DEFENSE NEWS

DTN News - IRAN DEFENSE NEWS: Iran To Equip Navy with New Flying Boats BAVAR 2 To Monitor Oil Tanker Traffic Through Straits Of Hormuz

2012-01-31T07:35:00.001-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - IRAN DEFENSE NEWS: Iran To Equip Navy with New Flying Boats BAVAR 2 To Monitor Oil Tanker Traffic Through Straits Of Hormuz

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 31, 2012: Iran has three squadrons of new flying boats, Iranian news agencies reported. The craft, dubbed the Bavar 2, is armed with a machine gun and carries surveillance cameras, according to a report from the Iranian Student News Agency

"Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the few countries which managed to design, build and use flying boats in a short time," said Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, who oversaw the delivering of the aircraft at the Bandar Abbas naval facility on the Persian Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz. The delivery comes as Iran celebrates its Week of Sacred Defense, which commemorates its eight-year-long resistance to the 1980 Iraqi invasion, according to the Fars News Agency

While there is little available information as to the performance characteristics of the flying boats, and the only known weapon system is a good old-fashioned machine gun (some reports say they can carry missiles, but certainly nothing heavy enough to sink a major warship), it would be a mistake to discount these new vessels. While they might not have much chance of ever winning a battle against Western warships or aircraft, they are well suited to a task believed to be the most likely response to Iran if war with America were to come — massed suicide attacks.

The danger is real, as shown by what happened to the USS Cole in 2000. The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, equipped with a state-of-the-art AEGIS radar suite and a variety of formidable missiles and guns, was almost brought down by a raft. While the ship was docked in port, the raft pulled up alongside and its three-man crew detonated the explosives they’d stashed on board. The billion-dollar warship had an enormous hole blown in its side and nearly went down. It had to be carried — literally carried — home on top of an enormous transport ship, so severe was the damage done by three men in a raft.

The Persian Gulf is, by modern military standards, incredibly shallow and narrow. Access to the Gulf is obtained through the Straits of Hormuz, a narrow choke point that Iran is fully capably of making a very dangerous place. Despite the Gulf’s small supply, roughly 40% of the world’s exported petroleum flows through the area. In a shooting war, while dozens of billion-dollar Western warships tried to maneuver in the shooting gallery that is the Gulf, Iran would unleash its shore-based cruise missiles (Some of which have wound up in the hands of Hezbollah, with devastating but illustrative results) and could flood the Gulf and its skies with swarms of these tiny boats.

It’s a threat the United States takes seriously. Two years ago, American warships came close to opening fire on Iranian boats that came out to challenge the warships, manuevering close by and explicitly threatening a suicide attack before veering away. Past history, such as during the Tanker War of the 1980s, has shown that small boats can approach large warships even in a hostile environment. Even though some orbiting airpower can make sure that most of them are destroyed before the surviving few reach their target, that is little consolation to those left to contend with those few.

All of this is, admittedly, hinged upon the unproven contention that these flying boats are indeed intended for suicide attacks, or at a more basic level, that Iranian pilots would be willing to carry out such attacks. To those points, I say this: Iran has announced its intention to mass produce vessels that serve virtually no conventional military purpose, that are too small and too lightly armed to be significant in a conventional battle and that will be controlled not by Iran’s Navy, but by a naval contingent of its fanatical Revolutionary Guards. And to those who question whether or not anyone would willingly sacrifice their lives to kill an enemy, recall that our experience over the last nine years, and Israel’s experience for two generations, shows that that region of the world is quite adept at producing angry, alienated young men happy to commit suicide as they wage war against the Crusaders and their Zionist masters. Recall also the Japanese kamikaze’s of the Second World War: If Japan could find 2,800 naval pilots willing to hurl their planes onto Allied ships, is there any reason to doubt that Iran can do the same?

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources

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DTN News - NORWAY TERROR PLOT: Norway Convicts Two Men Over al-Qaeda Plot On Danish Newspaper

2012-01-31T02:43:00.001-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - NORWAY TERROR PLOT: Norway Convicts Two Men Over al-Qaeda Plot On Danish Newspaper
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources The Telegraph - UK
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 31, 2012: Two men were found guilty on Monday of involvement in an al-Qaeda plot to attack a Danish newspaper that caricatured the Prophet Muhammad, the first convictions under Norway's anti-terror laws.

A third defendant was acquitted of terror charges but convicted of helping the others acquire explosives.

Investigators say the plot was linked to the same al-Qaeda planners behind thwarted attacks against the New York subway system and a shopping mall Manchester in 2009.

The Oslo district court sentenced alleged ringleader Mikael Davud, to seven years in prison and co-defendant Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak to three and a half years.

Judge Oddmund Svarteberg said the court found that Davud, a Chinese Muslim, "planned the attack together with al-Qaeda". Bujak was deeply involved in the preparations, but it couldn't be proved that he was aware of Davud's contacts with al-Qaeda, the judge said.

The third defendant, David Jakobsen, who assisted police in the investigation, was convicted on an explosives charge and sentenced to four months in prison – time he's already served in pretrial detention.

It wasn't immediately clear if any of the defendants would appeal.

The case was Norway's most high-profile terror investigation until last July, when a right-wing extremist killed 77 people in a bomb and shooting massacre.

The three men, who were arrested in July 2010, made some admissions but pleaded innocent to terror conspiracy charges and rejected any links to al-Qaeda.

During the trial Davud denied he was taking orders from al-Qaeda, saying he was planning a solo raid against the Chinese Embassy in Oslo. He said he wanted revenge for Beijing's oppression of Uighurs, a Muslim minority in western China.

Davud, who moved to Norway in 1999 and later became a Norwegian citizen, also said his co-defendants helped him acquire bomb-making ingredients but didn't know he was planning an attack.

Prosecutors said the Norwegian cell first wanted to attack Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, whose 12 cartoons of Muhammad sparked furious protests in Muslim countries in 2006, and then changed plans to seek to murder one of the cartoonists instead.

Bujak, an Iraqi Kurd, said the paper and the cartoonist were indeed the targets, but described the plans as "just talk".

Prosecutors had to prove the defendants worked together in a conspiracy, because a single individual plotting an attack is not covered under Norway's anti-terror laws.

"There is no doubt that Davud took the initiative to prepare the terror act and that he was the ring leader," the judge said as he delivered the verdict.

He said Davud planned to carry out the attack himself by placing a bomb outside Jyllands-Posten's offices in Aarhus, in western Denmark.

The men had been under surveillance for more than a year when authorities moved to arrest them. Norwegian investigators, who worked with their US counterparts, said the defendants were building a bomb in a basement laboratory in Oslo.

Jakobsen, an Uzbek national who changed his name after moving to Norway, provided some of the chemicals for the bomb, but claims he did not know they were meant for explosives. Jakobsen contacted police and served as an informant, but still faced charges for his involvement before that.

An Associated Press investigation in 2010 showed that authorities learned early on about the alleged cell by intercepting emails from an al-Qaeda operative in Pakistan and – thanks to those early warnings – were able to secretly replace a key bomb-making ingredient with a harmless liquid when Jakobsen ordered it at an Oslo pharmacy.

The judge said it had been proven that Davud had contacts with al-Qaida in Pakistan, and that his notebook contained references to Saleh al-Somali, al-Qaeda's chief of external operations, who officials believe helped organise the New York, Manchester and Norway plots. He was killed in a CIA drone strike in Pakistan in 2009.

During the trial, prosecutors presented testimony obtained in the US in April from three American al-Qaida recruits turned government witnesses.

Source: AP

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources The Telegraph - UK
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DTN News: U.S. Department of Defense Contracts Dated January 30, 2012

2012-01-30T22:50:00.000-05:00

Defense News: DTN News: U.S. Department of Defense Contracts Dated January 30, 2012

Source: U.S. DoD issued No. 066-12 January 30, 2012

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 30, 2012: U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) Contracts issued January 30, 2012 are undermentioned;

CONTRACTS

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

Tactical & Survival Specialties, Inc.*, Harrisonburg, Va., was issued a modification exercising the second option year on contract SPM8EJ-09-D-0001/P00016. The award is a firm-fixed-price contract with a maximum $5,680,898,304 for delivery of items supported by the Special Operational equipment, tailored Logistics Support Program. There are no other locations of performance. Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. There were 14 responses to the Web solicitation. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2011 Defense Working Capital Funds. The date of performance completion is March 9, 2013. The Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity.

