with the most recent launch having come Nov. 28. Click here for more coverage from the Reagan National Defense Forum!, Earlier Saturday, CNN reported that the latest launch broke up upon re-entry into earth's atmosphere, which would indicate flaws remain for North Korea to overcome before it would be able to place a nuclear weapon into the United States. More broadly, McMaster used his speech to offer a small preview of the administration's' upcoming National Security Strategy. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, The core of the NSS will be on "reclaiming American's strategic confidence," a phrase McMaster used several times during his speech. He identified four key components to the strategy -- "focus on protecting our homeland, advancing American prosperity, preserving peace through strength and, finally enhancing American influence" but few specifics. Among other topics covered by the three-star general that arming Ukraine remains the policy of the administration, that some countries have "cheated" America on trade deals that will now be renegotiated, that it is "very hard" to see a future Syria including Bashar al-Assad, and that he supports sanctions against Russia, saying that are "relevant to countering Russia's destabilizing behavior and we're moving out on that as fast as we can.", |
Joint special operations leader to be US commander in Afghanistan | WASHINGTON U.S. officials say a career special operations soldier has been chosen as the next commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan. The expected nominee, Army Lt. Gen. Scott Miller, would succeed Army Gen. John Nicholson, who has held the post since March 2016. The promotion of Miller requires Senate confirmation. The U.S. has a role to play in setting the conditions for members of the Taliban to lay down their weapons and move back into Afghanistan's society, the top U.S. commander for the war said Thursday. Miller is currently in command of the secretive Joint Special Operations Command, which conducts some of the military's most sensitive commando missions around the world. He served as head of the special operations contingent in Afghanistan in 2013-14 and served combat tours in Iraq and Somalia. The selection of Miller was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. U.S. officials confirmed the selection on condition of anonymity because it has not been formally announced. |
Midterms could crash Trumps Space Force on the launch pad | WASHINGTON President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to start work on a new, sixth military service dedicated to space, but that seems unlikely if Democrats take the House in midterms on Tuesday. On the flip side, two key Space Force opponents on Capitol Hill are facing tough battles to hold onto their seats Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida and Republican Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado. "I'm going to take the administration on for Space Force," Coffman, chairman of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee, told the newspaper Westworld last month. "The president wants to create a whole new department of space, and if that requires authorizing language in the Armed Services Committee, I expect to lead the effort to kill that in committee," he said. Coffman had represented his suburban Denver district for a decade, but it went to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016. And this year, he has worked to distance himself from the president over immigration, gun laws and Space Force. Coffman said he could support a "space corps" subordinate to the Air Force, but he told Defense News in September that Trump's Space Force proposal is "a really bad idea" that would reverse gains in trimming Pentagon bureaucracy "for no real value.", "I feel confident we can block this. The president will not have the votes," he said. But Coffman is in danger. He faces Democrat Jason Crow in a district that Clinton carried by 9 points in 2016. The Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC backed by House GOP leadership, cut its spending in September an ominous sign. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, In Florida, home to Air Force Space Command's 45th Space Wing, Nelson has ripped Trump's plan to shake up the status quo. Nelson is the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Cybersecurity Subcommittee, a former astronaut and a key voice on space policy. "The president told a US general to create a new Space Force as 6th branch of military today, which generals tell me they don't want," Nelson wrote on Twitter, after Trump made an initial announcement in June. "Thankfully the president can't do it without Congress because now is NOT the time to rip the Air Force apart. Too many important missions at stake.", In spite of Trump and Vice President Mike Pence campaigning for Nelson's GOP challenger, Gov. Rick Scott, Nelson was holding onto a slim lead into Tuesday's vote. In an NBC/Marist poll released Monday, Nelson would gets 50 percent of the vote and Scott would get 46 percent, a narrow 4-point lead for Nelson. The administration is expected to seek approval from Congress, where Nelson and Coffman have not been alone in their skepticism. A major reorganization of the military would have to be authorized by the annual defense policy bill, which is hammered out each year by both chambers' armed services panels, and funded through both chambers' appropriations bills. If the House falls under Democratic control, as is widely projected, it would make a vocal opponent of Space Force Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash. the HASC chairman. Currently the ranking Democrat, Smith came out against Trump's proposal in a statement in September. "I am concerned that his proposal would create additional costly military bureaucracy at a time when we have limited resources for defense and critical domestic priorities, and I do not believe it is the best way to advance U.S. national security," he said. "We must do a better job of dealing with space as a national security priority. I will continue to work toward a smarter, more effective approach.", Smith's counterpart on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. said in August that Space Force "is not the way to go." While the GOP is expected to retain control of the Senate, Reed and Smith could join forces in defense policy bill negotiations. Nelson led the opposition last year when a bipartisan proposal for a space corps that predated Trump's proposal was cut from the 2018 defense policy bill, despite support from HASC leaders, including Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas. That proposal was for a new service subordinate to the Air Force. Alabama Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, the Strategic Forces Subcommittee chairman who proposed the idea then, has argued that the Air Force was prioritizing its fighter jets over space, and the U.S. needs a dedicated service to stay ahead of China and Russia in what many see as the next frontier of warfare. The proposal is aimed at protecting American satellites, Rogers said, and "not George Jetson getting on a rocket coming out of his suitcase.", Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Air Force leaders opposed the idea then, but they have publicly fallen in line behind the Trump administration, which unveiled plans in August to establish the service by 2020. Capitol Hill skeptics, including Coffman, have found ammunition in an Air Force that estimates a new service would cost 13 billion over five years. The strategic forces subpanel's ranking Democrat, Rep. Jim Cooper, expressed during a recent Aspen Institute event with Rogers skepticism of that estimate, which included a 1 billion headquarters. A Space Force proponent, Cooper also expressed hope Trump's support would not "ruin the debate" over what he sees as a common-sense proposal. "The president's unexpected intervention needlessly politicized it," Cooper said, "because it's never been political." |
Warrior caste Is a public disconnect hurting military recruiting efforts | Military leaders are looking for the best ways to recruit the next generation of troops amid a growing divide between the military and civilians. About 80 percent of new military recruits come from families with a history of service, but that number is shrinking. According to the Defense Department, 15 percent of young adults have a parent who served, a drop from 40 percent in 1995. There's also a declining rate of family members who served who are recommending joining the military to their children. In the late 1990s, more than 80 percent of service members recommended serving, according to research by Booz Allen Hamilton and Blue Star Families, a nonprofit organization that serves those in the military community. In 2017, only 40 percent of those serving recommended that path to their children. A panel of experts discussed these setbacks and how to address them at the Bipartisan Policy Center on Thursday. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, the event's keynote speaker, said there's not a lot of focus on how to develop and attract the next generation of great leaders. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, "Are we becoming a warrior caste where those who serve are in families with long traditions of service?" Wilson said, adding that nothing is wrong with that in and of itself. "But does it raise the civilian-military divide?", This also means, she said, that the burden of continuous combat operations has fallen on a relatively small number of people and families. A new commission created by Congress also launched on Thursday, which will focus on ways to increase military and civic service among American. The 11-member National Commission on Military, National and Public Service will travel the country in 2018 and 2019 to "ignite a national conversation around service and develop recommendations that will encourage and inspire all Americans, particularly young people, to serve," according to a news release. Eleven commissioners will travel the country in 2018-19 to learn how to increase military and civic service. The Defense Department and various organization are also working on ways to educate people who don't have ties to the military and to get them excited about signing up to serve. This Is Your Military' , On Feb. 1, the Defense Department is launching the "This Is Your Military" initiative to inform the public on what military is doing today and how it affects civilians. "We want to showcase how the military is relevant to Americans' lives on a daily basis," said Amber Smith, the DoD's deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for outreach. The initiative includes a video series to highlight service members' stories and dispel myths about the military. Smith said most of Hollywood's stories about the military focus on two extremes larger-than-life individuals and veterans who are broken and can't adjust to society. "You have everyone else who exists as veterans," said Smith, a former combat helicopter pilot in the Army. "They don't have to be these heroes who will have a movie made about them, but they still contributed a lot.", Smith said the initiative wants to share these stories so America can get to know this side of troops. "We want to articulate the message of what the military's doing to a non-military audience and create interest for people who don't necessarily care," she said. To reach that broader audience, the Defense Department will work with media, nonprofits, educators, Hollywood, sports leagues and other organizations. "We want to give Americans the opportunity to get to know who is serving," Smith said. "A lot of people think, you join the military you're going to combat. We want people to see we're more than that.", Starting in February, each month will feature fresh content to show civilians what serving in the military is actually like. Follow @DoDOutreach and KnowYourMil on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to find out more about the initiative. Kathy Roth-Douquet, CEO of Blue Star Families and a military spouse, said civic education has somehow petered out in the United States. "People respect the military because they know they're supposed to, but they have no idea what we do," she said. "It's hard to encourage someone to do the job when they don't know what the job is.", It's up to those in the military community to tell their stories, she added. Amped up recruiting , Air Force Secretary Wilson said the Air Force will continue to recruit from states that have a large pool of 18-year-olds, including California, Texas and Florida, but the service wants to attract people from other areas, too. "About 1 in 10 recruits come from New England," she said. "We intend to increase focus in geographic areas where we think there are young people who can be inspired to serve but may not have a family connection.", Wilson said the Air Force added about 600 recruiters and will put them in regions that are underrepresented, including the northeastern part of the United States. Blue Star Families' Roth-Douquet said one of her favorite recommendations is to have all 18-year-olds register for selective service. They would take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery to see what they would be good at in the military, and "it would tell them about jobs they probably didn't know existed," she said. "And it would allow recruiters to see certain talents," Roth-Douquet said. "We only need 5 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, and this plan wouldn't be very expensive.", It also would give the potential recruits a moment to picture themselves in the military, which could be enough to encourage them to join, she said. Hard to be what you can't see', Even though there's a higher percentage of women serving in the military than in previous years, the military wants that number to grow. "We're trying to make clear how natural a fit women are in the Air Force," Wilson said, adding that 20 percent of those serving in the Air Force are female. Wilson asked the audience to think about the most protective person in their lives. "My guess is half the people in this room are thinking of their moms," she said. "We need to tap into that desire to be one of the protectors of the innocent.", Wilson said there are all kinds of protectors in the Air Force, and the service needs to attract and develop them. "We also need to change some of the ways we do things," she said, adding that some equipment still is designed for men. "It's hard to be what you can't see," Wilson said. "By being role models and making sure our role models are out there with women and minorities so they can see what possibilities there are for them." |
Army extending range of airborne munitions | NASHVILLE, Tenn. The Army is working to extend the range of its airborne precision munitions in order to provide greater standoff in future contested environments. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said at the Army Aviation Association of America on April 26, that the service needs to make sure it is extending the range of its current capabilities. The service prioritized long-range precision fires as its top modernization effort, and it is taking steps to extend the range of its cannon artillery on the ground in the short term. Matching that capability in the sky, the Army aviation's research, development and engineering arm is looking to increase standoff ranges for its helicopters to effectively fire its munitions. "What we are doing is looking at capability that will give us more man-in-the-loop loiter capability of these missiles, more guided aspects, because we are going to be dealing with and seeing more GPS contested environments, RF contested environments," Juanita Harris, director of the Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center, said at AAAA. "So we are making these systems now, these new multi-role guided missiles to provide that expertise and that capability to operate in those contested environments, but it also keeps the user, that pilot, the aviator in the loop as we move forward, it allows the Brigade Combat Team commander to reach out to further ranges because of that new capability," she said. Based on some joint urgent operational needs statements from the field, the Army is tackling extending the range of precision munitions fired off of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, said Maj. Gen. Frank Tate, the director of aviation at the Pentagon with the Army's operations, plans and training branch. "The kind of range that we have on our current systems are useful but there are some other systems that outrange us and so we need to be able to reach farther if we are going to get into the Anti-Access/Area Denial umbrella and IADS Integrated Air Defense Systems that are out there," Tate said. "We are going to need something longer range.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, The Army is actively look at what is available in the world today "that can potentially scratch that itch," he said, "and so we will be starting a program to rapidly come to some fielding of a longer-range precision munition that overcomes some of the shortfalls that we have now.", , The House Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Subcommittee, in its mark of the fiscal 2019 defense authorization bill released last week, said it was concerned about "the Army's ability to mitigate Apache helicopter and Gray Eagle Unmanned Aerial System munitions overmatch within its aviation portfolio." , And while the committee supports ongoing obsolescence mitigation efforts, it wants to see the Army's plan to modernize by Sept. 15. , The hunt for Lightweight Precision Munitions, The service is also getting closer to fielding some new lightweight precision munitions for its Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft systems, according to Tate. The Army has been looking for ways to rapidly buy lightweight precision munitions for UAS as it burns through more expensive missiles carrying out a wide variety of missions. "Right now we fire a very large number of Hellfires off of our Gray Eagles around the world against targets that don't actually require a tank-buster, high-end precision munition," Tate said, which are both expensive and limited in numbers because they are needed for war stockage for other contingencies against near-peer-type competitors. "What we need is a weapon system for our Gray Eagle, for example, that gets more stowed kills on the wing, so instead of one round per rail, we want at least three rounds per rail ideally," he said. Some munitions are light enough coming in at 6 or 7 lbs to fit even more than three per rail, according to Tate. "If you are going after one or two personnel in the open sitting around a campfire or what not, that is adequate," Tate said, adding it also makes more sense operationally as many of the newer UAS variants can stay in the air in excess of 30 hours. "If you send them out for a 30 hour mission with only four rounds, then you've got some significant issues," he said. The Army plans to take "multiple small bets on numerous vendors," Tate said, with solutions that sound interesting. Some munitions are already being put to the test in the Army's software integration labs. Then the service will take them out, as early as next month, and drop some inert rounds in the desert to see if they can hit targets accurately. If these munitions are successful, the Army will then buy an economically feasible quantity and "operationally use them in real world locations," Tate said, where users can provide feedback. If the munitions are good, the Army will order more. If they need work, then it will send them back to the vendor, according to Tate. The Army may push one vendor's munition across the finish line while another is preparing for tests. "This is going to be more than one in a family of munitions based on different capabilities that are necessary," Tate said. One munition may be tested and prove better than what was previously fielded, or simply offer a different capability such as more firepower or is lighter weight. "If it tests well and the users like it, then we add that to the arsenal as well. So there's constant opportunity," Tate said. "But there's also constant competition for vendors to continue to lighten and improve the accuracy and the user friendliness of their munition or somebody else will pass them up and we will add that our arsenal instead." |
The US could be getting 2 new nuclear capabilities Here are the details | WASHINGTON The Nuclear Posture Review, formally unveiled Friday, recommends adding a low-yield warhead for submarine-launched ballistic missiles, as well as the addition of a nuclear-capable submarine-launched cruise missile to America's arsenal. The question now becomes when these capabilities will come online and how much they will cost at a time when the Pentagon is restrained by congressionally mandated budget caps. Before the addition of these new capabilities, the U.S. was preparing to spend 1.2 trillion over the next 30 years to modernize the nuclear arsenal, including the delivery systems, warhead, and command and control network. And the now-retired head of the National Nuclear Security Administration told Defense News weeks ago that his agency is "at capacity" with the work it has already been assigned to do. Robert Soofer, deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear and missile defense policy, said the question of logistics and funding was "squarely in our thinking" when looking at the new capabilities. But Greg Weaver, deputy director for strategic stability on the Joint Staff J5, said the reality is that details for acquiring the new systems still need to be worked out. America is preparing to introduce new nuclear capabilities to counter what is sees as Russian doctrine. "The NPR doesn't get into system engineering, so the department has a very well-laid out process for identifying the specific operational military requirements for additional capabilities," Weaver said. "We don't know what that would cost because we don't know how we're going to do it yet. Specifically you can't cost it out until you know the approach you're taking technically and the cost of operations, etc. And that's all going to go through our normal process. ", Here's what we know about the two new systems, Low-yield warhead for sub-launched ballistic missile, Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, The NPR calls for a "near-term" solution, in which the National Nuclear Security Administration would modify a small number of existing submarine-launched ballistic missile SLBM warheads to turn them into low-yield weapons. The agency is already in the process of doing a life-extension on the W76 warheads for those weapons, something Soofer noted should help keep the cost and schedule down. "All this would require us to reserve the last X number, tens of warheads, and instead of doing a full life extension, do the primary only. It doesn't require additional capacity," Soofer said of developing the capability. On the Navy side, the service would "just take that warhead and make sure they can qualify" and SLBM on a sub. By "low-yield," Soofer said he means smaller than the weapon detonated at Hiroshima, which instantly vaporized an estimated 60,000-80,000 people. , While noting it was a rough guess on cost, Soofer said he thought the Defense Department's portion of the cost would perhaps be 50 million over five years. The question then becomes one of how many low-yield warheads would be desired, and Soofer stressed that the number they are envisioning is quite low. "This is, again, a very limited, niche capability," he said. "This is not a major war-fighting capability. If we're talking about firing tens of these, you're in a different realm. The idea is to have one or two or just a few to address" the potential threat from Russia. But the idea of mixing strategic and tactical nuclear warheads on one ballistic missile submarine creates the potential for a "discrimination problem," said Vipin Narang, an associate professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who focuses on nuclear proliferation. "Very simply, how is an adversary supposed to know if the ballistic missile headed its way has a single low-yield nuclear weapon or a full complement of eight 475-kiloton strategic nuclear warheads? These things are not color-coded," he said. "They would have no way of being able to detect or discriminate what was on even a single SLBM launch, let alone several.", "Even if we were using just a single low-yield warhead on a single SLBM, the adversary literally cannot know that and has to assume we have escalated to the strategic level," Narang added. "Especially if that adversary worries about the survivability of its own forces, its only rational move is to launch everything it has.", Submarine-launched, nuclear-capable cruise missile, The NPR calls for a new sea-launched cruise missile, something the Navy had in its inventory until just a few years ago. The review orders an analysis of alternatives to look at the options, though Soofter noted this weapon will be "more labor- and cost-intensive" than the ballistic missile warhead. The NPR calls for the design to leverage existing capabilities to keep cost and schedule down. Soofer jumped on that idea, noting the Air Force is in the process of designing its new nuclear cruise missile, the Long Range Standoff Weapon, or LRSO, and speculating that provides a base with which to work. "We're already doing a warhead for the Long Range Standoff Weapon. It's going to be a version of the W80 warhead. So you could potentially just increase that production run and do more of those and put them into this new sea-launched cruise missile," Soofer said. "Maybe the LRSO is actually the airframe and you can adjust that for cruise missile surface ship launch, maybe you can do some version of the Tomahawk.", Part of the analysis will look at whether the weapons could be placed on surface ships, submarines or both, Soofer added, before noting "This thing is seven to 10 years out.", Notably, Weaver broached the idea that the SLCM could be used as a carrot to Russia to move back underneath the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. "Were Russia to agree to return to verifiable arms control measures to address that imbalance in nonstrategic nuclear forces, the U.S. might agree to limit or forgo acquiring a nuclear SLCM," he said. "This is a response to Russian expansion of their capability and the nature of their strategy and doctrine. The United States is not arms racing. We are responding to Russian initiative." |
Lockheed Martin takes missiles into new domains | HUNTSVILLE, Alabama Lockheed Martin is investigating other domains where its wide variety of proven missiles might operate in the future, and how new capabilities could be brought to bear to fill missile defense needs across the services, according the integrated air-and-missile defense vice president for the company's Missiles and Fire Control business. Lockheed's staple, Patriot Advanced Capability-3, and the upgraded version PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement, known as MSE, as well as its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, interceptors and its Miniature Hit-to-Kill missile provide a wide variety of capability within the portfolio. The company has built a family of interceptors that range from roughly 20 feet away to 20 inches and with that range, "you start saying, Well, how can you start applying these systems and the systems that we've built, like PAC-3 and THAAD? How do you start applying them into domains that they aren't traditionally employed in?" Tim Cahill told a small group of reporters at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium. , "Can you put MSE missiles somewhere besides on land, somewhere as part of a Patriot battery, can it be on a ship? Can it be in the air? And so you look at how do we apply these great capable systems beyond just the kind of narrow domains they were originally envisioned for," he added. Missiles and Fire Control is using its many internal partners at Lockheed to pair its missile capabilities with other sensors, such as the radar sensors for the Long Range Discrimination Radar, Space Fence and the Q-53 counterfire radar, for example, Cahill said. "When you start mixing and matching, can you find other areas where these existing systems can come to bear, and we are finding, yes, the answer is yes, they can," he said. Cahill added there are some capabilities where Lockheed is "just on the verge" of getting a contract, so he declined to elaborate on what's fleshing out as the company experiments with new configurations. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, "I think you are going to see some emerging capabilities rather soon and getting on contract, where you are going to see cooperation between key services that are going to be linking some of these systems," he noted. Some of the other efforts are farther afield, but Cahill said a new trend is likely emerging where existing systems are linked together differently or capability is used where and how it was not used before. For instance, Lockheed is looking at putting PAC-3 MSE, which is now in full-rate production with the U.S. Army, on any platform that could potentially carry it. "Maybe not F-16, I don't know, but there are bigger plans than F-16, and pretty big missiles that get carried around," Cahill said. "Airborne is not inconceivable.", And neither is putting PAC-3 MSEs on ships, he added. But Cahill noted that on the airborne side, smaller missiles might be a better fit. , Looking at the lower end of the spectrum, Lockheed is considering building a missile that fits in between PAC-3 and the Miniature Hit-to-Kill missile, something in the realm of six or eight feet, Cahill said, which seems to be the sweet spot. "We are very active and have some very detailed concepts of hit-to-kill in that class of missiles as well," he said. "Those could go on all kinds of platforms.", Cahill cautioned that the services are not at the stage where they are asking for anything specific, but Lockheed is trying to realize the potential early and stay ahead of the rapidly evolving threat picture. That includes considering how to get after challenging threats like hypersonic missiles. Cahill said Lockheed is still in the process of reaching an agreement on what kind of capabilities, for example, an evolved THAAD interceptor could go after. The desire to add extended range at the back end and more advanced sensing capability on the front end of the missile could give THAAD the capability to take out more advanced threats like hypersonics because it could take out a particular threat "before it has the chance to do the things it's designed to do to defeat you," Cahill noted. , "I wouldn't want to say specifically what THAAD Extended Range could do against particular threats yet because we are still working our way through that," Cahill said, "but there is no doubt, in general, further down-range, higher-up capability gives you better ability to hit something in the right zones. The more envelope you've got, the more you can pick where you can go hit them.", |
Lawsuit Greencard holders face bias in US military policy | SAN FRANCISCO A Trump administration policy that requires green-card holders to pass a background check before they can start military service is discriminatory and has left hundreds of enlisted people in limbo, a civil liberties group alleges in a lawsuit Thursday. The U.S. Department of Defense announced the new policy in October 2017. Green-card holders could previously report for basic service while their background checks were pending, and U.S. citizens still can, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which is seeking a court order blocking the policy. "There is no justification for discriminating against individuals who want to risk their lives for this country simply because of their immigration status," Sameer Ahmed, a staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, said in a statement. The Defense Department cannot discuss pending litigation, spokesman Johnny Michael said. The number of foreign-born service members becoming U.S. citizens dropped 16 percent last year. Permanent residents who serve in the military may be able to obtain citizenship faster than other green-card holders. The department's announcement last year quotes Stephanie Miller, director of accessions, saying it was in the "national interest to ensure all current and prospective service members complete security and suitability screening prior to naturalization.", The announcement says the clearance procedure could take up to a year. Ahmed said the ACLU is not aware of any permanent residents who have been cleared to serve since the policy went into effect, making it effectively a "ban on green-card holders in the military.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, The number of service members applying for and earning U.S. citizenship through military service has dropped 65 percent since Defense Secretary Jim Mattis directed additional background checks for non-citizen troops. The lawsuit names two permanent residents as plaintiffs, Jiahao Kuang and Deron Cooke, but seeks class-action status on behalf of an estimated 3,000 people who have not been able to start basic training. Kuang and Cooke enlisted in the military last year, but they have no idea when they will be allowed to serve, according to the lawsuit. Kuang put off going to college to serve, and it's difficult for him to get a job because he does not know when he will have to report for basic training, the suit says. Cooke works for a technology company, but is hesitant to apply for a promotion because he doesn't know when he will have to leave, according to the lawsuit. |
Qatar US sign agreement on F15 deal | WASHINGTON The U.S. and Qatar on Wednesday finalized the sale of F-15QA fighter aircraft, worth 12 billion. A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense confirmed the letter had been signed during a meeting between U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and his counterpart, Qatari Minister of State for Defense Khalid al-Attiyah. When the long-awaited deal was cleared by the U.S. State Department in November, it was announced as a 21.1 billion agreement covering up to 72 jets, a good reminder that initial figures reported by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency are often high estimates for where an agreement will end up. Instead, it appears the agreement will be for about half that. , The final deal, first reported by Bloomberg News, is a welcome win for Boeing, which just a year ago appeared to be running out of customers for its F-15 line. Speaking earlier today, Boeing defense head Leanne Caret sounded upbeat on the agreement, saying "It is an FMS, a foreign military sale, so we continue to work with the U.S. Air Force. We stay in tune to the congressional delegations, obviously. We are in partnership with them as those decisions are made, and in terms of the status of the case that the Qataris are working through, we'll see how time proves itself on that one.", A spokesman for Boeing declined to comment beyond what the Pentagon announced. A spokesperson at the Qatar Embassy could not be reached for comment. The sale comes at a time when the relationship between the U.S. and Qatar has been put under a spotlight. At the start of the month, long-simmering tensions between Qatar and its neighbors Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates erupted, with the latter two leading a coalition of countries that shut down relations with Doha. Saudi Arabia has since closed its border with Qatar. U.S. President Donald Trump threw oil onto that fire with a June 6 tweet linking Qatar to terrorist groups, saying "So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off. They said they would take a hard line on funding extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, Rex Tillerson, the U.S. secretary of state, later walked Trump's comments back, a welcome move for defense watchers concerned that Trump's statement would endanger the use of Al-Udeid Air Base, a central part of the U.S. air war in Iraq and Syria. That base houses 10,000 American troops and aircraft such as B-52 Stratofortresses, C-130 Hercules, KC-135 Stratotankers and E-8 JSTARS. Despite the current tone in the regions, members of Congress in recent days expressed confidence the deal would get done. , . |
Sweet 16 surprise Teen gets restored Ford Bronco of his Marine father killed in Fallujah in 2007 | In a matter of seconds, Triston Walsh went from being really mad at his mom to thinking she was the best mother in the world. Julie Walsh had told the Millstadt, Illinois, teenager in December 2018 that she had sold the 1990 Ford Bronco that had belonged to his father, Nick, a Marine sergeant who was killed in Iraq 12 years ago. But she was actually conspiring with a local car dealership to have the vehicle restored for his 16th birthday. More than 100 people, including a military color guard, gathered in the Mertz Ford showroom on Jan. 26 to see the staff present Triston Walsh with the shiny red vehicle with tan trim. They erupted in cheers when he climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine. "It just means so much to me," said Triston, who wiped away tears with his shirt sleeve. "I'm just really happy that I'm able to have a piece of my dad left with me.", Honor the Fallen Marine Sgt. Nicholas R. Walsh , After the big surprise, family and friends celebrated Triston's birthday with a patriotic-themed dessert table at the dealership, which had red, white and blue stars hanging from the ceiling. Nick's official military portrait was displayed on an easel, along with his dress uniform. A sign listed all the automotive suppliers that donated parts for the restoration. "It was overwhelmingly sweet," said Julie's cousin, Karrie Vanhosser, 44, of Troy, Illinois. "The look on his face was priceless. It makes me sad that his dad wasn't here to see it.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Get the Marine Corps Times Daily News Roundup, Triston is a sophomore at Belleville West High School. He turned 16 on Jan. 26, but he won't be getting his driver's license until February. Triston was 4 years old when his father was killed in a 2007 sniper attack in Fallujah. One of their last adventures was a road trip from Colorado to California in the Bronco, just the two of them. Triston and his brother, Tanner, now 12, had always expected to inherit the vehicle when they were old enough to drive. They were furious when it disappeared from the garage one day in December. "Triston said, 'Where's my dad's truck?'" said Julie, 39, a stay-at-home mom who also has two daughters. "And I was like, 'Well, kiddo, I had someone come out and look at it, and it's going to cost way too much to fix it, so I sold it, and I'm going to use the money to buy you a better car.'", Triston stormed upstairs to his room and spent the better part of two weeks giving his mother the silent treatment. In reality, Julie had contacted Mertz Ford to get an estimate on restoring the Bronco. The dealership sent a tow truck to pick it up while the boys were in school. "It was in pretty rough shape," said Service Manager Ricky Boyer, 34, of Granite City, Illinois. "It was garage-kept, so it looked pretty good, but there were mechanical problems from it sitting around for so long.", Boyer sprang into action. He contacted several automotive suppliers that agreed to donate parts. Mertz technicians Tim Jarrett and John McCall volunteered to work nights and weekends on the vehicle without pay. They installed a new radiator, suspension system, battery, rotors, brake pads, tires, rims and other parts. They rebuilt the intake manifold and rear differential, secured the sagging headliner and performed a tune-up. "We pretty much wanted to touch every nut and bolt on the vehicle because of its age," Boyer said. "We wanted it make sure it was safe and dependable for him.", Mertz Ford is a 97-year-old family business owned by Don and Debbie Mertz. They gave their blessing to the Bronco project, as did General Manager Greg Castelli. "It started out as something small, and it just kept growing," Don Mertz said. "Everybody was chipping in, and our employees agreed to do the work on their own time. I'm so proud of them. It was all for someone who made the ultimate sacrifice.", The former Julie Kilgore is a Millstadt, Illinois, native who met Nick Walsh in 2001 while tending bar at a Marine Corps ball in North Carolina. He was stationed at Camp Lejeune. At first, Julie slipped him a fake phone number 867-5309 from the Tommy Tutone song "Jenny", but Nick wouldn't give up the idea of landing a date with her. He returned to the bar singing "Jenny" and begged for her real number. "He was charming, and he had this big smile," she said. "I just couldn't not give it to him.", The couple fell in love and moved back to Illinois when Nick left the Marines. He worked construction, took classes at Southwestern Illinois College and joined the U.S. Navy Reserve. Then he served as a stay-at-home dad with Triston after Julie got a nursing job. The couple married in 2005, two days after Nick rejoined the Marine Corps. "He said, 'I just have this need. I just feel like this is my purpose,'" Julie said. "It was his calling to be in the military and serve his country.", Nick was stationed at Camp Pendleton in California when he left for his first Iraq deployment, which lasted about six months. It was his father, Jerry Walsh, who bought him the Bronco in 2006. Nick wanted a retro truck with big tires to haul his gear. He flew to Colorado to pick up the vehicle and drove it back with Triston. "They took the scenic route through the mountains because Nick wanted Triston to see it," Julie said. "They slept in the truck and had kind of a bonding experience. Nick loved what he was doing in the military, but he felt bad about missing some of Triston's milestones.", Nick left for his second Iraq deployment on April 1, 2007, about three months after Tanner was born. Julie had her last conversation with him on the morning of May 26 his time. Nick complained of not being able to sleep. He cried and talked about how much he missed his family and wanted to come home. Julie found it odd because he was always the one who was strong and upbeat, insisting that everything was going to be OK. A few hours later, Nick's reconnaissance unit reportedly had to stop on the streets of Fallujah because of a flat tire on a Humvee. When help arrived, Nick got out of the vehicle and stood in a circle with about a dozen military personnel. Then came a loud bang. "His one friend said he felt a bullet whiz by him and then he heard Nick say, 'Oh, that hurts,' and then he just fell to the ground, and everybody ran to take cover," Julie said. A sniper's bullet had hit two of Nick's arteries and punctured his lung. He was 26 when he died. The next morning, Triston was watching cartoons and Julie was feeding Tanner when two Marines in dress uniforms knocked on her door in California and delivered the tragic news. "I thought, How can I tell his son, Your dad is never coming home?''" she said. "Triston was just so excited every time he called. He just couldn't wait. He was so attached to him.", Julie and the boys lived in Chicago for two years before moving back to Millstadt in 2010 with Julie's partner, Nick O'Donnell, a history teacher at Belleville East High School. They now have two daughters, Tatum, 3, and Tinley, 8 months. The couple had to tell another little white lie on Jan. 26 to get Triston to Mertz Ford. Supposedly, the dealership was selling a car that was suitable for him to test drive. When the family walked into the showroom, the Bronco was hidden behind a paper curtain that eventually was ripped away so the vehicle could pull forward. Triston seemed stunned and speechless. He slowly walked up to the passenger door and peeked inside. "Do you want to get in it?" his mother said. "Yeah," he answered, prompting laughter from the crowd. No one at the gathering looked happier than the Mertz staff. The Bronco's restoration had become a labor of love and an act of patriotism. Client and Community Relations Manager Amy Kern, 41, of Belleville, noted that both her grandfathers served in World War II, and one was a prisoner of war. In the past month, walking into the service department and seeing the Bronco gave her goosebumps. "This was a way of showing Triston that the community cares, that the country cares," she said. |
GaNBased Patriot Prototype Preps For Public Debut | This story was first published at 1139 a.m. on Feb. 27. It has been updated to clarify a statement made by a Raytheon executive. ANDOVER, Mass. Raytheon's bet on a new radar for its Patriot air and missile defense system is now fully functional and ready for its public debut at the Association of the US Army's Global Force Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, in March, company officials said. Raytheon executives took a few reporters on a tour of the company's Integrated Air Defense Center, where they build Patriot systems and the radar technology they pitched as the future of air and missile defense Gallium Nitride GaN Active Electronically Scanned Array AESA radar. The facility houses a foundry for GaN and its predecessor Gallium Arsenide. It's a sizable bet. Raytheon has invested over 200 million to develop GaN technology over 16 years, augmented with US government investment over time, Ralph Acaba, the company's vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense, said Wednesday. The Patriot system was fielded to the Army in 1982 and Raytheon has continuously upgraded the system with investments from the US and 13 partner nations. The system is expected to stay fielded until at least 2040. But Raytheon has not been able to rest on its laurels. Lockheed Martin developed a competing air and missile defense system called the Medium Extended Air Defense System MEADS and is directly competing with Raytheon stateside and abroad for future deals. "The future is about how do you continue to put in capability, how do you continue to allow for the growth of the system, how do you continue to bring the cost of the operating system down, the reliability up, how do you prepare it for the future of air and missile defense where it's plugging into a network to be compatible with the Army's Integrated Air and Missile Defense concept that is the future," Acaba said. "Active arrays are key to that and GaN is the next technology that those arrays are going to be built out of.", Patriot radars currently use Gallium Arsenide GaAs, a semiconductor material. Raytheon believes GaN will bring exponentially more capability to the Patriot system and double the system's reliability. Moving to a GaN radar also frees up space in the system to add redundancy, or future capability like the Integrated Battle Command System, the command and control for the Army's future air and missile defense system. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, And the "beauty of the active array technology, you've got distributed elements so that anyone of them dies, no big deal, you've got plenty of redundancy," Acaba said. Additionally, the GaN radar integration into Patriot required very few new software changes. "It wasn't zero changes, but it was miniscule," Acaba said, "and we were up and tracking targets, I think, within a few days.", Raytheon didn't decide to develop GaN technology to answer any future Army requirements, Acaba stressed. "It was really around continuing the process of always looking ahead, what's next, not just take the next order, but where should we be headed and how should we be positioned so when the Patriot partners are ready to take the next step we've got the solution.", The US Army and several foreign countries appear to be ready to take the next steps when it comes to bringing on new capability in air and missile defense. The Army is funded in fiscal year 2017 to hold a competition for an IAMD radar. It hasn't publicly laid out requirements or how it might conduct a competition. Raytheon is waiting for the service to detail its plan and is "positioned to respond to anything from an immediate upgrade to the current radar to a clean-sheet, brand new radar to everything in between," Acaba said. Raytheon spent the last two years building a demonstrator and expects to be ready to get into a government test program within two years. "We've started burning not just technical risk, but started burning down schedule," Acaba said. "I think we are less than two years from getting this capability ready to get into a government test program.", The GaN-based Patriot's trip to Huntsville in March will likely be one of the only times it's displayed in public in the near-term. Afterward, it is set for tests, including field tests as early as late 2016. "Once we get that into the test program we really do want to use the time wisely, so we are not going to put this radar on the road to go to a bunch of different shows," Acaba said. The radar will "come back here and go deep into tests" with plans to get it out into field testing as early as later this year, he added. The GaN radar development also comes at a time when other countries are taking serious looks at either upgrading missile defense capabilities or buying something new. Raytheon received export approval for the GaN AESA radar last year. Acaba noted that Japan, Spain and Greece are looking into upgrading their Patriot systems while Sweden, Romania, Czech Republic and Finland are potential new customers in addition to Poland and Turkey. Poland announced in the spring of 2015 that it had picked Patriot for its new air and missile defense program, called Wisla. Lockheed was also in the running but the Polish government excluded it from the competition because MEADS was not yet a fielded system.Germany and the MEADS team have since begun working to mint a continuing development contract while looking for more countries to partner with. Poland and the US government began negotiations to purchase Patriot, but a Polish presidential election that ousted those in office when Patriot was picked has created uncertainty over the program's future there. The Polish Ministry of Defense has re-initiated discussions with the MEADS team. Before news that discussions between Poland and the MEADS team had restarted, Acaba said Wednesday that Poland was "conducting its assessments," and said a new government re-examining decisions from a previous government is a "natural process.", He said the company and the US Army are working to provide all requested information about the Patriot deal to the Polish government and said he expects the government to finish its assessments in a couple of months. "I've seen no indication this is going to be a six-month or a year assessment. I think they just want to do their due diligence on the process that was followed and what exactly the requirements are of the system that they are going to procure," he said. Turkey is also weighing its options after dropping an earlier decision to acquire the country's first long-range air- and anti-missile defense system from a Chinese contractor. Both Patriot and MEADS are back on the table there. In Sweden, "we've been talking with them for the past year or so and they've expressed significant interest," Acaba said. "They see similar threats as others and so I think they are getting closer to identifying specific requirements, both dollars and funding, and I think they are close and they are closely following what is going on in Poland.", Whether Sweden decides on a competition or to conduct a study, "is unclear to me, but I see enough evidence that they are looking, but they are not just talking to us," Acaba added. Romania, Czech Republic and Finland "are further behind," Acaba said, but, "they have expressed interest.", Acaba noted that Belgium has also shown an interest. And the countries listed as potential customers is not exhaustive, he added. While it appears that Germany will develop the MEADS system, Acaba said the country is serious about upgrading the Patriot systems it already has in its inventory. Germany has said it plans to keep its Patriot systems until at least 2030 while it develops its next-generation system. The Patriot Configuration 3+ is the latest version of the system. It includes a new radar digital processor, the "Modern Man" control station considered more comfortable for the operators, and a modern adjunct processor. "I think they are headed down the Configuration 3+ path and in fact they have already started taking delivery of items to get there," Acaba said of Germany. Acaba said he expected Germany to make Patriot upgrade awards in the fiscal 2017 or fiscal 2018 timeframe. Email [email protected], Twitter @JenJudson |