W.S. Darley & Co.*, Itasca, Ill., was issued a modification exercising the second option year on contract SPM8EJ-09-D-0002/P00015. The award is a firm-fixed-price contract with a maximum $5,622,398,304 for delivery of items supported by the Special Operational equipment, tailored Logistics Support Program. There are no other locations of performance. Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. There were 14 responses to the Web solicitation. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2011 Defense Working Capital Funds. The date of performance completion is March 9, 2013. The Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity.

Source One Distributors, Inc.*, Wellington, Fla., was issued a modification exercising the second option year on contract SPM8EJ-09-D-0004/P00017. The award is a firm-fixed-price contract with a maximum $5,470,398,304 for delivery of items supported by the Special Operational equipment, tailored Logistics Support Program. There are no other locations of performance. Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. There were 14 responses to the Web solicitation. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2011 Defense Working Capital Funds. The date of performance completion is March 9, 2013. The Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity.

Atlantic Diving Supply*, Virginia Beach, Va., was issued a modification exercising the second option year on contract SPM8EJ-09-D-0003/P00017. The award is a firm-fixed-price contract with a maximum $4,316,398,304 for delivery of items supported by the Special Operational equipment, tailored Logistics Support Program. There are no other locations of performance. Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. There were 14 responses to the Web solicitation. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2011 Defense Working Capital Funds. The date of performance completion is March 9, 2013. The Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity.

Vital Images, Inc., Minnetonka, Minn., was issued a modification exercising the first option year on contract SPM2D1-11-D-8342/P00003. The award is a fixed-price with economic price adjustment contract with a maximum $12,000,000 for radiology systems, subsystems, and components. There are no other locations of performance. Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. There were 43 responses to the Web solicitation. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2012/2013 Defense Working Capital Funds. The date of performance completion is Jan. 31, 2013. The Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity.

United Technologies Corp., East Hartford, Conn., was awarded a firm-fixed-price, sole-source contract with a maximum $7,264,529 for F-100 rotor compressor. There are no other locations of performance. Using service is Air Force. There was one solicitation with one response. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 operation and maintenance funds. The date of performance completion is May 30, 2014. The Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., is the contracting activity (SPRTA1-09-G-0001-0300).

NAVY

Insitu, Inc., Bingen, Wash., is being awarded a $41,090,719 ceiling priced modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-11-C-0061) to exercise an option for operational and maintenance services in support of the ScanEagle unmanned aerial systems. These services will provide electro-optical/infra red and mid-wave infrared imagery in support of land-based operations in Operation Enduring Freedom to provide real-time imagery and data. Work will be performed in Bingen, Wash., and is expected to be completed in February 2013. Contract funds in the amount of $41,090,719 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.

CGI Federal, Inc., subsidiary of CGI Technologies and Solutions, Inc., Fairfax, Va., is being awarded a $28,206,792 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for information technology support services for the Joint Strike Fight Program Office. Work will be performed in Arlington, Va. (70.49 percent); Rosamond, Calif. (8.57 percent); Patuxent River, Md. (7.62 percent); Ridgecrest, Calif. (2.86 percent); Dayton, Ohio (2.86 percent); Point Mugu, Calif. (1.90 percent); Valparaiso, Fla. (1.90 percent); Fort Worth, Texas (1.90 percent); and Jacksonville, Fla. (1.90 percent). Work is expected to be completed in January 2013. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-1. Contract funds in the amount of $3,520,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, N.J., is the contracting activity (N68335-12-C-0119).

L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace, L.L.C., Madison, Miss., is being awarded a $23,959,388 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery requirements contract (N00019-11-D-0024) to exercise an option for contractor logistics support and Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department (AIMD) support for the T-39 Undergraduate Military Flight Officer (UMFO) Training Program. This effort includes support of the UMFO government-owned T-39N and T-39G aircraft and associated equipment, including organizational and depot level repair. In addition, this provides intermediate level maintenance and support for Chief of Naval Air Training aircraft, transient aircraft, tenant, and other services activities at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola, Fla., and NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, and surrounding areas through the AIMD. Work will be performed in Pensacola, Fla. (75 percent), and Corpus Christi, Texas (25 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2012. No funds are being obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.

The Boeing Co., Boeing Defense, Space and Security, St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $12,444,077 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N68335-10-C-0491) to exercise an option for the manufacture, test, and delivery of six AN/USM-702 reconfigurable transportable consolidated automated support systems and three self maintenance and test calibration interface devices. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Mo. (58 percent); North Reading, Mass. (40 percent); and Stillwater, Okla. (2 percent). Work is expected to be completed in April 2013. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, N.J., is the contracting activity.

The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded an $8,261,510 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-10-C-0030) to procure an additional 700 precision laser guidance set kits for the Air Force. Work will be performed in Haifa, Israel (37 percent); Fort Worth, Texas (32 percent); and St. Charles, Mo. (31 percent). Work is expected to be completed in August 2012. Contract funds in the amount of $1,357,246 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.

WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICE

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit, Washington, D.C., is being awarded a $15,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide funding for Department of Defense transportation benefits for its employees. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C., with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2016. Washington Headquarters Service is the contracting activity (HQ0034-12-A-001-0002).

DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY

Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc., Cambridge, Mass., is being awarded a $14,189,4020 technology investment agreement. The goal of this agreement is for Novartis to perform a research and development program designed to develop a self-replicating RNA vaccine platform. Work will be performed in Cambridge, Mass. Work is expected to be completed by November 2015. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is the contracting activity (HR0011-12-3-0001).

*Small business

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources U.S. DoD issued No. 066-12 January 30, 2012
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DTN News - DEFENSE ACCOUNTABILITY: U.S. Defense Department Can't Account For Billions For Iraq, Audit Finds

2012-01-30T22:39:00.001-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - DEFENSE ACCOUNTABILITY: U.S. Defense Department Can't Account For Billions For Iraq, Audit Finds
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Josh Levs, CNN
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 30, 2012: The U.S. Defense Department cannot account for about $2 billion it was given to cover Iraq-related expenses and is not providing Iraq with a complete list of U.S.-funded reconstruction projects, according to two new government audits.

The reports come from the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

The Iraqi government in 2004 gave the Department of Defense access to about $3 billion to pay bills for certain contracts, and the department can only show what happened to about a third of that, the inspector general says in an audit published Friday.

Although the Department of Defense (DoD) had "internal processes and controls" to track payments, the "bulk of the records are missing," the report says, adding that the department is searching for them.

Other documents are missing as well, including monthly reports documenting expenses, the audit says.

"From July 2004 through December 2007, DoD should have provided 42 monthly reports. However, it can locate only the first four reports."

A letter accompanying the report is signed by Stuart Bowen, the inspector general. The audit was overseen by Glenn Furbish, assistant inspector general for audits.

In a response letter also contained in the report, Defense Under Secretary Mark Easton acknowledges "a records management issue."

The audit says it believes records management is to blame, and "has been an ongoing problem for DoD in Iraq. By all accounts, DoD established good internal processes and controls to account for and report on" the funds it was given after the Coalition Provisional Authority dissolved.

Where the records did exist, they matched other records and contained "good financial documentation supporting individual payments." Also, there is "sufficient evidence" that required monthly reports were sent to the government of Iraq, even though they can't be found, the audit said.

The audit deals with a time when Iraq's government was undergoing a transition. The Coalition Provisional Authority ran the country for 14 months from 2003 to 2004. During that time, the authority awarded numerous contracts. When it dissolved in 2004, the Iraqi government gave the U.S. Defense Department access to the $3 billion to pay bills for contracts the provisional authority had awarded.

The Defense Department letter from Easton -- the department's deputy chief financial officer -- thanks the inspector general's office for "the collaborative effort and professional courtesy" in a series of audits.

Separately, the inspector general's office sent a letter Sunday to the U.S. ambassador to Iraq complaining that the U.S. government is not providing Iraq with a complete list of reconstruction projects.

The U.S. criteria for selecting which projects to report to Iraq -- which include only those valued at $250,000 or more -- is a central part of the problem, the letter says.

The U.S. Embassy says the system is designed to help Iraq "focus its limited resources on sustainment of infrastructure and other large capital projects done through U.S. reconstruction efforts," the report notes.

The inspector general's office argues that the limited list -- which is also "hampered by unreliable data and other data entry problems" -- does not allow Iraq to decide where to focus its resources, and notes that the country might consider some smaller projects more important than those that are reported.

"Without more comprehensive knowledge about reconstruction projects the (Iraqi government) will not be in a position to maximize the use of its resources," the report says.

Billions of dollars in spending are not reported to Iraq under the current system, the report says.

In a response letter, Peter Bodde, assistant chief of mission for the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, says that while the current system is incomplete, "it does capture the vast majority of reconstruction projects and there is no other alternative that captures more."

He also notes that the Iraq reconstruction effort "is now in its very last stages, and all remaining capital projects will be reported through the asset transfer process."

The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction was created in 2004 to continue oversight of Iraq reconstruction programs.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Josh Levs, CNN
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DTN News - SYRIA UNREST: Syrian Forces Battle To Retake Damascus Suburbs

2012-01-30T22:36:00.004-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - SYRIA UNREST: Syrian Forces Battle To Retake Damascus Suburbs
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 30, 2012: Syrian soldiers killed 19 people in fighting to retake Damascus suburbs from rebels on Sunday, activists said, a day after the Arab League suspended its monitoring mission in Syria because of mounting violence.

Around 2,000 soldiers in buses and armored personnel carriers, along with at least 50 tanks and armored vehicles, moved at dawn into the Ghouta area on the eastern edge of Damascus to reinforce an offensive in the suburbs of Saqba, Hammouriya and Kfar Batna, activists said.

The army pushed into the heart of Kfar Batna and four tanks were in its central square, they said, in a move to flush out rebels who had taken over districts just a few kilometers from President Bashar al-Assad's centre of power.

"It's urban war. There are bodies in the street," said one activist, speaking from Kfar Batna. Activists said 14 civilians and five insurgents from the rebel Free Syrian Army were killed there and in other suburbs.

The Arab League suspended the work of its monitors on Saturday after calling on Assad to step down and make way for a government of national unity. It said Arab foreign ministers would discuss the Syrian crisis on February 5.

Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby left for New York on Sunday where he will brief representatives of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to seek support for an Arab peace plan that calls on Assad to step aside after 10 months of protests.

He will be joined by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, whose country heads the league's committee charged with overseeing Syria.

Speaking shortly before he left Cairo for New York, Elaraby said he hoped to overcome resistance from China and Russia over endorsing the Arab proposals. "There are contacts with China and Russia on this issue," he said.

A Syrian government official was quoted by state media as saying Syria was surprised by the decision to suspend operations, which would "put pressure on (Security Council) deliberations with the aim of calling for foreign intervention and encouraging armed groups to increase violence."

Assad blames the violence on foreign-backed militants.

ARMY DEATHS

State news agency SANA reported funerals on Saturday for 28 soldiers and security force members killed by "armed terrorist groups" in Homs, Hama, Deraa, Deir al-Zor and Damascus province.

Another 16 soldiers were reported killed on Sunday. SANA said six soldiers were killed in a bombing southwest of Damascus, while the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 soldiers were killed when their convoy was attacked in Jabal al-Zawiya in northern Syria.

Faced with mass demonstrations against his rule, Assad launched a military crackdown to try to subdue the protests. Growing numbers of army deserters and gunmen have joined the demonstrators, increasing instability in the country of 23 million people at the heart of the Middle East.

The insurgency has been gradually approaching the capital, whose suburbs, a series of mainly conservative Sunni Muslim towns bordering old gardens and farmland, known as the al-Ghouta, are home to the bulk of Damascus's population.

One activist in Saqba suburb said mosques there had been turned into field hospitals and were appealing for blood supplies. "They cut off the electricity. Petrol stations are empty and the army is preventing people from leaving to get fuel for generators or heating," he said.

The Damascus suburbs have seen large demonstrations demanding the removal of Assad, a member of the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that has dominated the mostly Sunni Muslim country for the last five decades.

TOWN BESIEGED

In Rankous, 30 km (20 miles) north of Damascus by the Lebanese border, Assad's forces have killed at least 33 people in recent days in an attack to dislodge army defectors and insurgents, activists and residents said on Sunday.

Rankous, a mountain town of 25,000 people, has been under tank fire since Wednesday, when several thousand troops laid siege to it, they said.

France, which has been leading calls for stronger international action on Syria, said the Arab League decision highlighted the need to act.

"France vigorously condemns the dramatic escalation of violence in Syria, which has led the Arab League to suspend its observers' mission in Syria," the Foreign Ministry said.

"Dozens of Syrian civilians have been killed in the past days by the savage repression taken by the Syrian regime ... Those responsible for these barbarous acts must answer to their crimes," it said.

The Arab League mission was sent in at the end of last year to observe Syria's implementation of a peace plan, which failed to end the fighting. Gulf states withdrew monitors last week, saying the team could not stop the violence.

The United Nations said in December more than 5,000 people had been killed in the protests and crackdown. Syria says more than 2,000 security force members have been killed by militants.

On Friday, the U.N. Security Council discussed a European-Arab draft resolution aimed at halting the bloodshed. Britain and France said they hoped to put it to a vote next week.

Russia joined China in vetoing a previous Western draft resolution in October, and has said it wants a Syrian-led political process, not "an Arab League-imposed outcome" or Libyan-style "regime change.

(Additional reporting by Erika Solomon, Dominic Evans and Mariam Karouny in Beirut; Editing byJanet Lawrence)

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
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DTN News - ISRAEL DEFENSE NEWS: Boeing And Israel Aerospace Industries Mark 10 Years Of Cooperation

2012-01-30T22:32:00.000-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - ISRAEL DEFENSE NEWS: Boeing And Israel Aerospace Industries Mark 10 Years Of Cooperation
>Companies extend work agreement on Arrow Weapon System
>Arrow 3 next step in Israel's national missile defense strategy
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Boeing
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 30, 2012: The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today announced that it has renewed its work agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) on the Arrow Weapon System, and enhanced the IAI-Boeing Strategic Teaming Agreement to explore and develop new opportunitiesin the missile defense arena. Leaders of both companies gathered at IAI headquarters in Tel Aviv on Jan. 19 for a signing ceremony that also marked the 10th anniversary of the Boeing and IAI partnership.

"The Arrow program demonstrates Boeing's commitment to developing international missile defense partnerships around the globe," said Boeing Network & Space Systems President Roger Krone. "We are pleased to mark this 10-year milestone by expanding our cooperation on missile defense initiatives with our partner IAI."

Over the past 10 years, Arrow, the world's first operational national missile defense system, has become a vital anti-ballistic-missile defense strategy for Israel's national defense. IAI is the prime contractor for the Arrow Weapon System. It initiated, developed and deployed the in-service Arrow 2 program and, together with Boeing, is developing the Arrow 3 system -- a crucial asset in Israel's multi-tier anti-ballistic-missile defense strategy.

"This new agreement is the next logical step in our relationship with Boeing and a strong opportunity for both companies to play a bigger role in the missile defense market. It is based on a strong foundation of successful cooperation," said Itzhak Nissan, IAI president and CEO.

"Boeing's relationship with IAI has produced an innovative, versatile and affordable advanced missile defense capability. We look forward to our continued partnership and the development of the next generation of Arrow interceptor," said Greg Hyslop, vice president and general manager of Boeing Strategic Missile and Defense Systems.

The Arrow program has been a cooperative effort between the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the Israel Missile Defense Organization since 2002.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world's largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world's largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $32 billion business with 63,000 employees worldwide. Follow us on Twitter: @BoeingDefense.

Contact:

Scott Day
Strategic Missile and Defense Systems
Office: +1 703-872-4206
Mobile: +1 703-403-3083
scott.day2@boeing.com

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Boeing
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DTN News - US DEFENCE BUDGET CUTS: More Drones But 80,000 Fewer Troops

2012-01-30T22:29:00.000-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - US DEFENCE BUDGET CUTS: More Drones But 80,000 Fewer Troops
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Scotsman
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 30, 2012: The United States is to increase its fleet of unmanned drones by nearly a third and rely more on small, specially trained ground units as part of a slimmed down military.

As part of massive cuts to its budget, the army plans to shed 80,000 soldiers over the next few years, defence secretary Leon Panetta announced yesterday.

But he added the enforced belt-tightening would be an opportunity to modernise the military, with a focus on technology and the use of agile, rapid-deployment combat teams.

The US would also be refocusing it attention towards China and the Pacific, while seeking strategic partnerships in areas in which it will be cutting its presence, such as Europe.

The rethink was prompted by the need to find $487 billion (£310bn) in spending cuts over the next decade. Mr Panetta conceded it meant slashing the number of soldiers in the army from about 570,000 to 490,000 over the next decade.

Speaking from the Pentagon, he said: “The military will be smaller and leaner. But it will be agile, flexible, rapidly deployable and technologically advanced. It will be a cutting-edge force”.

He said he refused to allow the “hollowing out” of the US’s military might, and that the new strategy would “emphasise special operation forces”.