Forget the FOBs Army logistics must adapt for the modern battlefield | Just as the Army shifts its priorities to fighting in more domains than ever before and training for major combat operations against capable rivals, so too must its logistics harden, speed up and adapt to a challenging warfighting landscape. Lt. Gen. Aundre Piggee, the Army G-4, told an audience at the Association of the U.S. Army that the logistics side of the Army must take advantage of current and emerging technologies to deliver the right supplies to the soldier at the right time so they can be combat effective. One way in which that will hit the formations is a goal to more than double the standalone sufficiency of individual brigade combat teams by making them self-sustaining for a week, versus the current three-day average time that the BCTs can burn through vital fuel and other essentials. There's a lot out there to help meet that need, Piggee said, from better supply systems and processes to utilizing artificial intelligence for coordinated efforts, additive manufacturing to build parts in the field, and drone or autonomous resupply to get items to soldiers faster and safer. But the largest factor is an old school problem that's plagued armies since they went mobile fuel consumption. To meet the seven-day sustainable BCT goal, fuel needs will have to be cut by a third. That's a "demand reduction" issue that reaches beyond petroleum and also to battery life, power consumption on smart grids and anywhere else that technology procedures and advancements can make the formation as lethal as long with less fuel or power consumption. Conventional forces will need to think and act like special operations forces when it comes to supplying troops. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup, As far as the near-peer adversary shift, Piggee sounded optimistic, saying the Army as a whole and the logistics elements have ramped up their training over the past two years. For too long, Army sustainers got comfortable with forward operating base-type deployments. Soldiers arrive and the equipment was already there. Or it was flowing as needed. Yes, sometimes they were under attack via convoy bombings and other methods used by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it was sustainable. But a Multi-Domain Operations environment in which units will be cut off from major supply routes or be on the move continuously does not fit well with a steady flow FOB-type supply chain. To that end, the logistics world has upgraded and filled critical ammo stockpiles across the globe, standardized an expeditionary "common authorized stockage list," basically an "everything you need to go to war now" inventory, Piggee said. And they've gone "back to the basics" in fundamental logistics movements, he said, for everything from increased large-scale training rotations at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, to mobilizing for brigade rotations outside of the United States on short notice. While that work has recovered some of the perishable skills of logisticians, there are more moves to be made beyond the horizon. The longer-term work has begun as logisticians are partnering up with leadership at the newly established Army Futures Command in Austin, Texas, to get ahead on the logistics requirements for the Army's major modernization priorities. Those include a radically new airpower in the Future Vertical Lift, evolutionary changes to ground vehicles in the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle Program, super soldier-style outfitting and training in the Soldier Lethality Cross-Functional Team, and others. Piggee noted that in the past, the logistical needs of new programs were sometimes not addressed until later stages. By pairing logisticians in the development process, the supplier community can better meet those program needs and the Army will have a clearer understanding of what they'll take to be effective. A lot of cool new tech and other industry advancements are going to help with some of the challenges of logistics, but cultural changes are needed too, Piggee said. Logisticians "have to improve our process," he said. "Making and delivering is as important as the product itself.", He compared current logistics to commercial retail, where online shopping has shifted consumers from the storefront traditions of buying. The Army could learn from that model, Piggee said, adding that he wants the gear delivered to the soldier and units to come faster, easier, cheaper and tailored to the soldier's needs. |
Is Russia influencing Americas nuclear debate Mac Thornberry thinks they will | WASHINGTON As America enters into its most public debate about nuclear weapons and missile defense in decades, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee is warning that Russia will likely try to influence the debate about the Pentagon's modernization plans potentially including attempts to co-opt the nonproliferation community. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, spoke March 1 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where he mentioned several times the idea that Russia is preparing to gin up opposition to nuclear modernization plans through social media and other means. "There are well-meaning, very sincere opponents to all of the things we talked about today," Thornberry said. "But after what we've seen the past year or two, we better look under the hood and make sure that the Russians are not fueling our controversies in the way that we have seen them do in recent months.", "I suspect we're going to see much more sophisticated methods coming from Russia to try and influence the decisions that are required to implement this Nuclear Posture Review," he said. "So it's a big deal.", Asked by Defense News after his speech if the government has recently seen signs that Russia is funding nonproliferation groups, Thornberry was evasive, noting that the topic was more in the lane of the intelligence community but offering "I think we need to be much more alert than we have been on how they are trying to influence our defense decisions.", The chairman coached his comments in historical context, citing declassified CIA files that show Russia funded and provide indirect aid to the movements against nuclear weapons in the 1970s and 1980s. "What they did in the '80s was they provided propaganda themes, they provided organizational support, they forged U.S. military documents, they gave them money," Thornberry said. "Add social media and all the new tools that are available that we saw them just use in the last election I think we need to be much more alert than we have been on how they are trying to influence our defense decisions.", Unsurprisingly, Thornberry's comments drew strong condemnation from the nonproliferation community. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, hit back at Thornberry as "a politician who is doing nothing to stop the actual Russian attack on our democratic institutions but spins conspiracy theories about how the Russians manufactured an entire antinuclear movement in the 1980s and are doing it again now. "Americans' fears of nuclear wars don't have to be fanned by the Russians. U.S. President Donald Trump and Thornberry are doing a fine job all by themselves.", Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, said it was "concerning to hear an elected official resort to what almost resembles nuclear McCarthyism by hinting that defense critics might be pawns of the Kremlin.", "I hope he has something specific to refer to and not just be drawing broad parallels with the Cold War to create unsubstantiated suspicion about the patriotism of defense critics," Kristensen said. Both men willingly acknowledged Russian efforts to co-opt the antinuclear movement of the 1970s and 1980s, but downplayed the effect that had on what Cirincione called a movement grounded in a "massive, genuine and rooted ... deep fear that the two superpowers would fight a nuclear war on their continent.", Added Kristensen "The opposition to the missiles in Europe was motivated by the madness of the nuclear arms race on both sides of the Iron Curtain, not whose side you were on.", The recently released Nuclear Posture Review called for two new ship-based nuclear capabilities, while the upcoming Missile Defense Review is expected to call for a dramatic increase in America's defensive posture requirements that will require increased spending from taxpayers. |
Marine reservists take over crisis response mission in Central America | About 300 Marine reservists are headed ing Camp Lejeune this week for Central America this week, where they'll train local up security troops forces struggling against gang violence and drug cartels and stand ready to help in the event of a hurricanes or other natural disasters. Members of the recently formed Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task ForceSouthern Command will set up headquarters for the six-month deployment at the Soto Cano air base in Honduras. From there, they'll dispatch small advisory teams of grunts and engineers throughout the region. In all, tThe Marines come from 42 different units across 20 states, marking this the first time Marine Corps Forces Reserves will take the lead of the annual rotation. The Marine Corps kicked off its first rotation of this size in Central America last year, and it included first MAGTF was stood up last year almost all completely with active-duty personnel. But reservists bring a host of civilian skills in addition to their military occupational specialties, said Col. Thomas Prentice, the task force's SPMAGTF-SC's commanding officer. "We have Marines that are software engineers, law enforcement officers and we even have a fashion designer," he said. "The reservists ... comprising this MAGTF bring an additional capability towards being able to accomplish any assigned mission.", They'll be backed up by four CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 772, 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, which will give them serious lifting power. Since the region can be pummeled during hurricane season, the deployment is timed so the Marines are at the ready in the event of a humanitarian crisis. , The Marines will also mentor and train local troops in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Belize, and complete undertake infrastructure development projects, Prentice said Col. Thomas Prentice, the task force SPMAGTF-SC's commanding officer. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Marine Corps Times Daily News Roundup, "This isn't the standard 'deploy to the other side of the world' mission," he said. "This is really a unique opportunity to enhance our relationship with partner nations that truly are our neighbors.", They'll be backed up by four CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 772, 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, which will give them heavy lifting power. In all, the Marines come from 42 different units across 20 states, making this the first time Marine Forces Reserves will take the lead of the annual rotation. The first MAGTF was stood up last year almost completely with active duty personnel, but reservists bring a host of civilian skills in addition to their military occupational specialties, Prentice said. "We have Marines that are software engineers, law enforcement officers and we even have a fashion designer," he said. "The reservists comprising this MAGTF bring an additional capability towards being able to accomplish any assigned mission.", The deployment also intentionally coincides with hurricane season, Prentice said. In a region that can be devastated by natural disasters like tropical storms or earthquakes, having Marines and heavy-lift helos on station can go a long way. "That's the second part of our mission, the 'be prepared to' piece," Prentice said. "That's being prepared to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations, not only in the northern tier of Central America but throughout Southern Command's area of responsibility.", Building capabilities, Central America has been The Marines are on their way to the most troubled countries in the Western Hemisphere, long plagued by poverty, gang violence and on-going struggles with drug cartels. Tens of thousands of women and children have fled for the U.S. border in recent years in order to escape the violence in the countries where the Marines will be operating. , In 2014, tens of thousands of child migrants fled to the U.S. to escape violence, which President Obama called an "urgent humanitarian situation.", Fueled by a surge of gang violence, El Salvador recently surpassed Honduras as having the highest murder rate in the Western Hemisphere, prompting renewed fears of mass migration to the U.S. as reported by the Washington Post. Last year, about one third of all deportees from the U.S. - 75,479 people - were sent back to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement statistics. Those returned to their countries face the same issues as before they left, said Victoria Rietig, a policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. "You want to have a job to provide for your family, you want security that enables you to walk in the street without fear, children need access to safe schools," said Victoria Rietig, a policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. she said. "What you basically need is better development, and that has been the problem of the region for a long time.", The Marines will work alongside local troops to take on some of those issues. Marine combat engineers attempt to take these issues on at the local level, working side-by-side with host nation forces.Engineering teams from the logistics element will train local forces engineers on heavy machinery as they and work on roads, schools and hospitals in Honduras, for example, Prentice said. "We're basically on call to the Honduran government," he said. "When they decide there's a project they'd really like us to work with their engineers on, w... We'll engage in whatever projects we can to enhance our partnership.", Lance Cpl. Ethan Shireman, a heavy equipment operator with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Southern Command, digs a trench in Puerto Lempira, Honduras. Photo Credit Cpl. Katelyn Hunter/Marine Corps, Developing local infrastructure will also lay the groundwork for Alliance for Prosperity, the first joint multi-million dollar project between the U.S. Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The program will help fund schools and government institutions in order to stimulate economic growth in Central America. pour funding hundreds of millions of dollars into local governance, education, economic opportunity and infrastructure to tackle illegal migration at its source. Infantry teams from the ground element will also fan out across the region through through the countries to advise security forces on the front lines of the drug war. The Marines will train troops on small unit leadership, teaching marksmanship, swimming, land navigation and physical fitness, Prentice said. "They'll serve as subject matter experts." he said. "They'll advise, mentor and train partner nation counterparts to improve interoperability and build their capacity to plan for and conduct missions.", The ultimate goal of these interactions, Prentice added, is to enable them to provide security and prosperity to their citizens. The Marines have been dispatching security cooperation teams to the region for years in order to help partner militaries train for the challenges ahead. The Marines' biggest impact on these countries, however, might not come on the rifle range. The key piece of the deployment is building relationships with the host nation forces, Prentice said. "The reality is everything we do we're partnered," he said. "This is about these partner nations being in the lead.", Marines being Marines - with a deeply instilled sense of professional pride, work ethic and accountability -, The U.S. has invested heavily in the militaries of these countries for a long time without any decrease in violence though, Rietig noted, adding that primarily. because the local security forces themselves can sometimes create problems have been a big part of the problem. Lack of oversight and transparency, corruption and a record of human rights abuses have not necessarily endeared citizens to their governments. "Marines may encounter hesitation of the population towards them because historically people have very little trust in authorities and also very little trust in the military and police forces," Rietig said. Cpl. Cesar Santiago, an electrician with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Southern Command, receives a gift during an opening ceremony for a new classroom in Puerto Lempira, Honduras. Photo Credit Cpl. Katelyn Hunter/Marine Corps, Overcoming this is something the Marines trained for during their three-month work up for the deployment, which included extensive cultural awareness training and a specialized advisers' advisors' course at the Marine Corps Security Cooperation Group schoolhouse in at board Fort Story, Virginia. Additionally, leaders will emphasize the need for positive engagement with Central Americans locals during liberty safety briefs, said Sgt. ergeant Maj. Wesley Schaffer, the unit's senior enlisted leader MAGTF's senior non-commissioned officer. "Besides the standard we're ambassadors of the United States and the Corps', wWe'll brief the Marines and We'll make sure they understand what type of environment they're going into," he said. "One of the things we're pushing and we want Marines to understand is that this is a great opportunity to go into another culture and learn.", When Marines interact with the local population, it's important to understand the perceptions civilians will have based on their troubled history, Rietig said having Marines interacting with community members there , but at the end of the day this presents an opportunity to make a long-term difference. It can help them understand the Marines are trustworthy, and helps the Marines understand the regional challenges. , "When you hear the problems that they are encountering, it makes it so much more understandable," she said. "It puts a face on these nameless statistics and problems." |
Pentagon Troop contingent on border pretty much peaked | WASHINGTON The number of U.S. active-duty troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border has "pretty much peaked" at the current total of 5,800, the Pentagon's No. 2 official said Thursday. That is far below the 10,000 to 15,000 that President Donald Trump initially said would be needed to secure the border against what he called an "invasion" of migrants. Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan was asked about the military mission one day after his boss, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, visited troops near McAllen, Texas, and defended the use of the military for border security. Mattis said that within a week to 10 days, the troops currently deployed along the border in Texas, Arizona and California will have accomplished all the tasks initially requested by Customs and Border Protection, although he said additional requests were expected. The Pentagon says it will stop using the operation name for the U.S. military mission on the southern border. Shanahan did not go into detail beyond saying substantial additional troops do not appear to be required. "We've pretty much peaked in terms of the number of people that are down there," he told reporters at the Pentagon. He noted that the current mission is scheduled to end Dec. 15, adding, "That could always be amended.", Mattis, while on his way to visit troops along the border in south Texas on Wednesday, declined to provide an estimate of how much the mission will cost. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, In his most extensive remarks about the hastily arranged mission, Mattis argued that it fits an historical pattern dating to early in the 20th century. He noted that President Woodrow Wilson deployed tens of thousands of National Guard and active duty troops to the border in 1916 in response to a Mexican military raid into the U.S. led by Gen. Francisco "Pancho" Villa. He noted that more recently, National Guard troops were used in border missions ordered by President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, although not on the cusp of a midterm election. Mattis did not say how soon the mission might end. The president said troops could fire on migrants who throw rocks. But the unit-level ROEs are more complicated. In addition to the 5,800 active duty troops in the border area, about 2,100 National Guard troops have been providing border support since April. Critics have questioned the wisdom of using the military on the border where there is no discernible security threat. Since the Nov. 6 election, Trump has said little about the matter, and no border threat has yet materialized. Asked whether he believes there is a security threat at the border that justifies the use of the active duty military, Mattis said he defers to the judgment of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who joined him at the border Wednesday. Mattis said the short-term objective is to get sufficient numbers of wire and other barriers in place along the border as requested by Customs and Border Protection. The longer-term objective, he said, is "somewhat to be determined.", Mattis said the mission, which does not include performing law enforcement tasks, was reviewed by Department of Justice lawyers and deemed a legal undertaking. "It's obviously a moral and ethical mission to support our border patrolmen," he said. |
Trump to meet with North Koreas leader at 2nd summit White House announces | President Donald Trump is to hold a second summit with the leader of North Korea near the end of February to try to coax the North to give up its nuclear program. The announcement came at the White House Friday after Trump met with a North Korean envoy. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump met for 90 minutes with Kim Yong Chol to discuss denuclearization and a second summit. Kim Yong Chol is a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief. Sanders said the president looks forward to meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a place to be announced at a later date. Kim Jong Un says if things don't improve, North Korea may find "a new way" forward. Trump had his first, historic meeting with Kim Jong Un last June in Singapore and reached a vague denuclearization agreement, but little tangible progress has been made since. So far, no details have been publicly released about how denuclearization could occur. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the North Korean former spy chief met early Friday to resume efforts to arrange a second summit. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, Trump has spoken several times of having a second summit early this year, and he's exchanged multiple letters with Kim Jong Un despite little progress on the denuclearization agreement reached at their first meeting. Since the first one, several private analysts have published reports detailing continuing North Korean development of nuclear and missile technology. A planned meeting between Pompeo and the envoy, North Korea's former spy chief, in New York last November was called off abruptly. U.S. officials said at the time that North Korea had canceled the session. The talks have stalled over North Korea's refusal to provide a detailed accounting of its nuclear and missile facilities that would be used by inspectors to verify any deal to dismantle them. The vice president named to the "Wolf Pack" the rogue states included in the Bush administration's Axis of Evil, but added newcomers in Latin America. The North has demanded that the U.S. end harsh economic penalties and provide security guarantees before the North takes any steps beyond its initial suspension of nuclear and missile tests. Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday that the U.S. is still awaiting "concrete steps" by North Korea to dismantle the nuclear weapons that threaten our people and our allies in the region.", Trump has offered assurances that a second summit could allow the two leaders to seal a deal resolving the nuclear standoff and improving a relationship marked by decades of animosity and mistrust since the Korean War. Kim Jong Un expressed frustration in an annual New Year's address over the lack of progress in negotiations. But on a visit to Beijing last week, he said North Korea would pursue a second summit "to achieve results that will be welcomed by the international community," according to China's official Xinhua News Agency. Kim's latest trip to China, his fourth since last year, came as the North's strongest ally has encouraged negotiations with the U.S. while at the same time arguing in favor of immediate easing of sanctions. The U.S. and North Korea seemed close to war at points during 2017. The North staged a series of weapons tests that brought it closer to its nuclear goal of one day being able to target anywhere on the U.S. mainland. The two sides then turned to insulting each other Trump called Kim "Little Rocket Man" and North Korea said Trump was a "dotard.", Kim abruptly turned to diplomacy with Seoul and Washington last year, possibly fearing economic harm from the penalties imposed over the weapons tests. Still, even after the Singapore summit, the first between U.S. and North Korean leaders, there has been little real progress in nuclear disarmament. Independent analysts are highly skeptical that North Korea will easily abandon a nuclear arsenal constructed in the face of deep poverty and probably seen by Kim as his only guarantee of his government's survival. |
Congress to balance JSTARS recap with something new key lawmaker says | WASHINGTON Lawmakers will seek "balance" between the U.S. Air Force's multibillion-dollar program to replace its aging E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System and a yet-undecided alternative, a key congressman said Tuesday. House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, said the subcommittee's markup "will try to find the balance of funding taxis and Uber" an analogy to legacy and new technologies that perform similar jobs. The Air Force's fiscal 2019 budget proposal would cancel the JSTARS recapitalization program in favor of a system-of-systems approach that links existing platforms for targeting and command and control. In the meantime, the Air Force would fly the current JSTARS fleet through 2023. At the McAleese and Associates/Credit Suisse defense conference in Washington, Turner recalled how the Uber analogy was used at an Air Force caucus meeting to argue Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson needs to be able to free up funding for new technologies. "But I said Taxis are still on the street,' " Turner said. "What that means is either we have to have a smorgasbord of capabilities. And that's what we're going to work towards with the secretary. If there is a capability that is absolutely essential, we are going to make sure it's preserved.", The Air Force deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements, Lt. Gen Jerry Harris, told McAleese conference-goers the range and capability of the threat has outpaced the technology behind the JSTARS recap. "The technology that is emerging is probably giving us a better option than when we did the study a few years ago," Harris said, adding "The sensor we have can't see as far as the threats that are coming back, shooting it down. That's not a good equation for us.", The request for proposals for the JSTARS recap is ongoing, but the Air Force is taking an incremental approach that keeps the E-8 in service a little longer than planned. In the future, the sensor will be better, and the Air Force will aggregate form a variety of platforms, Harris said. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, At a conference earlier this month, Wilson detailed plans beyond JSTARS to develop an advanced battle-management system that connects sensors for an improved understanding of the battlefield, a requirement for combatant commander. "Think air traffic control on steroids," she said. Yet, any threat to JSTARS is likely to face a fight on Capitol Hill. Georgia's congressional delegation expressed concern last year, ahead of the Air Force's reversal of plans to buy 17 new JSTARS recap planes to replace its legacy inventory of E-8Cs. Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman the three major U.S. military aircraft manufacturers were all vying for the prime contractor slot. |
Army works to upgrade 155 mm lethality range and accuracy | Army researchers are developing upgrades that will allow 155 mm artillery rounds to travel farther, target smarter and do more damage when they hit, especially on armored vehicles. Researchers with Program Executive Office-Ammunition launched a program last year known as Cannon-Delivered Area Effects Munition. Manufacturing of the new rounds is expected to begin in 2020, but mid-term upgrades and off-the-shelf substitutes will happen as soon as next year. According to an article authored by Peter Burke, PEO-Ammo's deputy project manager for combat ammunition systems, and Tara Sarruda, chief engineer for Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, the aims of the program include, To extend range, researchers with ARDEC are building a rocket-assisted projectile that can hit targets as far as 24 miles, extending the range of most artillery by at least six miles. The Army has a 155 mm rocket-assisted projectile that can exceed 18 miles, but while the munition is in Army stockpiles, it is no longer in production, said PEO-Ammo spokeswoman Audra Calloway. In the past decade, researchers have fielded the Excalibur projectile, a coordinate-seeking, high explosive round that uses onboard GPS to hit targets at extended ranges with an accuracy of less than 2 meters miss distance, according to the PEO-Ammo release. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup, They also more heavily utilized the Precision Guidance Kits, gear that turns conventional rounds into near-precision ammunition. As the new rounds are developed, the Project Manager for Combat Ammunition Systems at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, is accelerating the development of the XM1128 extended-range HE projectile and procuring certain advanced rounds and grenade-carrying rounds made by companies in Sweden and Israel. The XM1128 is in final stages of development and has tested as more lethal at the 18-mile range. The Swedish round, the BONUS SFM, is in production and has submunitions with advanced sensors that can search for armored vehicles as it flies, separate once detected, and fire an explosively-formed penetrator through the vehicle's roof. Other improved rounds include the PRAXIS, an upgraded conventional munition that fires four full-bore submunitions, each with tri-mode fuzing systems containing pre-formed tungsten fragments in the warhead. Tri-mode fuzing is a three-mode detonation capability, which includes the ability to detonate at a prescribed distance from the ground or target, detonate when it strikes the ground or target, or after a preset time-delay. Researchers are also developing Cluster Munition Replacement Technologies to continue to impact poorly located area targets from personnel to medium mechanized targets. An advanced Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition round, the DPICM XL, contains 60 submunitions, each with redundant fuzing systems that can strike personnel, light materiel and medium armored targets using an advanced warhead designed to penetrate the skin of an armored vehicle. Scientists with the Office of Naval Research are also developing DPICM advancements, cargo projectiles that contain large numbers of submunitions but exceed the 99 percent compliance of the U.S. Unexploded Ordnance policy, according to Burke and Sarruda. |
Fundamental changes afoot at major commands as US Army sets up modernization outfit | WASHINGTON The U.S. Army is embarking on a grand strategy to set up a new modernization command that will help it prioritize major efforts and streamline the acquisition process to stay ahead of near-peer adversaries. But to do that means shaking up the status quo including potentially big changes to major commands, acting Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said Wednesday at an Association of the U.S. Army breakfast in Arlington, Virginia. , McCarthy and the Army vice chief of staff have tasked Lt. Gen. Edward Cardon, the director of the Army's Office of Business Transformation, to lead a task force to shape the command and produce a series of recommendations expected around February. The command itself is expected to stand up no later than summer 2018. "Within this process, we realized we are going to change Training and Doctrine Command, we are going to change Army Materiel Command, we are going to change Forces Command's fundamental makeup," McCarthy said. "So I had to make an adjustment to the terms of reference for this conditions-setting task force to realize that all of these decisions that are going to be made will alter those characteristics of these commands.", And with that, Cardon's charter "is bigger than just the future of the modernization organization how does it affect the entire Army," McCarthy said. When pressed further on the types of fundamental changes to commands, McCarthy told Defense News that the acquisition process now is like a "4x1 in a relay where we pass the requirement through the Army," which takes too long and "at times you drop the baton.", By putting all of those participants under one roof, the process should "theoretically" become easier, faster and more collaborative. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, For instance, within TRADOC lies the Army Capabilities Integration Center, where the requirements process begins. "Will that stay there? Will it move to this modernization command? These recommendations will be teed up to us here in the February time frame," McCarthy said. , In addition to considering changing major elements within commands as part of the process to standing up a modernization command, McCarthy is also waiting for the results of a science and technology review expected to be complete in just a few short weeks. In a separate, exclusive Nov. 3 interview, McCarthy told Defense News that his guidance to those conducting the science and tech review is to make recommendations on what to do with such an effort that doesn't necessarily fall within the modernization command's six priorities but is "strategic in nature that clearly would be a force multiplier.", "Maybe it's something I can get the Office of the Secretary of Defense to pay for or go to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or somewhere else," he added. "There is probably vast duplication across the services and OSD, so I am working very hard," McCarthy said, "so that we make sound investments." |
Garamendi No Halt for Nuclear Modernization Programs in Sight | WASHINGTON There is little hope for the non-proliferation community to slow down nuclear weapons modernization in the next few years, a Democratic lawmaker said Wednesday. Rep. John Garamendi, a California Democrat who sits on the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee, said he expects his colleagues to push ahead with the full nuclear modernization plan. "I think the reality is that the momentum that has been built into the nuclear modernization issue, in all of its elements, is significant and in the near-term, that is this year -- this year's appropriation, continuing resolution, omnibus, whatever it happens to be -- will further that momentum and push it one more year forward, creating even greater momentum," he said. "So at least in the short term, that is this year and next year, I don't think that is going to change," Garamendi added. "We are on a trajectory with a lot of momentum behind it that will carry these issues forward.", Under the Obama administration, the Pentagon is working towards modernizing its fleets of nuclear-capable submarines, bombers, ICBMs and cruise missiles, as well as updating nuclear warheads. It is a major effort that budget experts warn could eat the Pentagon's funding over the next decade, but one that Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has called the "bedrock" of American security. The congressman was speaking at an event hosted by the Ploughshares Fund, a nuclear non-proliferation group that Wednesday presented a new report on nuclear advice for the next president. Garamendi praised the group's work, but expressed doubt that it would penetrate with either the current Congress or the new administration of Donald Trump. "It needs to be studied. It needs to be taken into account in the days ahead," he said. "Having said that I have a pretty clear notion that it won't be, and that concerns me greatly. I'm really, really concerned that the ideas, the direction that are put forth here may very well not be looked at.", Garamendi, who predicted the National Defense Authorization Act NDAA would get done in the next two to three weeks, also sounded the alarm that unless Congress reverses course on supporting broad nuclear modernization, there would be wide-reaching implications. "The United States, Russia and China are clearly marching down the path of a new nuclear arms race," he warned. "Here we go again. Tit for tat, escalate here, escalate there. That's where we're going folks, as sure as we're all in this room, that's exactly where we're going.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief |
The Corps delays opening of new hard labor camp in Okinawa | Senior Marine Corps officials have delayed the opening of a controversial correctional unit on Okinawa, Japan, where Marines who get in trouble will do hard labor, including breaking rocks with sledgehammers. The new Correctional Custody Unit, or CCU, at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, was initially scheduled to open its doors Feb. 14. But plans changed and the opening was pushed back until May 2, according to officials at Marine Corps Installations Pacific. , It's been several years since the Corps last operated a CCU, which invokes images of a menial labor camp with Marines sweating in the hot sun and pounding rock piles into small pieces a characterization military officials have told Marine Corps Times is inaccurate. , Marine officials say the purpose of the CCU is to help rehabilitate junior Marines who would otherwise be separated from the service for relatively minor offenses. It's also a tool for commanders to hold onto personnel who still may be valuable to the Corps with slight adjustments to attitude and behavioral problems. , "This will provide an opportunity for good Marines to recover from a slight misstep, as well as return to the ranks free of stigma with an opportunity for redemption," Chief Warrant Officer Brian Sheppard, the brig commanding officer at Camp Butler, Japan, said in a command release. "Compared to the alternatives such as administrative separation, babysitting,' restriction, extra duty, and forfeitures CCU has the capability to really motivate a Marine and produce a far more fit, disciplined, capable, and fired-up Marine back into the ranks.", To be assigned to the unit Marines must receive a nonjudicial punishment under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice from their command. Marines attending the CCU are then known as awardees. , Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Navy Times Daily News Roundup, While the Corps doesn't like to refer to the CCU as a hard labor camp, Marines at the correctional unit will still "conduct combat conditioning, physical training and field training exercises," Marine officials said. , The Corps has been vague on what kinds of activities will include combat conditioning and physical training. But images posted by Marine officials in a command release in January show Marines breaking piles of rocks when the Corps conducted a simulation of the new CCU. It may elicit a negative connotation of old-fashioned prison chain gangs. But Marine Corps officials say the hard physical conditioning, while a tool for punishment, is also used to build camaraderie, unit cohesion and foster leadership traits. Moreover, hard labor is a small part of the curriculum, Marine officials said. "The primary effort of the program is dedicated to education, core values, and relapse prevention," Marine Corps Installations Pacific told Marine Corps Times in an email. Awardees at the camp will be under constant supervision and will attend either a 30-day course or a seven-day course. , "Weekly counselings will also be conducted and annotated in their weekly progress summary by our assigned corrections counselor," said Gunnery Sgt. Loren Ortiz, the CCU staff noncommissioned officer in charge, in a command release. "Commands are also highly encouraged to check on their Marines during command visitations.", Marines will also undertake community service activities and cleanups. , "I hope commanders take an honest look at this alternative because I see this program has great potential to mitigate first term discharges," said Sheppard. "Restriction is not motivating. Extra duties are not motivating." |
Gen John Campbell wraps up Afghan command A lot of challenges remain | After 18 months on the ground, Gen. John Campbell is preparing to complete his tour as the top commander in Afghanistan. He spoke Wednesday to Army Times about his tenure, the challenges that remain, his successor, and his plans after Afghanistan. Q. Can you describe the conditions on the ground in Afghanistan today?, A. We went through a very, very tough 2015, where the Taliban and the rest of the insurgents were fighting because they wanted to be in a position of strength. They knew, as we downsized, there would be reconciliation or peace talks, and they wanted to be operating from a position of strength. That's one reason why they've been fighting so hard this year. They knew, again, as we downsized, resources, close-air support, that kind of stuff, wouldn't be the same, so I think they tried to take advantage of that. Q. What is the state of the Afghan National Security Forces?, A. The ANSF had a lot of challenges, but they're challenges we knew about ahead of time, and we kind of predicted. We knew we had to work on train, advise and assist in areas like close-air support, intelligence, logistics, things that are tough for any army. There are short-term reforms that they've been working on for a while, but they've really got a sense of urgency during this winter campaign. That's getting off the checkpoints, getting more maneuverable, getting more offensive in nature. It's about having a force generation cycle to take care of their soldiers, where they can train, fight and take some leave. That will build upon the attrition issues they've had, and they'll be able to retain more people and recruit more people. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup, Q. How are the Afghans tackling these issues?, A. I'm encouraged that the leadership of the Ministry of Defense and the army have made some good changes over the last couple months in their general officers. They've changed out 102 or 103 in the last couple months. Everywhere they've made those changes, I've seen a difference. Leadership makes a difference. Where they're putting the right leadership in place, it's making a difference in attrition, taking care of soldiers, readiness of equipment, readiness of vehicles, and readiness of their people. They're really about being professionalized, and that's going to take time. I see improvement every day. Sometimes it is two steps forward, one step back, but the Afghans have been resilient, they want to get after this, they want to build a better life for the people of Afghanistan, and they've sacrificed a great deal. First Lt. Graham Hennig, Dragon Troop, 2nd Squadron, 3rd U.S. Cavalry Regiment, instructs an Afghan National Army Soldier on how to fire an M320 during joint range training. Photo Credit Maj. Vance Trenkel/Army, Q. Can you discuss in more detail the challenges the Afghans face? Could you start with close-air support?, A. Close-air support is one that everybody talks about. We knew starting in 2015, they had five Mi-35 attack helicopters that had very few hours left, so they weren't getting a whole bunch out of that, and that was it. That was their close-air support platform. When we went to Resolute Support, our mission changed so they had to pick up a lot of this on their own, and we're building that capability, but it takes two or three years to build a pilot, a couple years to build maintainers. We introduced MD-530s, which is basically a Little Bird, and it has .50-cal machine guns. Though we've only got about 14 in-country today, we'll continue to grow that number. We took their Mi-17 helicopters, which were not designed to be close-air support platforms, but they put forward-firing machine-guns on some, they armed some with rockets, so that helped close the gap a little bit. But we're nowhere close to meeting their requirements. Q. How long will it take for them to get up to speed?, A. I've made some recommendations for some changes as we go forward, because they've been dealing with Soviet aircraft like the Mi-35 and the Mi-17, and it's just too hard to continue to replace those or put spare parts on those. So we have come up with a different way, and we've got a pretty good plan going forward. I'm moving it through my senior leadership to take a look at different platforms. We've got to be able to provide them with equipment and the training that goes along with is, and then they have to be able to sustain them. Soldiers load ammunition into rifles during an Aug. 14 military exercise inside coalition force Forward Operating Base FOB Connelly in the Khogyani district in the eastern province of Nangarhar, Afghanistan. Photo Credit Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images, Q. What are some other areas or challenges the Afghans are working on?, A. In the logistics arena, we've got plenty of ammunition, plenty of logistics and equipment, but it's a matter of getting that distribution down to the lowest levels where they actually need it. In intel, they now have a national-level fusion cell that the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior and the National Directorate of Security, which is their intel agency, all working together to provide national level target packages. That's something they didn't have that they've built on. They do their own budget now. They do their own procurement. We've worked on transparency, accountability. We've work on rule of law with them, we've worked on strategic communications, we've worked on command and control. All these things are hard, but they continue to make progress every day in many of them. Q. What's next for Afghanistan and the U.S. commitment there?, A. We've got to quit talking about Afghanistan year to year to year. That's what we've been doing for 15 years. It breeds instability, quite frankly. It gives the Taliban an advantage because they know we're going to leave. It provides instability and unpredictability for the people. All they see is we're going to leave. It erodes the confidence of the Afghan Security Forces. I just think we've got to look longer-term and get that commitment out and be vocal about it. When I got here, we were going toward 1,000 people at the end of this year and only being around Kabul. With that, we had no capability to have a counter-terrorism platform here, we had no capability of building the Afghan CT capability, we'd be doing zero train, advise and assist. Drawing down to 1,000 wasn't based on what was really happening on the ground. What we've been able to do since is build a narrative that Afghanistan is worth this investment, and we have to continue to stay involved because this is a very dangerous part of the world. We continue to have people who continue to come out of the ungoverned areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan who want to do harm to Europe and to our homeland. Q. Does the U.S. need more troops in Afghanistan?, A. We're now at 9,800 through all of 2016 and I thank President Obama for that, Every time I've provided a recommendation, he's granted what I've needed here, so I'm very appreciative of that. The current glide path is I have to be about 5,500 troops by 1 January 2017. I think we have to look at conditions on the ground. I think when the decision was made for 5,500, there were some assumptions that were made and some of those may not have come true. I think there are some adjustments we have to make on that number, and I've provided those to my senior leadership, and hopefully we'll make some changes there. I'm also going to make sure his successor Lt. Gen. John Nicholson has that, and he'll come in and make his own assessment. Gen. John Campbell will relinquish command after 18 months in Afghanistan. He plans to retire from the Army. Photo Credit Massoud Hossaini/AFP via Getty Images, Q. What advice do you have for Lt. Gen. Nicholson?, A. What I've kind of grown up with is your legacy is how well you set up your successor. I've been in contact with General Nicholson for a while, I've known him for many, many years. If I could pick somebody to replace me, I'd pick him. He knows Afghanistan, he knows how tough it is, and how you have to understand relationships. I will leave him with a continuity file, and I will leave him my assessment of where we are and where I think we need to go in the future, and he, like any other commander, will come in and put his own touch on it. Q. Do you think he might be the last Resolute Support commander in Afghanistan?, A. CBS' 60 Minutes did a piece on me way back in November 2014 that said I was the last four-star here, so I don't know how you can predict that. Q. What's next for you after you relinquish command?, A. I'm going to retire and I'll look at other ways and opportunities to serve. I'll leave Afghanistan, but Afghanistan will always be in my heart. My son is coming back for his third tour, so there'll be a Campbell in Afghanistan still. I think we've made a significant difference here in the last 18 months, so I go out being very proud of that, but, also, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. There are a lot of challenges that remain. It'll still be a tough way for them. |