The effectiveness of these small, dedicated units was seen in the assassination of terror chief Osama bin Laden last year and the rescue of a US aid worker and her Danish colleague from Somali pirates this week.

The envisaged refocusing on smaller rotational bases will be at the expense of larger military sites, with closures expected to take place as part of the budget cuts.

There will be more money available for technologically advanced weapons and measures to counter cyber-terrorism.

Mr Panetta did not say how many more drones would be developed under the plan, but an increase of about 30 per cent has previously been reported.

Any rise in the use of umanned aircraft is likely to be met with suspicion by those who believe that their use endangers innocent life.

Figures from the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism show CIA drones stuck Pakistan 75 times in 2011, causing up to 655 fatalities. The majority of those killed were alleged militants, but as many as 126 civilians may also have lost their lives, the figures suggest.

The shrinking of the US army was signalled earlier this month in comments made by president Barack Obama.

Outlining plans to trim the armed forces, he said the US was ”turning a page on a decade of war”, with the end of hostilities in Iraq and the drawdown of troops in Afghanistan.

The president also fired a warning shot over China, by indicating the US would refocus its attention towards the Pacific region. As part of that repositioning, the US plans to station troops in Australia and dock navy ships in Singapore.

Meanwhile, US officials have been in talks with their counterparts in the Philippines over greater co-operation and an intensification of war drills in the region. It comes amid greater concern in Washington over both China’s rise as a military power and instability on the Korean peninsula following the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Scotsman
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DTN News - UKRAINE DEFENSE NEWS: Ukraine Boosts Military Budget By 30%

2012-01-30T22:26:00.000-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - UKRAINE DEFENSE NEWS: Ukraine Boosts Military Budget By 30%
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Ria Novosti
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 30, 2012: Ukraine’s 2012 military spending will increase by around 30 percent, to about $2 billion or 1.1 percent of GDP, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s financial department said on Wednesday.

The ministry expects to spend about $120 million for purchases and modernization of military equipment, as well as scientific and military design projects, including the production of L-39 Albatros jet trainers and MiG-29 fighter jets. Ukraine’s existing fleet of MiG-29, L-39 and Su-25 close air support aircrafts will also be modernized.

Head of Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Financial Department Lt. Gen. Yvan Marko said 21 jets, five helicopters and 612 vehicles will be repaired and modernized this year.

Ukraine’s 2012 state defense order will stand at $184 million, four times more than last year, including $54 million to build a corvette-class ship and $13 million for the construction of the Sapsan multifunctional missile system.

Ukraine’s military budget amounted to 0.8 percent of GDP on average over the past few years, substantially less than the average 1.3 percent of other Eastern European states.

Related News

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Ria Novosti
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DTN News - DRONES DEFENSE NEWS: New Drone Has No Pilot Anywhere, So Who's Accountable?

2012-01-30T22:22:00.002-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - DRONES DEFENSE NEWS: New Drone Has No Pilot Anywhere, So Who's Accountable?
*The Navy is testing an autonomous plane that will land on an aircraft carrier. The prospect of heavily armed aircraft screaming through the skies without direct human control is unnerving to many
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 30, 2012: The Navy's new drone being tested near Chesapeake Bay stretches the boundaries of technology: It's designed to land on the deck of an aircraft carrier, one of aviation's most difficult maneuvers.

What's even more remarkable is that it will do that not only without a pilot in the cockpit, but without a pilot at all.

The X-47B marks a paradigm shift in warfare, one that is likely to have far-reaching consequences. With the drone's ability to be flown autonomously by onboard computers, it could usher in an era when death and destruction can be dealt by machines operating semi-independently.

GRAPHIC: How the X-47B lands

Although humans would program an autonomous drone's flight plan and could override its decisions, the prospect of heavily armed aircraft screaming through the skies without direct human control is unnerving to many.

"Lethal actions should have a clear chain of accountability," said Noel Sharkey, a computer scientist and robotics expert. "This is difficult with a robot weapon. The robot cannot be held accountable. So is it the commander who used it? The politician who authorized it? The military's acquisition process? The manufacturer, for faulty equipment?"

Sharkey and others believe that autonomous armed robots should force the kind of dialogue that followed the introduction of mustard gas in World War I and the development of atomic weapons in World War II. The International Committee of the Red Cross, the group tasked by the Geneva Conventions to protect victims in armed conflict, is already examining the issue.

"The deployment of such systems would reflect … a major qualitative change in the conduct of hostilities," committee President Jakob Kellenberger said at a recent conference. "The capacity to discriminate, as required by [international humanitarian law], will depend entirely on the quality and variety of sensors and programming employed within the system."

Weapons specialists in the military and Congress acknowledge that policymakers must deal with these ethical questions long before these lethal autonomous drones go into active service, which may be a decade or more away.

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) said policy probably will first be discussed with the bipartisan drone caucus that he co-chairs with Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-Santa Clarita). Officially known as the Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus, the panel was formed in 2009 to inform members of Congress on the far-reaching applications of drone technology.

"It's a different world from just a few years ago — we've entered the realm of science fiction in a lot of ways," Cuellar said. "New rules have to be developed as new technology comes about, and this is a big step forward."

Aerial drones now piloted remotely have become a central weapon for the CIA and U.S. military in their campaign against terrorists in the Middle East. The Pentagon has gone from an inventory of a handful of drones before Sept. 11, 2001, to about 7,500 drones, about one-third of all military aircraft.

Despite looming military spending cuts, expenditures on drones are expected to take less of a hit, if any, because they are cheaper to build and operate than piloted aircraft.

All military services are moving toward greater automation with their robotic systems. Robotic armed submarines could one day stalk enemy waters, and automated tanks could engage soldiers on the battlefield.

"More aggressive robotry development could lead to deploying far fewer U.S. military personnel to other countries, achieving greater national security at a much lower cost and most importantly, greatly reduced casualties," aerospace pioneer Simon Ramo, who helped develop the intercontinental ballistic missile, wrote in his new book, "Let Robots Do the Dying."

The Air Force wrote in an 82-page report that outlines the future usage of drones, titled "Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Plan 2009-2047," that autonomous drone aircraft are key "to increasing effects while potentially reducing cost, forward footprint and risk." Much like a chess master can outperform proficient chess players, future drones will be able to react faster than human pilots ever could, the report said.

And with that potential comes new concerns about how much control of the battlefield the U.S. is willing to turn over to computers.

There is no plan by the U.S. military — at least in the near term — to turn over the killing of enemy combatants to the X-47B or any other autonomous flying machine. But the Air Force said in the "Flight Plan" that it's only a matter of time before drones have the capability to make life-or-death decisions as they circle the battlefield. Even so, the report notes that officials will still monitor how these drones are being used.

"Increasingly humans will no longer be 'in the loop' but rather 'on the loop' — monitoring the execution of certain decisions," the report said. "Authorizing a machine to make lethal combat decisions is contingent upon political and military leaders resolving legal and ethical questions."

Peter W. Singer, author of "Wired for War," a book about robotic warfare, said automated military targeting systems are under development. But before autonomous aerial drones are sent on seek-and-destroy missions, he said, the military must first prove that it can pull off simpler tasks, such as refueling and reconnaissance missions.

That's where the X-47B comes in.

"Like it or not, autonomy is the future," Singer said. "The X-47 is one of many programs that aim to perfect the technology."

The X-47B is an experimental jet — that's what the X stands for — and is designed to demonstrate new technology, such as automated takeoffs, landings and refueling. The drone also has a fully capable weapons bay with a payload capacity of 4,500 pounds, but the Navy said it has no plans to arm it.

The Navy is now testing two of the aircraft, which were built behind razor-wire fences at Northrop Grumman Corp.'s expansive complex in Palmdale, where the company manufactured the B-2 stealth bomber.

Funded under a $635.8-million contract awarded by the Navy in 2007, the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration program has grown in cost to an estimated $813 million.

Last February, the first X-47B had its maiden flight from Edwards Air Force Base, where it continued testing until last month when it was carried from the Mojave Desert to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in southern Maryland. It is there that the next stage of the demonstration program begins.

The drone is slated to first land on a carrier by 2013, relying on pinpoint GPS coordinates and advanced avionics. The carrier's computers digitally transmit the carrier's speed, cross-winds and other data to the drone as it approaches from miles away.

The X-47B will not only land itself, but will also know what kind of weapons it is carrying, when and where it needs to refuel with an aerial tanker, and whether there's a nearby threat, said Carl Johnson, Northrop's X-47B program manager. "It will do its own math and decide what it should do next."
william.hennigan@latimes.com

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DTN News - SYRIA UNREST: Syrian Blasts Kill 14, Arab Monitors May Stay

2012-01-21T21:26:00.000-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - SYRIA UNREST: Syrian Blasts Kill 14, Arab Monitors May Stay

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 21, 2012: Bombs killed at least 14 prisoners in a Syrian security vehicle on Saturday, and fierce battles erupted between rebels and state forces as the Arab League considered whether to keep monitors in place.
The League looks set to extend its monitoring mission in Syria, given the lack of any Arab or world consensus on how to halt the bloodshed there, an Arab diplomatic source said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the 10-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, said an explosive device planted on a road in the northwestern province of Idlib had killed 15 detainees and wounded dozens.

Syria's state news agency SANA said a "terrorist" group had set off two explosions on the road between the towns of Idlib and Ariha, killing 14 prisoners and wounding 26. Six police guards were also wounded, some critically.

Activists in Idlib offered a very different account, saying the vehicle had actually been carrying dead bodies. They uploaded videos of corpses on the bloodied floors of a hospital morgue, some of which appeared to be decomposing, and said they had come from the vehicle.

Foreign journalists are mostly banned from Syria and such reports are impossible to verify.

Elsewhere in Idlib, clashes broke out between rebels and troops in the city of Maarat Noaman.

"Ten soldiers were trying to desert and their escape sparked clashes between the army and the rebels. One rebel was martyred when he helped give the defectors cover and nine army personnel were killed," the Observatory's head Rami Abdelrahman told Reuters by telephone from Britain.

The Observatory said troops had clashed with army deserters who had joined the insurgency in the town of Jebel al-Zawiya, also in Idlib province, which borders Turkey.

FIGHTING NEAR DAMASCUS

Rebels seized parts of the town of Douma near Damascus before retreating, activists said. Explosions and gunfire rocked the area, a hotbed of revolt after dark.

The fighting began on Saturday afternoon, after security forces killed four people when they fired on a funeral march for a slain protester. Ensuing clashes left dozens wounded, activists said.

Syria accuses its neigbours of failing to combat arms smuggling to insurgents across their borders. On Saturday Syrian forces killed a Lebanese fisherman and wounded another when they seized their boat at sea, the father of the dead man said.

Residents said the Syrians may have suspected the men of smuggling.

Hundreds of people have been killed during the month-long observer mission, despatched to assess Syria's implementation of an Arab peace plan originally agreed in early November.

Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, head of the 165-strong monitoring team, was due in Cairo on Saturday to submit his report for a League committee on Syria to consider on Sunday.

Syria is keen to avoid tougher action by the Arab League or the United Nations. It has tried to show it is complying with the plan, which demands a halt to killings, a military pullout from the streets, the release of detainees, access for the monitors and the media, and dialogue with opposition groups.

Critics say the Arab monitors have only given Assad diplomatic cover to pursue a bloody crackdown on his opponents.

The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) told Reuters it had formally asked the League to refer the Syrian crisis to the U.N. Security Council.

But an Arab source said the League was most likely planning only to extend the mission's mandate: "Yes, there is not complete satisfaction with Syria's cooperation with the monitoring mission. But in the absence of any international plan to deal with Syria, the best option is for the monitors to stay.

This month the Syrian authorities have freed hundreds of detainees, announced an amnesty, struck a ceasefire deal with armed rebels in one town, allowed the Arab observers into some trouble spots and admitted a gaggle of foreign journalists.

"TERRORISTS"

Assad also promised political reforms, while vowing iron-fisted treatment of the "terrorists" trying to topple him.

Burhan Ghalioun, head of the SNC, was in the Egyptian capital for meetings with opposition colleagues and Arab League officials.

The group said in a statement he would ask for the case to go to the Security Council in order to get a resolution imposing a no-fly zone or safe zone.

Western powers have failed to overcome Chinese and Russian opposition to any Security Council resolution condemning Syria or imposing sanctions.

The United States and the European Union have toughened their own punitive measures, but have shown no desire to mount a Libya-style military intervention to help Assad's opponents, who include both armed insurgents and peaceful protesters.

Washington warned on Friday that it might soon close its embassy in Syria due to worsening security conditions and said it believed Assad no longer had full control of the country.

U.S. concern about the safety of its mission in Damascus, which was attacked by a pro-Assad crowd in July, intensified after three deadly blasts in the Syrian capital in recent weeks, blamed by Syrian authorities on al-Qaeda suicide bombers.

Closing the embassy would not amount to cutting diplomatic ties, but would reduce direct U.S. contacts with Damascus.

A White House spokesman said Assad's fall was "inevitable" and demanded he halt violence against protesters in which the United Nations says more than 5,000 people have died since March. Syria says 2,000 security personnel have been killed. (Writing by Alistair Lyon and Erika Solomon; editing by Andrew Roche)

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
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2012-01-21T11:28:00.004-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Panetta~ U.S. Military Best In World, But Threats Remain
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr. - American Forces Press Service
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 21, 2012: The U.S. military is the world’s best and it’s on the right path to face the challenges ahead, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said here today.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta speaks to military members and civilian workers at the Joint Strike Fighter hangar at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., Jan. 20, 2012. Panetta toured several facilities related to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is in its test phases at the base. DOD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

Speaking to a crowd of service members, civilians and local leaders at a town hall meeting, Panetta said the military “has to be able to make that turn as we head into the future.”

“We're at a point, as you know, where the Iraq mission was brought to an end, and it's now clearly up to the Iraqi people, to the Iraqi leaders to make sure they stay on the right track,” he said. “That was the whole point of the mission, was to make Iraq be able to govern and secure itself.”

The defense secretary also cited U.S., coalition and Afghan progress made in Afghanistan and NATO’s success in helping to topple a dictator in Libya.

“In Afghanistan, we are making good progress there in transitioning to Afghan control and security, and we remain committed to making sure that happens,” Panetta said. “In Libya, we had a successful NATO mission that helped bring down Gadhafi and return Libya to the Libyan people.”

Panetta noted the U.S. military has “significantly impacted” al-Qaida operations. Al-Qaida chieftain Osama bin Laden was killed in May 2011 in Pakistan by U.S. troops.

“Its leadership is decimated,” Panetta said of al-Qaida. “It doesn't have the ability to put command and control together to make the kind of plans for the kind of attacks we saw on 9/11.

“We have successfully gone after their leadership, and it's not just bin Laden, but a number of leaders,” he continued. “But we need to continue that pressure.

“We need to keep going after them wherever they go, whether it's Yemen or Somalia or North Africa,” he added. “We need to continue the pressure on them. But we are working to significantly weaken their capability. We've been good at it.”

The defense secretary noted that “we’re moving in the right direction” by virtue of the men and women in uniform doing “everything we've asked them to do.”

Panetta also said the current drawdown isn’t like previous drawdowns following World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War or the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“This isn't like drawdowns in the past … when the potential enemy or the enemy that we were confronting, you know, was disabled and in some way rendered ineffective,” he said. “We're still confronting a number of threats in the world.”

“We're still fighting a war in Afghanistan,” Panetta said. “We're facing threats from North Korea. We're facing threats from Iran. We continue to face threats from the proliferation of nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction.”

The defense secretary also noted threats from “rising powers” in Asia, continuing turmoil in the Middle East, and in the cyber world where “the battlefields of the future could very well be in cyber.”

“So at a time when we're at that turning point, at a time when we're facing the budget challenges that we're facing, we still have to be strong to confront the threats that we face in the world,” Panetta said. “And so that's been the challenge.”

After Congress mandated a reduction of $487 billion in the defense budget over the next 10 years, Panetta said he saw it as an “opportunity to shape the defense system we need for the future.”

“Number one, we are and have to remain, the strongest military in the world,” he said. “We are not going to back off from our position of being the strongest military. If we're going to confront those threats, if we're going to be a world leader, we have got to maintain our military power.”

Panetta was also adamant about not hollowing out the force which, he said, is a mistake “we’ve made in the past.”

“Every one of those drawdowns I talked about, there were cuts across the board,” he said. “They took big numbers, cut everything across the board, weakened everything across the board … we are not going to do that.”

The defense secretary noted he’d looked at every budget area where savings, efficiencies and balance can be achieved.

Despite current fiscal belt-tightening, the nation ““cannot break faith with those that have served, men and women who've deployed time and time and time again to the war zone, who've been promised and committed to certain benefits,” Panetta said.

“We have got to maintain faith with them,” he added, “at the same time that, obviously, we've got to deal with growing costs in the future."