Pentagon seeks increased P8 ties with Norway UK | WASHINGTON The United States, United Kingdom and Norway have agreed in principal to create a trilateral coalition built around the P-8 maritime aircraft though exactly what that means remains unclear. The Pentagon announced June 29 that the three countries had established a "statement of intent to lay out guiding principles for a trilateral partnership with P-8A aircraft." In addition, the announcement said the nations are working on a "framework for further cooperation in areas such as readiness, enhancing defense capability, and interoperability." A defense official, speaking on background, told Defense News that nothing is "set in stone," and this is just a first step toward coordinating around the aircraft. Potential areas of cooperation include joint operations in the North Atlantic, information sharing and the possibility of co-locating maintenance and training assets. The last point would seem to build on a November pledge between the U.K. and Norway to find ways to jointly drive down costs for the maritime surveillance plane. The U.K. plans on buying nine P-8s, while Norway has agreed to purchase five of the Boeing-made planes. , Given the shared area of responsibility and the small fleet sizes for both nations, analysts believe cooperation around the P-8 is a no-brainer. And while the U.S. has a larger fleet, being able to share assets such as maintenance will help bring costs down and keep readiness rates high for American assets surveilling the waters near Europe. Asked in December about forming some sort of P-8 coalition between the three nations, Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work said, "We haven't had something like this since the Cold War, and that just opens up a whole new level of possibilities for us to in the future do collaborative and coordinated operations.", "When you have that interoperability and you can land and get servicing wherever you land wash racks, maintenance hangars you can use it just makes it a lot easier," Work told Defense News on Dec. 4. Vice Adm. Joseph Rixey, the outgoing head of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, said in September that he wanted to expand a recent program that allows NATO allies to pool their resources and buy as a group from the U.S. holding up the P-8 as an example where nations could find joint savings. "Imagine what you could do with lead nation procurement if you could get something like the P-8 maybe not the P-8 itself, but certainly all the support, the sonobuoys, the spares, everything associated with it that you could buy in batch quantities and not have to worry about third-party transfer restrictions," Rixey said then. |
Pentagon is prepared to spend over 900 million in first audit | WASHINGTON The Pentagon is preparing to spend more than 900 million in fiscal 2018 to identify and fix problems as part of its first-ever financial audit. David Norquist, the Pentagon's comptroller, said Wednesday that the first steps of the long-awaited Pentagon audit are already underway. The audit itself will cost 367 million in FY18 covering fees for the independent public accounting firms 181 million and infrastructure to support the audits 186 million. That will help fund the roughly 1,200 auditors who will support the 24 individual audits that make up the overall effort. In addition, Norquist estimated the Defense Department will spend about 551 million to fix problems identified by the auditors, bringing the total to an estimated 918 million. While that's not cheap, Norquist spent part of his hearing at the House Armed Services Committee defending the upfront cost as necessary to create the baseline for future reforms. "Accurate data helps drive more accurate decision-making," Norquist said. And those costs could come down easily if the Pentagon decides it can live with the issues identified by the services although neither Norquist nor the committee members seemed keen on that option. HASC Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, told reporters after the hearing that while he was not aware of the costs of the audit until recently, it will be money well-spent. "If you have things that need to be fixed, they need to be fixed," the chairman said. "Particularly at the beginning it will be expensive, but I am firmly of the view that it will pay off for the taxpayers and for the war fighters over time.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, The audit has been a focus for Norquist since being confirmed over the summer. At the Defense News Conference in September, the comptroller said he was "enthusiastic" about the possibilities the audit offered the Pentagon. And in December, he wrote in an op-ed that the audit will lead to "a steady improvement in the accuracy and reliability of our business data," which will build on itself year after year. It has also received a bipartisan focus on Capitol Hill, which was on full display during Wednesday's hearing. In his opening comments, Thornberry emphasized that this was the first HASC hearing of 2018, showing the importance of the audit to members. Ranking member Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash. also shared positive words for the audit and its attempts to fixed a "screwed up" system. When designing the audit, Norquist purposefully laid out a design for 24 individual audits that will flow up to the inspector general's office, partly to ensure independence from review teams. Under his guidance, no firm can audit an agency if their company does consulting work with them. In other words, if your firm does business with the Army, you can't audit the Army. Finding a firm to do the Pentagon-wide audit without those conflicts of interest would have been almost impossible finding several firms to break that work up, however, was entirely doable. In addition, using just one firm to do an audit would lead to what Norquist called a "monopoly" that would, down the road, cost the Pentagon. Accountability is what will drive us getting the maximum value from every dollar entrusted to us. But auditing the Department of Defense is not a small matter. "We would never, after they learned our business process, be able to find another auditor who could compete. And then I'd be explaining to you why the audit costs went through the ceiling," he said. And while the focus is on getting the Pentagon's dollars all accounted for, there are extra benefits to doing the audit, Norquist argued. Those include learning what systems can and cannot talk to each other and figuring out where improvements can come from. "If we're trying to do acquisition reform and other things, you've got to have data. You have to know what you're doing in order to fix it," Thornberry agreed. The comptroller also confirmed the audit will cover classified programs and overseas contingency operations funding, but asked for an opportunity to go into greater detail on how that would work in a classified setting. |
Senate postpones confirmation hearing for VA secretary nominee casting doubt over his future | WASHINGTON Senate officials have postponed Wednesday's scheduled confirmation hearing for Veterans Affairs Secretary nominee Ronny Jackson amid questions surrounding whether the White House may have missed serious concerns during his quick vetting process. Jackson, a Navy rear admiral who currently serves as the White House physician, was a surprise pick for the VA post last month after President Donald Trump fired then-Secretary David Shulkin over Twitter amid ethics concerns and department infighting. But Jackson's lack of experience with VA drew immediate concerns from veterans groups and lawmakers, who noted the longtime naval doctor had no previous experience with any agency approaching the size 375,000-plus employees and budget nearly 200 billion of the department. As the confirmation hearing approached, lawmakers on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee grew concerned with reports from former colleagues of Jackson and rumors of potential leadership issues during his military career, according to sources close to the debate. The term will command much of the debate at the new VA secretary's confirmation hearing, but different groups have different definitions. Senators were scheduled to meet on Tuesday to decide whether to go ahead with the Wednesday confirmation, which was expected to include a host of detailed questions from Republicans and Democrats about the department's inner workings and Jackson's reform goals for the massive bureaucracy. But the Washington Post reported on Monday night that committee leaders opted to postpone the event even before the Tuesday discussion. Committee officials did not return requests for comment. Just a few hours earlier, White House officials released a letter signed by three former VA secretaries endorsing Jackson's nomination, and White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters that the administration had "a lot of confidence" in Jackson's nomination. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Retirement Report, The hearing delay now leaves the nomination in doubt and VA in further disarray. Shulkin's firing was the second time in less than four years the department lost its leader in disgrace, and the Trump administration for the last year has had difficulty filling a host of high-profile VA jobs. Trump appointed Defense Department Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness Robert Wilkie to take over as acting secretary after Shulkin's dismissal, with an eye toward him filling that role only for a few weeks or months. In doing so, they bypassed Deputy VA Secretary Thomas Bowman, a move that several veterans groups insist may have violated federal law. Now, Wilkie's tenure as the top VA official has a much longer timetable. If Jackson's confirmation process resumes, it could mean only month's delay. If his nomination is pulled, it could take months before a new nominee is named, vetted and confirmed. Meanwhile, the department is facing a host of looming deadlines, including the exhaustion of funding next month for its controversial outside care program known as VA Choice. Wilkie has pushed for congressional action to fix that problem, but lawmakers have been wary of moving ahead too quickly with any measures while the VA leadership issue remains unresolved. |
As Trumps national security adviser McMaster still wears his Army uniform Why that matters | WASHINGTON National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster continues to wear his Army uniform for at least some official duties while assigned to the Trump White House, an apparent break from other senior military officers who've served as high-profile political appointees while remaining on active duty, and one that could raise questions as he looks to shape policy and advocate the president's agenda."So far he has worn his uniform and worn civilian clothes," a White House official told Military Times. "I don't think he's decided to do exclusively one or the other." The official declined to address follow-up questions, including whether the president has expressed an opinion on the matter. Trump, whose fondness for military leaders is evident in his selections for several key posts within his administration, pays close attention to his staff's attire, mindful of the image it conveys. But in McMaster's case, the choice to wear military garb holds deeper meaning. On Tuesday, the three-star general wore his blue service uniform during a White House meeting with Egypt's foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry. Setting such a precedence, observers say, could cause confusion or even skepticism among world leaders and others in Washington who may regard the uniform as a military symbol, and wonder whether McMaster represents the administration or the Pentagon and precisely where he falls in the chain of command. It could also be exploited by Trump's critics as a possible attempt by the general to isolate or distance himself, at least in appearance, from what's been a rough start to the presidency. "The 'uniform of the day' in the diplomatic and economic and homeland community is the coat and tie," said Arnold Punaro, a retired two-star general who served in the Marine Corps Reserve until 2003. Punaro, who emphasized his "enthusiastic" support for McMaster, spent 23 years working in Congress. That time included his tenure as staff director for the Senate Armed Services Committee, which in 1987 fast-tracked approval for the last senior military officer to remain on active duty and retain his rank as national security adviser then-Lt. Gen. Colin Powell. McMaster's work "coordinating, leading, integrating all aspects of national security is mostly with the coat-and-tie world, and the military personnel that are detailed to the National Security Council wear a coat and tie," he added. "So to avoid confusion and misperceptions, I would recommend the coat and tie except in the most exceptional circumstances when military protocol is appropriate, such as a promotion or retirement ceremony or honoring a fallen comrade.", Then-Lt. Gen. Colin Powell, right, seen here at the White House in November 1987, served as President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser. At left is Reagan and then-Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. Photo Credit Dennis Cook/AP, McMaster took the job after Trump forced out his predecessor, retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. The president's first choice to succeed Flynn, retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward, declined the offer, citing family reasons. McMaster officially began his duties as national security adviser on Feb. 21, the White House official said, though the Senate must voteon whether to let him retain his rank while in this role. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, Powell, who was a three-star Army general while serving as President Reagan's national security adviser, routinely wore a business suit during public appearances and while carrying out official White House duties. John Poindexter, a three-star Navy admiral who preceded Powell, did so as well. Several national security experts and lawmakers have praised Trump's choice of McMaster, a respected commander and gifted military strategist. Like others on Trump's national security team, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, both retired four-star Marines, McMaster is viewed as someone unafraid of speaking truth to power. His relative lack of experience operating in politicized Washington is about the only shortcoming that's been cited. It remains to be seen how McMaster will adapt to such an environment, one many military officers consider a dystopia that's in some ways more unpredictable and unforgiving than combat. Navigating the Trump White House is seen as another matter, with some observers questioning how much access and influence McMaster will have. In an unprecedented move announced weeks ago, the president installed his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, on the National Security Council's Principals Committee. Moreover, as the New York Times reported, the general does not yet have "walk-in privileges" while the president is working in the Oval Office. Bannon and other senior advisers reportedly do.Nevertheless, it appears that McMaster has taken steps to restore trust and confidence among National Security Council staff. On the one hand, some were unhappy with Flynn as their boss. On the other, many were rattled by his unceremonious departure, which occurred in mid-February under a cloud of suspicion after it was learned he had misled senior administration officials about his contact with a Russian envoy. McMaster is said to have the respect and admiration of Mattis, who has proven to be a force in his own right early in the administration, sometimes contradicting controversial statements made by the president. He also successfully argued against calls to re-establish the so-called "black sites" overseas where U.S. counter-terrorism officials conducted abusive interrogations. At the Pentagon, a spokesman for Mattis declined to say whether the defense secretary lobbied Trump on McMaster's behalf. He noted, though, that the pair have enjoyed a "strong working relationship" dating to the 1990s. And when it comes to issues deemed politically sensitive, each seems to speak in more measured tones than the president and some of his other advisers. Managing such relationships will be important, especially as the National Security Council debates, refines and executes the president's objectives. Neither McMaster as national security adviser nor Gen. Joseph Dunford as Joint Chiefs chairman fall within the chain of command extending from Trump to Mattis and on to the military's combatant commanders, said Punaro. So McMaster does not have the authority to give them orders or anyone else in the Pentagon. Likewise, Punaro said, Mattis and Dunford can't tell McMaster what to do, even though he remains on active duty. Still, within the military hierarchy, McMaster, 54, is subordinate to Mattis, 66, and Dunford, 61, also a four-star Marine. The same could be said with respect to Kelly, 66, even though he is retired and leading an unaffiliated federal agency. In all three instances, it would be customary for those junior in rank to demonstrate the proper respect such stature affords use of the title "sir," for example. The dynamic between McMaster and Dunford could be particularly noteworthy, especially if the former continues to wear his military uniform while conducting White House business. "There's a delicacy to that, in having a three-star chairing a meeting when four-stars are at the table," said Peter Feaver, who worked on the National Security Council under Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. "But the right three-star and the right four-star can overcome it." , Powell is seen as the ideal example of an active-duty officer serving as national security adviser, Feaver said. After leaving the White House, Powell went on to pick up a fourth star and become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. After he retired from the military, the general became Bush's secretary of state, a post he occupied for four years. Poindexter, by contrast, became a central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal. He was demoted in rank and nearly sent to prison. Still another interesting case study is Robert McFarlane, whom Poindexter replaced as national security adviser. When Reagan picked McFarlane for the job in 1983, the retired Marine lieutenant colonel was just 46 years old but already had extensive exposure to Washington and its competing power centers. He'd worked in the White House, at the Pentagon and the State Department, and had ample familiarity networking with Congress. A range of experience for better or for worse that McMaster does not possess. But like McMaster, McFarlane was younger than many of those in prominent positions within the national security apparatus, and he came to the job with impressive academic credentials and having first been to war. He completed two tours in Vietnam, earning two valor awards for bravery. But guiding effective national security strategy presents unique challenges compared to leading troops in combat. McFarlane struggled to cement his relationship with the president, a drawback he would later cite as one of the contributing factors that allowed Iran-Contra to spiral out of control. "One's success in any position," McFarlane told Military Times, "ultimately depends upon the ability to build working relationships based upon knowledge, performance and respect for one's peers." Asked whether there were moments, as national security adviser, when he felt conflicted between his sense of loyalty to the administration and to the military institution, McFarlane said no. "All officers whether serving as lieutenants or generals take an oath to support and defend the Constitution, not an institution of parochial preference." It will be the same for McMaster, he added, saying "He has been dealing candidly with the highest levels of our government for years and won't face any issues on that score." , Of course, that's yet to be determined. Being a Washington outsider may serve McMaster well in this role. The president has exhibited an affinity for military bearing, and seems willing to heed advice from those who tell it like it is. Alternatively, McMaster's uniform may come to symbolize how he stands apart. , , . , . |
Price tag for new National Guard border operations still unknown 4star says | The Department of Defense will find the money to pay for National Guard troops to work along the United States' southern border, but the total cost is impossible to know at this time, Air Force Gen. Joseph Lengyel, chief of the National Guard Bureau, told the Senate Appropriations Committee Tuesday. President Donald Trump announced in early April that he was directing the U.S. military to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, while waiting for a proposed border wall. "With respect to funding for this issue the Under Secretary of Defense Comptroller David Norquist has been directed to look across the department to find funds," Lengyel said. , How much of those funds the comptroller's office will need to secure, though, remains unknown, according to Lengyel. "I really couldn't hazard a guess yet on the total cost of this operation," he said, pointing to the fact that it will last until Sept. 30, and it's only April. Additionally, the general remained unsure of how many Guard troops would eventually be mobilized for the mission. When President Bush ordered up to 6,000 National Guard troops to the southwest border, Pfc. Mike Baldwin was quick to volunteer. As of today, there are 965 soldiers and airmen on the border, Lengyel said. But that number could go as high as 4,000 through the end of the fiscal year, he added. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Best Pix of the Week, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. questioned Lengyel on the costs of the operation, noting the previous high cost of Operation Jump Start a military mission to aid U.S. Customs and Border Protection under the Bush administration that began in 2006. , "Operation Jump Start cost 1.2 billion for National Guard members over two years. Do you have any estimate as to what this operation is going to cost?" Durbin asked. "It's difficult to estimate, because I don't know how many of the 4,000 the number will actually grow to," Lengyel said. "And I don't know how long they'll actually stay.", What Lengyel did offer lawmakers was assurances that the average daily cost of a Guard member at the border should be the "same as they'd be paid anywhere else, doing any other job," he said. "There's no difference in the cost." , Still, Lengyel conceded that the military's 2018 operations and maintenance budget will not cover other costs associated with the Trump administration's border mission. "The Department of Defense should work within the department to find funds for this mission, sir," Lengyel told Durbin. , Some state and municipal officials have expressed concern that diverting their Guardsmen away from local duties leaves their states vulnerable. Durbin quoted Bill McCamley, a state representative from New Mexico, who told the Albuquerque Journal about that issue. "We're going into forest fire season. A big percentage of the state is in drought right now, and if National Guard folks are continuously rotated down to the border for a problem that doesn't exist, are they going to be available for a real problem when it happens?" McCamley said in the Journal. "What's your answer?" Durbin asked Lengyel. "We have 450,000 men and women in the National Guard, and on the border today is roughly 1,000," Lengyel said. "We could sustain that level without impacting state missions.", "We'll go to places where governors have an excess to deal with emergencies within their state, and those people should volunteer and move to the border," he added. He said that, if required, the Guard can rotate other soldiers and airmen to the border to alleviate the natural tensions that being away from home can put on a Guard member with a home, family and civilian job. The sentiment was echoed by Lt. Gen. Charles Luckey, the chief of Army Reserve, who also spoke at the hearing. He said the trick for the reserve component in general is to keep its members "ready enough that we're relevant, but not so ready that our troops can't keep meaningful civilian jobs and supportive family lives.", As for what the Guard troops will be doing along the southern border, Lengyel said it is simply about providing assistance to Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security. That mission includes maintenance, transportation, intelligence and surveillance. "What they are not doing is any direct civilian law enforcement operations, and they're not doing any direct contact with migrants," he added. "Unless they were to be explicitly authorized by the Department of Defense, and that has not occurred." |
DoD IG Problems With Firing Rate Fire Protection Persist in PIM Program | WASHINGTON The Pentagon's inspector general wants the US Army to address what is perceived by the Defense Department's test community as deficiencies with the howitzer's maximum rate of fire and problems with the automatic fire extinguisher that could potentially endanger the crew. The DoD's IG determined that the Army's initial production plan to build 133 vehicles as part of the Paladin Integrated Management PIM program was sound and effectively managed. Yet, the two issues remain to be resolved, according to a report released Aug. 5. The PIM program for ground combat consists of ammunition carriers and projectile-firing armored vehicles called howitzers. A howitzer is an armored, tracked vehicle with a cannon and an automatic fire-control system. The program was approved to move into low-rate initial production in 2013 with 33 test vehicles and 100 production vehicles on order. The Army's total acquisition plan for PIM is 1,112 vehicles. A full-rate production decision will be made in 2017, according to the IG report. While the howitzers passed the test for sustained rate of fire, it failed the test for maximum rate of fire in 2012 and 2013, according to the IG. "Howitzers failed the test for maximum rate-of-fire in 13 out of 17 attempts during the system development phase tests in 2012 and 2013," the IG wrote. "In 2012, howitzers failed the test for maximum rate-of-fire in all nine attempts.", Program officials then redesigned the hardware and software and revised firing procedures, but still failed a total of four out of eight attempts following the fixes "under non-stressful firing conditions," the report noted. The test crews didn't test the maximum rate of fire under stressful conditions, it added. Army Test and Evaluation Command tested the howitzers under stressful and nonstressful conditions, and ATEC reported that they failed to meet maximum rate-of-fire requirements. The reason for this failure is redacted in the report. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, One potential source of the problem is the Fires Center of Excellence FCoE did not write a "clear requirement" for the maximum rate, the report said. "Specifically FCoE officials did not identify longer times for stressful firing conditions." The second half of the sentence in the report is redacted. Some changes to the requirement to differentiate between stressful and nonstressful firing conditions were made in March. The FCoE commander submitted a request in May to clarify the rate-of-fire requirements for different firing conditions through the Army Capabilities Integration Center. And in June the Army planned to review and approve the requirement change. The revised requirement will be submitted to the Joint Requirements Oversight Council this month, according to the IG report. The FCoE will continue to reevaluate the maximum rate of fire for howitzers and will test it under stressful firing conditions before the program reaches full-rate initial production, the report noted. The PIM program also needs to bring in additional Automatic Fire Extinguisher System AFES coverage in the howitzer crew compartments, the IG found. The program officials designed the compartments with just one AFES sensor near the personnel heater, according to the report. The PIM program was first unable to test the AFES because a production-representative system was not available for testing until 2014, so the service went into low-rate production without the ability to ensure its effectiveness. ATEC officials then tested AFES on PIM vehicles from August 2014 through May 2015 and "reported that the AFES did not protect the entire howitzer crew compartment during fire survivability testing," according to the IG. The test community recommended the program find ways to add additional sensor coverage in the compartments. The program officials "initially disagreed" with the recommendation for additional coverage, stating that the howitzer AFES "functioned as designed" and noted that two portable fire extinguishers were included to add layers of protection, the report said. Once ATEC, in September 2015, was able to compile test data that did indeed show howitzer crews were vulnerable to fires, the PIM program officials started an engineering project to "explore" expansion of AFES coverage, the IG report noted. Email [email protected], Twitter @JenJudson |
Your Credit Card Holiday Guide | Credit cards have the potential to make a big impact on your finances. They're a great way to build your credit history, earn rewards and some even come with some pretty handy perks. But many Americans are spending less time choosing a credit card than they are remembering their video streaming passwords. That may be even truer around the holidays when issuers are pushing huge sign-up bonuses. So, what does that mean for you?, Getting a credit card this time of year isn't a bad idea. In fact, it may even be in your best interest, depending on your situation. This guide will layout everything you need to know when it comes to choosing a credit card this holiday season. Tracking, It can be tough to figure out where to begin when looking for a credit card. Start by figuring out how and where you spend most of your money. Try to think beyond your holiday shopping, and really how do you plan to use this card long term. Take a look at the last three to six months worth of spending history. You'll want to look for any patterns in your spending habits. For example, if you consistently see that you spend a good amount on gas, it could be worth finding a card that rewards you for those purchases. A good rule of thumb you shouldn't have to work for your credit card, it should work for you. Let's say you love to cook and rarely dine out. You probably won't find a lot of value out of a card that rewards you for purchases at restaurants. Or if you're like many servicemembers who plan on traveling home for the holidays, maybe finding a card that rewards you for travel purchases. Figuring out your spending habits is sort of like the boot camp of credit card shopping. Everyone's got to do it and while it certainly isn't all that fun, it's the foundation for everything to follow. Pro Tip Track your spending and find a card that directly aligns with the purchases you make most often. Sign-up bonus or smoke screen?, A sign-up bonus is often the first thing you'll see in a credit card offer. Because the credit card industry is so competitive, issuers push large promotions giving you the ability to earn a boatload of points, miles or cash-back. Some offers even include a purchase grace, giving you time to pay down those larger purchases without paying interest for a certain period of time. While sign-up bonuses are a great way to come into a windfall of points, they shouldn't be the only reason you apply for a credit card. A lot of retailers will offer you a certain percentage off your purchase if you sign-up for a store credit card, but that may not be the best idea. "What you may not realize is that a lot of those cards come along with a 25 to 30 percent interest rate on the card," said Justin Zeidman, head of credit card products at Navy Federal. "While sign-up bonuses are really important to choosing the right card for you, you want to make sure that you're understanding not only the way that you spend, but what are all the features and benefits that come along with the card to make sure you're getting the most value.", Pro Tip Sign-up bonuses are great, but don't forget that the interest rate, rewards structure and other benefits will determine the long-term use of the card. After the smoke clears, Now that you've determined your spending habits and you're familiar with what to look out for with sign-up bonuses, let's take a look at those additional benefits that can help get you through the holidays. For a lot of folks, nothing is more important than security and that's probably more true for military servicemembers who are often targeted by fraudsters. And with more than half of Americans projected to spend more than half of their holiday shopping money on online purchases, it's important you have the tools in place to keep your finances secure. Pro Tip "At the end of the day, when you're picking a card you want to look at not only the short term but the long term as well. The best way to do that is to understand the reward structure that comes with the card, the interest rate that's going to be on the card long term, but also what are the other features and benefits that come along with the card as well," added Zeidman. The holidays are a great time to think about getting a credit card, especially if there's a pretty attractive sign-up bonus associated with it. Just remember to find a card that rewards you for all the ways that you spend, think beyond just the holiday season and don't forget about those other' benefits. Choosing a credit card isn't meant to be hard, but if you do it right, it certainly should take longer than figuring out your Netflix password. |
Top US Air Force general hopes to increase Asias interest in lightattack aircraft | SINGAPORE The U.S. Air Force's light-attack aircraft has been envisioned as a cost-effective plane that would be at home targeting terrorists in the Middle East and North Africa, but the service's top general wants to get Asian countries on board with the proposed program, he said Tuesday. The Air Force on Friday announced its decision to move forward with a light-attack experiment. A series of demonstrations of the Textron AT-6 Wolverine and Embraer-Sierra Nevada Corp. A-29 Super Tucano are planned for this summer, and a rapid acquisition program will likely follow. , Speaking to reporters at the Singapore Airshow, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein said he plans to raise the subject of partnering on the light-attack program in his meetings this week with Asian military and civilian defense leaders, saying "I'm talking about it in every place I go." , Read more from Singapore Airshow 2018 here!, Increasing interoperability is seen by the service as one of the major benefits of a light-attack program, which would give the United States an avenue to purchase the same aircraft as some partner nations that might otherwise be unable to afford a pricier asset like an F-35 or F-15. During the first set of light attack experiments at Holloman Air Force Base last year, five countries observed the demonstrations. No countries from the Indo-Pacific regions were present even though terrorism is becoming more of a threat there. The Islamic State group continues to expand into Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines. However, the Air Force has indicated it would like to see wider participation as experiments continue, something Goldfein himself echoed in his comments Tuesday. "The real big idea is that this is a fight that nations are engaged in all the way from the Philippines, in their very recent, very successful campaign in Marawi, to Nigeria and everywhere in between," he said. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, Despite the demonstration being canceled, an eventual program of record has become the assumed outcome of further experimentation planned for two turboprop planes. But the focus cannot simply be on the platform, sensors and weapons, he said. , "Across the region here in Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific region, I think there's huge opportunities to look at this particular idea of not only a platform-sensor-weapon combination, but perhaps as important, an information sharing network that allows us to bring violence to a point where local governance can manage it. So that's the big idea going forward with light attack, and so we're eager to have international partners join us on that," the officer said. Building an "exportable, affordable network" that can "enable aircraft to communicate with joint and multinational forces, as well as command-and-control nodes" is one of the major goals of the follow-on experiments planned for the A-29 and AT-6, the Air Force stated last week. Those demonstrations will occur May to July 2018 at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. Although service leaders are looking favorably upon a potential light-attack airplane program, it's still uncertain how the aircraft would be phased into the budget or what would be cut to pay for it. When asked whether the fiscal 2019 budget which is slated to be released next week would contain funding to begin buying light-attack aircraft, Goldfein declined to comment. Goldfein is set to attend the Singapore Airshow through Tuesday, following trips to South Korea and India earlier this month. He sat down with his counterpart in the Republic of Singapore Air Force, Maj. Gen. Mervyn Tan, during a set of discussions Monday. Much of the talks centered around the new U.S. national security and defense strategies released by the Trump administration over the past several weeks, Goldfein said. |
DARPA wants an ear to the underground | For decades, the sky has been an uncontested boon for American forces. The places of people, vehicles and material are laid bare before the vastness of the heavens, waiting to be spotted by drone cameras or orbiting satellites. That same supremacy and with it the vast swaths of intelligence it yields means nothing if the battle moves underground. And so DARPA, the Pentagon's blue skies projects wing, wants to start building the tools needed so troops fighting underground aren't kept in the dark. Last week, DARPA released a request for information on "Dynamic Terrians" with a goal of figuring out how to make communications technologies work when the environment is caves or collapses rubble. From that request, Figuring out how to communicate underground is a vital task on two fronts. The first, foregrounded in the request, is rescue work that place after earthquakes, in collapsed mines, in closed-off subway tunnels, or following other disasters. Having a reliable and immediate way to communicate, despite the barrier of, well, earth, is a necessity. But there's also a very real war-fighting aspect to this. DAPRA notes that Americans have fought in caves, tunnels and beneath cities in wars from "World War II and Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan." Perhaps the most famous incident in recent memory is when the Pentagon tried to collapse the sky on an ISIS hideout, dropping the Massive Ordnance Air Blast on top of a network of tunnels. Yet even designs for bunker-busting nuclear weapons could only penetrate a couple stories underground, though hitting with earthquake-like force meant, like with most things nuclear, survival was as much about luck as anything else. DARPA's request isn't about denying the underground environment, and it's also not about destroying it. Instead, DARPA's looking for navigation tools, communication tech and sensors that can work in degraded and unknown environments, ideally pieces of kit that could let infantry go from fields to caves or streets to subways. Last year, the Pentagon writ large looked at the same, trying to suss out new tech for wars in megacities and underground tunnels. When thinking about the ISR challenges of the future, it's wise to not just look at what operates in the skies above, but what can map the realms below. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief |
Colonels call for better leadership touches a nerve | It was the shot heard 'round the Air Force. On Nov. 7, Wright-Patterson Air Force base posted a commentary from 88th Communications Group commander Col. Donald Grannan entitled, "How did we lose this young Airman?" In the short space of a dozen paragraphs, Grannan related the story of a bright, talented, and driven airman he knew who, nevertheless, chose not to reenlist because "in her words, the Air Force had made it clear it didn't want her." and He pointed the finger at failures in the service's leadership culture. The anonymous airman who was not in Grannan's chain of command deployed twice, was a distinguished graduate of Airman Leadership School, aced her Enlisted Performance Reports, and earned staff sergeant her first time testing, Grannan said. But she also encountered a lack of support and encouragement from her superiors. Grannan said. Grannan said the departing airman's superiors decided not to give her a decoration because she once failed the run portion of a physical fitness test, which she immediately re-took and passed. "This young, healthy airman, who weighs a buck-twenty-five, did not have a fitness or standards problem," Grannan wrote. "She had a leadership problem. No one in her squadron leadership knew about or was present to witness her exceptional duty performance, her distinguished graduate accomplishment, her two deployments or early promotion. But they sure knew about the one time she stumbled.", Grannan clearly touched a nerve. Over the weekend, his commentary went viral. As of Nov. 13, it had been liked on Facebook at least 22,000 times, shared thousands more times, and been hotly debated over thousands of online comments. Some current and former airmen think Grannan has hit on serious problems with the Air Force's leadership that they see every day. "Good on the Colonel," retired Master Sgt. Kirk Mooneyham wrote on the Air Force's Facebook page. "It's a message that the top level leadership really needs to hear, and take to heart. The Colonel hit the proverbial nail on the head with a giant sledgehammer.", Others said in comments they thought there was another side to the story that's not being told, or that young airmen should not expect to be coddled. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Air Force Times Daily News Roundup, "Ya because it's all rainbows and roses in the real world," a commenter named Kelly Sanderson wrote on the Air Force's Facebook page. "I enlisted on the premise of what I could do for my country not what my country could do for me. It's shameful how recognition has become so important to those that 'volunteer' to serve.", In a Nov. 12 interview with Air Force Times, Grannan said he is shocked, but pleased, to see the debate his article sparked. "I was absolutely floored," Grannan said. "I had no idea that issue was so prevalent and so passionate. I think that validates that we do have an issue here we need to look at.", Grannan said that when his turn to write a commander's commentary for Wright-Patterson's base newspaper came around, he wanted to write about leadership in a way airmen could relate to. Grannan said he sees "a leadership gap" in the Air Force. He doesn't think the Air Force's leadership is failing out of maliciousness. But leaders at all levels are overworked and "task-saturated," he said, and are being forced to delegate more and more duties. below them. Delegation makes sense for some tasks and authorities, Grannan said. But when it comes to things that have a real effect on airmen's careers, lives and well-being, leaders shouldn't delegate and should make an effort to see what's really going on with those airmen. "A lot of leaders at all levels are not engaged, and that makes it hard to make a whole person assessment," Grannan said. "It's hard to talk about a person when you're not engaged. As commanders and leaders, we owe them to be engaged and not delegate involvement.", Without that kind of engagement, he said, it's hard for supervisors to tell the difference between an airman who made and then learned from a mistake such as the anonymous airman who failed a PT test and a slacker who refuses to improve. "This is nothing cosmic," Grannan said. "It's something every leader is taught at some point. We just have to make sure we're living up to it, and not missing out on opportunities because we have a responsibility to our airmen.", When asked whether he can be sure the problems he's highlighting aren't happening under his command, nose, Grannan said, "That's a fair question.", "I like to think we're training supervisors and leaders well, and they're training their people well," Grannan said. "Every time an issue comes up, that's a teaching moment for subordinate leaders. We train leaders to be engaged.", For example, Grannan said, if there's a radio or phone outage at Wright-Patterson, he tries to go out and observe how his airmen are fixing the problem. Or if his airmen are setting up a network for a big event, he'll take a look and speak with his subordinate leaders to see how things are going. "I want to walk around, and have them show me what's been done, and who's on shift, so I can say, 'Yes, they're great guys, I know they're on it,'" Grannan said. But the trick to such "management by walking around," as Grannan called it, is to make sure leaders don't cross the line into micromanaging. Grannan said his wing commander was supportive of his commentary. "He appreciated that I tried to take a slightly different approach, and continually challenges wing leadership to take a look inward and see how we can make a difference," Grannan said in a follow-up email. While the anonymous airman in the commentary wasn't in Grannan's chain of command, he doesn't entirely absolve himself of his responsibility for losing her. He described a minor traffic accident in which an incident at the airman's first duty station where a senior noncommissioned officer's car hit hers from behind. in a minor traffic accident. The SNCO berated and intimidated the airman instead of admitting fault. When the airman asked her first sergeant for help, he didn't intervene but neither did Grannan, though he was aware of what was going on. "I could have interjected as well, but I mistakenly believed it wasn't my place," Grannan wrote. "It was. An airman needed help, and no one gave it.", Grannan said he doesn't necessarily have the solution to the Air Force's problems. He said he wanted to start a conversation and that certainly has begun. He declined to identify or talk more about the airman in the article. "It could be anyone at any base," Grannan said. "There are similar issues happening a lot.", But as the Air Force continues to shrink, these issues will become even more important, Grannan said. A smaller Air Force can't afford to lose "superstars" like the airman he highlighted. "These people are volunteers, and we need to remember that," Grannan said. "Less than one percent have raised their hand, and they deserve our absolute best leadership and oversight.", Read Grannan's commentary How did we lose this young Airman? |
Mattis US needs Space Force to counter Russia China | RIO DE JANEIRO A U.S. Space Force is necessary to protect American satellites from being targeted by attack weapons in the hands of China and Russia, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday. Mattis' comments came days after Vice President Mike Pence announced ambitious plans to create a sixth, separate U.S. military warfighting service by 2020 to ensure American dominance in space. Speaking during a trip to Brazil, Mattis said repeatedly that the U.S. has no plans to put weapons in space, but he emphasized the vital and growing role that satellites play not just in military operations but in the world economy. He recalled China's use of a ground-based missile to destroy one of its own nonfunctional weather satellites in January 2007, which he suggested was a calculated demonstration to the United States of Chinese capabilities. "We understand the message that China was sending that they could take out a satellite in space," Mattis said in remarks to about 270 military officers and civilians at Brazil's premier war college. "Since then our intelligence services have watched other nations, including Russia, develop a space attack capability.", Russian diplomats and politicians are promising repercussions if President Donald Trump's order to build a U.S. space force is met, citing a treaty banning nuclear weapons in the cosmos. He was responding to a question from an audience member who expressed concern that the planned Space Force could lead to an international arms race in space. Mattis said the U.S. cannot ignore potential threats to satellites that are crucial to communication, navigation, weather information and other underpinnings of modern life. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, "So this is a reality," he said. "We are not initiating this. We are saying we will be able to defend our satellites in space. At the same time, if someone is going to try to engage in space with military means, we will not stand idly by. We don't intend to militarize space. However, we will defend ourselves in space if necessary.", He did not say this meant the U.S. would respond to a satellite attack by attacking the aggressor's satellites or with any other use of force. But that scenario is one that worries many who have warned that space could become the next global battlefield. The U.S. military has worked on anti-satellite weaponry in the past but has no deployed weapon dedicated to that mission today. Asked later to elaborate on how the U.S. would respond to an attack on a satellite, Mattis said he preferred to maintain ambiguity. "I don't tell adversaries in advance what we will do or what we will not do," he said. "We will not stand idly by if someone tried to deny us the use of space." He added "I wouldn't read anything more into" his comments. Experts say that what Trump and some in Congress want with a Space Force could be accomplished in better ways, Mattis' point about countering the space capabilities of other nations was reinforced Tuesday by the State Department's top arms control official, Yleem Poblete, speaking in Geneva at the U.N. Conference on Disarmament. She said that despite Russian claims it wants to prevent an arms race in outer space, Moscow is developing new anti-satellite missiles and has given its forces a mobile laser system. She also voiced suspicion about Russia's deployment last October of a satellite whose behavior she said was inconsistent with its supposed purpose of conducting in-orbit space inspections. "Russian intentions with respect to this satellite are unclear and are obviously a very troubling development," Poblete said. Russia denies any hostile intent. The timing of Mattis's visit to Brazil, so soon after Pence announced the Space Force plan last Thursday, was coincidental. Mattis's trip, which includes follow-on stops in Argentina, Chile and Colombia, had been in planning for many months. In a speech prior to fielding questions from the war college students, Mattis made a detailed pitch for closer U.S.-Brazilian security relations. He noted that Brazil was an ally during World War II later he visited a monument in Rio to Brazil's role in the conflict. He emphasized U.S. interest in partnering with Brazil in space research, an area in which China has shown growing influence in South America. The Chinese operate a space center in the Patagonia region of Argentina. Brazil's Alcantara space center is located near the equator, making it advantageous for space launches. The closer a launch is to the equator, the more velocity the rocket gets from the Earth's rotation. |
Air Force looks to ramp up space training info sharing with allies | COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. The U.S. Air Force is pivoting to a war-fighting stance on space, but when it comes to sharing information and training with partner nations, options are often limited. The service is hoping to at least start to change that paradigm with the introduction of two new space-related classes, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson announced in speech Tuesday evening at the Space Symposium. The classes will be available starting in 2019 to foreign nationals at the National Security Space Institute at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. The Air Force will also expand two existing classes on national security space to a number of partner nations. "Why now? Because we face a more competitive and dangerous international security environment than we have seen in decades," she said, according to prepared remarks. "Russia and China are developing capabilities to disable our satellites. We will work with like-minded nations to preserve the ability to freely and safely operate in space. We will work with our allies to improve operations, enhance deterrence, defend our vital national interests and prevail when called upon." , Click here for more from Space Symposium 2018! , In 2019, the Air Force will establish two new courses a three-week unclassified course on space situational awareness and an unclassified "Space 100" course, which will provide an overview of space operations, orbital mechanics, the launch process, satellite operations and space weather. The service will also open up two existing classes to selected countries, including a midlevel "Space 200" course that focuses on space systems development and space power , Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, "Australia, Canada and the U.K. currently attend. We will invite New Zealand, France, Germany, Japan and possibly others to come train with us," Wilson said. , Additionally, the advanced "Space 300" capstone class will be opened to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K. for the first time. , In a panel earlier on Tuesday, U.S. and U.K. military officials discussed some of the challenges to working cooperatively in space with international partners. , U.S. Strategic Command head Gen. John Hyten said that while classification makes it easier to acquire space technology and to do it more quickly it leads to problems when it comes to information sharing with allies. "Everything we do in space is secret, NOFORN,' " he said, using the military abbreviation for "no foreign nationals." , One of the other panelists, Air Vice Marshall Simon Rochelle, the Royal Air Force's chief of staff for capability and force development, "has been a friend of mine for many years now," Hyten continued, "and I can share some very, very sensitive issues with him, but not secret, NOFORN.' So I can't let him get on SIPR Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, I can't let him do all of those kinds of things. We just can't do that." , Rochelle agreed with Hyten, calling the classification of many space technologies "a hindrance to international response in space." , Part of the problem is that the Air Force designs platforms for its own specifications, and not for information sharing with partner nations, said Will Roper, the service's top acquisition executive. "Every country is going to have their national secrets, some of which will be able to be shared, some of which won't," he said. "There's a lot we can do in simply designing things so that there are multiple levels of data that can be shared from across a wide variety of partners, and flipping the imperative that you have an imperative to think about sharing. , "It's not just a good to have. It's a must-do. Right now, it's not being done anyway, and we're paying the price for it." |
Editorial Why no Air Force Medal of Honor for recent conflicts | The Air Force is the only service that has not awarded a Medal of Honor for the Global War on Terror. Fourteen airmen, 11 of them pilots, received Medals of Honor for Vietnam 40 years ago. Four more were awarded for Korea. Since 9/11, seven airmen have been awarded Air Force Crosses, the second-highest honor. On May 6, the Air Force honored Senior Airman Dustin Temple with an Air Force Cross for heroism in Afghanistan in 2014. Temple's award citation describes just a part of his two harrowing days as a combat controller "Airman Temple again risked his own life to save his teammate, by carrying him across 100 meters of open terrain. Despite overwhelming and accurate enemy machine gun fire, he remained on the open landing zone ... while his teammates pulled back.", Over 48 hours, he controlled 48 aircraft "while safely employing munitions at danger close range 75 times." He saved the lives of 80 friendly forces. Anyone who reads of the actions of Temple, or those of Staff Sgt. Robert Gutierrez awarded an Air Force Cross in 2011 has to wonder whether Air Force brass is holding an impossible standard for the Medal of Honor. Temple's "citation is solid," said Doug Sterner, curator of the Military Times Hall of Valor and expert on military awards. "What does it take to get a Medal of Honor?", With the wars winding down, Temple may be the Air Force's last chance to pin the nation's highest honor on one of its own. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Air Force Times Daily News Roundup, "Where is the Air Force Medal of Honor recipient for the next generation?" Sterner said. "I don't know why the Air Force isn't advocating for it.", Temple's award should be reviewed and upgraded to the distinction his heroic actions deserve. |
Reup now Army offers up to 12000 plus bigger bonuses to eligible soldiers | If you missed the big re-enlistment bonus bucks the Army was offering this year, you're in luck. Soldiers whose last day in the Army is coming up in the next 15 months could earn up to 12,000 on top of a selective retention bonus if they re-up in the next several weeks. The Army brought back the so-called "kicker" in its latest SRB message, offering 3,000 for four years, 6,000 for five years and 12,000 for six years to soldiers who are in their re-enlistment windows and eligible for a retention bonus. Additionally, MilPer message 17-331 includes a new SRB chart, with big bumps in bonus dollars for a range of military occupational specialties. At the top of the list are 11Bs particularly those with no additional skills or special qualification identifiers who are eligible for bonuses at every rank. The infantryman MOS has been up and down this year in terms of re-enlistment bonuses. The changes are part of the Army's evolving strategy to get its active duty end strength up to 476,000 by the end of September, 16,000 more than what was originally planned for this year. Other big winners are fire support specialists a staff sergeant, for example, is eligible for between 15,200 and 46,000 to re-enlist, and that's before adding the kicker. Also eligible for big bonuses are combat medics, Criminal Investigation Command special agents, cyber network defenders, cryptologic linguists and psychological operations specialists. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup, The armor branch, on the other hand, saw a drop in bonuses for cavalry scouts and crewmen, including the end of bonuses of 19Ks above E-5. Soldiers who have a training spot scheduled to transfer into one of the SRB-eligible MOSs are also eligible for bonuses. , On the other hand, soldiers who are currently eligible for an SRB but are scheduled for training to re-class into a non-eligible MOS are not able to get an SRB. The new bonus program is operational as of Oct. 23, but is subject to unannounced changes after Nov. 23, according to the message. , The Army's deputy chief of staff for personnel told Army Times in September that the service is hoping to add another 17,000 troops to the total force in the coming year. In January, the Army set a goal to grow the total Army to 1.018 million soldiers by the end of September.And they want to do it again in 2018. On the retention side, said Lt. Gen. Thomas Seamands, the plan is to stick to bonuses, rather than offer large lump sums for one-year extensions, as they did in 2017. "We don't think we will do an extension. That was a decision that made sense last year in '17," Seamands said. "What we're looking for now is a longer commitment. We will have re-enlistment bonuses for our NCOs. But, they won't be for extensions. I don't see that happening." |
Tensions rise as Russia Iran send warnings after US shoots down Syrian warplane | BEIRUT Russia on Monday threatened aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition in Syrian-controlled airspace and suspended a hotline intended to avoid collisions in retaliation for the U.S. military shooting down a Syrian warplane. , The U.S. said it had downed the Syrian jet a day earlier after it dropped bombs near the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces conducting operations against the Islamic State group, adding that was something it would not tolerate. The downing of the warplane the first time in the six-year conflict that the U.S. has shot down a Syrian jet came amid another first Iran fired several ballistic missiles Sunday night at ISIS positions in eastern Syria in what it said was a message to archrival Saudi Arabia and the United States. The developments added to already-soaring regional tensions and reflect the intensifying rivalry among the major players in Syria's civil war that could spiral out of control just as the fight against the Islamic State group in its stronghold of Raqqa is gaining ground. Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, called on the U.S. military to provide a full accounting as to why it decided to shoot down the Syrian Su-22 bomber. , The U.S. military confirmed that one of its F-18 Super Hornets shot down a Syrian jet that had dropped bombs near the U.S. partner forces SDF. Those forces, which are aligned with the U.S. in the campaign against the Islamic State group, warned Syrian government troops to stop their attacks or face retaliation. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that as of Monday, all coalition jets and drones flying west of the Euphrates River will be tracked as potential targets. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, Areas of northern Syria west of the Euphrates were controlled by ISIS before Syrian government forces captured most of them in recent months. The Russians, who have been providing air cover for Assad's forces since 2015, appear to want to avoid further U.S. targeting of Syrian warplanes or ground troops that have come under U.S. attack in eastern Syria recently. It was the second time Russia suspended a hotline intended to minimize incidents with the U.S. in Syrian airspace. In April, Russia briefly suspended cooperation after the U.S. military fired 59 missiles at a Syrian air base following a chemical weapons attack that Washington blamed on the Assad government. Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Washington is working to re-establish communications aimed at avoiding mishaps involving U.S. and Russian air operations in Syria. Speaking in Washington, the top U.S. military officer said the two sides discussed the matter as recently as Monday morning but that further talks are needed. Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the defense and security committee at the upper chamber of Russian parliament, described his Defense Ministry's statement as a warning. "I'm sure that because of this, neither the U.S. nor anyone else will take any actions to threaten our aircraft," he told the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency. "That's why there's no threat of direct confrontation between Russia and American aircraft.", Ozerov insisted that Russia will be tracking the coalition's jets, not shooting them down, but he added that "a threat for those jets may appear only if they take action that pose a threat to Russian aircraft." , In this picture released by the Iranian state-run IRIB News Agency on Monday, June 19, 2017, a missile is fired from city of Kermanshah in western Iran targeting the Islamic State group in Syria. , Photo Credit IRIB News Agency, Morteza Fakhrinejad via AP, Iran said the missile strike by its powerful Revolutionary Guard hit Syria's eastern city of Deir el-Zour on Sunday night and was in retaliation for two attacks in Tehran earlier this month that killed 17 people and were claimed by the Islamic State group. It appeared to be Iran's first missile attack abroad in over 15 years and its first in the Syrian conflict, in which it has provided crucial support to Assad. The muscle-flexing comes amid the worsening of a long-running feud between Shiite powerhouse Iran and Saudi Arabia, with supports Syrian rebels and has led recent efforts to isolate the Gulf nation of Qatar. "The Saudis and Americans are especially receivers of this message," Gen. Ramazan Sharif of the Revolutionary Guard told Iranian state TV in an interview. It also raised questions about how U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, which had previously put Iran "on notice" for its ballistic missile tests, will respond. Israel also is concerned about Iran's missiles and has deployed a multilayered missile-defense system. The missile attack came amid recent confrontations in Syria between U.S.-backed forces and Iranian-backed pro-government factions. The U.S. recently deployed a truck-mounted missile system in Syria as Iranian-backed forces cut off the advance of the U.S.-supported rebels along the Iraqi border. Iranian officials threatened more strikes. Former Guard chief Gen. Mohsen Rezai wrote on Twitter "The bigger slap is yet to come.", U.S.-backed opposition fighters said Assad's forces have been attacking them in the northern province of Raqqa and warned that if such attacks continue, the fighters will take action. Clashes between Syrian troops and the SDF would escalate tensions and open a new front line in the many complex battlefields of the civil war, now in its seventh year. Clashes between the Kurdish-led SDF and Syrian forces have been rare and some rebel groups have even accused them of coordinating on the battlefield. Both sides are battling the Islamic State group, with SDF fighters focusing on their march into the northern city of Raqqa, which the extremist group has declared to be its capital. Syrian government forces have also been attacking IS in northern, central and southern parts of the country, seizing 25,000 square kilometers 9,600 square miles and reaching the Iraqi border for the first time in years. SDF spokesman Talal Sillo said the government wants to thwart the SDF offensive to capture Raqqa. He said government forces began attacking the SDF on Saturday, using warplanes, artillery and tanks in areas that SDF had liberated from ISIS. Sillo also warned that if "the regime continues in its offensive against our positions in Raqqa province, this will force us to retaliate with force.", The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks Syria's war, said government forces expanded their presence in Raqqa province by capturing from IS the town of Rasafa. |
Boeing hit with another KC46 cost overrun this time worth 329M | WASHINGTON Boeing on Wednesday disclosed more bad news on the KC-46 program The company will have to eat another 329 million as a result of cost overruns. Under the terms of its fixed-price deal with the U.S. Air Force, Boeing must pay out of pocket for any expenses over the 4.9 billion contract value. That agreement has been a tough pill for Boeing to swallow, as the company has now had to cough up about 2.9 billion in pretax fees or about 1.9 billion after tax as delays and cost overruns mount. There are signs another missed milestone may be on the way. Over the past year, Boeing has remained adamant that it can deliver the first KC-46 aircraft by the end of 2017 although the Air Force believes it will be later, likely next spring. Asked by Defense News whether the company still believes it can hit that deadline, Boeing spokesman Chick Ramey demurred. "We're working with the Air Force on the schedule and expect to deliver the first 18 tankers in 2018," he said. Regarding a contractual obligation to deliver 18 certified KC-46s and nine refueling pods, "we remain on track for late next year.", Based on a schedule risk assessment, the service now believes Boeing will be late delivering the first tanker. According to the company, Wednesday's cost overrun was driven by "incorporating changes into initial production aircraft as we progress through late-stage testing and the certification process.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg provided few details about the underlying cause of the cost overrun and instead downplayed the impact of the repeated penalties on the long-term health of the program. "We remain very confident," he said. "The opportunity is measured in hundreds of aircraft. We expect this to be a long-term production and support franchise, one that will add tremendous value for our customers, and the need for the new tankers is very clear. So the fundamentals for the program are strong, the long-term value proposition is very strong.", The 329 million charge is split between Boeing's defense business unit, which took on 73 million of the overrun, and its commercial segment, which took on the remainder. In January, when the company announced a 201 million charge on the tanker, Muilenburg gave a similar reason for the charges. In 2014, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration discovered that certain wiring bundles in early production aircraft did not meet military requirements, so Boeing had to rework aircraft so redundant groups of wiring were not bundled together. Boeing on Wednesday announced a 201 million post-tax charge on the KC-46 tanker program, bringing cost overruns on the program up to more than 2 billion dollars. Although Boeing cited the modifications to initial production as the cause of cost growth, the company has had numerous technical problems sprout up over the past several months. Most critically, the Air Force has noted numerous events where the KC-46 boom scraped the surface of aircraft a deficiency that could possibly cause the tankers to peel away the low-observable coatings of stealth aircraft like the B-2, F-22 and F-35. Brig. Gen. Donna Shipton, the Air Force's program executive officer for tankers, told reporters in September that the service will do testing and analysis to better understand the root cause and prove out its hypothesis that "undetected contact" is happening at a higher rate than in the legacy fleet. With less than a year left before Boeing must meet a contractual obligation to deliver 18 KC-46 tankers to the Air Force, the program has been hit with three "category one" deficiencies including one that could affect the service's willingness to accept the aircraft from Boeing. However, the timeline for resolving the problem is still up in the air, as is whether the Air Force will accept KC-46 aircraft if the issue has not been solved. Muilenburg said that despite the challenging development program, Boeing is closing in on the finish line. The company has completed more than 2,000 hours of flight testing with six tankers, and about 80 percent of flight test requirements have been completed. "While we've had some issues that have occurred during flight tests that are normal to tanker testing, like the boom scraping issue these are not unusual items, and I can tell you the feedback we've heard from the customers flying the airplanes is that the airplanes are flying well and the controllability of the boom is excellent," he said. "The challenges we're having right now are related to just implementing just final detailed changes on the aircraft to get them to a final certification standard," he said. "These are not unusual, but we do have a lot of airplanes flowing concurrently through the production system." |
US warns Russia Syria against chemical weapons use | WASHINGTON Senior U.S. officials warned the Russian and Syrian governments Tuesday against chemical weapons use in Syria as forces allied with its President Bashar Assad prepare for an offensive on a rebel stronghold. The United States "will respond to any verified chemical weapons use in Idlib or elsewhere in Syria ... in a swift and appropriate manner," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters in Washington. Nauert said senior U.S. officials engaged with their Russian counterparts to "to make this point very clear to Damascus." She said the use of chemical weapons "will not be tolerated.", She said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week that Moscow a military ally of Assad would be held responsible. The Syrian government is gearing up for an expected offensive in Idlib province, which is home to nearly 3 million people and has a large al-Qaida presence in addition to Syrian rebel groups. President Donald Trump has twice carried out airstrikes in Syria in response to apparent chemical weapons attacks there. Trump said the strikes were intended to deter Assad from launching chemical weapons attacks again. Russia said Friday that the U.S. and its allies have relied on fabricated evidence to accuse the Syrian government of launching chemical attacks against civilians. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis referred to those two airstrikes but offered no further information Tuesday on how the U.S. was responding to the situation, other than to cite the State Department's "recent active communication with Russia to enlist them in preventing this.", In April, the United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish Assad for an apparent attack using chlorine against civilians in the Damascus suburb of Douma. And in 2017 Trump authorized a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians. Assad has repeatedly denied his government has used chemical weapons. Russia has accused Syrian rebels of preparing chemical attacks, which Moscow says the West will use to justify a strike against Syrian government forces. |
Graham says Bolton is wary of North Korea stall tactics | WASHINGTON Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said he's glad John Bolton will serve as President Donald Trump's national security adviser going into talks with North Korea because of his "very healthy skepticism.", A U.S.-North Korean summit is slated for May. Hopes have been raised that Kim Jong Un may be willing to discuss his nuclear weapons program and other measures to reduce the threat of war, possibly in exchange for security guarantees and an easing of the international sanctions that have severely pinched the already struggling North Korean economy. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis acknowledged on Tuesday that he and President Donald Trump's incoming national security adviser, John Bolton, have different world views but predicted they will develop a working partnership. Graham said he had dinner with Bolton a couple of nights ago and the hawkish former ambassador to the U.N. expressed fears that North Korea is "just buying time" as it seeks to develop a nuclear-armed missile. "He sees these negotiations as a way of buying time. That's what they've done in the past," said Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Bolton replaces Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster on April 9. Graham said he would be skeptical about the terms and conditions of the summit, but he does hope the president will meet with the North Korean leader. He called for negotiations that are "very focused and get quick action.", "We don't want to give him nine months or a year to talk and build a missile at the same time," Graham said on "Fox News Sunday.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, At the same time, Graham warned Trump not to remove troops from Syria. Trump declared earlier this week "Let the other people take care of it now.", Graham said that leaving Syria would allow the Islamic State group to strengthen, the fighting between the Syrian Kurdish militia and Turkey would get out of hand, and Russia and Iran would go on to dominate Syria. "It would be the single worst decision the president could make," Graham said. |
Is Trump really going to cut the defense budget | SIMI VALLEY, Calif. For military planners, the biggest question heading into 2019 is whether the president's proposed 700 billion defense budget plan is a negotiating ploy or a sincere target. Defense experts at the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday said they aren't sure which is more worrisome. "Because this came so late in the planning process, all the personnel costs are cooked," said Robert Work, who served as deputy secretary of defense under both former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump. "All the operations and maintenance money is set. So you have to go into modernization to find the money.", "Even if we go with the higher predictions, this becomes a real cut We still wouldn't be able to afford the 355-ship Navy or a larger Army.", Comments from Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, could be a signal for how badly the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. Congress have soured in the last year. For the last month, Pentagon planners have been scrambling to rework their fiscal 2020 budget proposals in the wake of Trump's surprise announcement that he would require all federal agencies to trim 5 percent off their spending for the current fiscal year. The president said the Defense Department would be excluded from that requirement, but would eye a military appropriations target of 700 billion far below the anticipated 733 billion level of military planners. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, In recent weeks, lawmakers have begun lobbying administration officials to raise their military spending plan. Earlier in the day at the Reagan event, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis quoted from an op-ed by Republican congressional leaders advocating for the 733 billion mark, and added that stable and adequate funding is critical for the continued recapitalization of the armed forces. Work said that push will continue for months to come, but he remains unconvinced the president is really focused on the 700 billion number. But Jack Keane, former Army vice chief of staff and a current defense analyst with ties to the Trump administration, said he sees the figure as far more disconcerting than just a negotiating ploy. "I'm concerned that the director of OMB Mick Mulvaney is blowing in Trump's ear that the deficit is mounting and defense has to take its share of the cuts," Keane said. "And if we come in at 700 billion, there's no growth in Army brigades, the Air Force goes backwards.", He called the president's 700 billion target a serious risk, especially considering the president's "tendency to think once he has made a decision, that it's done.", Even as the Pentagon speaks about the importance of strategic cooperation with China, differing approaches to technology development could leave the U.S. struggling to keep up. Work said the bigger worry is that the early spending figure fight is distracting from more critical debates, like whether House Democrats will go along with anything close to either figure and whether the two parties can come together quick enough to avoid triggering automatic spending caps still mandated under law. "The conditions we saw in 2012 have been duplicated today," he said. "We have divided government. Deficit concerns are rising. "Everyone says sequestration will never happen again. I was told by everyone back then that sequestration would never happen. And it did.", The new session of Congress begins in January. The president's formal budget request for the Defense Department is expected in February. Visit Defense News' Reagan National Defense Forum site for full coverage of the event. |
Mattis Unclear if Russia directed attack against US allies in Syria | WASHINGTON U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has yet to see a direct link between Russia and an attack against U.S. backed forces in Syria, but is not ruling anything out following the confirmed deaths of five Russian contractors during the incident. , "I still cannot give you any more information on why they would do this. They took direction from someone, with some local direction. Was it from external sources? Don't ask me, I don't know," Mattis told reporters Feb. 17 while returning from Europe. "But I doubt that 250-300 people all just decided on their individual own selves to suddenly cross the river into enemy territory and start shelling the location and maneuvering tanks against it. So whatever happened, we'll try to figure it out. We'll work with, obviously, anyone who can answer that question.", During his week in Europe, Mattis talked openly about being "perplexed" by the attack, which seemed to fly in the face of both self-preservation, in attacking a U.S. backed base capable of calling in massive amounts of airpower for support, and established boundaries. Days earlier on the Trip, Mattis he was not willing to say that the attack is a sign that Russia is losing some direct control over the Syrian military, which could potentially set up more clashes with American forces. "I'm not sure if it's the same influence and this is a group that set off on its own agenda. I'm not willing to say if the Russians have lost influence or gained influence," he said then. On Feb. 7, forces supporting Syrian president Bashar al-Assad crossed over the demarcation line in Khusham and targeted a base controlled by Syrian Democratic Forces, accompanied by U.S. advisers, in the province of Deir el-Zour. The pro-regime forces began the attack with 122mm artillery pieces, before maneuvering T-55 and T-72 battle tanks against an SDF headquarters, according to the Pentagon. An approximately battalion-sized dismounted formation followed the tanks, which began indirect fire towards SDF positions. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, As the forces approached the SDF base, the American officials reached out to their Russian counterparts via a deconfliction line to make sure there were no Russian military in the convoy. The Russians reported back that there were none, something Mattis underlined as a confusing data point in this whole situation, citing the "apparent unawareness of the Russian officers we coordinate with on the deconfliction communication line" that Russian military contractors were involved in the group. After the call to the deconfliction line, the U.S. launched a wave of airstrikes that chased off the group, leaving at least 100 estimated casualties. , After multiple media reports of Russian dead, including some claiming as many as 200 Russian contractors killed, Moscow finally confirmed Feb. 15 that five Russian nationals were killed by the U.S. strikes. |
New night vision means soldiers can shoot around corners | A new night vision and weapon camera system allows shooters to fire around corners without exposing themselves and eliminates the dead time between seeing a target and firing when using night vision goggles. The first-ever combination of night vision and target acquisition technology will allow soldiers and Marines to shoot around obstacles and see through smoke, fog and concealment like never before. Researchers with the Army's Program Executive Officer Soldier Maneuver Sensors have paired a next-generation night vision monocle, the ENVG-III, with the Family of Weapon Sights-Individual, or FWS-I to allow a shooter to view the battlefield through light-enhancing night vision and thermal vision. The Army expects to order 36,000 of the FWS-I and 64,000 of the ENVG-III, with the first night vision units arriving at infantry units and special operations forces units beginning in fiscal year 2018, with the FWS-I devices arriving in fiscal year 2019, said Maj. Kevin Smith, assistant product manager, Soldier Maneuver Sensors. The first Army units will receive the devices next spring. The system simultaneously permits the shooter to see a 40-degree view while also seeing an 18-degree view from the weapon sight. This enables shooters to fire from multiple positions, around and above obstacles, without exposing themselves. The "picture-in-picture" mode lets the shooter see two different directions at once. For example, if an infantryman were on foot patrol in a tight wedge formation, the soldier or Marine could patrol while observing their left flank, turn to give hand signals from their squad leader and still watch the flank from the camera on the rifle. The real goal of PEO Soldier and developers BAE Systems and DRS Technologies, which are producing the units, is to cut down the target acquisition time for shooters. Current night vision is often cumbersome when shooting, requiring the shooter to see the target, then bring their rifle to their face to reacquire the target before firing. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Get the Marine Corps Times Daily News Roundup, With a wireless connection between the two devices the camera constantly feeds the image to the shooter so once the target is acquired the shooter can fire immediately. Electronics engineer Dean M. Kissinger said the devices can withstand high illumination that foiled early-stage night vision systems. They have also been successfully tested against other technologies that would try to disable them, he said. The concept for the integrated displays has existed for decades but the capability wasn't a reality until the technology caught up, such as processor speed and reduced size and weight of night vision and thermal systems. Some of the previous systems were too large to mount on individual weapons. The program is currently developing variants for crew-served weapons such as the M240 machine gun and for sniper rifle systems, Kissinger said. The new system is compatible with the M16, M4 and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. The average price for the ENVG-III is 7,000 while the FWS-I costs 9,500 each, Smith said. Program officials hosted media members at the Fort Belvoir, Virginia, testing and development facility on July 27. Members of the media fired the M4 carbine equipped with the new night vision and weapons sights at the indoor Night Vision Firing Tunnel. Side-by-side comparisons at more than 75 yards with current night vision systems showed an immediate contrast with thermal. Multiple man-sized targets were visible with both systems at various distances. A man-sized target behind camouflage netting was invisible with standard NVG but visually jumped out immediately with thermal sights. Soldiers at Fort Carson, Colorado, tested the devices in July, Smith said. |
Retired admiral 8 others charged in latest Fat Leonard indictments | WASHINGTON Retired US Navy Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless, four retired Navy captains, a Marine colonel and three other individuals were arrested and charged Tuesday in the latest indictments related to the Glenn Defense Marine Asia GDMA bribery scandal. The investigation is also known as the "Fat Leonard" case, after a nickname for GDMA's former chief executive officer, Leonard Francis. The latest federal indictment charges the individuals with accepting luxury travel, elaborate dinners and the services of prostitutes from Singapore-based GDMA, according to the US Department of Justice, all in exchange for classified and internal US Navy information. Glenn Defense Marine Asia was one of the biggest husbanding firms in the western Pacific, handling a large variety of services for ships visiting ports throughout the region. With Tuesday's arrests, a total of 25 individuals have been charged in connection with the corruption and fraud investigation into GDMA, the Justice Department said in a press release. Of those charged, Justice said, 20 are current or former U.S. Navy officials and five are GDMA executives. Thirteen of those charged already have pleaded guilty. The defendants were arrested early Tuesday morning in California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, Colorado and Virginia, Justice said in the press release, adding that federal officials will seek to move all defendants to San Diego, where the GDMA case is being tried in federal court. According to the press release, the nine defendants were arrested on various charges including bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery, honest services fraud, obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal investigators when confronted about their actions. Loveless, 48, of San Diego, was arrested at his home in Colorado. Four of the defendants, Justice said, are retired captains David Newland, 60, of San Antonio, Texas James Dolan, 58, of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania David Lausman, 62, of The Villages, Florida and Donald Hornbeck, 56, a resident of the United Kingdom. The other defendants arrested Tuesday included Marine Col. Enrico Deguzman, 48, of Honolulu, Hawaii retired Chief Warrant Officer Robert Gorsuch, 48, of Virginia Beach, Virginia active-duty Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Shedd, 48, of Colorado Springs, Colorado and active-duty Commander Mario Herrera, 48, of Helotes, Texas. According to the indictment, Justice said in the press release, the Navy officers allegedly participated in a bribery scheme with Leonard Francis, in which the officers accepted travel and entertainment expenses, the services of prostitutes and lavish gifts in exchange for helping to steep lucrative contracts to Francis and GDMA and to sabotage competing defense contractors. The defendants allegedly violated many of their sworn official naval duties, including duties related to the handling of classified information and duties related to the identification and reporting of foreign intelligence threats. According to the indictment, the defendants allegedly worked in concert to recruit new members for the conspiracy, and to keep the conspiracy secret by using fake names and foreign email service providers. According to the indictment, the Justice press release said, the bribery scheme allegedly cost the Navy "tens of millions of dollars." Acting U.S. Attorney Alana Robinson of the Southern District of California, quoted in the press release, declared the scandal represented "a fleecing and betrayal of the United States Navy in epic proportions, and it was allegedly carried out by the Navy's highest-ranking officers. The alleged conduct amounts to a staggering degree of corruption by the most prominent leaders of the Seventh Fleet -- the largest fleet in the U.S. Navy -- actively worked together as a team to trade secrets for sex, serving the interests of a greedy foreign defense contractor, and not those of their own country." Dermot O'Reilly, director of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service DCIS, said in the press release that, "the allegations contained in today's indictment expose flagrant corruption among several senior officers previously assigned to the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet. The charges and subsequent arrests are yet another unfortunate example of those who place their own greed above their responsibility to serve this nation with honor. This investigation should serve as a warning sign to those who attempt to compromise the integrity of the Department of Defense that DCIS and our law enforcement partners will continue to pursue these matters relentlessly." Asked for comment, a spokesman at the Navy's office of the chief of information deferred to the Department of Justice. Loveless becomes the second flag officer charged in the GDMA scandal. Rear Adm. Robert Gilbeau, a supply officer, has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. According to the federal indictment, Loveless was charged for actions when, as a captain in 2007 and 2008, he was serving as assistant chief of staff for intelligence for the Seventh Fleet. Before that, starting in 2005 he served as an intelligence officer aboard the Japan-based carrier Kitty Hawk. In the federal grand jury indictment, Loveless accepted bribes, expensive hotel rooms, and the services of prostitutes, mostly from 2006 to 2008. He is charged with making false statements to investigators and obstructing justice in November 2013. Loveless underwent a publicly embarrassing, nearly 900-day period serving first as the Navy's director of intelligence operations but with his security clearance revoked pending the results of the Justice investigation. He, along with his boss, director of intelligence Vice Adm. Ted "Twig" Branch, were not allowed to attend classified briefings or even enter their officers, which were considered classified areas. To date, Branch has not been publicly charged in the investigation. Loveless was transferred in late 2014 to become the Navy's corporate director for information dominance, dealing mostly with non-classified issues. He retired in October 2016. The federal investigation continues under a partnership of three primary agencies, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service DCIS, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service NCIS and the Defense Contract Audit Agency. In San Diego, Assistant Chief Brian Young of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Pletcher and Patrick Hovakimian of the Southern District of California are prosecuting the case. The Navy is conducting its own investigations of individuals cleared of criminal wrongdoing, and a number of active duty officers remain under investigation. |
Trump just presented this retired Navy SEAL with the Medal of Honor for his 2002 actions in Afghanis | Retired Master Chief Special Warfare Operator Britt Slabinski was awarded the nation's highest military honor 16 years, 2 months, 20 days after the action that prompted the award, one that President Donald Trump dubbed "The Battle of Robert's Ridge.", Trump placed the medal around Slabinski's neck at a White House ceremony May 24 in front of a packed room full of guests, which included other of Medal of Honor recipients, as well as seven teammates of Slabinski's who were with him in Afghanistan in the early morning hours of March 4, 2002. Trump recapped the events after greeting all the Medal of Honor recipients present by calling them "very, very special people," and that their "names and immortal acts of valor are forever engraved in the memory of our nation.", "Today, we induct a new name into the most exclusive gathering of heroes and that's what exactly this is," he said. Read the citation for Master Chief Special Warfare Operator Britt Slabinski here. Trump recounted the events of that early morning reconnaissance mission and the actions of then-Senior Chief Slabinski on the 10,000-foot snow-covered mountain in Afghanistan called Takur Ghar. "Britt and his teammates were preparing to exit the aircraft on the mountain peak when their helicopter was struck by machine gun fire, and machine gun fire like they've never seen before, and a rocket-propelled grenade from al-Qaida terrorists down below," he said. "Not a good feeling", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Navy Times Daily News Roundup, Trump said that as the crippled helicopter "lurched away from the assault" one of the members of Slabinski's team, Petty Officer 1st Class Neil Roberts was thrown from the aircraft, before the helicopter with the rest of the team crashed into the mountain below. This alone, Trump said was a "tremendous, horrible thing to witness" though the remainder of the team, Slabinski included, were rescued shortly after by another helicopter. "At this point, Britt received information suggesting their teammate Neil Roberts, the man thrown out of the helicopter, was probably still alive," Trump said. "The team faced a choice to wait for reinforcements and pretty much safety, or to return immediately to the enemy stronghold in the hope of saving Neil's life. They would be outmanned, out gunned and fighting uphill on a steep, icy mountain ... they would face freezing temperatures and bitter winds at the highest altitude a battle in the history of the American military.", With the odds against them, Trump said, Slabinski and the rest of the team didn't hesitate. "They made their decision, for them it was an easy one," he said. "They went back to that mountain and when their helicopter reached the peak, they jumped out in to a furious onslaught of machine gun fire.", The first order of business was to secure the peak and silence those enemy machine guns. Slabinski and his teammate, Air Force Tech Sgt. John Chapman charged uphill towards the bunkers, Chapman knocked one out before he was shot. "Britt continued to engage the enemy, repeatedly exposing himself to horrendous fire," Trump said. As members of his team were wounded, Slabinski, braved enemy fire to help them to safety before engineering dangerous retreat down the treacherous mountain slope, taking the wounded with them and sometimes moving through deep snow. "When they could go no further, Britt tended to the wounded and coordinated their escape until his team was finally evacuated," Trump said. That evacuation would not come for another 14 hours. , The president then called out the seven members of Slabinski's team present in the audience, along with names of those killed that day, and recognizing many of their families who were also present. "These were incredible, incredible men and you can be proud that they were in your family," Trump said. , Though he didn't speak, Trump relayed Slabinski's words that the awarding of this Medal of Honor wasn't an individual award for himelf, but it was recognition of what they did jointly as a team during what Trump called "the Battle of Robert's Ridge.", "To Britt and all the men of Robert's Ridge ... through your actions, you demonstrated that there is no love more pure and no courage more great than the love and courage that burns in the hearts of American patriots," Trump said, "We are free because warriors like you give their sweat, their blood and, if they have to, their lives for our great nation.", Trump concluded his words about Slabiniski, who served for another 12 years in the Navy and who now spends much of this time volunteering with the Navy SEAL Foundation and working with Gold Star families, those who have lost loved ones during the wars. "Britt, we salute you, we thank you and we thank God for making you United States SEAL, we love our Navy SEALs, they are very special people." |
Mattis Only slight degradation in readiness due to lack of South Korea exercises | The cancellation of major fall exercises with South Korea only led to a slight degradation in military readiness, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. Mattis' remarks came a day after President Donald Trump's nominee to become the next commander for U.S. Forces-Korea, Army Gen. Robert Abrams, told Congress the same that the readiness of the approximately 28,000 U.S. forces on the peninsula was slightly impacted by the cancellation of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises with South Korea. "That's a key exercise to maintain continuity and to continue to practice our interoperability, and so there was a slight degradation," Abrams said Tuesday on Capitol Hill. U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to cancel some military exercises with South Korea led to a "slight degradation" in American readiness, according to the president's nominee to lead U.S. Forces Korea. Abrams also told Congress that the loss of the fall exercise would not lead to long-term damage, and was an acceptable risk if it led to progress on diplomatic talks with North Korea. On Wednesday, Mattis acknowledged the degradation, but called it negligible. "If you emphasize the word slight, certainly if you're not training today then you could say there's a slight degradation. Is it notable? Is it material?" Mattis said. "I think that's why he Abrams put the word slight in there. So there is no ... there's nothing significant to it.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, Mattis also said he had not made any determination on what exercises, such as the annual Foal Eagle joint U.S.-Korea exercise, was necessary to maintain readiness in the spring. "I'll give my advice to the president," Mattis said. "As you all know, you take risks in war. We also take risk in peace. We do not believe the risk right now is anything other than negligible." |
Marines hang flashbang mortar rounds for first time | The Marine Corps has for the first time field-tested new flash-bang mortar rounds during the 2018 Rim of the Pacific exercise in Hawaii. While standard mortar rounds are designed to strike and destroy targets, these new, less-lethal rounds can be timed to airburst over the heads of individuals. From more than 1 km away, troops could fire off what has been dubbed the non-lethal indirect fire munition, or NL-IDFM, which brings to bear the equivalent of 14 stun grenades simultaneously, according to a release from the Defense Department's Non-Lethal Weapons Program. The burst is designed to deny enemy forces access to an area, or provide cover for troop movements, while minimizing the possibility of collateral damage and risk to both civilians and friendly forces. Marines lobbed 56 of the flash-bang mortar rounds during a field test Monday at Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii's Big Island, Stars and Stripes reported. The field-test is reportedly the first for the system, which is comprised of traditional 81 mm mortar rounds and a modified M853A1 illuminating mortar. However, the system has undergone demonstrations since development began more than four years ago. "Currently the armed forces are unable to deliver non-lethal effects at extended ranges," Michael Markowitch, an engineer involved in designing the munition, said in an Army press release in 2016. "Our goal was to develop a mortar that would be capable of delivering a non-lethal payload at ranges typical of mortar systems.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Get the Marine Corps Times Daily News Roundup, "We took our inspiration for our design from the family of illumination mortars. They use parachutes attached to an illumination candle to slow its descent and illuminate an area. The team determined that similar designs could be used to control the descent of the metal parts," Markowitch added. This first field-test occurred during this year's Rim of the Pacific exercise, which occurs every two years and involves more than 20 nations and dozens of warships. The modified round is compatible with existing 81 mm mortar tubes and flies through the air like a standard mortar. The round's effective range is between 450 and 1,500 meters. When the round is roughly 250 meters above the target, a time-delay fuse detonates. The mortar's nose and tail sections separate and the 14 nonlethal cardboard-encased submunitions are released. Parachutes also release from the mortar's nose and tail, and the mortar floats to the ground while the flash-bang grenades fall, stabilized by drag ribbons. The nonlethal cartridges are designed to detonate simultaneously, covering an area of roughly 30 meters. Each cartridge, like the M84 stun grenade, emits a roughly 180-decibel bang and a flash of more than one million candela within five feet of the initiation spot. Developers of the system have also shown interest in adding infrared or ultraviolet ink to the mortar in order to paint anyone near the detonation. This could help soldiers identify people in a crowd who may disperse from the impact site, according to the Defense Department release. The system was developed in part by the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program at Quantico, Virginia. |