The nation’s national defense strategy, Panetta added, always depends upon the quality of its service members.

“And thank God we have the very best fighting men and women in the world,” he said. “And thank God we have the American people that are supportive of making sure that we do everything possible to reach that American dream of giving our kids a better life.”

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable source By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr. - American Forces Press Service
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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Panetta Lifts F-35 Fighter Variant Probation

2012-01-21T11:23:00.000-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Panetta Lifts F-35 Fighter Variant Probation
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr. - American Forces Press Service
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 21, 2012: Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta announced today he’s lifted probation from the Short Takeoff, Vertical Landing variant of the fifth generation F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter which is absolutely vital to maintaining air superiority.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland look at the cockpit of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with Navy Capt. Erik "Rock" Etz on Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., Jan. 20, 2012. Panetta and Hoyer toured several facilities related to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is in its test phases at the base. DOD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

Speaking during a town hall-style meeting here, the defense secretary discussed the latest development in the progress of the joint strike fighter program as service members, politicians and the civilian workforce listened.

“Early in 2011 DOD was compelled to put [the Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing] … on probation,” he said.

“Over the course of last year, you here at Pax River helped make an incredible difference by completing tremendous amounts of STOVL testing,” Panetta noted. “You demonstrated that we've made real progress towards fixing some of the known problems that we had with STOVL.”

Panetta lauded the joint strike fighter’s workforce at NAS Patuxent River for their efforts to bring the STOVL variant up to the standards of the two other existing versions of the F-35, the Conventional Takeoff and Landing and Carrier Variant.

“We now believe that because of your work, that the STOVL variant is demonstrating the kind of performance and maturity that is in line with the other two variants of the JSF,” Panetta said.

“As a result of your hard work and the hard work of JSF's government and industry team … the STOVL variant has made, I believe and all of us believe, sufficient progress so that as of today, I am lifting the STOVL probation,” he announced.

Panetta commended the crowd for their hard work, but cautioned that the JSF program still has more work to do. “We've got a long way to go with the JSF testing, and it's obviously not out of the woods yet,” he said.

“But I am confident that if we continue to do the hard work necessary … that both the Carrier and the STOVL Variant are going to be ready for operations and are going to be ready for doing the work that they have to do, which is to help protect this country,” Panetta said.

“I want you all to know that as secretary of defense, my department is committed to the development of the F-35,” he said. “It's absolutely critical … that we get it right. And that's why you're here. The developmental testing that's going on here will ensure that we get this right.”

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James F. Amos called Panetta’s decision to lift the probation of the F-35B “hard-earned.”

“Secretary Panetta’s decision to take the F-35B Lightning II Short Takeoff, Vertical Landing variant off probation was a hard-earned and rewarding announcement for the entire DOD/industry team that worked very hard last year,” he said.

“Successful F-35B performance ashore and at sea has very positively advanced the state of demonstrated capability in 2011,” Amos said. “The positive momentum generated during 2011 will continue as testing proceeds, production aircraft are delivered, and fleet training begins in 2012.”

Panetta said it is important that the U.S. military maintains its technological edge into the future.

“That's where we have to be,” he said. “We're going to have a strong defense; we have got to be there.”

Panetta praised the capabilities of Patuxent’s workforce.

“Because of you, because of the very unique testing and capabilities that are offered here, we are able to maintain that technological edge,” Panetta said. “And I want to thank you again for your dedication, for your commitment, for your great skills.”

Panetta lauded the Patuxent River installation calling it “a very unique facility” and “a national treasure” that is important to maintain.

“These are world-class facilities … that [are] important to our military, important to our men and women in uniform who have to put their lives on the line, and it's important to our national security,” Panetta said.

“Please accept my deepest thanks for your work and dedication,” he said. “I couldn't do it without you.”

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr. - American Forces Press Service
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DTN News: Happy Chinese New Year ~ Year Of The Dragon

2012-01-20T17:50:00.000-05:00

Defense News: DTN News: Happy Chinese New Year ~ Year Of The Dragon
Source: DTN News By Roger Smith
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 20, 2012: We Wish All our Readers and Viewers a Happy Chinese New Year with Great Prosperity and Good Luck in the Year of the Dragon!

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DTN News - WIKILEAKS NEWS: Various Articles From International Media Originated From Wikileaks For January 19, 2012

2012-01-19T20:27:00.001-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - WIKILEAKS NEWS: Various Articles From International Media Originated From Wikileaks For January 19, 2012

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 19, 2012: The international non-profit organization Wikileaks became world renown as a whistleblower publishing submissions of private, secret and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks and whistleblowers.

WikiLeaks states that its "primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behaviour in their governments and corporations".

Here are the news on various subjects on Wikileaks by global media/web/blogs and reactions respectively for DTN News readers and viewers;

2nd officer favors court-martial in WikiLeaks case
USA TODAY
Manning allegedly gave more than 700000 secret US documents to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks for publication. Prosecutors say WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange collaborated with Manning. Defense lawyers say Manning was clearly a troubled young ...
See all stories on this topic »

USA TODAY

WikiLeaks or Sea Shepherd: who are the outlaw heroes in the age of modern ...
The Conversation
Wikileaks deals with human society and uses computer technology to expose what it sees as wrongs by governments. Sea Shepherd deals with marine wildlife and uses direct action to expose what it sees as wrongs by governments. But urbane, well-spoken ...
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Every Bidder Bailed on the WikiLeaks Truck
The Atlantic Wire
Remember how the guy who owns the WikiLeaks truck was going to sell it and use the money to start building a whole fleet of WikiLeaks vehicles? Well, the eBay sale ended last week and all the bidders backed out at the last minute, so that never ...
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The Atlantic Wire

Chase Madar: Accusing Wikileaks of Murder
OpEdNews
Pfc. Manning, you will remember, is the young soldier who is soon to be court-martialed for passing some 750000 military and diplomatic documents, a large chunk of them classified, to the websiteWikiLeaks. Among those leaks, there was indeed some ...
See all stories on this topic »Army officer makes 2nd recommendation for court-martial of soldier charged in ...
Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Army officer makes 2nd recommendation for court-martial of soldier charged inWikiLeaks case Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
See all stories on this topic »Michael Hastings Talks Assange, WikiLeaks with Charlie Rose
RollingStone.com (blog)
... his in-depth Julian Assange interview, his new book, The Operators, and the 2010 firing of Gen. Stanley McChyrstal, after Hastings profiled him in Rolling Stone. Bonus points if you can tell how Rose and co-hosts really feel about Assange/WikiLeaks.
See all stories on this topic »Julian Assange Blasts New York Times And Bill Keller In Rolling Stone Profile
Huffington Post
In a profile with Rolling Stone released on Wednesday, Assange sat down with contributing editor Michael Hastings to discuss the Wikileaks scandal and his upcoming extradition trial in early February. Assange, who founded the whistleblower website ...
See all stories on this topic »The constant drip, drip, drip of WikiLeaks
Kyiv Post (subscription)
New revelations by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks show that US officials shared concerns that many have had about Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko, the man once again representing Ukraine in important negotiations with Russia on natural gas supplies. ...
See all stories on this topic »US cables show skepticism, warnings about Yanukovych
Kyiv Post
The cables, recently released by whistleblower website WikiLeaks, give an insight into the inner workings of Ukraine's political and business world from a string of top Ukrainian officials, opposition figures, oligarch businessmen and civil society ...
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Choking off free speech on the web
The Hindu
The attempt to introduce strong-arm measures must be viewed against the backdrop of a persistent effort in the US to use judicial processes to access personal data about individuals abroad using services such as Twitter, in the wake of the WikiLeaks ...
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The Hindu

Chase Madar: Accusing WikiLeaks of murder — War in Context
By TomDispatch
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta called it “utterly deplorable.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed “total dismay.” General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, was “deeply disturbed” that the actions in question would ...
War in Context

Daily Kos: Chase Madar: Accusing Wikileaks of Murder
By rss@dailykos.com (TomDispatch)
The troves of documents leaked to the website WikiLeaks, for which Army Pfc. Bradley Manning has been charged, certainly caused a stir, but the carnage in them was, in truth, easily available without access to a single secret document.
Iraq

WikiLeaks' 16th minute | Jack Shafer
After the diplomatic cable stories petered out, so did WikiLeaks. What Assange's spree demonstrates is the extreme dependency of leakers on strong institutions ...
blogs.reuters.com/jackshafer/2012/01/.../wikileaks-16th-minut...

2nd officer favors court-martial in WikiLeaks case – USATODAY.com
An analyst charged in the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history is a step closer to a general court-martial.
www.usatoday.com/news/.../1?...