US Germany likely home to new NATO commands | BRUSSELS The United States and Germany have volunteered to host the two new commands being set up by NATO, part of a broader change in NATO's structure that could see over 1,000 new personnel added to the alliance headquarters staff. A NATO official, speaking on background during a meeting of the alliance defense ministers, said America has tentatively agreed to host the new Atlantic Command, created to help track submarines and protect shipping lanes across the ocean. That office would be structured as a NATO force structure headquarters, meaning it would be a national office run by the Americans until activated by NATO in a time of crisis, at which point command would devolve to the supreme commander. Day by day operations for NATO maritime security will continue to run out of the Allied Maritime Command MARCOM in the Northwood, U.K. Because MARCOM will continue to be the point office on maritime security, it will be getting a plus-up in funding and personnel. Location wise, the official hinted a likely spot would be "not far" from the location of the old Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic office an indication that Norfolk, VA would be a likely location. If that is the case, it is possible that the head of Fleet Forces Command could become dual-hated for the new office. Germany has offered to host the Joint Support and Enabling Command JSEC, previously discussed as the Rear Area Operational Command. This command will focus on logistics and making sure NATO forces are capable of speeding to the battlefield in case of an incursion from Russia. The official stressed that final decisions have not been made by either country, and that may not come until the June ministerial event. However, the official said situations made "sense," and indicated there were unlikely to be any hangups. The official declined to give cost estimates for the new commands, but said that NATO's personnel burden for the new structure will result in 1,000-1,500 new NATO headquarters staff. Of that total, 50-100 will go into each of the two new commands. However, the host nations will provide more personnel on their own, with the number to be determined at a later date. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, The rest represent increases for MARCOM and investments in the areas of advanced planning, cyber, logistics, air command and control and situational awareness. More broadly, NATO is looking to invest heavily in infrastructure and mobility capabilities, including working on command and control links between the military and civilian institutions and better understanding of which roads, trains and bridges could support the weight of military vehicles crossing them. Earlier in the day, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg denied the new structures represent a shifting back to Cold War posture for NATO. Instead, he described them as needed shifts for an alliance that had, for years, intended to work more closely with Russia. "We have seen, especially since 2014 with the illegal annexation of Crimea, with Russia being responsible for destabilizing eastern Ukraine, we've seen a pattern where Russia is more assertive and where Russia has been responsible for violating international law," Stoltenberg said. "We are responding in a defensive, proportionate way." |
Holiday debt More ways to beat your budget into shape | Everyone's circumstances are different, but here are some ideas, big and small, to get you started thinking about ways, to wipe out that holiday debt First, take advantage of tax time. If you anticipate a refund, get your taxes done as soon as possible and use the refund to pay, off or pay down the debt. If you've consistently gotten big tax refunds every year, reduce the withholding from your, paycheck so you can put that extra money toward debt reduction. When it's paid off, put the extra money in savings. And use your raise wisely. Getting a bigger paycheck in January? Skip the instant gratification and put the extra cash toward debt. Even if you're not getting a raise, you can move your existing debt around to help lower your bills. A balance transfer to another credit card with 0 percent interest or a low percent interest rate could save you money if you make the regular required payments and pay off the balance before the offer expires and the rates go up. Be careful of some caveats There may be a fee for the balance transfer. And don't put any other purchases on the card, because the payments you make will be applied first to the portion of the balance with the lowest interest rate. If you're keeping your credit card and it has a rewards program, put the rewards toward your balance. Now. Looking for spending fixes? Evaluate your food budget. Do some comparison shopping at the commissary, if you haven't been there lately. That, along with more active food planning, might save a chunk Use cheaper cuts of meat, don't be swayed by the kids' urgent cries to stop at their favorite fast food eatery on the way home, and bring your lunch to work -- it could save you 50 or more a week. Even drink planning can help out Skip the 5 coffee and buy soda and water in bulk at the commissary instead of hitting the vending machine every day. Can your get a better deal on your monthly bills? You won't know unless you ask Review your phone, cable and utilities spending and see, for instance, whether your cable company can help you save money by getting rid of some features you don't use, or could do without. , If those savings won't cut it, consider selling some unused clothes, toys or jewelry, a move that could generate a few bucks and clear some extra space. Still in the red? Consider temporary or part-time work, especially if there's a talent or hobby you , Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief |
Marines new virtual marksmanship trainers are set to hit the fleet | Marines could be training in the Corps' next-generation simulated marksmanship trainers as early as June will begin hitting the fleet this June, and they'll provide leathernecks with new levels of hyper-realistic options to prepare them for real-world missions. On Feb. 23, Marine Corps Systems Command recently placed a third order for 5.8 million towards its the new Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainer, bringing the service's investment in the system to 25 million out of its current 32.7 million contract with Meggitt Training Systems, Inc. The drastically improved system will integrate teams and individual Marines in a 3-D world where new weapons systems, accurate ballistic arcs, indirect fire and realistic environments will challenge them across a range of "shoot/no-shoot" judgment calls and tactical and marksmanship scenarios, according to SYSCOM officials. "It's a new virtual world that you're firing into it's no long static pictures," said explained Col. Walt Yates, SYSCOM program manager. "It's much more like a first-person shooter video game for the tactical scenarios, where you have events happening in front of the shooter with dynamic environments.", The Marine Corps will begin fielding its new high-tech Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainers in June. Photo Credit SYSCOM, For the first time, the ISMT will include new weapons like such as the M27 infantry assault rifle, the M32 multiple grenade launcher and the M72 light anti-tank weapon. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Marine Corps Times Daily News Roundup, Up to eight Marines at a time will be able to conduct day or night - deliberate and hasty attacks, combat and reconnaissance patrols, meeting engagements or raids. They'll be able to do so over mountains, deserts, forests or cities on glaciers, volcanoes, oceans, beaches or grasslands. "Something we've never had before is the ability in simulation to say 'ok, we're going to train for a first light of dawn engagement, and this is what the illumination is going to look like," Yates said. "The new ISMT will accurately reflect the illumination and the shadows that you would have on that specific piece of ground.", The Corps' new Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainers can be adjusted to mimic certain times of day or night. Photo Credit SYSCOM, The new ISMT's core feature, however, is something Marines have been doing for generations honing the basic fundamentals of marksmanship. Since ISMTs first hit the fleet in the early 1990s, they've been used to prep Marines ahead of live-fire ranges or offer remedial training for those behind the curve, said Sgt. Brandon Harris, a primary marksmanship instructor with Weapons Training Battalion in Quantico, Virginia. Through the battalion's WTBN's M marksmanship training company, Harris provides marksmanship instruction to about seven companies of lieutenants each year as they complete lieutenants per year coming through the Officer Basic School. "We use the ISMT mainly for remediating shooters who have an issue," he said. "If we feel they're struggling a little bit or they're just not reaching the curve, we'll bring them in and give them more one-on-one instruction. It's probably our biggest tool for that.", Harris said he's eager to use the newest iteration of the ISMT. Its immersive high-fidelity sound and visuals will help close the gap between the inherent limitations of an indoor simulation and the real thing, he said. "The more realistic we can make a training environment, the better it will prepare Marines for actual situations," Harris said. "The better the technology, the better the training.", For example, during ISMT's development, SYSCOM and Meggitt Training Systems, Inc. sent personnel to every Marine Corps base that and station where the Corps has live-fire ranges and filmed them. They then incorporated the media into the system's data sets."If a Marine goes out to a live fire range and can't quali, The fielding of the new ISMTs is in line with a push throughout the Corps for greater use of advanced technologies in training, driven by the commandant. In January, Gen. Robert Neller emphasized the need for virtual training environments across the force when he released a fragmentary order to the 2015 planning guidance of his predecessor, Gen. Joseph Dunford. "Enabled by technology, we will increase the amount of training each unit can accomplish to 'increase the reps' in mentally and physically stressing environment for all elements of the Marine air-ground task force before they do so on the battlefield," he said. In the FRAGO, Neller expanded on Dunford's specific guidance on using simulators. "I expect all elements of the MAGTF to make extensive use use of simulators where appropriate," Dunford wrote. "My intent is for Marines to encounter their initial tactical and ethical dilemmas in a simulated battlefield vice actual combat.", The shift towards tech-savvy simulators comes as the Marine Corps faces the end of its years-long drawdown and significant budget constraints, even as the service takes on expanded mission sets around the world. This means that when a Marine steps up to the live fire line, there is a greater need for him or her to have as fine a handle on marksmanship as possible before rounds, sweat and wear and tear on vehicles and weapons are expended. They should be ready to learn at a "graduate level," already having a high degree of mastery over marksmanship fundamentals, Yates said. "Simulations are very effective and inexpensive to acquire that level of skill," he said. "That's the role of simulation-based training to prepare you for live training.", The ISMTs are not, however, simply a means to cut back on the beans and bullets needed to master involved with learning marksmanship. It can be a Marksmanship is a perishable skill, and Marines across the fleet often find themselves in places where live-fire training is either impossible or highly impractical, such aboard ships or at embassies. ISMTs allow Marines to keep training keep up their skills. Members of Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines assemble a .50-caliber machine gun during a gear inspection at sea. Marines will soon be able to use Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainers at sea. Photo Credit Sgt. Austin Long/Marine Corps, ISMTs are currently aboard seven out of the 10 current San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships, and expanded funding is in the pipelines to outfit 50 additional U.S. embassies with the new system, according to Bill Fondriest, former ISMT project manager for SYSCOM. The systems are meant to supplement live fire training, not replace it, he said. "As long as live fire ranges are available, Marines can and should train with live fire," Fondriest said. "But the question becomes 'what do you do when either budget or physical constraints restrict live fire?' You either train using simulation or you don't train at all, and that's the gap ISMT tries to close.", Once delivery begins in June, the ISMTs will be fielded at a rate of about 50 systems per month, up from an initial contract for 15 to 18 per month, Fondriest said. "We estimate that once we start delivery, we could effectively retrofit the entire fleet between 14 and 16 months," he said. The 'indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity' contract with Meggitt Training Systems, Inc. currently calls for a total delivery of 670 systems worldwide. |
Nuclear Posture Review puts Russia firmly in crosshairs | WASHINGTON The U.S. is preparing to change its nuclear arsenal, a direct response to actions taken by Russia's military over the last decade. Officially unveiled Friday afternoon, the Nuclear Posture Review a comprehensive look at America's nuclear weapons and the doctrine behind it largely continues ideas pushed forward from the 2010 review done by the Obama administration. It fully supports the nuclear modernization projects now underway and reaffirms commitments to non-proliferation treaties. But thematically, it is hard not to notice a major shift from the 2010 NPR, which emphasized the goal of reducing nuclear stockpiles worldwide through American leadership, and the 2018 version, which emphasized the need to enhance capabilities to match with Russia. Indeed, while the NPR features sections for North Korea, China and Iran, the primary focus is clearly Russia, and what Pentagon officials believe is the needed to ensure a balance of power with Moscow. That was emphasized by Robert Soofer, deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear and missile defense policy, and Greg Weaver, deputy director for strategic stability on the J5, Joint Staff, two of the key authors of the report who spoke to reports ahead of its release. Russia in recent years have invested heavily in lower-yield, so-called "tactical" nuclear weapons, which are designed to pair with a strategy of "escalate to deescalate." Under that concept, if fighting broke out between NATO forces and Russia, Moscow would move quickly to use a tactical nuclear weapon. The assumption would be that the U.S. armed only with large, world-ending strategic weapons, would be unable to retaliate appropriately and essentially stand down in the face of Russian aggression. It's a philosophy whose efficacy and indeed, existence is debated, with members of the nonproliferation community arguing that any use of a tactical nuke would inevitably lead to larger nuclear exchanges, not the end of conflict. But Weaver argues that the U.S. has no choice but to take Russia at its word on that strategy and to act accordingly. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Military Space Report, "We do not believe Russia would be expanding their limited resources to modernize and expand their nonstrategic nuclear forces if they had little or no confidence in this strategy," Weaver said. "Why would they throw good money after bad? So we concluded that the current disparity and the range of low-yield nuclear options available to the two sides increases the risk of deterrence failure.", As a result, the NPR proposes introducing two capabilities into the U.S. arsenal a low-yield warhead for the submarine launched ballistic missile, as well as the development of a new submarine launched cruise missile. Those weapons would be used to deter Russia from thinking the U.S. would not respond to its use of tactical nuclear weapons by, essentially, threatening to use similar weapons in response. While the U.S. already has lower-yield warheads in inventory, those are all air-launched systems, the men argued, which could be intercepted by Russian air defenses. Adding such a warhead to a submarine would provide more options to a U.S. president in the future. The Pentagon wants to put two new nuclear capabilities into the Navy. Here's what you need to know. , But both officials stress that the document is not designed to make the use of nuclear weapons more likely, something critics have raised concerns about since a leaked draft of the document appeared on the Huffington Post weeks ago. "We're not planning to reduce the role of nuclear weapons. By the same token, we're not planning to increase the role for nuclear weapons," Soofer said. Escalation to Negotiation?, Rebeccah Heinrichs, a nuclear analyst with the Hudson Institute, thinks the Pentagon is on the right path, noting that "if the Russians have a weapon delivery option, they're putting a nuke on it" at the moment. "Clearly the Russians believe that they could possibly pop off a low yield nuke and we would not have an appropriate response, and our only option would essentially be to end the war rather than go all-in with strategic nuclear weapons," she said. "The Pentagon is trying to get the Russians to rethink the strategy and raise the threshold. We're not going to have a ton of tactical nuclear weapons. That's not what this NPR is about in terms of overall cost and investment.", But Kingston Reif, an analyst with the Arms Control Association, doesn't buy the idea there are "enormous gaps" between the U.S. deterrent and what Russia is offering. "If Putin somehow determines that we would be unwilling to respond to limited Russian first use, it won't be because he thinks we don't have enough nuclear weapons," Reif said. "It will be based on a political calculation that he has a greater stake in the conflict and we and our allies won't be willing to run the risk of escalation. More hardware won't solve this political problem. The Nuclear Posture Review, officially revealed Friday, does not change when a president might order a nuclear strike in response to a non-nuclear attack. But it does provide more hypotheticals about the circumstances that might force the president's hand. "Given the overall superiority of U.S. and NATO conventional forces, which Russia is most worried about, it's in our interest to raise the threshold for nuclear use, not lower it. That means continuing to invest in sustaining and as needed augmenting our conventional forces, not building new, more usable nuclear weapons.", Weaver, for his part, disagrees with the idea Russia will continue be deterred by conventional overmatch, given the investments they are marking. "Deterrence is in the mind of the adversary, right? What I think should deter the Russians is irrelevant. It's what the Russians are deterred by that matters. And as I said, we believe there is evidence that the Russians think their coercive nuclear use strategy has some prospect of success," he said. Asked how he thought Russia would respond to this NPR, Soofer paused, then said "I don't know. I'm sure they won't respond well." But he argued that moving in the direction of the low-yield warheads could potentially drive Russia to the negotiation table, and perhaps convince them to move back under compliance of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces treaty. |
The Armys Rapid Equipping Force is working on EW counterdrone and more | The Army's Rapid Equipping Force works to quickly get gear into soldiers' hands to fill short-term needs. Col. John Ward, REF commander, sat down with Army Times at the Association of the U.S. Army's Annual Meeting Exposition this week to discuss some of the major projects he's working on. All fall in line with Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley's priorities for current and near-future needs. They include, REF held three competitions in recent years to fill the emerging and active counter-done need, Ward said. The office has been flooded with industry responses and has pushed many items into theater. It continues to sort through other submissions and equipment to match specific capabilities with commander needs. The Rapid Equipping Force was established in 2002 to take immediate theater requirements and find solutions for soldier use within 180 days. Much of the work fills a temporary need while informing other programs and capabilities for the Army, Ward said. The colonel said that the Joint Improvised Threat Defeat Organization has picked up many of the submissions to get counter-drone capabilities to soldiers. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup, The force has also held other competitions and has more planned in two high-demand areas electronic warfare and long-term, tethered ISR. This year's competition focused on dismounted electronic warfare equipment while a competition early next year in Yuma, Arizona, will focus on smaller mounted electronic warfare equipment, Ward said. The dismounted systems, VMAX and VROD Dismounted Electronic Support/ Attack, allow commanders to survey the invisible electronic environment. VROD detects electronic frequencies, creating a virtual "map" of the electronic environment. VMAX allows soldiers to conduct focused electronic attacks at certain frequencies in the spectrum. Soldiers at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, including soldiers from 2nd Cavalry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, and the 4th Infantry Division's 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, trained on the systems earlier this year. REF is also looking at increasing electronic warfare capabilities to add to the next-generation combat vehicle, including more powerful amplifiers, adjustable antennae and increased software capabilities. The tethered ISR work is looking at extended flight times of 100 hours or more for longer term surveillance than is offered by current models, Ward said. |
Whose drones did the Russian military capture in Syria | MOSCOW Russia's Defense Ministry on Thursday displayed a pair of drones that it said were captured following attacks on two Russian military bases in Syria, saying the attack required know-how indicating it was carried out with outside assistance. Russian President Vladimir Putin accused outside powers he wouldn't name of staging the attack to derail a deal between Russia, Turkey and Iran that is intended to reduce hostilities in Syria. The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday's raid on the Hemeimeem air base in the province of Lattakia and Russia's naval facility in the port of Tartus involved 13 drones. It said seven were downed by air defense systems and the remaining six were forced to land by Russian electronic warfare units. Of the latter, three exploded when they hit the ground and three more were captured intact, the ministry said. The Defense Ministry presented two primitive-looking drones at a briefing, arguing that they featured state-of-the art electronics that are less prone to jamming and allow precision strikes. Maj. Gen. Alexander Novikov, who heads the ministry's drone department, said the drones used in the weekend's raid on the Russian bases differed from the rudimentary craft earlier used by rebels in Syria. The attack required satellite navigation data that aren't available on the internet, complex engineering works and elaborate tests, Novikov said. "The creation of drones of such class is impossible in makeshift conditions," Novikov said. "Their development and use requires the involvement of experts with special training in the countries that manufacture and use drones.", Novikov didn't blame any specific country, but the Defense Ministry earlier referred to the "strange coincidence" of a U.S. military intelligence plane allegedly barraging over the Mediterranean near the Russian bases when the attack took place. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, The Pentagon strongly denied any involvement. The Defense Ministry said the drones were launched from al-Mouazzara in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, over 50 kilometers more than 30 miles away from the Russian bases. The attack heightened tensions between Russia and Turkey, which wields significant influence with some rebel groups in Idlib. The province has become the main rallying point for various rebel factions after Syrian government forces won control over large swathes of territory thanks to Russian support. Moscow has staunchly backed Syrian President Bashar Assad and Ankara has supported his foes, but they struck a deal last year to set up de-escalation zones. The agreement has helped reduce fighting and warm ties between Russia and Turkey. It also involved Iran, another Assad backer,, Following the drone attack, the Russian Defense Ministry sent letters to Turkey's military leaders, asking them to deploy military observers to help prevent further attacks from Idlib on Russian assets. Putin said Moscow knows who helped stage the attack on the Russian bases, but he didn't identify the country allegedly involved, saying only that it wasn't Turkey. He added that he discussed the raid with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier Thursday, voicing confidence that Turkey's Turkish leadership and military had nothing to do with it. "There were provocateurs, but they weren't the Turks," he said at a televised meeting with Russian newspaper editors Thursday. "We know who they were and how much they paid for that provocation.", Putin said the drones looked primitive but contained high-tech elements allowing precision satellite guidance and release of munitions. He added that those behind the attack were aiming to thwart the Russia-Turkey-Iran agreement on de-escalation zones. "These were provocations aimed at thwarting earlier agreements," Putin said. The drone raid on Russian bases came just weeks after Putin declared a victory in Syria and ordered a partial withdrawal of Russian forces from the country. The attack occurred a few days after mortar and rocket shelling of the Hemeimeem air base. The incursions have raised doubts about the sustainability of the Assad government's recent victories and Moscow's ability to protect its gains in Syria. |
No free lunch Boeing pays government 18M for breaks workers charged the Air Force for the C17 | WASHINGTON Boeing Co. has paid 18 million to settle allegations the company overcharged the government for lunch breaks while maintaining the Air Force's C-17 Globemaster aircraft. A former Boeing employee, James Thomas Webb, alleged that workers at the Long Beach Depot Center in California submitted claims from 2006 to 2013 for eight-hour days despite knowing that they spent less time than that working because of lunch breaks and other extended breaks. He originally brought the allegations as a whistleblower under a provision of the False Claims Act, which allowed him to sue on behalf of the government. Webb received 3 million from the government under the settlement, and another 115,000 in legal fees from Boeing, according to the settlement signed Sept. 21. The Justice Department, which intervened in the case to pursue the settlement, announced the payment Wednesday. Boeing both manufactured and maintained the C-17, one of the military's most popular transport aircraft for troops and cargo. The planes are maintained in Long Beach. Benjamin Mizer, who is head of the Justice Department's civil division as the principal deputy assistant attorney general, said the settlement demonstrates the government contractors must charge the government appropriately. "Defense contractors are required to obey the rules when billing for work performed on government contracts," he said. Boeing didn't concede liability in the settlement. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, "Boeing took prompt corrective action immediately after it became aware of the site's irregular billing practice, and the company cooperated fully with the government investigation," the company said in a statement to USA Today. |
Your move your money Make financial planning part of the PCS process | Many military members and families soon will face a move to a new duty station, and part of the preparation should be looking at financial aspects of relocation, in addition to logistics. , That preparation involves understanding the entitlements the military offers for those making permanent change-of-station moves, being aware of some out-of-pocket costs, and avoiding pitfalls that could start you off on the wrong foot financially at your new duty station. "One of the most important things you can do is connect with your installation personal financial readiness program manager to see what's available," said Gerri Walsh, president of FINRA Investor Education Foundation. A key element is knowing what the military pays for, including the maximum weight of your household-goods shipment, Walsh said. If you're close to that limit, it's time to sort through your belongings and get rid of things you no longer want or need. A yard sale might bring in extra cash to help fund a financial cushion during the move. If you donate items, save receipts for a possible tax deduction. Getting official information about military benefits is critical, but those advisers also can delve into your personal financial needs helping craft a family spending plan, for instance. In the Marine Corps, these experts help Marines compare their expenses at their current duty station with projected expenses at their new duty station, said Jessica Perdew, program manager for personal financial readiness, Marine and Family Programs Division, at Marine Corps headquarters. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, INCOME ISSUES, For the mobile military family, a spouse's income may be lost entirely because of a move, or at least temporarily as the spouse seeks new employment at the next duty station. When the family depends on the spouse's income to help make payments on car loans, furniture loans, credit cards and other debt, there must be a discussion about how to manage these expenses. Ideally, that discussion would happen before those loans are obtained, looking into future possibilities of an income drop. To help spouses with career needs, family center spouse employment specialists at current and future duty stations, and the Defense Department's Spouse Education and Career Opportunities program can serve as resources. One possible income boost Some spouses may be eligible for unemployment compensation from their previous state if they must leave their job because of family military orders. Not every state offers the benefit, but it's worth the time required to file a claim and request benefits, Perdew said. Many factors go into choosing where to live at your new duty station. Beyond the basic research into what you'll receive as a housing allowance, look into the financial ramifications beyond rent or mortgage payments, and utility bills. "In many locations housing is less costly as you move away from population centers, but the housing savings are frequently replaced by increased transportation expenses," Perdew said. Each family will have unique, unforeseen circumstances. One Navy ensign found out after he and his wife had rented a home in the expensive Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that his command wanted him to split his time between two installations that are 20 minutes apart. That meant he wouldn't be able to take public transportation to work, and they had to buy another vehicle. Some families are in situations where the service member moves to a new duty station and the family stays behind perhaps because of the child's school, the spouse's job, medical concerns, or because the service member may be moving overseas on an unaccompanied tour. In such cases, the family needs to figure out their expenses in operating two households for example, how they'd cover costs if service member isn't able to live in quarters on the installation. Living expenses such as car insurance and utility costs can vary widely from one place to another. Perdew advises checking with insurance companies for quotes on rates for car insurance in the new location. Some insurance companies offer policies nationwide, but the rates often vary because of state and company requirements. Some utility companies allow waivers of utility deposits for service members. OTHER BENEFITS, Walsh urges service members to be aware of their rights under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. For example, those who receive orders to a new duty station have the right to terminate their lease on their car or home. You also have the right to terminate a cellphone plan if you're moving to an area where your current provider doesn't provide service. For legal advice on how to properly invoke those rights, check with your legal assistance office on base. Need more advice? There are installation personal financial managers, generally at family centers, who provide workshops and individual counseling, and resources at MilitaryOneSource.mil, including personal financial counseling in person, by phone or video chat. Banks and credit unions on military installations are also required to provide financial education and resources. "My primary advice would be to keep family finances in a high state of readiness at all times, not just when a move or deployment is on the horizon," Perdew said. Karen Jowers covers consumer issues and quality of life for Military Times. Email her at [email protected]. |
How VAs energyefficiency program could save you cash on home repairs utility bills | Those familiar with the loan-closing process know that the last thing any participants need or want as they wrap up their paperwork is another clause, codicil or addendum. But VA's Energy Efficient Mortgage program may well be worth the extra effort, even if you're not an eco-warrior. Following through with a bit more red tape could mean 6,000 or more in additional borrowing power or, in some cases, cash in your pocket to make certain home repairs. Here are five things to know about the benefit, courtesy of VA's Lenders Handbook and other VA sources, 1. Joint operation. EEM may sound like a standalone mortgage program, but it's not It's an add-on to a home-purchase loan or a refinance loan. Service members, veterans should check out VA home loan benefits, even if they've heard horror stories about wait times or other problems. 2. Facts and figures. Borrowers can tack on an additional 3,000 to their loans by documenting the planned eco-friendly improvements they'll make more on those later. They can add up to 6,000 to the loan if their estimated utility bills will drop low enough to cover the difference in mortgage payments. They can add more than 6,000 in cases where the improvements will raise the home's value to equal the additional loan amount. 3. What's covered? Solar energy enhancements qualify, but don't think you have to cover your roof in panels to rate this benefit. A range of improvements are outlined in the handbook, from major projects new furnace or water heater to less-expensive energy-savers insulation, weather stripping, and so on. 4. IRRRL reality check. If you're considering an Interest Rate Reduction Refinancing Loan, you could take advantage of the EEM program to make needed home repairs while improving your interest rate. If your furnace is an older model, for instance, a new one likely would qualify as an eco-friendly improvement. 5. Cash out. An IRRRL usually comes without a cash-out option, but veterans can get up to 6,000 in cash to pay for EEM-covered improvements, providing they're made less than 90 days after the loan closes. |
Child abuse neglect in military up 10 percent | Incidents of child abuse and neglect in military families shot up by nearly 10 percent in 2014, according to defense officials. But while the number of incidents increased, the number of "unique victims" decreased slightly meaning there are more children who are either repeat victims or victims of more than one alleged abuser, such as both parents. "The department is concerned about the increase, and though 75 percent of the incidents of maltreatment did not include physical abuse, we are focused on our rates of neglect and emotional abuse to ensure they do not lead to increasingly serious outcomes," Defense Department spokesman Air Force Maj. Ben Sakrisson said. In fiscal 2014, the military saw 7,676 incidents of child abuse and neglect, an increase of 687 over fiscal 2013, Sakrisson said. That number represents 5,838 unique victims, because some were involved in more than one incident. Also, if there is more than one alleged abuser such as both parents a particular incident might be tracked as more than one incident. The statistics include families of National Guard and Reserve members called to active duty. While incidents increased, the number of victims decreased slightly, to 5,838 last year from 5,871 in fiscal 2013. The number of children in military families increased in 2014 by about 41,000. But the increase in incidents means more children are repeat victims. Nationwide in 2013, the victim rate was 9.1 per 1,000 children in the population, according to data reported to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System. Information is not yet available for 2014. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, In the military community, the victim rate was 5.8 per 1,000 children in the population, according to DoD statistics. Because of the decrease in the number of victims and increase in children in the population, that rate in the military community decreased to 5.6 victims per 1,000 children in 2014. Since 2008 and 2009, when the rate was 4.3 military child victims per 1,000, the rate had been steadily climbing through 2013. Child abuse and neglect are not an issue just in the active-duty population, Sakrisson noted. Among alleged abusers in the 2014 incidents, 50 percent were the active-duty parent 45 percent were the civilian parent 2 percent were caregivers outside the family and 2 percent were other family members. For the other 1 percent, the relationship was unknown. Neglect accounted for 63 percent of all incidents, a total of 4,812, an increase of 14 percent from fiscal year 2013. "The increase in neglect worries me," said Joyce Raezer, executive director of the National Military Family Association, adding that she would like more facts on that issue. Overall, she said, "I'm always concerned about the residual effects of war and the continued stressors on military parents.", Defense officials are "actively working not only to get a better understanding of the rates of incidence of child and domestic maltreatment, but to interact with experts in the field to find new ways to bring those rates down even further," Sakrisson said. DoD is launching a new digital strategy to inform military families through online platforms about available resources to protect and strengthen their families, he said. Information will be focused on three areas of neglect safe sleeping, electronic distraction, and state requirements for children left unattended, he said. From the archives, In 2013, Army Times took an in-depth look at child abuse |
NNSA Pentagon Tracking Nuclear Infrastructure Bills | WASHINGTON As the Pentagon seeks to modernize the nuclear enterprise, the majority of the focus has been on the creation of new delivery systems like the B-21 Raider bomber, the replacement for the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, and the next ICBM design. But undergirding all that is an aging nuclear infrastructure, one that those in charge of handling America's nuclear arsenal worry is not getting the attention it deserves. Over the last few budget cycles, military construction and facility maintenance has suffered in favor of training and modernization of equipment. The nuclear enterprise has not been unique in that regard. Talking to reporters in New Mexico on Sept. 27, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, warned that infrastructure needs investment, much the same way that the big nuclear delivery systems need investments. , "I think infrastructure is in the same category, therefore it has to be a part of our investment plan moving forward," Carter said. "That includes the scientific facilities, it includes all of the support facilities.", The National Nuclear Security Administration NNSA, a semi-autonomous office of the Department of Energy that has oversight for the US nuclear warhead stockpile, is particularly concerned about spending on infrastructure. Speaking at September event in DC, NNSA head Frank Klotz estimated that there is roughly 3.7 billion in deferred maintenance to NNSA buildings, and spoke of a situation where part of a ceiling at a facility crumbled while workers were present. "Shortly after I came on board into this position we had a portion of a roof at a building, where we conduct most of our highly enriched uranium in the enterprise, collapse," he said. "Big chunks of concrete fell onto the work floor. Fortunately, nobody was underneath. Fortunately, no expensive equipment was underneath. But it could have been very different.", "It's the case with electrical systems at Lawrence Livermore, it's the case with ventilation systems through our complex. So we have to go do something about this," Klotz added. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, As a point of comparison, the fiscal year 2017 budget request for NNSA included 9.2 billion for the upgrade and maintenance of nuclear warheads, and 2.7 billion to infrastructure and operations. Brad Boswell, senior manager for the Sandia national laboratory's Weapon Systems Engineering group, told reporters Sept. 27 that "we absolutely have challenges" with the infrastructure, even if the current set up is "adequate" to fulfill the mission. "I think NNSA works very effectively to identify where those most pressing concerns are. They have to balance those risks across the complex," Boswell said. But, "Am I concerned? Absolutely. As a program manager you see the risks as they bubble up.", It's not the first time Klotz has begged for funding specific to infrastructure, but the issue has gotten a mixed reception on the Hill. At a February budget hearing, for example, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, pushed back at Klotz's concerns. Asked a skeptical Sessions, "We're in tight budget times are you sure we need 3.7 billion just to refurbish buildings?", A former Pentagon official familiar with the nuclear enterprise believes that NNSA's concerns are valid and should be given proper consideration. Not only do the infrastructure issues mean a drop in productivity, they can lead to major morale issues with a staff that is already stretched thin. "At the end of the day, you're sending a message to your people that they aren't important, if we don't really care if water is leaking in here and we don't have the money to fix the door," the former official said. "That would be bad enough if you were making Ford trucks up in Michigan, but you're thinking hey this is supposed to be the nation's number one priority and this is the facility that we give the people in the department of energy?' So you can see where it can come across as not following through on the things that we're talking about." |
Barracks Marines rush in to rescue senior citizens caught in housing complex fire | A massive fire struck a four-story Southeast Washington housing complex for seniors Wednesday afternoon. Some of the first responders were neighbors, including Marines from the Barracks Washington at 8th I, located just down the street. Dramatic videos on social media show large plumes of smoke billowing from the building and even the complex's roof collapsing. One showed Marines rushing from the barracks to help rescue seniors. They pushed wheelchairs and stretchers toward the burning building. "Marines rushed into the building to rescue those who needed assistance and evacuated residents to the Marine Barracks Washington Annex where they were checked and treated for any injuries and sheltered until their loved ones arrived," said a post on the Barracks Washington Facebook page. , "We all went in there to carry people out," Capt. Trey Gregory said live on NBC News4 Washington. The Marines carried residents out of the building over their shoulders, he said. All residents are accounted for, officials told WTOP, and at least four people were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Eighty residents have been displaced in nearby shelters. "We aren't sure how the fire started at Arthur Capper Senior Building in Navy Yard," D.C. councilman Charles Allen said in a statement. "Firefighters needed to rescue a few residents via window from the higher floors.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Get the Marine Corps Times Daily News Roundup, |
Oshkosh lands Armys nextgen Medium Tactical Vehicles contract | WASHINGTON The Army has chosen Oshkosh Defense to build the next-generation variant of its Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, a primary mover for weapons, sensors and communications platforms. The contract is worth 476.2 million, according to a Feb. 7 Pentagon announcement. Both incumbent Oshkosh having produced the FMTV A1 variant since 2009 and AM General submitted bids and the Army entered an evaluation period in May 2017 for its FMTV A2. Both companies touted their offerings at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual convention in October. Oshkosh has manufactured and sustained more than 150,000 tactical wheeled vehicles for the U.S. Defense Department and its allies and has delivered more than 36,000 FMTV trucks and trailers, according to the company. "For decades, the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles has formed the backbone of the Army's local, line haul, and unit resupply missions in combat, combat support, and combat service support units," according to a Feb. 7 Army statement. "These trucks, consisting of 15 variants sharing a common chassis and components, play an important role as the prime mover for several weapon, sensor, and communication platforms.", "During recent conflicts, we added more protection to our medium trucks, which added weight, along with high-tech systems that require more power," Alvin Bing, the Army's product director for medium tactical vehicles, said in the statement. "That gave the crew the protection they needed and kept them connected to modern battlefield technology, but it also took away from how the vehicles were originally intended to perform. So we launched the A2 effort to restore the performance we had traded, while preparing the fleet to grow with tomorrow's Army.", The Army used soldier feedback and time with industry to learn what was important and to "maximize value," Col. Dan Furber, the Army's project manager for transportation systems, said in the statement. Through industry days and demonstrator vehicle evaluations, the Army "made sure everyone had plenty of time to understand today's truck and what we wanted to change," Furber said. "As a result, we're going to give soldiers a great truck with a stronger chassis, better protection, more power, and new safety features that provide them much better ride quality, while making them safer and more effective.", The Army owns the technical data package for FMTV. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Get breaking news in your inbox, As part of the competition, the Army asked vendors to propose a series engineering change proposals to the FMTV design and for plans on how the vehicles would be produced. "Oshkosh's FMTV A2 design features parts commonality that results in streamlined maintenance, training, sustainment and overall cost efficiency for our customer," Pat Williams, vice president and general manager of Army and Marine Corps Programs at Oshkosh, said in a company statement. "Oshkosh is ideally positioned, given its engineering, manufacturing and FMTV experience, to execute the next generation FMTV A2 program, running along the same warm production line that has been building FMTV's for the last eight years.", If all options are exercised during a five-year ordering period plus two additional one year options, Oshkosh could end up producing up to 2,400 vehicles under the contract, according to a Federal Business Opportunities notice. The estimated date of completion is February 2022, according to the DoD contract notice. This isn't the first time Oshkosh and AM General have gone relatively head-to-head in a recent vehicle competition. Oshkosh beat out both AM General and Lockheed Martin in August 2015 to build the Army's Humvee replacement, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle JLTV. The JLTV deal could ultimately be worth 6.7 billion in low-rate initial production but could generate up to 30 billion for Oshkosh over the entire program. After the loss, AM General focused its efforts worldwide, recently announcing last year it would develop trucks a la carte for customers around the globe. A, According to the Army, the new FMTVs will begin rolling off the production line in 2020. |
Turkey Pakistan reach their largestever defense contract | ANKARA, Turkey Turkey and Pakistan have agreed on the sale of a batch of 30 Turkish-made T129 ATAK multirole combat helicopters, Turkish officials have said. A government election manifesto revealed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey and Pakistan "just recently" agreed on the contract, which is the largest-ever Turkish-Pakistani defense contract. The two countries have been negotiating a T129 deal since 2014. This is the first export contract for the helicopter. Turkish Aerospace Industries, or TAI, maker of the T129 under license from the Italian-British AgustaWestland, has so far delivered 35 T129s to the Turkish Army and the Gendarmerie force. Before the deal, the T129 went through various tests in Pakistan. Most recently, the T129 was showcased at a March 23 military parade for Pakistani National Day. "We expect further T-129 contracts to follow the order from Pakistan," a Turkish defense procurement official said. "We are in talks with a number of countries.", The official declined to name any of the potential T129 buyers. One TAI official said, however, that potential buyers could include Jordan, Libya and Azerbaijan. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, The Turkish government has not disclosed a price for the T129 deal with Pakistan, but aerospace industry sources estimate the contract to be worth about 1.5 billion, almost equivalent of Turkey's annual defense exports. Turkey's defense exports rose slightly from 1.677 billion in 2016 to 1.739 billion in 2017. Turkish officials aim to attain 10 billion in defense and aerospace exports by 2021. Pakistan's domestic space agency will receive a budget of just more than 40 million for fiscal 2018-2019. TAI started to deliver the T129 to the Turkish Army in April 2014. Under the full program, a batch of 59 helicopter gunships will be delivered. There is an option for a follow-on order of 32 more choppers. TAI officials say the T129 features 97 percent sovereign production. The Turkish Army deploys T129 gunships at its domestic southeastern military bases to support anti-terror operations against Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey, northern Iraq and northwest Syria. The T129 choppers are Turkey's first locally made platforms under license. The T129 features a tandem seat, twin-engine and NATO-interoperability for attack, armed reconnaissance, and precision-strike and deep-strike mission capabilities for day and night and in all weather conditions. The T129 incorporates asymmetric weapon-loading capability and enables the use of all weapons according to mission requirements. For close-combat support missions, a 20mm gun turret with a capacity of 500 rounds as well as 70mm rockets with a capacity of 76 rockets have been integrated. Pakistan and Turkey on June 17 signed an air force pilot training exchange agreement to help further improve bilateral relations, during the opening ceremony of the Multinational Military Flight Crew Training Centre in Izmir, Turkey. For multipurpose missions, 16 CIRIT 70mm laser-guided air-to-ground missiles, 8 UMTAS long-range anti-tank missiles and 8 Stinger air-to-air missiles are integrated, in addition to advanced electronic warfare and electro-optical systems. The T129 cockpit provides situational awareness through visibility arcs and integrated mission and communication systems. The Aselflir-300T targeting sight system increases image quality and range performance with real-time image processing and multiple target tracking with a thermal camera, laser rangefinder, designator and spot tracker. The AVCI helmet-mounted display system provides integrated display capabilities to crew for extensive missions. The T129 deal is the largest-ever Turkish-Pakistani defense contract. Earlier, in 2013, Pakistan's Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works penned a deal to build a replenishment tanker designed by Turkish technology and systems engineering company Savunma Teknolojileri Muhendislik ve Ticaret. In another deal, TAI upgraded a batch of 41 F-16 fighter jets for the Pakistani Air Force. That program involved avionics and structural modernization of the aircraft. TAI also is in talks with Pakistan for the sale of its Hurkus basic trainer aircraft. Turkey and Pakistan have been traditional allies, and defense industry observers say smooth political relations between the two Muslim countries help boost procurement cooperation. |
Air National Guard C130s activated to fight western wildfires | CHEYENNE, Wyo. Air National Guard C-130s from Wyoming, Nevada and Colorado that are equipped to battle wildfires have been activated to fight wildfires in the western U.S. The three large aircraft will be stationed in Fresno, California. Currently the activation is scheduled to last one month but can be changed. Lt. Col. Todd Davis of the 187th Airlift Squadron in Wyoming says the C-130 will fly as low as 150 feet above the ground while on wildfire missions. The planes can discharge up to 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in less than 5 seconds and cover an area one-quarter of a mile long by 100 feet wide. Once the load is discharged, it can be refilled in less than 12 minutes. |
US Navy ends search for missing Argentine sub | WASHINGTON The U.S. Navy is wrapping up its search for a missing Argentine submarine that disappeared in November with 44 crew aboard, according to a release from U.S. Southern Command. At the height of its efforts, the U.S. had more than 200 personnel assigned to the mission, including P-8 Poseidon aircraft, four submersibles, an underwater rescue unit and various equipment. The U.S. Navy dropped more than 400 sonobuoys during the effort to locate the submarine San Juan. SOUTHCOM did a complete sweep of its assigned areas twice and were unable to locate the sub, the release said. "On behalf of the people of the United States, we offer our respects to the families of the crew of ARA San Juan and the people of Argentina," said Rear Adm. Daniel B. Abel, director of operations for SOUTHCOM. The two assets, the Research Vessel Atlantis and a cable-controlled Undersea Recovery Vehicle are being recalled, said SOUTHCOM spokesman Cmdr. Erik Reynolds. Argentina is continuing to search for the San Juan. |
Everythings coming up SHORAD | WASHINGTON To say that short-range air defense is making a comeback would be an understatement ready-to-go solutions to rapidly bring the capability back into service to address today's threats are coming out of the woodwork. Companies all over the showroom floor at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual convention last week brought SHORAD offerings to pitch to service officials roaming the massive two floors of expo halls. What is most noticeable about the solutions at AUSA is nearly all of them take systems and platforms already in the Army's inventory and reinvent them into mobile systems designed to take out air threats from unmanned aircraft systems to larger helicopters and manned aircraft. Some even had the added capability of defending against ground threats. The solutions that are cropping up also reveal how industry is thinking about getting after an urgent need. While many use platforms that have been in the Army inventory, several companies, such as BAE Systems and Orbital ATK, are combining newer tools for a multilayered approach. And many of the solutions acknowledge that counter-UAS and SHORAD capabilities can be combined into multipurpose systems. It's been well over a year since U.S. Army Europe identified the SHORAD capability gap, acknowledging both the growing threat of small drones observed on the Ukrainian border by the Russian military and the realization that a key assumption held by the U.S. military for years that it will have air dominance against adversaries will undeniably be challenged. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, The Army also took critical steps over the past year to rapidly fill the capability gap in Europe with Avenger SHORAD units resident only in the National Guard, deploying them rapidly to the region. At the same time, the service began to look at interim solutions to fill the gap with a plan to ultimately develop a new SHORAD system down the road. , The White Sands demo veterans, The service hosted a demonstration in September where companies could provide solutions on their dime to prove to the Army they had systems ready to go. Four SHORAD systems were demonstrated, according to Barry Pike, the service's program executive officer for Army Missiles and Space. Pike said the program to fill the SHORAD gap is "moving rapidly ahead" and that the Army saw some "promising" capability at White Sands. But the Armys reconnaissance on SHORAD capability is unfinished, and the service will continue to look across industry for solutions. Israeli company Rafael brought Iron Dome to the demonstration. Raytheon would be the lead integrator should it be chosen as a SHORAD option for the Army. , General Dynamics Land Systems and Boeing brought an Avenger launcher mounted on a Stryker combat vehicle, marrying two systems already in the Army inventory. Lockheed Martin's Longbow Hellfire missiles were fired from the system. , According to several sources, Hanwha, a South Korean defense company, brought its Biho Flying Tiger air-defense system to the demonstration. Hanwha showcased Flying Tiger at a large booth at AUSA, but declined requests for an interview there. , Pike told Defense News that Orbital ATK also demonstrated a SHORAD system the Tactical-Robotic Exterminator at White Sands Missile Range, solving the mystery of the fourth vendor that tested its wares. The company's solution offers a high level of flexibility, according Dave Dorman, Orbital ATK's vice president for defense and government relations within its armaments systems sector, combining Liteye's anti-UAV defense system, nonlethal electronic attack radio-frequency jammer and a gun with guided and air-burst munitions mounted on a Stryker. The AUDS a counter-UAS system has been deployed by the Defense Department into U.S. Central Command's area of operation and has effectively "drowned" more than 500 drones with electronic attack, Dorman said. While CENTCOM bought the tripod-mounted version of the system, displayed at AUSA, users in theater mounted them on pallets and armored vehicles and started moving them around the battlefield, which generated a requirement for mounted systems. The company is now working to field the system on MRAP All-Terrain Vehicles, Dorman added. At the same time, Orbital is integrating its XM914 chain gun used on Apache attack helicopters and is slewing that gun to the command and control of the AUDS, which has a 360-degree capability of detecting class 1 and class 2 drones very close in but also out to an extended range, according to Dorman. The chain gun, loaded with 30mm, proximity-fuse rounds of ammunition, is seen as good solution to take out UAS, he said. At the demonstration, Orbital was able to detect, track and slew the gun to engage ground targets. Dorman said Orbital offers a layered approach when combined with other systems because it can cover close-in targets while other systems meet the Army's desire to detect and defeat drones roughly 15 kilometers out. The capability also demonstrated it can complement the Army's existing radar sensors like the Sentinel and the Q-50. Orbital ATK provided the 30mm cannon for up-gunned Strykers headed to Europe, so it seeks to leverage that experience to create a mobile SHORAD solution, most likely in partnership with other companies to meet what the Army's anticipated requirements might be. Orbital's gun or AUDS could be integrated onto another solution such as the General Dynamics Land Systems and Boeing Stryker-Avenger system. The newer contenders, Several companies came forward for the first time with SHORAD solutions at AUSA. BAE Systems pulled an early version of its Bradley fighting vehicle with an air defense history the Linebacker variant back into the forefront at AUSA. The Bradley Linebacker was equipped with a search radar on the turret, a fire-control radar, a non-kinetic lethality mechanism essentially a jammer and a 30mm cannon with an air-burst munition for kinetic kills. On the other side of the vehicle, the company affixed a missile launcher that can accommodate Stinger, AIM-9X missiles "or anything else the Army wants to use," Mark Signorelli, company vice president for strategy and business development for the platform and services sector, told Defense News in an interview at AUSA. Signorelli noted the maintenance would be easy and low-cost because the system is on the same chassis as Bradley and retains the same sites and cannon. And the same collection of systems that make up a mobile SHORAD offering could go on a different vehicle if the Army chooses to go that route, Signorelli said, such as an Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle. BAE is currently delivering prototypes to the Army ahead of a milestone C production decision. Oshkosh Defense turned its Joint Light Tactical Vehicle the Army's Humvee replacement into a mobile SHORAD system, configuring onto the vehicle an Avenger system with Longbow Hellfire missiles and a .50-caliber weapon. , And Raytheon, while it wasn't displayed, touted a recent solution tested at a separate demonstration at White Sands of a Stryker with Stinger missiles, which successfully took out a UAS target on the first try. , The company also rolled out a high-energy laser dune buggy at the show designed to take out small drones, but the solution is farther afield and only addresses the counter-UAS portion of SHORAD. Lockheed Martin, while not proposing an end-to-end solution, featured already fielded capabilities from a Q-53 counter-fire radar to a wide variety of interceptors that could be incorporated into a SHORAD solution. The Q-53 is being programmed to detect UAS, and Lockheed's Longbow missiles have been successful in tests against airborne targets such as helicopters while providing cross-domain fires capability, said Tim Cahill, Lockheed's integrated air-and-missile defense vice president for the company's Missiles and Fire Control business. Looking farther out as the Army develops SHORAD capability beyond an interim solution, Lockheed sees its Miniature Hit-to-Kill interceptor as an attractive solution. At only 30 inches long and weighing just 5 pounds, it has the capability to go after rockets, artillery and mortars. The interceptors could fit in a 36-pack on a ground vehicle, Cahill said. |
Trump tweets throw new doubts into defense appropriations deal | WASHINGTON Just as the Pentagon's budget for next year appeared settled, a series of early morning tweets from President Donald Trump raised the possibility of problems with the congressional appropriations process in days to come. Trump, who has repeatedly complained that Democrats are undermining national security by blocking funding to construct a wall along the southern U.S. border, took to the social media platform Thursday morning to blast "this ridiculous Spending Bill" for sidestepping the issue. "I want to know, where is the money for Border Security and the WALL in this ridiculous Spending Bill, and where will it come from after the Midterms?" the president wrote. "Dems are obstructing Law Enforcement and Border Security. REPUBLICANS MUST FINALLY GET TOUGH!", Trump also quoted Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga. who earlier in the week blasted Democrats for "obstruction" for their opposition to the wall issue and to finalizing a host of White House nominations. To avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month, House lawmakers must pass the spending measure next week. The comments came just two days after senators overwhelmingly passed a "minibus" appropriations measure that would provide about 674 billion for the Department of Defense in fiscal 2019, along with full-year funding for the departments of Health and Human Services, Education and Labor. If House members agree to the deal next week and leaders from both parties have already signaled they will support it the plan will mark the first time in 10 years that the defense budget has been finalized before the new fiscal year, which starts on Oct. 1. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, If Trump's comments scuttle those House plans, or if Trump decides to veto the measure, it would trigger a partial government shutdown at the end of the month instead of the legislative victory lap that lawmakers had been anticipating. Pentagon officials in recent years have lamented the use of temporary budget extensions to avoid federal funding halts and operations shutdowns, saying they inhibit their ability to start new programs and keep equipment purchases on schedule. Trump did not specifically advocate for stopping the defense minibus deal, or say he would veto the measure. Along with the four agency full-year budgets, the legislation also includes an extension of the current spending levels for a host of other departments until Dec. 7. Congress is expected to deal with final funding for those programs and possibly the border wall issue after the November mid-term elections. Last week, lawmakers finalized a similar appropriations package for the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction funding. Trump is expected to sign that bill into law in the next few days. |
McRaven former SOCOM head resigns from Pentagon board following Trump criticism | WASHINGTON William McRaven, the retired four-star admiral who led U.S. Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014, has resigned from the Pentagon's technology advisory board following a public critique of President Donald Trump, Defense News has learned. McRaven resigned from the Defense Innovation Board, a group of technology leaders and innovators tasked with advising the secretary of defense on pertinent issues, on Aug. 20, four days after he posted a scathing op-ed in the Washington Post calling out Trump for revoking the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan. Admiral has been outspoken on Trump's actions before, hitting him on media comments and Syria strike. "Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation," McRaven wrote to Trump in the Post. "If you think for a moment that your McCarthy-era tactics will suppress the voices of criticism, you are sadly mistaken. The criticism will continue until you become the leader we prayed you would be.", McRaven's photo has been removed from the DIB website, and Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza, a Pentagon spokeswoman, confirmed that McRaven resigned from his post on the DIB. She added that "The Department appreciates his service and contribution on the board.", Created by then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in 2016, the DIB is made up primarily of tech thinkers from outside the military. While big names such as former Alphabet head Eric Schmidt and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson helped gain it attention, the board benefited early by the presence of McRaven, who remained well-respected within the department. McRaven becomes the third of the original announced members of the board to drop off. Amazon head Jeff Bezos, a frequent target from Trump, was announced as part of the DIB when it launched. However, the Post reported earlier this year that Bezos never actually took a seat on the board. And Cass Sunstein, a top adviser to President Barack Obama who had attended several meetings of the board early on, is also no long listed as part of the group on its website. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, There had been speculation that more members might quit following the November 2016 elections that brought Trump into office, as there were a number of members who publicly criticized the then-candidate. On the whole, political donations from board members skewed heavily liberal, with members donating almost 2.4 million to democratic candidates and political action committees PACs, compared to just over 236,000 to GOP causes, according to disclosed campaign finance figures going back to 1998. |
Trump US hasnt been notified about threat to cancel summit with North Korea | WASHINGTON Amid fresh uncertainty over his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump Wednesday said that he is committed to pressing for the country to abandon its nuclear program as part of any meeting. North Korea threatened earlier in the day to scrap the historic summit between Trump and Kim, saying it has no interest in a "one-sided" affair meant to pressure the North to abandon its nuclear weapons. But Trump appeared to shrug off the warning saying the U.S. hadn't been notified. "We haven't seen anything, we haven't heard anything," Trump said as he welcomed the president of Uzbekistan to the White House. "We will see what happens.", While Seoul and Washington welcomed Pyongyang's declaration on Saturday to suspend further intercontinental ballistic missile tests and shut down its nuclear test site, the past is littered with failure. The warning from North Korea's first vice foreign minister came after the country abruptly canceled a high-level meeting with South Korea to protest U.S.-South Korean military exercises that the North has long claimed are an invasion rehearsal. Behind the scenes, White House aides tried to soothe South Korean frustrations over the cancelled meeting with the North as they continue to plan for the summit, planned for June 12 in Singapore, as if nothing had changed. U.S. officials compared the threat to Trump's own warning that he might walk away from the summit if he determines Kim is not serious about abandoning his nuclear program, saying it did not appear to be serious. The direction from the Oval Office to White House aides and other U.S. national security agencies Wednesday was to downplay the North Korean threats and not "take the bait" by overreacting to the provocation, said a senior U.S. official. The official wasn't authorized to discuss internal conversation publicly and requested anonymity. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, National Security Adviser John Bolton told Fox News Radio Wednesday that "we are trying to be both optimistic and realistic at the same time.", Bolton, who was called out by name by the North for saying that the U.S. is seeking to seek an outcome similar to Libya's unilateral nuclear disarmament, said the personal attack raised the question of "whether this really is a sign that that they're not taking our objective of denuclearization seriously.", North Korea has a message for U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of next month's summit Don't listen to your new hard-line national security adviser, John Bolton. North Korean first vice foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan said in a statement carried by state media that "we are no longer interested in a negotiation that will be all about driving us into a corner and making a one-sided demand for us to give up our nukes and this would force us to reconsider whether we would accept the North Korea-U.S. summit meeting.", Trump surprised even aides in March when he accepted an invitation from Kim to meet. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has met with the North Korean leader twice to lay the groundwork for the summit, and reported that Kim had agreed to place his nuclear arsenal on the negotiating table. The State Department emphasized that Kim had previously indicated he understood the need and purpose of the U.S. continuing its long-planned exercises with South Korea. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the U.S. had not heard anything directly from North or South Korea that would change that. "We will continue to go ahead and plan the meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un," Nauert said. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said earlier Wednesday that preparations for the summit were ongoing despite the cancellation threat and that Trump is "hopeful" the meeting will still take place. "If it doesn't we'll continue the maximum pressure campaign that's been ongoing," she told Fox Friends. Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden said he is concerned that talks are "really being oversimplified" by the White House. "This is not a like condo deal where two people sit down and hash out a number of outstanding issues and then they say Well, some lawyers can write it up,'" he said. |
South Korean leader says Trump can take the Nobel | SEOUL, South Korea South Korean President Moon Jae-in has shaken off a suggestion that he receive the Nobel Peace Prize, saying that U.S. President Donald Trump "can take the Nobel prize" as long as the Koreas receive peace in return. Moon made the comment Monday in response to a suggestion that he receive the award by the widow of late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 after a summit with then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Moon held a summit with current leader Kim Jong Un last week in which Moon and Kim, the son of Kim Jong Il, walked together across the tense border and agreed to a raft of initiatives meant to ease animosity. Moon responded to the suggestion of Nobel glory by saying, "President Trump can take the Nobel prize. The only thing we need is peace," according to the South's presidential office. While Seoul and Washington welcomed Pyongyang's declaration on Saturday to suspend further intercontinental ballistic missile tests and shut down its nuclear test site, the past is littered with failure. South Korea also said Monday that it will remove propaganda-broadcasting loudspeakers from the border with North Korea this week as the rivals move to follow through with their leaders' summit declaration that produced reconciliation steps without a breakthrough in the nuclear standoff. During their historic meeting Friday at a Korean border village, Kim and Moon agreed to end hostile acts against each other along their tense border, establish a liaison office and resume reunions of separated families. They also agreed to achieve a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, but failed to produce specific time frames and disarmament steps. Seoul's Defense Ministry said it would pull back dozens of its front-line loudspeakers on Tuesday before media cameras. Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyunsoo said Seoul expected North Korea to do the same. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, South Korea had already turned off its loudspeakers ahead of Friday's summit talks, and North Korea responded by halting its own broadcasts. The two Koreas had been engaged in Cold War-era psychological warfare since the North's fourth nuclear test in early 2016. Seoul began blaring anti-North Korean broadcasts and K-Pop songs via border loudspeakers, and North Korea quickly matched the action with its own border broadcasts and launches of balloons carrying anti-South leaflets. Any peace deal with North Korea is unlikely to have an immediate impact on the 23,000 U.S. troops deployed on the peninsula. Seoul's announcement came a day after it said Kim told Moon during the summit that he would shut down his country's only known nuclear testing site and allow outside experts and journalists to watch the process. South Korean officials also cited Kim as saying he would be willing to give up his nuclear programs if the United States commits to a formal end to the Korean War and a pledge not to attack the North. Kim had already suspended his nuclear and missile tests while offering to put his nuclear weapons up for negotiations. The closing of the Punggy-ri test site, where all six of North Korea's atomic bomb tests occurred, could be an eye-catching disarmament step by North Korea. But there is still deep skepticism over whether Kim is truly willing to negotiate away the nuclear weapons that his country has built after decades of struggle. According to a summit accord, Kim and Moon agreed to achieve "a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization," rather than clearly stating "a nuclear-free North Korea." North Korea has long said the term "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" must include the United States pulling its 28,500 troops out of South Korea and removing its so-called "nuclear umbrella" security commitment to South Korea and Japan. President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis spoke on Saturday with their South Korean counterparts after the historic meeting between leaders of the two Koreas, and Trump said "things are going very well" as he prepares for an expected summit with the North's Kim Jong Un. Kim could offer more disarmament concessions during his meeting with Trump, expected in May or June, but it's unclear what specific steps he would take. Some experts say Kim may announce scraping North Korea's long-range missile program, which has posed a direct threat to the United States. U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton reacted coolly to word that Kim would abandon his weapons if the United States pledged not to invade. Asked on CBS's "Face the Nation" whether the U.S. would make such a promise, Bolton said "Well, we've heard this before. This is the North Korean propaganda playbook is an infinitely rich resource. What we want to see from them is evidence that it's real and not just rhetoric.", Kim's meeting with Moon was his second summit with a foreign leader since he took office in late 2011. In March, he traveled to Beijing and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. While meeting with Xi, Kim suggested he prefers a step-by-step disarmament process in line with corresponding outside rewards, according to Chinese state media. U.S. officials want the North to take complete, verifiable and irreversible disarmament measures. China said Monday that its foreign minister, Wang Yi, will visit Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, on Wednesday and Thursday. China is North Korea's only major economic partner, but trade has declined by about 90 percent following Beijing's implementation of economic sanctions imposed over the North's nuclear and missile tests. Some analysts say Kim's recent charm offensive was aimed at weakening the sanctions. Also on Monday, the North's parliament adopted a decree to sync its time zone with South Korea's this Saturday. North Korea's official news agency said the move was made at the proposal of Kim, who found it was "a painful wrench to see two clocks indicating Pyongyang and Seoul times hanging on a wall of the summit venue.", Moon's office said Sunday that Kim made similar remarks to Moon during the summit. The North in 2015 had set its clocks 30 minutes behind South Korea and Japan, saying the measure was aimed at rooting out the legacy of Tokyo's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. |
Another US Navy ballistic missile intercept reportedly fails in Hawaii | WASHINGTON A test shoot of the SM-3 Block IIA fired from an Aegis Ashore test site in Hawaii failed Wednesday, CNN has reported. The missile is designed to intercept ballistic missiles. If confirmed, it would mark the second unsuccessful test of the Raytheon missile in the past year. It also deals a setback to U.S. missile defense efforts as North Korea makes seemingly daily progress on it goal of striking the U.S. mainland with nuclear-armed missiles. When reached for comment, U.S. Missile Defense Agency spokesman Mark Wright declined to comment on the outcome of the test. "The Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Navy sailors manning the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Test Complex AAMDTC conducted a live-fire missile flight test using a Standard-Missile SM-3 Block IIA missile launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii, Wednesday morning," Wright said. CNN was first to report the failed test. Its important to note that a number of factors apart from the missile could be to blame for the failed test. The targeting and fire control radars, or the Navy's AEGIS system could also have caused the failed test. , Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Get breaking news in your inbox, An SM-3 Block IIA test in June failed after a sailor on the destroyer John Paul Jones mistakenly triggered the missile's self-destruct mechanism. , The missile successfully intercepted a ballistic missile target last February in a test launch. The missile is being developed by Raytheon and is a joint project between the U.S. and Japan, designed to counter rising missile threats from North Korea and elsewhere. A U.S. Missile Defense Agency investigation into a failed ballistic missile intercept test showed that a mistaken input into the combat system input by a sailor on the destroyer John Paul Jones caused the missile to self-destruct before reaching the target. |
Trumps new nuclear weapon has entered production | WASHINGTON A new low-yield nuclear warhead, created at the behest of the Trump administration, has officially entered production. The first production unit of the W76-2 warhead is underway at the Pantax Plant in Texas, according to a statement from the National Nuclear Security Agency. "NNSA is on track to complete the W76-2 Initial Operational Capability warhead quantity and deliver the units to the Navy by the end of Fiscal Year 2019," an agency spokesman said. The spokesman noted only the IOC units will be delivered this year, but declined to say how many warheads make up that total. America will be spending a lot on nuclear weapons in the coming years. Here's what the Trump administration will get. The warhead design is a modification of the W76-1 warhead for the Navy's Trident ballistic missile, which has allowed NNSA to quickly turn around the design since it was ordered in last year's Nuclear Posture Review. The warhead is designed to be smaller than the weapon detonated at Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II. The system is controversial, however, with nonproliferation advocates and many Democrats in Congress arguing that, by their nature, all nuclear weapons are strategic, not tactical. They note that even a low-yield nuclear weapon is incredibly powerful an estimated 60,000-80,000 people were wiped out by the atomic bomb used at Hiroshima, and they worry having a low-yield and high-yield warhead launched on the same submarine-launched missile creates a situation where an adversary doesn't know which system is being used and therefore reacts as if the larger warhead has been launched. As a result, the future of the weapon is in doubt, with Rep. Adam Smith, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, indicating a desire to cancel funding for the W76-2 going forward. |
Pratt GE Battle for Future of Military Engines | WASHINGTON The US Air Force and the Army are moving full speed ahead toward next-generation engines the services hope will significantly increase fuel efficiency and power. And both endeavors pit two giants in the engine-building world against each other GE Aviation and Pratt Whitney. -- against one another. The Air Force is kicking off the next phase of its effort to develop adaptive engine technology, a new concept both companies have been developing for several years. Pratt and GE both submitted proposals, due Sept. 16, for the Air Force's Adaptive Engine Transition Program AETP, which is meant to build and test the new engine model. Industry expects the Air Force to award two separate contracts for AETP as it is known, one each to Pratt and GE in early 2016. The five-year program, which could be worth as much as 950 million to each team, will transition the existing technology out of the Air Force Research Laboratory and into the acquisition realm. Industry does not expect a downselect to one company in the near term, but the Pentagon will likely make a decision on a single engine solution in the next few years. If the stakes weren't high enough, some say AETP will play a role in shaping the requirements for the next-generation fighter jet. As the Air Force works to understand the needs of air power out into the 2030s, the service hopes soon to settle on a path forward for a sixth-generation plane. Under AETP, which runs parallel to the planned analysis of alternatives for sixth gen, Pratt and GE will work alongside the three major aircraft primes to test different concepts. Meanwhile, the Army released a request for proposals for preliminary designs for the Improved Turbine Engine Program ITEP at the end of September. ITEP , as it's called, will replace the engine in roughly 3,000 UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache helicopters with a more powerful and fuel-efficient one. It's been a long, delayed road to get to the preliminary design phase. Army leaders stressed the engine replacement was its No. 1 priority, but after it wrapped up the science-and-technology phase, the service made little public progress toward the engine program's inception for well over a year. , Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, Companies wishing to submit offers have until Nov. 9 to submit offers and be part of an full and open competition where up to two vendors will be selected to develop designs. While it's possible a dark horse like France's Turbomeca could respond to the request, it's expected only two engines will be submitted from the usual suspects one from a Honeywell-Pratt Whitney team and one from GE. The two teams both developed engine concepts in the Army's science and technology effort leading up to the ITEP program of record. The service plans to make an award late next summer to up to two vendors to design engines. The Army will then choose one engine design to continue into the engineering and manufacturing development phase in 2019. AETP Implications For Sixth-Gen Fighter, The Air Force Research Laboratory has been working with GE and PW on adaptive, "three-stream" engine technology for several years, under a science and technology program called Adaptive Engine Technology Development AETD. Fixed-cycle engines powering today's military aircraft are limited to one capability either maximum power or fuel efficiency. The adaptive engine concept enables new engines to switch between the two. Where most fighter jet engines have two "spools" of air, the adaptive engine design adds a third stream around the outside of the engine. By changing that air stream, engineers can adapt the engine to get optimal performance throughout the flight envelope, according to Jimmy Kenyon, Pratt's director of advanced programs and technology. "It's like shifting a gear in your car, shifting a gear on your bicycle," Kenyon explained. "You change the way the machinery works together so you match the conditions you are running out.", Both companies finished up design review this year, and will continue to build and test individual components under AETD. The follow-on program, AETP, will build and test full-up engines, Kenyon said. Pratt's AETD engine improves fuel efficiency by 25 percent, thrust by 20 percent and range by 30 percent, Kenyon said. Similarly, GE's AETD design improves fuel consumption by 25 percent, increases thrust by 20 percent, and extends aircraft operating range by 30 percent. Pratt is still on contract to build F135 engines for Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jet, and the company is working on upgrades to improve the fuel efficiency and thrust for that engine. The company sees potential to incorporate some of the technology developed under AETD into the F135, Kenyon said. GE's proposal builds on the company's commercial LEAP and GE9X engines, which will soon enter service with the Airbus' new A320 and Boeing's new 737 MAX, according to Dan McCormick, who leads the company's adaptive cycle program. In addition to the third air stream, the engine leverages ceramic matrix composites, CMCs, a new type of material that can withstand hotter temperatures than conventional metals, and additive manufacturing. , In the next few years, industry expects AETP to look at the application of adaptive engine technology to the next-generation fighter jet. Under AETP, the companies will contract with primes Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman to conduct trade studies on fit and integration of the new engines into next-generation aircraft designs, McCormick said. This contractual effort is intended to inform the Navy and Air Force's ongoing analysis of alternatives for the FA-XX and F-X sixth-generation fighter programs, he said. "This is definitely intended to help populate a matrix of capabilities that help both services determine what capabilities could be provided to the aircraft relative to Mach numbers and ranges and payloads, the typical characteristics," McCormick said. AFRL declined to comment on future contractual efforts. Army ITEP Opportunities , The Army's new engine will be designed to save 25 percent on fuel consumption at 3,000-shaft horsepower, as well as boost the horsepower-to-weight ratio by 65 percent and engine-design life by 20 percent. The Army will spend 51 million in 2016 and anticipates a total development cost of 720 million. Honeywell is taking its experience developing engines for a variety of Army platforms and applying it to its ITEP design that it believes could save the Army 1 billion a year in fuel and maintenance costs. And Honeywell's partner Pratt Whitney "has the most sophisticated and newest DoD engine going for the joint strike fighter," Craig Madden, president of the two companies' joint venture, the Advanced Turbine Engine Co. said last week at a media briefing. "If you combine those two companies, we can make a hell of an engine.", ATEC is offering the HPW3000 turboshaft engine for the ITEP competition, which uses a two-spool gas generator architecture that improves specific fuel consumption, according to Madden. The engine successfully completed performance and durability tests and its new inlet particle separator proved effective in sand testing, Madden said. An engine that can cope with dusty, sandy environments is a requirement stemming from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Much is at stake with the engine program, as the both companies are developing an engine specific to just two military helicopters and the possibility of selling the engine to the commercial market is slim. But Madden is optimistic. "Either competitor, if you were to lose," he said, "you've still got the FVL Future Vertical Lift opportunity and that opportunity is either a 3,000 shaft horsepower or a growth or scaling up version, so there is some opportunity beyond ITEP if we were to lose.", The Army is concurrently planning for a Future Vertical Lift helicopter expected to reach initial fielding in the early 2030s. Both the service and industry have said the ITEP would be available for FVL, but whether it is the right engine to suit the future helicopters' requirements when they are ironed out remains to be seen. Madden acknowledged that the commercial market for engines of this kind is limited but a gap exists in that market that could be filled. There are also some technologies ATEC has developed that could spin into other engines. Additionally, the company has done analysis on scalable engine designs and believes it could scale its engine up to about 4,500 shaft power, Madden said. GE Aviation, which makes the legacy engine in Black Hawks and Apaches, plans to submit its GE3000 engine to the ITEP preliminary design competition. Since wrapping up full engine testing as part of the science and technology development phase, GE "continued maturing critical technologies" with the Army through the competitively awarded Future Affordable Turbine Engine FATE program, with goals even more aggressive than those in the ITEP program, according to a company statement. The FATE program set its goals at 35 percent reduction in specific fuel consumption, 80 percent improvement in power-to-weight, 20 percent improvement in design life and a 45 percent reduction in production and maintenance costs relative to currently fielded engines. GE also successfully tested a FATE inlet particle separator, compressor, combustor and turbines that validated advanced technologies like 3D aero designs, ceramic matrix composites and additive manufacturing, in which the company invests 1.8 billion annually to develop. "The FATE engine is the world's most advanced turboshaft engine, incorporating technologies for the next generation of propulsion," Harry Nahatis, GE Aviation's general manager of Advanced Turboshaft Programs, said. "We're very encouraged by the test results thus far and are incorporating the lessons learned into our ITEP offering.", Email [email protected], [email protected] |
Trump praises military for keeping US safe strong proud | WASHINGTON President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised the U.S. military for keeping America "safe, strong, proud, mighty and free" and used the Independence Day holiday to thank them for being willing to put their lives on the line in defense of the nation. "Two hundred and 42 years ago on July 4, 1776, America's founders adopted the Declaration of independence and changed the course of human history," said Trump, addressing hundreds of military families attending a White House picnic from a balcony overlooking the South Lawn of the White House. "But our freedom exists only because there are brave Americans willing to give their lives, to defend it and defend our great country," added Trump, who was accompanied by his wife, Melania. "America's liberty has been earned through the blood, sweat and sacrifice of American patriots.", Melania Trump made another secret trip Tuesday, though she stayed a little closer to home. Trump and the first lady later returned to the balcony toward the end of a nationally televised concert from the South Lawn and stayed for the annual fireworks show on the National Mall. Trump pumped both fists several times at the end of the show before he went back inside the White House. Trump was not expected on Wednesday to interview candidates for the Supreme Court, taking a holiday respite from the intense process. He has spoken with seven candidates, according to the White House, and will announce his choice for a successor to retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on Monday. Before greeting guests on the lawn during the picnic, Trump praised service members and their families as "truly unbelievable people.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup, "Thank you for keeping America safe, strong, proud, mighty and free," he said. The White House invited some 1,500 military families to the picnic, according to the first lady's office, with 5,500 more invited for the fireworks. Several Cabinet secretaries attended the picnic, including embattled Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. Entertainers appearing at the 90-minute concert that was televised by the Hallmark Channel included singer-songwriter Sara Evans, pianist Lola Astanova and former "American Idol" finalists Jonny Brenns and Jax. |
US airstrike hits alQaida training camp in Yemen | SANAA, Yemen The U.S. military conducted an airstrike Tuesday against an al-Qaida training camp in Yemen, causing dozens of casualties, a Pentagon spokesman said. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the training camp was located in the mountains, and was being used by more than 70 terrorists belonging to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. Cook did not specify the location of the camp. But Yemeni security officials and a witness said the airstrike hit a former military base that had been taken over by al-Qaida militants about 75 kilometers 47 miles west of the terror group's stronghold city of Mukalla. "We continue to assess the results of the operation, but our initial assessment is that dozens of AQAP fighters have been removed from the battlefield," Cook said. A tribal member at the site said about 40 people were killed and wounded in the Brom Maifa district on Tuesday. He didn't give a breakdown and said that bodies were still being counted. He spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for his safety. The Yemeni officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to talk to reporters. "This strike deals a blow to AQAP's ability to use Yemen as a base for attacks that threaten U.S. persons, and it demonstrates our commitment to defeating al-Qaida and denying it safe haven," Cook said. Yemen has been left fragmented by war pitting Shiite Houthi rebels and military units loyal to a former president against a U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally recognized government. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, The war has given AQAP a freehand to expand and seize cities and large swaths of land. Militants from the extremist Islamic State group have also taken advantage of the chaos to wage a series of deadly attacks across the country. |
Pilot error to blame for crash of U2 trainer in September | Pilot error led to the fatal crash of a TU-2S aircraft, the two-seat training version of a U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane, about 20 miles west of Beale Air Force Base, California, on Sept. 20, 2016, according to an Air Combat Command Accident Investigation Board report released Tuesday. When the plane, assigned to the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale stalled during a training maneuver, the two pilots ejected, but during the ejection sequence, Lt. Col. Ira S. Eadie, the instructor pilot, was killed. The other pilot received minor injuries. , The wreckage of a TU-2S is strewn across the foothills south of the Sutter Buttes mountain range in Northern California. The training aircraft crashed after taking off from Beale Air Force Base on Sept. 20, 2016. Photo Credit Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee via AP, "The purpose of this report was to identify the causes and contributing factors which may have contributed to the incident," said Brig. Gen. David S. Nahom, AIB board president, in an ACC news release. "This was a terrible tragedy, and our heartfelt condolences go out to Lt. Col. Eadie's family.", U-2 pilots are competitively selected from the Air Force's pool of qualified aviators. As part of their interview process, applicants take part in three so-called "acceptance flights" under the supervision of a TU-2S instructor pilot. The mishap occurred during the first acceptance flight for the interviewing pilot. The pilot was conducting "approach to stall" training, which emphasizes recognition of approaching stall conditions and the procedures used to recover the aircraft to normal flight. During the recovery from the stall, however, the interviewing pilot's flight control inputs placed the aircraft into an unintentional secondary stall, which led to a sharp left wing drop and excessive nose-low attitude. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Air Force Times Daily News Roundup, As the aircraft approached an inverted position and neared the minimum uncontrolled flight ejection altiutude, the instructor pilot commanded ejection. "During the ejection sequence, the instructor pilot and his ejection seat struck the aircraft's right wing resulting in fatal injuries," according to the news release. The aircraft was completely destroyed, at a loss of approximately 32 million, the release stated. |