DTN News - ISLAMIC MILITANTS: A Hezbollah Threat In Thailand?

2012-01-19T13:41:00.001-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - ISLAMIC MILITANTS: A Hezbollah Threat In Thailand?

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Stratfor

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 19, 2012: On Jan. 12, Thai authorities arrested a man they say was a member of the Lebanon-based Shiite militant group Hezbollah who was plotting an attack in Bangkok. In uncovering the plot, Thai police cite cooperation with the United States and Israel going back to December 2011. Bangkok is indeed a target-rich environment with a history of terrorist attacks, but today Hezbollah and other militant and criminal groups rely on the city as more of a business hub than anything else. If Hezbollah or some other transnational militant group were to carry out an attack in the city, it would have to be for a compelling reason that outweighed the costs.

The suspect was identified as Atris Hussein, who was born in Lebanon but acquired Swedish citizenship and a passport after marrying a Swedish woman in 1996. Hussein was arrested on immigration charges as he was trying to board a plane at Suvarnabhumi airport, Bangkok's main international airport. Police said another suspect is still at large and possibly already out of the country. Hussein's arrest on Jan. 12 was followed by a statement the next day from the U.S. Embassy warning U.S. citizens in Bangkok of the potential foreign terrorist threat in the country and encouraging them to avoid tourist areas. Other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Israel, issued similar warnings. Thai police have responded by increasing security in tourist areas like Bangkok's Khao San Road and the island of Phuket.

Then, on Jan. 16, some 200 Thai police officers searched a three-story commercial building in a town along the coast 32 kilometers (about 20 miles) southwest of Bangkok. Information on the location and contents of the building was said to have been provided by Hussein after two days in custody. On the second floor of the building, officers found 4,380 kilograms (about 10,000 pounds) of urea-based fertilizer and 38 liters (about 10 gallons) of liquid ammonium nitrate -- enough materials to construct several truck bombs comparable to the one detonated at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad in 2008. Urea fertilizer can be used to manufacture the improvised explosive mixture urea nitrate, which was the main charge used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The compound is also frequently used in improvised explosive devices in Iraq and to some extent in Afghanistan. On the ground floor of the same building, police found reams of printing paper and 400 electric table fans in cardboard boxes.

The following day, a Bangkok court charged Hussein with illegal possession of explosive materials. As in many other countries, a permit is required for handling such large amounts of fertilizer in Thailand.

Since Hussein's arrest and the police raid, a flurry of statements from Thai authorities have given contradictory accounts of what happened. Gen. Yuthasak Sasiprapha, Thailand's defense minister, seemed comfortable connecting the U.S. and Israeli warnings to the arrest and seizure, stating that Hussein and other conspirators were linked to Hezbollah and had chosen Bangkok as part of a plan to retaliate against Israel. The general speculated that the Israeli Embassy, synagogues, tour companies and kosher restaurants could be targeted.

The defense minister's speculations are logical. In 2010, Thailand received 120,000 Jewish tourists, and Bangkok itself has a large Jewish community, complete with a Chabad house (a Jewish cultural center and one of the targets in the 2008 Mumbai attacks). According to its website, the Israeli Embassy is located in a commercial office building with (from what we can tell from photographs) relatively little perimeter security. Hundreds of thousands of Americans also visit Thailand each year. At the same time, the United States and Israel are engaged in a covert war with Iran that has most recently seen the assassination of an Iranian scientist allegedly involved in the country's nuclear program. Since Hezbollah has been considered a proxy of Iran, the United States and Israel have long anticipated reprisal attacks from Iran via Hezbollah against U.S. or Israeli targets around the world.

While there are certainly plenty of U.S., Jewish and Israeli targets in Thailand in general and Bangkok in particular, other officials have given different accounts of the alleged plot that add more nuance. According to National Police Chief Priewpan Damapong, Hussein insisted that the materials seized were not intended for attacks in Thailand but were going to be transported to a yet-to-be-named third country (a Stratfor source has cited the Philippines as a logical destination). He also allegedly told authorities that, although he was a member of Hezbollah, he was not a member of the group's militant arm. A Hezbollah official in Beirut, Ghaleb Abu Zainab, told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. that Hussein was not a Hezbollah member, while Stratfor sources have told us that he was. Our sources also have confirmed Hussein's reported confession to police that he was on the business side of things -- likely involved in procurement and logistics -- rather than the militant side, which involves such things as bombmaking or operational planning. As a Swedish passport holder, Hussein would have much more access to business connections, so it makes sense that Hezbollah would want to compartmentalize his skills.

Most other official statements since Gen. Sasiprapha's have focused on softening the threat and mitigating the damage done to Thailand's tourism industry. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has called on the United States to revoke its warning, saying it will damage the country if it is prolonged. Hence, it is not surprising that tidbits released from Hussein's purported interrogation have moved the spotlight away from the domestic threat and focused more on targets abroad.

The historical record shows ample precedent for attacks by foreign extremists in Bangkok. In 1972, members of Black September took over the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok and held diplomats hostage there for 18 hours. In 1988, Hezbollah gunmen hijacked Kuwait Airways Flight 422, which was departing Bangkok for Kuwait City, in an effort to coerce the Kuwaiti government to release the "al-Dawa 17," a group of Shiite militants being held in Kuwait. And in 1994, a truck laden with explosives was en route to attack either the U.S. or Israeli Embassy (the investigation did not yield conclusive results) when a traffic accident disrupted the plot. Bangkok has long been on the map for terrorist operational planners.

During the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, Hezbollah and other groups conducted dozens of attacks targeting Jews, Israel and Israel's allies around the world. However, over the past decade, Hezbollah has become a more serious political party in Lebanon, and while its international network is still in place, its activities are increasingly focusing on illicit business ventures rather than terrorist attacks. The shell corporations and drug-smuggling networks that for years provided the means to fund ideological terrorist operations have, in many ways, become the end itself. Hezbollah members who have grown rich off the international network are more interested in spending the cash from the network and building up political patronage at home than in provoking powerful enemies abroad. For example, Bangkok is a hub for acquiring counterfeit documents, which are a lucrative commodity around the world and part of Hezbollah's criminal enterprise. Conducting an attack in Bangkok would likely disrupt a node in the network and ultimately affect the group's bottom line.

Thus, Hezbollah's profile and set of interests support Hussein's reported claims that the bombmaking materials that police found were being moved out of the country and were not intended for use in Bangkok or other tourist locations in Thailand.

Other details from the case support this scenario. The fertilizer was to be hidden in the 400 table fan boxes found in the same building, a move conducive to smuggling the fertilizer, not constructing explosive devices. The sheer amount of fertilizer (nearly 5 tons) is a wholesale amount. The largest vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs) in recent history have contained about a ton of fertilizer. The device used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing consisted of about 1,300 pounds of urea nitrate. Constructing and delivering bombs larger than that tends to create technical and logistical hitches. It is much more likely that such a large amount of fertilizer would be meant for multiple smaller or medium-sized devices.

While urea-based fertilizer and ammonium nitrate are key ingredients for the main charge of a VBIED, many more materials are required to make it a viable device, including nitric acid, which must be mixed with urea-based fertilizer to make urea nitrate. (Urea nitrate is highly corrosive and has typically been mixed and held in plastic industrial chemical drums. While cardboard boxes would be fine for holding the urea-based fertilizer, they certainly would not be heavy-duty enough to contain the urea nitrate mixture.) In the Bangkok case, there has been no mention of other important bombmaking components such as fuses, timing mechanisms or detonating charges or of a competent bombmaker to put it all together.

In other words, while some of the materials to make a bomb were present in the commercial building that police raided, there was no viable device there. Nor has there been any mention of weapons such as rifles, handguns or grenades, which are often (although certainly not always) involved in terrorist attacks. Some media sources alleged that Hussein was plotting a "Mumbai-like" attack, which would have required a stash of automatic rifles, ordnance, communication devices and other tactical tools that have yet to surface.

Just as Bangkok is an attractive business hub in Southeast Asia for legitimate businessmen, it is also an attractive hub for illicit businessmen. In 2008, Thai police arrested Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout after agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, posing as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrilla group trying to negotiate a deal to buy weapons, incriminated Bout during a meeting in Bangkok. It appears that Hussein's role in this case would have been an administrative one similar to Bout's: sourcing the fertilizer, finding a place to stockpile it and concealing it in innocent-looking fan boxes. This would not make him any less guilty of assisting a militant group, but it would deflate the theory that Hezbollah was plotting to use this material in an immediate attack in Bangkok.