Top US commander wants more aggressive Afghan push this year | WASHINGTON The top American commander for the Middle East wants a more aggressive Afghan military pressuring Taliban and other insurgents over the normally quieter months of Afghanistan's winter, and then quickly going on the offensive in the spring. It's all part of a plan the United States hopes will change the course of a war now entering its 17th year. Gen. Joseph Votel of U.S. Central Command said an influx of new American trainers can help escalate the fight. They'll be operating with Afghan units, closer to the front lines and at greater risk, but Votel said U.S. commanders will ensure American and allied forces have adequate protection. The goal is to get the Afghan military moving on its military campaign sooner, rather than later. The United States wants the "focus on offensive operations and we'll look for a major effort to gain the initiative very quickly as we enter into the fighting season," Votel said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. Afghan forces must "keep the pressure on all the time and work to gain the upper hand as quickly as we can. So that as we get into this next fighting season we can build on the initiative," he said. The Trump administration's Afghanistan strategy gives the U.S. military greater authority to launch offensive attacks against a resilient Taliban and an emerging Islamic State affiliate. The plan, announced in August, was designed to reverse a stalemate in America's longest war. It specifically eliminates the Obama administration's scheduled plan to withdraw U.S. forces, but includes no dramatic changes in an approach that has failed to stabilize the country or snuff out extremist groups operating from Afghan territory. As 2018 begins, Afghanistan appears to be high on President Donald Trump's agenda. On New Year's Day, he slammed Afghanistan's neighbor Pakistan in a tweet for "lies deceit," accusing the country of playing U.S. leaders for "fools" by not crushing militants in its territory. A major focus of Trump's Afghanistan strategy is to persuade Pakistan to eliminate havens for the Taliban and other fighters. Pakistan fired back Tuesday after President Donald Trump accused it of harboring terrorists, calling his New Year's Day tweet "completely incomprehensible.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, Pakistan summoned the U.S. ambassador and Islamic groups held rallies in major Pakistani cities in response. "Pakistan has played a double game for years," Nikki Haley, Trump's U.N. envoy, said Tuesday, explaining that Washington was withholding 255 million in aid to Islamabad. "They work with us at times and they also harbor the terrorists that attack our troops in Afghanistan. That game is not acceptable.", Pakistan's Ambassador to the U.N. Maleeha Lodhi responded, "We have contributed and sacrificed the most in fighting international terrorism and carried out the largest counter terrorism operation anywhere in the world.", Lodhi said the U.S. "should not shift the blame for their own mistakes and failures onto others. We can review our cooperation if it is not appreciated.", On the Afghan side of the border, Washington is trying to build a tougher national military. Votel said as the coalition builds up the Afghan Air Force and trains more security forces, the Afghans will become better fighters. "By the time they get to the next fight," he said, "they will be able to really present a significant offensive capability.", But it's hardly the first time the American military has vowed to shape up the U.S.-backed army into a force that can defeat the Taliban, al-Qaida, ISIS and others. Nor does Trump's approach represent the first time a frustrated president has pumped troops into the country to turn the situation around. There are now as many as 16,000 U.S. forces in the country roughly double what Trump inherited and a special training unit is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan early this year. When then-President Barack Obama took office in 2009, he authorized a surge of U.S. forces to Afghanistan that took the total there to about 100,000. The goal was to tamp down a resurgent Taliban and train and expand Afghan security forces. The plan centered on forcing the Taliban to the peace table and ending the war by the time Obama left office. The plan never worked, despite the mission meeting several celebrated benchmarks Obama ended combat operations in 2014, curtailed offensive strikes and set deadlines for a full U.S. troop withdrawal. And as the U.S. and NATO forces pulled back, the Taliban stepped up attacks and regained ground, while an IS faction carved out its own foothold. Obama ended his presidency leaving more than 8,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Beyond boosting troop numbers, Trump has granted his generals' wishes for fewer combat restrictions, greater authority for commanders and no withdrawal deadline. Next year will be the first test of the policy. The Taliban currently controls as much as half of the country. James Stavridis, a retired Navy admiral who served as the top U.S. commander for NATO from 2009 until 2013, said the ultimate goal in Afghanistan remains the same Pushing the Taliban into seeking peace negotiations. "There is a slightly better than even chance that there are some new factors which move us toward the possibility of a successful outcome," said Stavridis, now dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Those changes, he said, include the elimination of troop withdrawal timelines and Taliban fatigue. "I think they're tired, too. This is also a 17 year war for them," Stavridis said, but suggested any settlement will require compromise. "Is this going to be a sweeping victory? No. But I think the odds are much higher of getting them to the negotiating table.", Votel, too, said he believes efforts are trending in the right direction, as Afghanistan's military replaces older commanders with younger officers. Recruitment is being maintained at a rapid pace. But as winter arrives, Votel said the Afghan army must stay on the offense and prepare for greater fighting when the weather improves. "We frequently talk about these fighting seasons, but as you know the fighting never actually ends," Votel said. |
With massive F35 increase Japan is now biggest international buyer | WASHINGTON Japan will officially increase its order of F-35 joint strike fighters, including procurement of the F-35B model making the Pacific nation the second-largest buyer of the Lockheed Martin-made jet. Tokyo previously planned to procure 42 F-35A models. However, a source close to the program confirmed that Japan will be adding 63 F-35A models, as well as 42 F-35B models, for a total of 147 F-35 fighters. The announcement, anticipated for weeks, was rolled out as part of Japan's new defense plan Tuesday. Japan is reportedly looking to buy the F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing model, which would allow it to operate from ships and send a message to China. The package would make Japan second only to the United States in terms of procured F-35s, with the United Kingdom 138 total fighters now third. Japan also becomes the fourth user of the "B" model, joining the U.S. Marine Corps, the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and the Italian Navy. From an operational standpoint, the decision to procure the F-35Bs are notable, as it comes hand in hand with a plan to use an existing ship design as an aircraft carrier. The presence of Japanese carriers armed with F-35Bs would be a clear signal of power projection to China, analysts have said, and also ease coordination with U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs already stationed in Japan. Japan is in the process of standing up its first operational F-35 unit. Japan's plan calls for 45 F-35s, including 18 B models, to be acquired over the next five years. Since coming to office, U.S. President Donald Trump has made increasing arms sale abroad a key effort, with Japan a frequent target. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, In a company statement, prime contractor Lockheed Martin called the decision "a testament to the aircraft's transformational capability and its increasing role in promoting regional stability and enhancing the US-Japan security alliance.", |
Marines set to replace handgun stock with Armys newest pistol | If the Marine Corps' budget request for the coming year is approved, it will begin replacing nearly its entire stock of handguns with the Army's newest pistol. The Modular Handgun System, a weapon system that includes both the M17 and M18 handguns, holster and two 21-round magazines and one 17-round magazine, was first fielded by the Army's 101st Airborne Division soldiers late last year. The Army chose the Sig Sauer 9mm pistol in January 2017 over Glock and other competitors. First reported by Soldier Systems, the procurement states the reason for acquiring the handgun as it will be "more affordable and efficient pistol for maintenance. The MHS also provides modularity and greater shooter ergonomics over the current models.", Two competitors for the Modular Handgun System contract are now for civilian consumption. The Glock 19X and the Beretta APX were both on display at the annual Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Corps plans to purchase 35,000 pistols at 180 a pop, which could begin as early as October, according to the budget document. , Marine Corps Systems Command declined to comment on the requested purchase. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Get the Marine Corps Times Daily News Roundup, The modularity includes three different handgrips that can be swapped by the user or an armorer. The system also has a built-in rail and slide mount for a sighting system, both of which require modifications for the M9. The Sig is the first new servicewide handgun to be fielded by the Army in more than 30 years, when the M9 Beretta handgun took the place of the 1911A1 .45 caliber handgun that had served since World War I. It won the 10-year, 580 million contract to build at least 200,000 handguns for the Army. The Navy has previously announced it would acquire 61,000 of the M18s and the Air Force said it would buy 130,000 MHS systems. The M17 version is the standard sized 9mm pistol and the M18 is a compact version, typically used by military police, criminal investigators or other duties that might need a concealed option. The Marines bought the Glock 9mm last year for fielding in such positions, dubbing it the M007. The MHS procurement would replace the Glock, M9 and the 1911 variants in the arsenal for all but select units such as the Marine Special Operations Command Raiders. The Defense Department budget estimate has requested 28.3 million for its "Family of Infantry Weapons Systems" to add or replace certain weapons. |
Army we have a bobsled team | Last summer 10th Special Forces Group Sgt. First Class Nathan Weber was doing 40-yard sprints in the Afghan desert when his base's C-RAM began to fire aggressively at an incoming mortar about 75 meters above Weber's head. , "I start getting sprinkled with little bits of the mortar that just got shot out of the sky," the 31-year-old Green Beret said in an official DoD video interview in September. , Weber had the thought I should probably do stand up against the wall. But then he had a second thought "Man, this has really got my adrenaline going. I'm fired up right now. I need to keep running." , After all, Weber had an winter Olympic bobsled team to qualify for. , On Sunday, Weber's training which occurred all over the world through multiple deployments paid off as the U.S. Olympic Committee announced him as one of 12 athletes who will comprise the men's bobsled teams at PyeongChang, South Korea, in the Olympic Games next month. Four total Army or Army National Guard service members were named to the 2018 bobsled team. , Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, The Army athletes will also be piloting two of the three U.S. bobsleds competing in the games, the committee announced. , Three-time Olympic veteran Sgt. Justin Olsen, 30, is a member of the New York National Guard and a member of the Army's World Class Athlete Program. He is making his debut as a bobsled pilot in the 2018 games. , Olsen competed in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, winning gold as part of a four-man bobsled. He qualified again and competed in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, finishing 12th. , Sgt. Nick Cunningham, 32, is piloting the second of three U.S. bobsleds that will compete at PyeongChang. Cunningham is also a member of the New York National Guard and a member of the Army's World Class Athlete Program. He also competed at both Vancouver and Sochi, finishing 12th in the 2014 Sochi competition. , Sochi bobsled team bronze-medal-winner Army Capt. Chris Fogt, 34, is back for his third Olympics. Fogt is also a member of the World Class Athlete Program. , This trio will head to South Korea in February. The bobsledders join three Army sergeants who were named last month to the USA luge team. Two more Army competitors, Spc. Travis Cooper and Pvt. Cody Johnson will find out next week if they have qualified for the U.S. Olympic biathlon team. |
NATOs tanker AWACS programs see membership increase | BRUSSELS Canada has decided to rejoin NATO's Airborne Warning and Control Systems program, while Belgium has agreed to buy into the alliance's tanker program a pair of moves expected to strengthen NATO's indigenous air capability. The two announcements both came Wednesday at a NATO defense ministerial conference in Brussels. NATO owns few pieces of equipment itself, with the 16-strong fleet of E-3A AWACS surveillance aircraft the crown jewel. Those planes operate primarily out of NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen, but can also operate out of component forward-operating bases in Aktion, Greece Trapani, Italy Konya, Turkey and Oerland, Norway. U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison warned against protectionism in Europe that could harm U.S. companies selling in Europe. Canada was one of the 12 original nations that funded the NATO AWACS program, but announced it was withdrawing support in 2011, with operational standdown coming in 2014. Wednesday's decision to reverse that stand represents Canada's renewed commitment to the alliance, said Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. "NATO is a cornerstone of Canada's international security policy, and is one of our most important multilateral relationships. In that spirit, Canada has decided to rejoin NATO's Airborne Warning and Control System," Sajjan announced at the ministerial event. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, The decision to pull out of the AWACS program saved about CA50 million U.S. 40 million a year, according to the Canadian Armed Forces. The move had angered NATO allies, but Canadian government officials insisted it was necessary. The ruling Conservative Party government defended its position by noting that Canadian military personnel still served on U.S. Air Force AWACS. The current Liberal Party government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau re-evaluated the decision in light of Canada's increasing commitment in Europe. Over the last several years, NATO has significantly increased the use of its AWACS, including in areas like Central and Eastern Europe, where Canada is leading a multinational NATO battlegroup based in Latvia. Sajjan said Canada would be supporting the capability through "contributing to its operations and support budget." Follow-up requests for confirmation that Canada would be contributing only money and not training pilots or maintainers on the aircraft were not returned by press time. NATO nations hope to add another airborne capability through a new fleet of A330 multirole air-to-air refueling aircraft through a joint cost-sharing program. As with the AWACS fleet, the idea for the tanker aircraft is to pool resources to procure a high-end capability for NATO members who otherwise would not be able to afford refueling aircraft. Wednesday's signing makes Belgium the fifth members of the coalition, joining the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany and Norway. The first two tankers, which can also be used for transporting materiel or troops, were purchased by the Netherlands and Luxembourg in 2016. Belgium's inclusion means the fleet will now be a planned eight aircraft, with scheduled deployment between 2020 and 2024. Notably, the NATO announcement about the agreement highlights how the five-nation team will "reduce the over-reliance on the United States" in the area of transport and refueling. U.S. President Donald Trump has been vocal in his criticisms that NATO countries are not doing enough in the area of burden-sharing. |
Army Ranger killed in combat operations in Afghanistan | The Pentagon on Sunday released the name of the soldier killed this weekend in Afghanistan. Sgt. Leandro Jasso, 25, was deployed in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel. He was wounded by small arms fire while conducting combat operations in Khash Rod district, in Afghanistan's Nimruz province. He was immediately treated and medically evacuated to the nearest medical treatment facility, in Garmsir district, in neighboring Helmand province, where he died Saturday of his wounds, according to U.S. Army Special Operations Command. The incident is under investigation. Jasso was a team leader assigned to 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. He was on his third deployment to Afghanistan. A native of Leavenworth, Washington, Jasso enlisted in the Army in August 2012, according to USASOC. After completing initial entry training and airborne school, he successfully completed the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program and was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. A U.S. service member was killed in Afghanistan on Saturday. His awards and decorations include the Army Achievement Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the Ranger Tab, the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Expert Infantryman Badge. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, "Sgt. Jasso was a humble professional who placed the mission first, lived the Ranger Creed and will be deeply missed," said Lt. Col. Rob McChrystal, commander of 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, in a statement. Jasso is the 10th U.S. service member killed this year in Afghanistan. |
SCRA and military moves What you need to know | The math isn't hard to figure out, regardless of your service branch Renters frequently sign yearlong leases, and permanent change-of-station orders can come a few months before it's time to start packing boxes. If that. Service members who will need to break a lease as part of their move can rely on the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act for support. Here's how the SCRA applies in this situation, courtesy of Military OneSource materials and other Defense Department resources, 1. Who can do it. Troops who sign a lease before going on active duty this includes mobilization of a reserve-component member can request its termination if they are staying on active duty for more than 90 days. Troops already on active duty can request lease termination if they receive change-of-station orders or deployment orders that will last more than 90 days. Tens of thousands of VA-backed borrowers received assistance in fiscal 2016. 2. How you do it. Service members must provide written notice to their landlord or his agent of their intent to terminate the lease. They must also provide a copy of their orders. Keep a copy of both for your files., 3. When to do it. Per the act, the termination "is effective 30 days after the first date on which the next rental payment is due." The takeaway Notify your landlord as soon as possible, and there's a chance you may only owe one more payment, instead of two. 4. Why to do it. The act allows the lease to end without payments or fees the landlord must treat it as is if it lasted to term. Service members remain liable for damages and other costs that would result at the end of a typical lease. 5. What else to know. The SCRA may not be your only protection Many landlords, especially those near military installations, have military-friendly clauses in their lease agreements that may provide for even better termination terms. But other deals could include provisions where service members waive their SCRA rights be sure to read all the fine print though it must be in at least 12-point font, per the SCRA itself and find legal help if needed. |
Ground Mobility Vehicle competition delayed as offtheshelf solutions wait in wings | WASHINGTON A competition to procure a Ground Mobility Vehicle to add much-needed tactical mobility for the U.S. Army's infantry brigade combat team is delayed by several years, even as vendors with commercial off-the-shelf solutions are ready now.The reason for the delay is unclear and the Army did not directly answer the question of why its schedule to hold a competition for the GMV in 2017 had been pushed back.The Army launched its new-start GMV program in 2017 as planned, and, according to the fiscal 2017 budget request, the service intended to find a commercial off-the-shelf or non-developmental vehicle as the solution.The service said it wanted a vehicle that could carry a nine-person squad with their equipment that could be air-droppable and sling-loaded on a UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter.The Army planned to issue a request for proposal for the GMV in 2017 and make a contract award by the end of the fiscal year, according the FY17 request. Production qualification testing would take place from the second quarter of FY18 through the second quarter of FY19 and a full-rate production decision was scheduled for the third quarter of FY19.Now the Army has split its GMV procurement plans into two phases, according to the FY18 budget request released last month. In the first phase, the Army will procure GMVs for five airborne infantry brigade combat teams, or AIBCT, through the U.S. Special Operations Command's GMV 1.1 contract. This means the Army is buying Flyer 72 vehicles from General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems."The Army needs to quickly fill a tactical mobility capability gap for infantry squads in five AIBCTs. Ensuring that our infantry squads have the capability that they need to be successful on the battlefield is our number one priority," Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Monica Womack told Defense News in a statement Tuesday."We are making a limited buy of 295 GMV 1.1 vehicles from an existing, competitively awarded Special Operations Command contract. This is the quickest way to field an interim capability," she said, adding that the Army further benefits from purchasing vehicles under the SOCOM contract because the vehicle has gone through testing, has a conditional material release and shares the same repair parts system with SOCOM, "all of which save time in the fielding process."In the second phase of the program, the Army will procure 1,700 GMVs through a full-and-open competition, "once the requirement is refined, which should reduce cost," Womack said.Procuring the GMV 1.1 vehicles under the SOCOM contract raises the unit cost of the vehicle higher than the unit cost of a vehicle procured through competition, according to the FY18 budget documents. "We are expediting delivery of a needed capability into the hands of our soldiers AIBCT consistent with Congress' intent that we find ways to do so," Womack said.But procurement of the interim solution still doesn't get vehicles in the hands of soldiers immediately. The delivery of the vehicles will take place over the course of several years, the budget documents show. A total of 100 vehicles will be procured in FY18, 145 in FY19 and another 150 in FY20. The FY17 request shows the Army had planned to reach full-rate production in the third quarter of 2019, had a competition kicked off as planned.The Army plans to spend 194.8 million for 718 vehicles from FY18 to FY22, according to the FY18 request.According the FY18 budget document, which, unlike the FY17 version, does not have a chart showing projected milestones, the Army will fund the competition starting in the FY-19-23 program objective memorandum "with an expectation" that a contract award would be made in FY20.The decision to delay the competition and field an interim solution leaves many in industry scratching their heads, as the Army has spent years demonstrating and evaluating a variety of commercial off-the-shelf offerings.The Army's ultralight combat vehicle demonstration at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in 2014 included commercial and modified commercial vehicles GD's Flyer the Boeing-MSI Defense Phantom Badger Polaris Defense's air-transportable off-road combat vehicle DAGOR Hendrick Dynamics' Commando Jeep Vyper Adamas' Viper and Lockheed Martin's High Versatility Tactical Vehicle, which is a version of the British Army's HMT-400 Jackal.The service has continuously evaluated vehicles for GMV since then.And GD's Flyer is not the only vehicle that fits in the GMV footprint already fielded by the U.S. military. The Army's 82nd Airborne Division has 70 Polaris DAGORs with which it is has deployed, including last year's Anakonda exercise in Poland. It is also fielded with U.S. special operations forces.DAGOR, according to Polaris, can fit nine soldiers, is UH-60 sling-load certified and can fit in a CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter. It is also air-drop certified.According to the SOCOM specifications for the GMV 1.1 vehicle in use by special operators now, the vehicle can fit six operators, but seven with a secondary seating kit. The General Dynamics' site states the vehicle can accommodate a crew of up to nine, and, according to a company spokeswoman, the Army's GMV requirement is a seated nine-man crew with rollover protectionThe vehicle is capable of being air-dropped and sling-loaded as well as internally transported in the CH-47 helicopter, the spokeswoman added. |
New details on Trumps troop deployments to the Mexican border | WASHINGTON President Donald Trump is ordering U.S. troops to the southern U.S. border, but the move does not appear to be as unusual as the White House first billed it this week. The Pentagon and White House on Wednesday walked back President Donald Trump promise to handle border security "militarily," saying the proposed moves will be restricted to National Guard personnel and be similar to past operations in Southern states. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Wednesday at a White House press conference that her agency and the Pentagon are coordinating with governors on the specifics of the deployments, with exact numbers and missions to be announced later. Guardsmen will serve in support roles, and not actual law enforcement activities. The announcement came roughly 24 hours after Trump announced at a similar event that "we're going to be guarding our border with the military," adding "we really haven't done that before.", While the active duty members themselves are protected because in order to enlist a service member has to show proof that they are in the country legally their undocumented spouses are not. The comments drew questions and concerns about the commander in chief overstepping traditional military limits. "A lot of folks were envisioning a line of active-duty troops and tanks on the border after Trump's first comments," said Todd Weiler, a former senior Pentagon official during Obama's tenure. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, "What we'll probably end up seeing is some vehicles and aerial assets supporting the border patrol, which is normal.", Weiler credited Defense Secretary Jim Mattis who was silent beside Trump when he made his Tuesday comments for helping "calm" the situation, "It's good that we have folks in the Pentagon who are quick to react and use the what the president meant to say' line," he said. In recent days, Trump has floated the idea of having the military pay for a controversial border wall with part of its 700 billion fiscal 2018 defense budget, a suggestion that raised similar problematic issues of military readiness and responsibilities. Nielsen on Wednesday emphasized the deployments would be similar to actions taken under former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Duties will include aerial surveillance work and infrastructure support. She said she anticipates the moves will happen as soon as possible. If the Guard is deployed as it has been in the past, there would be little those troops could do to stop crime along the border, said William Banks, author of "Soldiers on the Home Front The Domestic Role of the American Military" and director at the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism at Syracuse University's College of Law. The Posse Comitatus Act prevents the federal government from using federal troops to conduct local law enforcement on U.S. soil. Banks called it the backbone of colonists' grievances when the United States declared independence from England. "The phrase is known by every Private 1st Class in the U.S. military," Banks said. It's also why National Guard forces are under state control, Banks said. The president could federalize the National Guard in an extreme situation, such as when Bush requested that the Guard forces responding to Hurricane Katrina be placed under federal control. But even then, guardsmen would not have the authority to participate in law enforcement, such as preventing an illegal crossing or conducting a drug interdiction, he said. There are exceptions, Banks said. Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 185.4 provides National Guard troops "immediate response authority" the ability to defend themselves if they are under immediate threat. There is also a broader, short-term "emergency authority," which allows the forces to take control "in extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the president is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances.", Nielsen said none of those issues are under consideration at the moment. Federal departments are coordinating with all of the border state governors on the steps ahead, and administration officials are optimistic they will have full support from local leaders. "Border security is homeland security, which is national security," she said. "It's not a partisan issue. It's not something we can separate out. It's core to being a sovereign nation.", California officials have already publicly expressed resistance to the plan. Trump has said he's turning to the military for help with immigration enforcement because of congressional Democrats' opposition to funding his proposed border wall. That issue is unlikely to be resolved in coming months, given the current fractured political environment on Capitol Hill. |
Heres who is running the Pentagons acquisition and technology offices | WASHINGTON When the Pentagon split the legacy Acquisition, Technology and Logistics office into two new organizations, it came with a massive reshuffling of personnel. Now, eight months after the split officially happened, Under Secretary of Research and Engineering Michael Griffin and Under Secretary of Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord are still working to formulate their teams, with several key individuals confirmed or added in just the last few weeks. Structurally, RE differs from AS in a notable way. Instead of having assistant secretary of defense positions generally the level under the undersecretary and requiring congressional approval the office is set up with "directors." Casting those offices in that way means Griffin can quickly hire without the congressional process, something he has already taken advantage of. Reporting directly to Griffin and his eventual deputy are seven individuals. The Defense Innovation Unit, the Pentagon's commercial tech hub, has been taken over by former Symantec CEO Michael Brown the Strategic Capabilities Office, which focuses on taking existing technologies and improving them, is led by longtime Griffin associate Chris Shank the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is led by Steven Walker, who previously served as the group's deputy director and Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves continues to lead the Missile Defense Agency. Here are the details of a major restructuring for the two Pentagon offices that determine how the Defense Department buys and develops weapon systems. Two other key roles have been quietly filled in recent weeks. The first, director of research and technology the office of which oversees research areas such as cyber, microelectronics, quantum sciences, directed energy and machine learning is being filled by Milan "Mitch" Nikolich. Nikolich was a board member of the George C. Marshall Institute, a now-defunct conservative think tank that focused on missile defense issues. This would align Nikolich with Griffin, who has made it clear new missile defense technologies are a top priority. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, Per his Marshall background, Nikolich took part in several nonproliferation negotiations with Russia, including working on the START II and START III discussions helped develop the 2001 Nuclear Posture Review and was part of a congressional board tasked with looking at dangers from electromagnetic pulse weaponry. He also worked at information technology shop CACI. The other job, director for advanced capabilities, has been filled by James "Jim" Faist. In that role, Faist will oversee the development of new capabilities for networked C3, space, autonomy and hypersonics. He will also manage the development, test and evaluation as well as the mission engineering offices. Faist comes from an industry background, having worked as an engineer with Northrop Grumman and Harris Corporation, and as an executive with the Schafer Corporation where Griffin served as chairman and CEO plus Trident Systems and System Planning Corporation. He also served in the U.S. Air Force as an electronic warfare officer with the F-4D/E Phantom II. That leaves two other key offices the deputy undersecretary, Griffin's No. 2 in the department, and the head of the Strategic Intelligence Analysis Cell. As an example to the benefit of non-confirmable director spots for RE, Lisa Porter, the former In-Q-Tel head, was tapped to be the deputy in March and cleared the Senate Armed Services Committee in May, but was stuck awaiting a final Senate vote. On Thursday, the Senate finally confirmed her, 98-1. And Mike Olmsted, director of net technical assessment, is acting in a temporary capacity leading the analysis cell until a permanent head is named. While there are a number of spots to be filled on the org chart, Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza said those jobs are well on their way to completion. "Under Secretary Griffin has made determinations for the majority of the Deputy Director DD, and Assistant Director AD positions. The ADs will be tasked with leading the development and execution of modernization road maps, in coordination with the full Department," Baldanza wrote to Defense News. "To maintain the privacy of these individuals as they proceed through their hiring processes, we are not yet prepared to release their names," she continued. "We will be welcoming them to OUSDRE in the coming months.", The Defense Department's Acquisition and Sustainment office should be fully armed and operational by early next year. Filling out AS, The lower levels of the AS structure are more filled out, and the two key empty leadership spots will likely be filled soon. Both Alan Shaffer, to be Lord's deputy, and Robert McMahon, to be assistant secretary of defense for sustainment, were voted out of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. They now await a vote in the full Senate and are not expected to encounter any opposition. However, there is a chance that any nominees could be held up by the Supreme Court fight, or simply fall by the wayside as members flee Washington ahead of the election. Once confirmed, they will join Kevin Fahey, the ASD for acquisition, and Guy Roberts, the ASD for nuclear, chemical, and biological defense, as the chief lieutenants for Lord. However, while AS was able to quickly fill key spots, the reorganization effort did not come without pain for Lord's team. The Pentagon has been under a congressional requirement to cut headquarters staff for several years, and that requirement included ATL. Under the plan laid out for the split, the AS organization absorbed all the projected cuts from the legacy ATL levels the RE organization did not have to find reductions. Overall, 120 jobs will be cut when AS is fully stood up. Seventy of those come from the mandatory cuts, while another 50 were related to the split. It's unclear what happens to Lucian Niemeyer, the assistant secretary of defense for energy, installations and environment. While he was confirmed by the Senate in 2017 for that role, the AS reorganization eliminates that seat, with its roles and responsibilities now reporting to the ASD for sustainment. Asked about Niemeyer's status, a spokesperson said he would continue to serve in that spot until McMahon is confirmed. However, the Pentagon declined to comment on what happens to Niemeyer afterward. |
Heres the US military footprint in the Black Sea region | After Russia fired on two Ukrainian naval ships Sunday, seizing the vessels and crew members, tensions on Russia's doorstep appear to have reached a fever pitch. The incident took place in the Kerch Strait a key waterway to both countries that bridges the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. And while Ukraine is not a NATO ally, members of the Western alliance have issued formal condemnation of Russia's actions, which appeared to be unprovoked. How things got this bad, and what could happen next. "There is no justification for Russia's use of military force against Ukrainian ships and naval personnel. We call on Russia to release the Ukrainian sailors and ships it seized, without delay," a NATO statement issued Tuesday afternoon reads. A U.S.-Russia conflict remains unlikely, but there are U.S. troops currently in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region that could respond. Army, In Ukraine specifically, the Tennessee National Guard's 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment has troops on the ground helping that country run its Yavoriv Combat Training Center. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, The CTC similar to the Army's versions at Fort Polk in Louisiana, Fort Irwin in California, and Hohenfels in Germany is an immersive program designed to get soldiers ready for combat deployments. The Army also keeps a rotating armored brigade in Eastern Europe year-round, which partners with local forces from Latvia down to Bulgaria on military exercises. The 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division is finishing up its rotation and preparing for the arrival of 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. They are joined by the 4th Combat Aviation Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, which spent Thanksgiving in Romania. Marine Corps, The Corps keeps a relatively light footprint in the Black Sea region. The Marines operating in the area usually hail from the Black Sea Rotational Force a handful of several hundred Marines and sailors who participate in security cooperation exercises across the region. But, "Marines in Romania who had been part of the Black Sea Rotational Force departed on their normally scheduled rotation in September," Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Marine spokesman, said. "We have a very small contingent visiting in Romania this week for a ceremonial event taking place to honor Romania's national day.", While modest in size, the Corps' presence in the Black Sea serves as a powerful deterrent against would-be aggressors. Highly mobile and agile, the Marines in the Black Sea bounce around the region helping train and advise partner forces to boost collective security. From July to September this year, the Corps kicked off three training evolutions with partner forces in Ukraine, Romania, and Georgia. This year's iteration of Sea Breeze in Ukraine involved roughly 50 Marines with Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment. The training, which involved company sized mechanized attacks, stoked the ire of Russian officials. "Military activities will take place in direct proximity to the conflict zone in southeastern Ukraine where Ukrainian military units continue to shell peaceful Donbass cities every day despite a bread truce' announced on July 1 by the Minsk Contact Group," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a July Moscow briefing. "Attempts to flex muscles in these conditions will hardly help stabilize the situation in this region.", Air Force, Similarly, the Air Force has held exercises of significance in Ukraine this year. The California National Guard has been linked to Ukraine through a State Department partnership program since 1993, often rotating airmen through the country for training. That partnership has stepped up recently. The Air Force wrapped up Clear Sky 2018, a large, multinational air exercise hosted by Ukraine in October. "It was basically the largest of its kind in Eastern Europe ever," Lt. Col. Robert Swertfager, the partnership program director for the California Air National Guard, told Military Times last month. The exercise paired California Air National Guard assets with the Ukrainian Air Force during close-air support missions, cyber defense operations and air sovereignty defense. Special operations airmen, to include pararescue jumpers and joint terminal attack controllers, trained throughout October in Ukraine. The Air Force also has multiple air assets in Europe that fly reconnaissance and air sovereignty missions over NATO allies. One ongoing mission is through unarmed MQ-9 Reaper drones, which began ISR operations from Miroslawiec Air Base, Poland, in May. "U.S. Air Forces in Europe regularly conducts exercises with allies and partners in the region, however, we do not currently have USAFE-assigned Airmen in Ukraine," Lt. Col. Petermann, an Air Forces in Europe spokesman, told Military Times. , Navy, The Naples-based U.S. 6th Fleet does not keep a permanent presence in the Black Sea, but maintains a rotational basis of warships and support vessels through the waterway. Sixth Fleet officials declined to say if any warships are heading there now, but the command always releases the names of vessels entering and exiting the Black Sea. In the summer of 2017, the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser Hu City and the Ukrainian auxiliary ship Balta conducted search-and-seizure training during exercise Sea Breeze. The Balta played the role of a "non-compliant" vessel and it was boarded by Hu City sailors. Over the past 12 months, the guided-missile destroyers James E. Williams, Carney, Ross and Porter sailed the Black Sea, making stops in Bulgaria and Romania in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, the naval operation dedicated to NATO's collective defense of the Black Sea. Home-ported in Rota, Spain, the Carney also visited the Ukrainian port of Odessa on Jan. 8 and exited the Black Sea five days later. The Harpers Ferry-class amphibious dock landing ship Oak Hill and the embarked 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit transited the Dardanelles Strait on March 7 to participate in the Romanian-led Spring Storm exercise. On May 9, a detachment of the Sicily-based "Red Lancers" of Navy Patrol Squadron 10 brought their P-8A Poseidon planes to participate in NATO Maritime Group 2's Sea Shield exercise. On July 7, the 6th Fleet's flagship Mount Whitney entered the Black Sea to participate in the annual Sea Breeze exercise with Ukraine. The nations focused on maritime interdiction operations, air defense, anti-submarine warfare, damage control drills, search and rescue, and amphibious warfare, according to the 6th Fleet. The next month, the Military Sealift-operated expeditionary fast transport ship Carson City arrived in Constanta, Romania, where it dropped off the U.S. Army's Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment. The Spearhead-class vessel later shuttled soldiers and their equipment from Poti, Georgia, back to Romania. Russian fighters buzzing U.S. Navy recon planes in Eastern Europe could lead to disaster, analysts warn. Tensions with the nearby Russians haven't come by sea but rather flared in the sky. On Jan. 29, an Sukhoi SU-27 Flanker fighter intercepted a Navy EP-3 Aries II surveillance plane in international airspace over the Black Sea. According to the Pentagon, the interdiction became "unsafe" when the Russian pilot closed to within five feet of the Navy aircraft and veered into its flightpath, forcing the turbo-prop plane to fly through the fighter's jet wash. On Nov. 5, the incident was repeated. Videotaped footage released by the Pentagon showed a Flanker on the starboard side of a Greece-based Navy EP-3Aries II banking right of its nose before the Russian hit his afterburners, forcing the plane to fly through the turbulent wash. |
Former Green Beret major faces murder charge for 2010 Afghanistan incident | After eight years, two investigations and the intervention of a congressman, Maj. Matthew Golsteyn is being charged with murder in the death of an Afghan man during a 2010 deployment. Golsteyn's commander "has determined that sufficient evidence exists to warrant the preferral of charges against him," U.S. Army Special Operations Command spokesman Lt. Col. Loren Bymer told Army Times in a brief email statement Thursday. "Major Golsteyn is being charged with the murder of an Afghan male during his 2010 deployment to Afghanistan," Bymer wrote. The major's attorney, Phillip Stackhouse, told Army Times that he and his client learned of the charges on Thursday as well, and that the murder charge carries with it the possibility of a death penalty. Stackhouse called his client a "humble servant-leader who saved countless lives, both American and Afghan, and has been recognized repeatedly for his valorous actions.", Bymer confirmed that Golsteyn has been recalled to active duty and is under the command of the USASOC headquarters company. An intermediary commander will review the warrant of preferred charges to determine if the major will face an Article 32 hearing that could lead to a court-martial. That commander has 120 days to make that decision. Golsteyn had been placed on voluntary excess leave, an administrative status for soldiers pending lengthy administrative proceedings, Bymer said. He is not being confined at this time. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup, The path to these charges has been a winding one. Golsteyn, a captain at the time, was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 with 3rd Special Forces Group. During the intense Battle of Marja, explosives planted on a booby-trapped door killed two Marines and wounded three others who were working with the major's unit. During those heated days, Golsteyn earned a Silver Star, the nation's third-highest award for valor, when he helped track down a sniper targeting his troops, assisted a wounded Afghan soldier and helped coordinate multiple airstrikes. He would be awarded that medal at a 2011 ceremony at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The award was later approved for an upgrade to the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest award for valor. But both the medal and his coveted Special Forces tab would be stripped from him due to an investigation that eventually closed in 2014 without any charges. The Army has reopened its investigation into a decorated former Green Beret accused of killing an unarmed suspected bombmaker in Afghanistan. An Army board of inquiry recommended a general discharge for Golsteyn and found no clear evidence the soldier violated the rules of engagement while deployed in 2010. This would have allowed Golsteyn to retain most of his retirement benefits under a recommended general discharge under honorable conditions. Though he was cleared of a law of armed conflict violation, the board found Golsteyn's conduct as unbecoming an officer. Golsteyn was out of Special Forces and in a legal limbo as he awaited a discharge. That could have been the end of it, but in mid-2015, Army documents surfaced, showing that Golsteyn allegedly told CIA interviewers during a polygraph test that he had killed an alleged Afghan bomb-maker and later conspired with others to destroy the body. Those documents were part of a 2011 report filed by an Army investigator, Special Agent Zachary Jackson, who reported that Golsteyn said after the Marines were killed in the February blast that his unit found bomb-making materials nearby, detained the suspected bomb-maker and brought him back to their base. A local tribal leader identified the man as a known Taliban bomb-maker. The accused learned of the leader's identification, which caused the tribal leader to fear he would kill him and his family if released. Trusting the leader and having also seen other detainees released, Golsteyn allegedly told CIA interviewers that he and another soldier took the alleged bomb-maker off base, shot him and buried his remains. He also allegedly told the interviewers that on the night of the killing, he and two other soldiers dug up the body and burned it in a trash pit on base. Stackhouse has previously called this alleged admission a "fantasy" that his client confessed to shooting an unarmed man. Then, in late 2016, during an interview with Fox News, Golsteyn admitted to a version of the incidents involving the killing of the alleged Afghan bomb-maker. The Army opened a second investigation near the end of 2016. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California, himself a Marine veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan, stepped in on Golsteyn's behalf, writing a letter to the Army secretary and making scathing public comments about the case, calling the Army's investigation "retaliatory and vindictive.", The congressman called on Army leadership to "fix this stupidity," describing Golsteyn as "a distinguished and well regarded Green Beret.", Unrelated to the Golsteyn case, Hunter was indicted earlier this year by federal prosecutors who are alleging conspiracy, wire fraud, falsification of records and prohibited use of campaign contributions. |
Comey says he was fired because of Russia investigation | , The revelations came as Comey delivered his much anticipated first public telling of his relationship with Trump, speaking at a packed Senate intelligence committee hearing that brought Washington and parts of the country to a standstill as all eyes were glued to screens showing the testimony. The former director immediately dove into the heart of the fraught political controversy around his firing and whether Trump interfered in the bureau's Russia investigation, as he elaborated on written testimony delivered Wednesday. In that testimony he had already disclosed that Trump demanded his "loyalty" and directly pushed him to "lift the cloud" of investigation by declaring publicly the president was not the target of the FBI probe into his campaign's Russia ties. , Comey said that he declined to do so in large part because of the "duty to correct" that would be created if that situation changed. Comey also said in his written testimony that Trump, in a strange private encounter near the grandfather clock in the Oval Office, pushed him to end his investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. , Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia asked Comey the key question "Do you believe this rises to obstruction of justice?" , "I don't know. That's Bob Mueller's job to sort that out," Comey responded, referring to the newly appointed special counsel who has taken over the Justice Department's Russia investigation. , In a startling disclosure, Comey revealed that after his firing he actually tried to spur the special counsel's appointment by giving one of his memos about Trump to a friend of his to release to the press. , "My judgment was I need to get that out into the public square," Comey said. , Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, Former FBI director James Comey listens to the committee chairman at the beginning of the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 8, 2017, in Washington. , Photo Credit Alex Brandon/AP, Trump's private attorney, Marc Kasowitz, seized on Comey's affirmation that he told Trump he was not personally under investigation. Though Comey said he interpreted Trump's comments as a directive to shut down the Flynn investigation, Kasowitz also maintained in his written statement that Comey's testimony showed that the president "never, in form or substance, directed or suggested that Mr. Comey stop investigating anyone, including suggesting that that Mr. Comey 'let Flynn go.'" , The Republican National Committee and other White House allies worked feverishly to lessen any damage from the hearing, trying to undermine Comey's credibility by issuing press releases and even ads pointing to a past instance where the FBI had had to clean up the director's testimony to Congress. Republicans and Trump's own lawyer seized on Comey's confirmation, in his written testimony, of Trump's claim that Comey had told him three times the president was not directly under investigation. , Trump himself was expected to dispute Comey's claims that the president demanded loyalty and asked the FBI director to drop the investigation into Flynn, according to a person close to the president's legal team who demanded anonymity because of not being authorized to discuss legal strategy. The president has not yet publicly denied the specifics of Comey's accounts but has broadly challenged his credibility, tweeting last month Comey "better hope there are no 'tapes'" of the conversations. , "Lordy, I hope there are tapes," Comey remarked at one point Thursday, suggesting such evidence would back up his account over any claims from the president. , Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California asked the question that many Republicans have raised in the weeks since Comey's firing as one media leak followed another revealing Comey's claims about Trump's inappropriate interactions with him. , Discussing the Oval Office meeting where Comey says Trump asked him to back off Flynn, Feinstein asked "Why didn't you stop and say, 'Mr. President, this is wrong?'" , "That's a great question," Comey said. "Maybe if I were stronger I would have. I was so stunned by the conversation I just took it in." , The hearing unfolded amid intense political interest, and within a remarkable political context as Comey delivered detrimental testimony about the president who fired him, a president who won election only after Comey damaged his opponent, Hillary Clinton, in the final days of the campaign. Clinton has blamed her defeat on Comey's Oct. 28 announcement that he was re-opening the investigation of her email practices. "If the election were on Oct. 27, I would be your president," Clinton said last month. , Thursday's hearing included discussion of that email investigation, as Comey disclosed that then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch instructed him to refer to the issue as a "matter," not an "investigation." , "That concerned me because that language tracked how the campaign was talking about the FBI's work and that's concerning," Comey said. "We had an investigation open at the time so that gave me a queasy feeling." , Former FBI director James Comey is greeted by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C. at the beginning of the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 8, 2017, in Washington. , Photo Credit Alex Brandon/AP, Many Democrats still blame Comey for Clinton's loss, leading Trump to apparently believe they would applaud him for firing Comey last month. The opposite was the case as the firing created an enormous political firestorm that has stalled Trump's legislative agenda on Capitol Hill and taken over Washington. , Under questioning Thursday, Comey strongly asserted the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia did indeed meddle in the 2016 election. , "There should be no fuzz on this. The Russians interfered," Comey stated firmly. "That happened. It's about as unfake as you can possibly get." , Trump has begrudgingly accepted the U.S. intelligence assessment that Russia interfered with the election. But he has also suggested he doesn't believe it, saying Russia is a "ruse" and calling the investigation into the matter a "witch hunt.", ___, , https//www.documentcloud.org/documents/3860401-Os-Jcomey-060817.html, ___, |
Allegations about VA secretary nominees past expected to fuel debate during confirmation hearing | WASHINGTON Key lawmakers on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee don't expect allegations regarding Veterans Affairs Secretary nominee Robert Wilkie's past political views to upend his confirmation process, but they do expect debate on the issues during his public hearing this week. On Tuesday, in a profile of the Wilkie, the Washington Post noted a number of controversial stances in the longtime bureaucrat's past, including advocacy for former Sen. Jesse Helms that had racist undertones and active work with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a group that defends public displays of the Confederate symbols. Wilkie, a North Carolina native, also worked closely with former Sen. Trent Lott and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and was seen as a vocal advocate for some of their controversial policies. The allegations date back several decades in some cases, but drew concerns from some veterans advocates given the high-profile nature of the Cabinet post. Trump's latest nominee for the top VA job will face tough questioning from senators next week, despite wide support for his bid. But committee chairman Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga. said Wilkie discussed those issues with him weeks ago, and the senator considers it a non-controversy. "Any time you find out about things ahead of time instead of after the fact, you know you have a good person," Isakson said. "There's nothing in there I see, unless you want to make something out of the history of our country and where he came from, there's no issue.", "There's nothing to preclude him from doing a good job or working for veterans.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Retirement Report, Committee ranking member Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. said he expects the issue to be a major point of conversation in Wednesday's confirmation hearing. "I think he's qualified and a good guy," he said. "He'll have an opportunity to answer those questions. Many of them happened 20 years ago. We'll delve in a bit, and I think he's a straight-up guy who will give us an answer.", Wilkie, 55, currently serves as the Pentagon's under secretary for personnel and readiness and was confirmed to that post without controversy by the Senate Armed Services Committee last fall. He worked as acting VA secretary for two months following the sudden firing of former VA Secretary David Shulkin in March, and was tapped as the nominee after Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson withdrew his name from consideration for the job amid allegations of unprofessional behavior while working as White House physician. Defense officials are currently investigating those charges. Wilkie is an Air Force Reserve colonel who previously spent time in the Navy Reserve. He is also the son of an Army artillery commander, and has spoken frequently about growing up on military bases and the challenges his family faced in dealing with his father's combat injuries. His nomination has largely been greeted with praise from veterans groups who saw him as a stabilizing force within the department in recent months. He also boasts a close relationship with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, one of Trump's most publicly popular Cabinet secretaries. Wilkie was on Capitol Hill Tuesday to meet with lawmakers in advance of Wednesday afternoon's confirmation hearing. In a message to VA staff in April, Wilkie promised to move the department to a more customer-focused philosophy and "to set the standard for the millions coming into our VA and for the millions who will join the ranks down the years." |
Special operations wing gives commanders leeway to target queep | The 1st Special Operations Wing on Monday took its latest crack at cutting back on unnecessary computer-based training and other requirements. In an email and memo posted on the Facebook group Air Force amn/nco/snco, 1st SOW Commander Col. Tom Palenske outlined steps the Hurlburt Field, Florida-based wing is now taking to "reduce unnecessary and redundant pre-deployment requirements and focus on mission readiness.", To do this, the 1st SOW is giving group and squadron commanders a lot more leeway to figure out the best way to train their airmen. This means they'll be able to scrap hated computer-based training whenever possible, and instead train airmen using "mass briefings and group dialogue," the memo said. Palenske told his commanders he'd have their backs if they go beyond what is spelled out in AFIs, or Air Force instructions, and get some flak. "I recognize there is some hesitation to implement change conflicting with published AFI guidance," Palenske wrote. "However, the 1 SOW is not going to wait to implement necessary change until AFIs, publications and other documents are updated if the policies are outdated. In the interim, I will accept, at my level, all risk and responsibility assumed with this change.", The 1st SOW confirmed the memo was sent by Palenske. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Air Force Times Daily News Roundup, "This is another example of Col. Palenske's commitment to the clear guidance from Air Force and Air Force Special Operations Command leaders reduce unnecessary and redundant pre-deployment requirements and focus on mission readiness," the public affairs office for the 1st SOW said in an email. "The purpose of this guidance is to provide squadron commanders a more efficient, flexible and effective ground-training option for our airmen that is tailored to their individual experiences and occupational requirements, while, at the same time, providing more time for airmen to focus on their primary mission duties.", The Air Force in recent years has taken aim at redundant, unnecessary or time-wasting training or paperwork requirements, commonly known in the ranks as "queep." Air Force leaders hope that cutting back on those requirements will improve morale by giving airmen more time to do their real jobs, or spend more time with their friends and families in the evenings or on weekends. Last month, U.S. Air Forces Central Command announced a vast streamlining of its pre-deployment requirements as part of an effort to give airmen more time with their families before going overseas. The 1st SOW said Palenske's recent moves were made independently of AFCENT's streamlining effort. The wing also highlighted a September 2017 memo from Palenske that eliminated 14 computer-based and other training events, cut the pre-deployment checklist from 12 pages to three, and streamlined four mandatory briefings. This week's moves are simply the latest in his effort to reduce the burden on his airmen, according to public affairs. The Air Force has brought on thousands of new maintainers over the last year in an effort to quickly erase a massive shortfall that it feared threatened its aircraft readiness. But now comes the hard part. In the email posted online, Palenske said the wing has heard a lot of feedback on how useful CBTs are or aren't. The wing put together a team of subject-matter experts, lawyers and airmen of all stripes to find a way to cut down on requirements, while still providing the necessary training and remaining within the law. "We often say that all of the really good ideas in the Air Force come from the young airmen and officers actually doing the work in the field," Palenske said. "Our goal over the past two years has been to erode the barrier of trust between those hard working airmen and a leadership team that is empowered to turn their ideas into reality. This is just one more example of us making that journey together.", The memo said commanders will be responsible for setting up the content of briefings that replace computer-based training, scheduling them, and updating the Advanced Distributed Learning Service database to reflect that airmen have learned the required material. , Airmen who can't make it to the classroom or mass briefing training will still have to learn the material on the computer. First-term airmen will still have to take their initial training for all mandatory courses using CBT, but can opt for mass briefings for follow-up training. The memo said annual mandatory training on cyber awareness, force protection, combating human trafficking and the Green Dot sexual assault and suicide prevention program, which was previously done via CBT, can now be done through mass briefings. Biennial training on the No Fear Act, triennial training on religious freedom and Defense Travel System policy, equal opportunity human relations orientation training given to newcomers to the base, and one-time equal opportunity training for airmen at their first duty station and basic DTS training can also be done through a mass briefing, the memo said. Faster skill advancement, In early April, Palenske issued another memo seeking to speed up the process for upgrading the skill levels of airmen such as maintainers. Right now, Air Force rules require airmen to be trained for 12 months to be upgraded to a 5-level journeyman or a 7-level craftsman, even if they finish all their training requirements in less than a year. In an April 10 memo, also posted on the amn/nco/snco page, Palenske gave squadron commanders the ability to waive that 12-month requirement after airmen have finished all the other mandatory training requirements. Palenske said that requirement "hinders the unit's ability to use trained professionals in crucial positions, and cripples our airmen's continuing education and the growth of our force." Instead, he said, if a squadron commander decides a particular airman can safely get the job done earlier, the wing should allow that airman to take on the increased responsibilities. As with the CBT memo, Palenske pledged to take the blame if anything went wrong. The Air Force in recent years mounted a major effort to wipe out a massive 4,000-maintainer shortfall that was hindering aircraft readiness and stretching flightlines to the breaking point. That shortfall has now been all but eliminated, but many of the new maintainers are less-experienced 3-levels. The Air Force is looking for new and innovative ways to speed up the training process, so 3-level maintainers can get the necessary experience and take on the more advanced work done by 5- and 7-level maintainers. In an April 11 email, Tech. Sgt. Katherine Holt, a spokeswoman for the 1st SOW, said that Palenske used maintainers as an example of a job that could receive the time-in-training waivers. But, Holt said, the policy would apply to all airmen in all 25 squadrons in the 1st SOW. "Upgrading the airmen who complete all training requirements early gives their units a fully qualified technician on time versus four, five or six months down the road," Holt said. "Units are enhanced when we empower fully-trained and qualified airmen to do what they've been trained to do and accomplish the 1st SOW mission." |
Air Force B1B Lancers return to Al Udeid after 2year absence | Two B-1B Lancers from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota landed at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on Saturday. The bombers are replacing the B-52 Stratofortress, U.S. Air Forces Central Command said Monday in posts on Facebook and Twitter. The B-52s flew more than 1,800 sorties and dropped almost 12,000 weapons against the Islamic State and the Taliban since they themselves replaced the B-1 in 2016. For almost five months, B-1 crews fromDyess Air Force Base, Texas, focused on one town Kobani in Syria. "The Bone is back!" AFCENT said in its social media posts. AFCENT commander Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian on March 30 flew one of the B-52's final combat missions before it departed, AFCENT said in a tweet Monday. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Air Force Times Daily News Roundup, The B-1 last deployed to the Middle East in July 2014, to support operations in Afghanistan. Soon afterwards, however, the war against ISIS erupted and Lancers began carrying out missions against the militant group in Iraq and Syria. |
White House Blame to share for failed Libya aftermath | WASHINGTON The White House sought Monday to share the blame for the failed aftermath of the 2011 intervention in Libya, arguing the U.S. and its NATO allies asked too few questions about what would follow after dictator Moammar Gadhafi was toppled. A day after President Obama called that failure the worst mistake of his presidency, the White House said Obama believed more should have been done to fill the power vacuum. Although the U.S. played a leading role in that effort, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama's regrets extended to what "the United States and the rest of the members of our coalition didn't do.", "The president has tried to apply this lesson in considering the use of military and other circumstances," Earnest said, "that asking the question about what situation will prevail and what sort of commitments from the international community will be required after that military intervention has been ordered by the commander in chief.", Obama, in an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," said that his biggest mistake was "probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya.", The U.S. in 2011 joined the air campaign in an attempt to prevent Gadhafi's forces from killing thousands of civilians amid an uprising against his government. Five years later, the country is in chaos, with two rival governments and an alarming presence of Islamic State fighters and other extremists. Obama has conceded that the intervention "didn't work.", Last month, in interviews published in The Atlantic magazine, Obama called out European countries close to Libya that he said had been unwilling "to put any skin in the game" to ensure stability after the intervention, referring to them as "free-riders." Earnest said Monday that the international community had failed to come up with a plan to compensate for the deterioration in Libya's governing structures following decades of dictatorship. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, "The point that the president was making was not that any specific ally of the U.S. had utterly failed to follow through on a specific commitment that they had made," Earnest said. "But rather, that the U.S. and our broader coalition had not succeeded in mobilizing the necessary resources to bring about the scenario that we would have eventually liked to see." |
The Air Force is revolutionizing the way airmen learn to be aviators | AUSTIN, Texas In a classroom at the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Austin, Texas, a visitor climbed into one of 20 stations lining the walls and strapped on a virtual reality headset. Instantly, he was transported into the cockpit of a Navy F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet. Over his right shoulder he saw the wing loaded with missiles. The whine of the Hornet's engines and chatter from instructors piped directly into his ears. Throttle, stick, heads-up display, instruments, the battlespace it was all there, in a 360-degree display, everything down to the handle for the ejector seat between where his legs would be. He grabbed the stick and throttle attached to the station, and the simulation began. An instructor told the virtual pilot to ease the stick to the left and bank the "plane." All across his field of vision, even in the periphery, he saw the horizon turn sharply. And though he knew his physical body was perfectly still, on the ground at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, he felt his stomach sway as if he were actually banking a fighter jet. A little later, the instructor told him to open up the throttle and pull back on the stick to execute a loop, and then guided him through a rudimentary barrel roll. All the while, his mind tricked him into feeling the sensations and excitement of executing those basic aerial maneuvers and more importantly, he started to get the hang of the finer points on how to pull them off. This could be how the Air Force of the future trains its new pilots. The Air Force launched the first Pilot Training Next class in April to try to find a new, cutting-edge way to teach airmen, using advanced biometrics, artificial intelligence and virtual reality systems. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Air Force Times Daily News Roundup, The next generation of fighter pilots might be found behind a joystick or, at least, that's what the Air Force is gambling on. Because the service has such a pressing need for pilots, especially fighter pilots, Air Force leaders are looking for ways to streamline the training pipeline and graduate more aviators each year. They want to find out if using an all-enveloping VR headset will create a faster, more effective way to train though officials stress it isn't meant to replace the traditional undergraduate pilot training program. The Air Education and Training Command program integrates various technologies to produce pilots in an accelerated, cost efficient and learning-focused training environment. Students will still do many of the things they did before. For example, they'll still go through drag training to learn to disconnect their parachutes as they are being dragged along the ground after landing. They will still climb into a hyperbaric chamber so they can experience hypoxia, or lack of oxygen in the bloodstream, in a controlled environment. And, of course, they will fly T-6 trainers. The emerging technologies are being used to decrease the time and cost of training, without sacrificing depth of learning. The Air Force began its VR training experiment with 20 pilot students 15 officers and five enlisted airmen without college degrees. Thirteen of those students pinned on silver pilot wings and graduated Aug. 3, four months after beginning the class, according to AETC officials. Typically, pilot training takes an entire year. But the service hopes what it learns from Pilot Training Next will also revolutionize training for airmen in scores of other career fields, such as medical or maintenance. Pilot Training Next also tracks students' biometrics and uses artificial intelligence to tailor the level of difficulty they face in different scenarios and teach them more effectively. Students wear a Zephyr "puck" near their heart, wearable technology that measures heart rate, breathing rate, pulse, and stress levels to see how well they're responding to a task. For example, it could detect if someone is growing too comfortable and throw a challenge at him. Maybe he loses one of his two engines, or the mission changes, or he runs into bad weather, enemy fighters or surface-to-air missiles. Or, if a student is becoming frustrated and discouraged, the simulator could back off and let him gain confidence. When you stack this VR simulator up against older, legacy simulators the kind that use projectors and hydraulics to move mock cockpits around the difference is like watching a movie on an IMAX screen versus a 32-inch television, officials say. "There's a reason that people go to IMAX theaters," said Maj. Scott Van De Water, deputy director of the Pilot Training Next program, in a recent interview. "When you go to an IMAX theater, and you're watching the Blue Angels fly in formation, there's a level of immersiveness. You look around, and you're with the Blue Angels. That is compelling.", Similarly, pilot students wearing the HTC VIVE Pro headsets see nothing but the virtual environment enveloping them, and hear the sounds pumped into their ears. This makes it easier for "suspension of disbelief" to take hold, and the students' brains start to react as if they were actually in a cockpit. "What we're finding is that some of the things that we're expecting to be hurdles" aren't a problem, Van De Water said. For example, "I can't reach out and grab the gear handle because there's nothing physically there. But because of the level of immersiveness in the visual environment, your brain makes the connections.", Sometimes, he said, students get so lost in the simulator that they try to grab something in the virtual cockpit to help them turn around in the seat, forgetting that it's not actually there. On that day, three instructors guided about eight students through lessons on aerial combat. The students softly chattered to one another, occasionally whipping their goggled heads around without warning to look over their shoulders. The Air Force considered several commercial off-the-shelf VR headsets, like the Oculus Rift, but chose the VIVE Pro because its organic light-emitting diode display had the best resolution. It's not yet at perfect "eyeball resolution," Van De Water said there are still some details of instruments that are a little blurrier than they'd like but it's good enough, and the technology is getting better all the time. Despite its greater authenticity, the new technology is much cheaper than legacy simulators. Each VIVE costs less than 1,000. And when the seat, computer, software, display screens for instructors, stick, throttle, and other equipment is factored in, each VR simulator setup runs about 15,000. So, the entire suite of 20 simulators in the "sim bay" cost about 300,000. A legacy simulator, on the other hand, would cost about 4.5 million, he said. And students would still have to stand in line to get their shot at the controls, one after another. In the Pilot Training Next classroom, there's nothing keeping all 20 students from flying at the same time even alongside or against one another in the same virtual airspace. At the end of the day, they can squeeze in a little more flight time back at the dorm rooms. Every two students share their own additional VIVE Pro, stick and throttle setup at home for after-hours practice. The system's AI will see if a student is developing a bad habit when practicing by himself and correct him before it sinks in. Van De Water said that students in a traditional pilot training environment typically average 1 sorties per day, both in the simulator and flying trainers such as the T-6 Texan. Pilot Training Next students, on the other hand, average two sorties per day, he said. And there are other advantages as well to this kind of a simulator, Van De Water said. If an aspiring pilot needs to practice flying a loop in a T-6, he's got to wait until a Texan is available, fueled up and ready to fly. He's got to spend time taking off and landing, and other activities that have to be done when flying a real plane, which limits how much time he can spend flying loops. But in a VR simulator, he said, there's no wait. The instructor can start him off in mid-air, and he can get right to practicing his loops. So when it comes time for that Pilot Training Next student to fly in a real trainer, he's already got the fundamentals of flying a loop down cold. "They have unfettered access," Van De Water said. "They can come down to work on flying whenever they want, as opposed to having a very limited resource, that they only get a certain number of touch points throughout the course of instruction.", And because the simulators are side-by-side, barely feet from one another, a single instructor can easily sit between two students, observing them both and offering guidance, Van De Water said. Instructor pilot Capt. John "Flop" Joern said Pilot Training Next is a much less linear way to learn than the traditional model, which usually has a set, year-long syllabus of one lesson after another that must be followed. But under Pilot Training Next, instructors can tailor the lessons to what each individual student needs, Joern said. That means, if a student is a natural at one flight technique, but is lacking in another, the instructor has the freedom to concentrate on the student's deficient skill and not waste time on something he's already good at. "We found that just by unchaining the students from the syllabus, they can progress much faster," Joern said. "I don't need to go out with a student for the next seven rides and practice that one maneuver he's already mastered. Whether it's a cloverleaf, a Cuban eight, a barrel roll, the list goes on. We spend, in the traditional model, a lot of time trying to get students proficient at these maneuvers, when they really could be focusing that time on other things such as instrument flying, formation flying, or introducing new concepts to them.", Jeorn also said that tailoring lessons to each individual student as opposed to following a set syllabus forces him to be more creative in how he teaches. If the students can more quickly move on to greater challenges such as flying with another aviator in the same airspace they rise to meet those challenges, Joern said. The expensive hydraulics used in a standard simulator to move a cockpit around don't add much to the learning process, Van De Water noted. And as the graphics of a simulation get better and better, the value of recreating physical motion decreases. "You can't simulate five or six G-forces, even with a motion simulator," Van De Water said. "You'd have to put him in a centrifuge, or on a roller coaster. Our eyes do a pretty phenomenal job of tricking our brains into thinking that the motion is there.", Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast, head of Air Education and Training Command, agreed, and suggested the days of the hydraulic-operated simulator that physically feels like the real thing may be coming to an end. "The human brain does not care about motion," he said. "You do not need perfect fidelity in the way it feels to your fingers, or the way it feels to your body. The human body learns those things fast. What the body needs is a lot of cognitive repetitions. So now, instead of spending millions of dollars on a simulator that is anchored in one location and can only have one person at a time in it, I can afford to give everybody their own simulator that they can take home with them in their pocket. And they can go through as many cognitive reps as they want.", Sometimes, the accuracy of old-style simulators is "more than lacking," Kwast said. For example, the F-35 simulator used by the Air Force is "nothing like the real aircraft.", "Why? Because we can't afford it, because it's too expensive to upgrade the software in the simulator, and upgrade the software in the jet," Kwast said. "So we upgrade it in the jet, so the jet is leading edge. But the entire training pipeline is training on something they know does not exist in the jet. And when they get to their fighter squadron, they kind of have to start all over. What a waste.", Pilot Training Next uses commercially-available flight simulator software like X-Plane and Lockheed Martin's Prepar3D program to recreate dozens, or even hundreds of different civilian and military aircraft anything from a T-6 Texan trainer, to a C-130 Hercules, to an H-60 helicopter, to an F-35. And with all those options, Van De Water said, instructors can throw curveballs at a student who's getting a little too comfortable, and put her in an unfamiliar aircraft. That way, she has to figure out quickly how fast to fly, how to land, and other techniques unique to that strange plane. This will make her more of a "generalist" with the aviation skills needed to fly most, or all airplanes not limiting her to a specialization in one particular plane. But while the first batch of Pilot Training Next graduates learned to fly much more quickly than students in the traditional year-long curriculum, Van De Water said the Air Force isn't aiming to completely replace pilot training as it exists with this new program. "The overall objective is, how do we expedite learning, how do we increase the durability of the learning?" Van De Water said. "As they're learning these concepts, how do we arrive at the end point faster? How do we become more efficient with our resources, not for the sake of resources, but for the sake of student time getting them out to the Air Force quicker so that we have more time with them as viable combat aviators.", The second test class of Pilot Training Next students will begin next January, Kwast said. When they're finished, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein will review the data from the two classes and decide whether and how to use this kind of a model throughout the Air Force. |
In first China confirms new longrange strategic bomber designation | MELBOURNE, Australia " Chinas official state-run media has confirmed the designation of the countrys newest long-range strategic bomber, with analysts speculating that the prototype is expected to make its first flight soon. |
Has the US Navy thought this new frigate through New report raises questions | WASHINGTON The U.S. Navy is rapidly moving toward procuring the first hull in its new class of frigate in 2020, but a new report is raising questions about whether the Navy has done detailed analysis about what it needs out of the ship before barging ahead. The Navy may not have done an adequate job of analyzing gaps and capabilities shortfalls before it set itself on a fast-track to buying the so-called FFGX as an adaptation from a parent design, said influential Navy analyst Ron O'Rourke in a new Congressional Research Service report. In essence, the CRS report questions whether the Navy looked at what capabilities the service already has in the fleet, what capabilities it's missing and whether the FFGX is the optimal solution to address any identified shortfalls. O'Rourke suggests Congress push the Navy on "whether procuring a new class of FFGs is the best or most promising general approach for addressing the identified capability gaps and mission needs, and whether the Navy has performed a formal, rigorous analysis of this issue, as opposed to relying solely on subjective judgments of Navy or Defense Department leaders." , ""Subjective judgments, though helpful, can overlook counter-intuitive results regarding the best or most promising general approach," the report reads. "Potential alternative general approaches for addressing identified capability gaps and mission needs in this instance include to cite a few possibilities modified LCSs, FFs, destroyers, aircraft, unmanned vehicles, or some combination of these platforms.", Labeling the ship the FFGX, the ship will be expected to keep up with the full carrier strike group and operate independently in high-end threat environments. , The Navy is looking to adapt its FFGX from an existing design such as Fincantieri's FREMM, one of the two existing littoral combat ships or the Coast Guard's national security cutter as a means of getting updated capabilities into a small surface combatant and into the fleet quickly. , A better approach, O'Rourke suggests, would be to make a formal, rigorous analysis of alternatives to its current course. Failure to do so has led to a series of setbacks with the Navy's current small surface combatant program, the LCS. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, "The Navy did not perform a formal, rigorous analysis of this kind prior to announcing the start of the LCS program in November 2001, and this can be viewed as a root cause of much of the debate and controversy that attended the LCS program, and of the program's ultimate restructurings in February 2014 and December 2015," O'Rourke writes. O'Rourke further suggests the Navy is relying too much on subjective opinions of Navy and Defense Department leaders, instead of a legitimate analysis. And indeed, the Navy has made rapid acquisition of the new ship the hallmark of the program. "Subjective judgments can be helpful, particularly in terms of capturing knowledge and experience that is not easily reduced to numbers, in taking advantage of the wisdom of the crowd, and in coming to conclusions and making decisions quickly," O'Rourke argues. "On the other hand, a process that relies heavily on subjective judgments can be vulnerable to group-think, can overlook counter-intuitive results regarding capability gaps and mission needs, and, depending on the leaders involved, can emphasize those leaders' understanding of the Navy's needs.", Read the full report here. |
MBDA Lockheed announce joint venture to develop missile defense system for Germany | WASHINGTON MBDA Deutschland and Lockheed Martin announced March 8 they have unified efforts to bring Germany's next-generation integrated air and missile defense system, called TLVS, to life under a joint venture. The joint venture, rather than either company, will be considered the prime contractor for TLVS, according to Lockheed Martin. The contract is being negotiated with Germany's procurement office for the country's armed forces, the Bundeswehr. Defense News had reported this week that the establishment of a joint venture was imminent. MBDA and Lockheed Martin will split the equity from TLVS, with MBDA getting 60 percent and Lockheed receiving 40 percent, a Lockheed spokeswoman confirmed. Lockheed's Gregory Kee and MBDA's Dietmar Thelen will lead the joint venture operating out of MBDA's office in Schrobenhausen, Germany. The joint venture will also operate out of Dallas, Texas Huntsville, Alabama Syracuse, New York and Ulm and Koblenz, Germany. "With this joint venture, we will have the agility and ability to successfully make timely decisions in an integrated fashion. We will also have direct access to the most advanced test and simulation facilities and the pooled expertise and resources of MBDA and Lockheed Martin," Thomas Gottschild, MBDA Germany's managing director, said in the statement. "That's how we'll bring this important defense program to fruition for Germany and NATO.", TLVS will "set an important precedent in how neighboring nations address current and evolving threats for decades to come," the statement says. Lockheed has partnered with MBDA Germany for more than 15 years on air and missile defense solutions, according to Frank St. John, executive vice president of Lockheed's Missiles and Fire Control business. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, The companies specifically worked together on a multilateral project involving the U.S. Germany and Italy to develop the Medium Extended Air Defense System, which would replace the U.S. Army's Patriot system. But the U.S. abandoned the program following its proof-of-concept phase and after investing 4 billion. Germany decided it would pick up the reigns and continue to develop the system with plans to ultimately procure it. The joint venture could help move the process of getting under contract with the German government to build TLVS at a faster rate. Lockheed and MBDA expected to be under contract by early 2017, but that time came and went with no contract. St. John told Defense News earlier this week that once the joint venture has been officially established, the company hoped to be under contract by the end of the year putting the program behind by roughly two years. He had said he expected a request for proposals from the German government by the end of the month. "It was very important for the German government that Lockheed Martin and MBDA be cooperative at the top line in responding to this requirement, and we are within a few days of having that joint-venture structure in place," St. John told Defense News, adding that the companies have agreed on all major pieces and that "it's now a paperwork process of getting it through the German filing process to start a new corporation, if you will.", , Social Democrats in Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, called for a stronger integration of Lockheed in the process because of the firm's expertise in system integration last year. "We support Germany's role as the lead framework nation for air-and-missile defense for NATO and believe the MEADS-based TLVS system is the next-generation solution that will provide the long overdue 360-degree, mobile air-and-missile defense coverage they need to accurately identify and defeat threats," St. John said in a statement. Lockheed has been hopeful a deal with Germany could mean TLVS sales among other NATO customers. But while time has slipped to get under contract with Germany, countries like Poland, Sweden and Romania have started to buy the Patriot system from Lockheed competitor Raytheon. The two companies have been battling for dominance in Europe for years, particularly as more European countries look to buy medium-range air and missile defense systems in the wake of what they consider increased Russian aggression. |
Air Force to cut three A10 squadrons unless funding for new wings emerges | WASHINGTON Three squadrons of A-10 Warthogs will go out of service unless the Air Force comes up with funding to pay for new wings, the head of Air Combat Command confirmed in an exclusive interview with Defense News. Although the Air Force fully funds the operations and maintenance of all nine A-10 squadrons in its fiscal 2018 budget request, Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, the service's top uniformed acquisition official, and Lt. Gen. Jerry Harris, its deputy chief of staff for plans, programs and requirements, committed in written testimony to Congress to retaining only six squadrons long term. The crux of the issue, according to head of Air Combat Command Gen. Mike Holmes, is that new wing sets have been ordered for only 173 of 283 Warthogs, or about six squadron's worth. Exactly when the Air Force will drop down to six A-10 squadrons will depend on multiple factors, including operational tempo over the next few years and the buy rate of the F-35. But Holmes said the first planes could be phased out within five years, as their wings run out of service life. "When their current wings expire, we have some flexibility in the depot, we have some old wings that can be repaired or rejuvenated to go on. We can work through that, so there's some flex in there," he said in a June 8 interview. "We're working on a long-term beddown plan for how we can replace older airplanes as the F-35 comes on, and we'll work through to figure out how we're going to address those A-10s that will run out of service life on their wings." The Air Force "can continue to provide close air support across the spectrum of conflict with those 173 airplanes," he added. Although an A-10 follow-on aircraft sometimes called A-X is still on the table, Holmes noted that decision would come further in the future as the Air Force contemplates whether to replace the remaining 173 A-10s with a purpose-built close air support platform in the late 2020s. Confirmation of a move to eliminate even a portion of the A-10 fleet will likely inflame ardent supporters of the aircraft in Congress, who have in prior years prevented the service from retiring the aircraft. Holmes noted that the Air Force's current plan to mothball three A-10 squadrons adheres to the 2017 defense authorization bill, which mandates that the service maintain 171 A-10s until the Pentagon's director of operational test and evaluation conducts comparative tests between it and the F-35. However, he acknowledged that "Congress gets the final say on everything we do" and could try to prevent any divestitures. During a House Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday, Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz. asked Bunch and Harris to explain the Air Force's apparent decision to cut a third of its A-10 squadrons. McSally, an A-10 pilot herself, represents DavisMonthan Air Force Base, which is home to three A-10 squadrons, according to Air Force data. "From my view and my experience, if we need that capability until a proven, tested replacement comes along, nine squadrons is the absolute minimum," she said. Due to House votes, the hearing was called to a close before McSally could receive an answer from Bunch and Harris. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, The most obvious move Congress could make would be to fund the 103 million for A-10 wings included in the service's unfunded priorities list, but that only covers a portion of the remaining 110 aircraft in need of rewinging. "That would buy us time. Their wings don't all run out of service life at the same time, it depends on the individual airplane," Holmes said. "We have the money in the unfunded list to get another contract for wings and to get a batch that would help us work through a period and give us time to buy more wings for the rest of the fleet if we are unable to go forward to drop down to six squadrons.", Boeing is under contract to provide the 173 wing sets, with an option for 69 more. The company has estimated that new wings would allow A-10s to remain in service into the 2030s. At this point, the Air Force has not identified which A-10 squadrons would be phased out or which aircraft would replace the Warthog at selected installations, Holmes said. One option is to replace Warthogs with F-35s, but because the A-10 can operate on a shorter runway, not all bases would be able to host the Joint Strike Fighter. In that case, perhaps A-10 squadrons could adopt fourth generation fighters from squadrons moving to the F-35. "I don't think we've made a decision on any of that just yet," he said. "I believe that will be a part of the '19 budget process, and because most of that happens outside of the five year defense plan that we turn in, we still have options." |
Nexter armored vehicle could soon include tethered drones | VERSAILLES, France Nexter has unveiled a concept version of its Titus armored vehicle adapted to carry augmented mission systems, including a tethered drone, unmanned ground vehicles and a remote controlled 20mm cannon. The six-wheeled vehicle serves as a multipurpose platform to develop capabilities that could one day be fitted to vehicles such as the Griffon troop carrier. One of the capabilities is a captive UAV tethered to the vehicle, which could be used for observation and artillery targeting, a Nexter executive told journalists May 16. The UAV can fly to a height of 50 meters. Track our full coverage of Eurosatory here!, A quieter option is a small, stand-alone UAV, which can also be launched from the vehicle's roof for reconnaissance missions. The hull has an outside compartment to deploy small unmanned ground vehicles, or UGV, to detect improvised explosive devices as well as chemical, biological and radiation weapons. The vehicle is armed with a remote controlled 20mm cannon, with options for a 25mm or 30mm weapon. The gun, UGV and UAV could be controlled inside or outside the vehicle with a smart pad. Another capability that could be installed includes a "virtual fence" for facial recognition for the vehicle's crew and troops. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, Nexter displayed the demonstrator vehicle at an artillery day event in December at the Canjuers Army base in the southeast of France. It's never been clear whether robotics company Boston Dynamics is making killing machines, household helpers, or something else entirely. Nexter also showed off Themis, a tracked UGV armed with a 20mm gun. The vehicle is supplied by Milrem of Estonia. Themis is armed with an ARX 20mm remote controlled cannon with a 2-kilometer range and armor piercing shells. Other options are 12.7mm and 14.5mm heavy machine guns. The vehicle could support disembarked troops with heavy firepower and be used to open roads. Themis weighs 1 ton, travels at 24 kph and has an all-terrain capability. It is powered by electricity and diesel, with the latter delivering an endurance of 10 hours. Many countries, particularly for special forces, have shown interest in the vehicle, a Nexter executive said. A firing test is due to be held this year. Nexter will display these weapon systems at the Eurosatory trade show, which runs June 11-15. |
GAO Upgrading to new GPS will cost billions more than planned | The Defense Department will spend at least 2.5 billion through fiscal 2021 to support the 700 weapons systems that will rely on the next generation of GPS satellites, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. The new satellites, known as GPS III, feature an advanced signal that make it harder to jam and more difficult to spoof. That signal is called M-code, or military code. But for weapon systems - includes ships, aircraft, ground vehicles, missiles, munitions, and hand-held devices to take advantage of those capabilities they need an updated GPS receiver card. "While the full cost remains unknown, it is likely to be many billions of dollars greater than the 2.5 billion identified through fiscal year 2021 because there is significant work remaining to verify the initial cards work as planned and to develop them further," the report said. The problem cascades from the upper echelons of the Air Force, where GPS III is facing acquisition hurdles, including technical risks and schedule pressure, the GAO reported. The watchdog agency has said transitioning all DOD platforms to the next generation of receiver cards is expected to take more than a decade, "DoD has begun initial planning for some weapon systems, but more remains to be done to understand the cost and schedule needed to transition to M-code receivers," the report read. "The preliminary estimate for integrating and testing a fraction of the weapon systems that need the receiver cards is over 2.5 billion through fiscal year 2021 with only 28 fully and 72 partially funded.", The Air Force is charged with developing the initial receiver cards which will require close coordination across the military and the effort will become increasingly complex and sweeping as individual weapons systems program offices begin lower-level development and testing of their own. The Defense Department plans to test the new cards on the Army's Stryker ground combat vehicle, the Air Force's B-2 Spirit bomber, the Marine Corps' Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and the Navy's DDG-51 Arleigh Burke destroyer, This issue is further hampered by a lack of coordination across program offices, the GAO found. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Air Force Times Daily News Roundup, "DoD does not have an organization assigned to collect test data, lessons learned, and design solutions so that common design solutions are employed to avoid duplication of effort as multiple entities separately mature receiver cards," the report noted. "DoD therefore risks paying to repeatedly find design solutions to solve common problems because each program office is likely to undertake its own uncoordinated development effort." |
South Korea may buy more Apache helicopters to lead the fight across DMZ | SEOUL, South Korea The South Korean military plans to buy more Apache heavy-attack helicopters to lead the deployment across enemy lines should conflict erupt on the Korean Peninsula, according to defense officials. Ordered by Defense Minister Song Young-moo, the Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to issue requirements for the procurement next week, an official at the Ministry of National Defense said. It's unknown exactly how many more Apaches the government wants, but informed sources tell Defense News the number could reach as much as 40. "The South Korean military has been shifting the concept of its warfare strategy to an offensive one," an official said. "To that end, the military leadership decided to put a priority more on helicopter assets than tanks.", Because of that shift, the military may cancel plans to acquire some 300 more K2 Black Panther main battle tanks, according to the official. The South Korean military has long established a counteroffensive strategy in which South Korean armed forces conduct a full-scale counterattack only after U.S. augmentation troops arrive on the peninsula. However, military leadership under the Moon Jae-in administration are seeking to shift operational focus to enable South Korean forces to more rapidly advance into North Korea should conflict arise. South Korea has long sought to boost its fleet of maritime patrol and surveillance jets in response of North Korea's naval capabilities, including submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Military Space Report, Under the envisaged plan, the South Korean military aims to occupy North Korea's capital Pyongyang two to three weeks after the outbreak of war. "One of the Army's key operational focuses is the improvement of an air assault capability," according to Kim Dae-young, a research fellow at Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, a Seoul-based think tank. "Toward that end, the South Korean Army now seeks to model after the U.S. 101st Airborne Division consist of helicopters and infantry forces.", The South Korean Army recently ran simulations of how fast and effective its airborne capability can advance into the North in case of war, according to sources. "The simulations are known to have showed that the fleet of Apache helicopter is more effective than main battle tanks in penetrating the North's air defense network and making breach for our forces," Kim noted. Based on the results, the Army is said to have reported the needs of procuring more Apache attack helicopters to the Ministry of National Defense. Seoul bought 36 Boeing-built AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters in 2013 under a Foreign Military Sales contract valued 1.6 billion. The South Korean Army now operates two Apache battalions. In November, the battalions carried out an Apache Hellfire air-to-surface missile exercise on top of rocket and machine gun live-fire drills as part of final operational tests before full-scale field deployment. A Stinger missile exercise was subsequently held in December. |
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