This is not to say that Hezbollah or some other militant group will not conduct an attack in Bangkok in the future. But it would take a lot to convince group leaders that the financial pain of an attack in the city would be worth the ideological gain. And the recent alleged plot should remind investigators and policymakers to remember the financial bottom line as well as the ideological bottom line when assessing future terrorist threats.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Stratfor

*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com

DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: How China Is Advancing Its Military Reach

2012-01-19T06:45:00.001-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: How China Is Advancing Its Military Reach
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources BBC News
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 19, 2012: As the US shifts its focus to Asia, Alexander Neill, head of the Asia Security Programme at the Royal United Services Institute, sets out the Chinese military advances challenging the regional balance.

At the Pentagon recently, US President Barack Obama announced deep cuts to the US military and set out a shift in attention towards the Asia-Pacific region, in a thinly-veiled message to China.

Despite a narrative of peaceful intent, China's leaders have struggled to reassure the US over the direction of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Both countries admit that their military dialogue falls well behind other aspects of the relationship.

So the shift has brought renewed scrutiny of the PLA's latest capabilities against US dominance in the Pacific.

In recent years the PLA has demonstrated impressive new capabilities at sea and in space, aimed at showcasing the success of its modernisation effort.

The obvious message is to deliver a powerful warning if Taiwan were to declare formal independence.

But Pentagon planners are now concerned that the Taiwan contingency has been eclipsed by China's broader maritime territorial claims and demands for more international space to protect the arteries feeding China's growth.

'Unrestricted warfare'

China is developing a range of capabilities linked to the space and cyber domain in order to sidestep the overwhelming might of the US military in the Pacific region. The PLA calls this fighting "local wars under informationised conditions".

China took the first step towards a space station when it launched the Tiangong 1 module

China recognised almost two decades ago that in the mid-term the PLA could be no match for US conventional forces. So it began working on what was dubbed "unrestricted warfare" - combining multiple methods to defeat a superior opponent.

At the same time party leaders launched adventurous civilian acquisition projects in the high-tech domain to increase Chinese competitiveness and to boost indigenous production capabilities.

The PLA has been running military projects mirroring these civilian acquisition ventures. Sometimes involving dual-use technologies, the military and civilian strands have often been indistinguishable.

China's space programme is a case in point. The recent successful docking manoeuvre between a Shenzhou module and the Tiangong Space station is as much a triumph for the PLA as it is for China's civilian space agency.

Space theatre

Should the US ever intervene in a cross-strait clash or challenge China's maritime claims, Beijing would employ a pre-emptive "sea denial" strategy alongside its conventional operations - preventing US battle carrier groups operating in or near its claimed territorial waters.

Its submarine-launched ballistic and cruise missiles are now a lethal force. China's long-range nuclear weapons systems have also undergone significant upgrades and its strategic rocket force, the Second Artillery Corps, is very much the pride of the PLA.

One of the most pressing concerns for the US navy is the threat posed by a "carrier killer" anti-ship missile with enhanced targeting capabilities facilitated from space. China very recently launched its own Beidou Positioning System, challenging the monopoly of the US Global Positioning System (GPS).

One of the PLA's most sensitive advances has been the secret deployment and testing of advanced anti-satellite (ASAT) and Anti Ballistic Missile (ABM) weapons systems.

Two years ago, China successfully intercepted one of its own ballistic missiles as it streaked through space. This test coincided with the Pentagon's sale of Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) Patriot systems to Taiwan.

Some experts believe a Chinese ASAT campaign against a careful selected group of US satellites could have catastrophic effect on the US military.

This capability, combined with the potential for China to develop its own Ballistic Missile Defence umbrella, suggests that the space domain will be a new theatre for US-China rivalry.

Chinese ASAT capabilities are not exclusively reserved for "kill vehicles", like the one which obliterated an ageing Chinese weather satellite in 2007.

It is now believed that the successful 2007 "kill" was in fact the third test in a series. Previous tests had demonstrated an ability to manoeuvre in proximity to targeted satellites.

This would suggest that China has experimented with techniques which could be used for "space mining", where mines or mini-satellites armed with jamming technologies could be placed within the orbits of an opponent's spacecraft.

Carrier group

In addition to its "sea denial" and space warfare strategies, China is also expanding its conventional capabilities.

The PLA Air Force in recent years has extended its ability for offshore operations, enhancing an offensive capability. It is planning an overhaul of its ageing fleet with the deployment of over 3,000 new aircraft.

China first aircraft carrier began sea trials in 2011

For the most part China has relied on copying Russian fighter technology. However, the roll-out of the Chengdu J-20 Stealth fighter prototype raised eyebrows last year, carefully timed to coincide with a visit by the US defence secretary.

There have been some very significant developments in the deployment of Chinese submarines in recent years. Beijing possesses 10 Russian-built ultra-quiet Kilo class submarines possibly armed with 200km-range anti-ship cruise missiles.

Since 2006, when a Chinese submarine surfaced undetected within torpedo range of the US aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk, China's submarine force has regularly marauded the US Navy and its allies in the Pacific.

It is thought that China plans to build three aircraft carrier battle groups, each armed with 40 fighters, up to eight warships, three nuclear-powered attack submarines and a number of support vessels. The PLA Navy's retrofitted Varyag carrier, currently under sea-trials, will serve as a training platform.

Even if the aircraft carrier would likely be a prestige piece and more directed at Chinese domestic pride, the prospect of a Chinese aircraft carrier will certainly cause ripples for the broader East Asian naval balance.

Uncertain factors

While much attention has been paid to the breakneck speed of Chinese military modernisation over the last decade, the events of 9/11 and the subsequent campaigns in the Middle East and Afghanistan provided a window of opportunity for China to accelerate development.

In some cases there may have been, quite literally, windfalls for the PLA. There is speculation that China acquired undamaged Tomahawk cruise missile components in the early stages of the Afghanistan campaign a decade ago.

When US special forces failed to completely destroy one of their stealth helicopters during Operation Geronimo, Pakistan's military may have allowed PLA counterparts to inspect the tail rotor.

The PLA must be congratulating itself on the impressive array of weaponry which has tilted the balance in the Taiwan Strait in its favour.

China's new-found capabilities combined with the opaque nature of its military modernisation create a formula for mistrust with the US.

There are perhaps three factors for uncertainty. Firstly, the Chinese military's confidence in its new equipment could lead to an overestimation of its capability as an emerging great power.

Secondly, the Chinese leadership could underestimate its ability to control an unexpected escalation of hostilities in the Pacific.

Finally, the domestic political factor - the PLA's external behaviour could become a reaction to internal nationalistic sentiment, instability or faction fighting as Beijing prepares for the fifth generation leadership handover this year.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources BBC News
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

DTN News - WHITE HOUSE NEWS: Obama Receives Baseball Jersey Honoring 2011 World Series Champions - The St. Louis Cardinals At White House

2012-01-18T22:12:00.002-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - WHITE HOUSE NEWS: Obama Receives Baseball Jersey Honoring 2011 World Series Champions - The St. Louis Cardinals At White House
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Pictures of The Days
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 18, 2012: U.S. President Barack Obama (C) holds up a uniform given to him by the 2011 Major League Baseball World Series champions St. Louis Cardinals while posing for photographs with the team and first lady Michelle Obama at the White House January 17, 2012 in Washington, DC. Noticably absent from the congratulatory event are the team's former 1st baseman Albert Pujols and former manager Tony La Russa.

The Cardinal's visit to Washington will include a stop at Walter Reed Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, to visit with patients and their families.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Pictures of The Days
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

DTN News - BOEING DEFENSE NEWS: 4th Boeing Wideband Global SATCOM Satellite Ready For Liftoff

2012-01-18T10:23:00.000-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - BOEING DEFENSE NEWS: 4th Boeing Wideband Global SATCOM Satellite Ready For Liftoff

>WGS-4 scheduled for Jan. 19 launch from Cape Canaveral
>Satellite 1st in Block II series that includes new radio frequency bypass
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Boeing
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 18, 2012: Boeing [NYSE: BA] today announced that the fourth Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellite the company is delivering to the U.S. Air Force has successfully completed prelaunch testing and is ready for launch. WGS-4, the first spacecraft in the program's upgraded Block II series, is scheduled to launch at 7:38 p.m. Eastern time on Jan. 19 aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

The Block II satellites (WGS 4-6) add a switchable radio frequency bypass that supports the transmission of airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance imagery at data rates approximately three times greater than those currently available on Block I satellites.

"This launch will be another important step in advancing communications capabilities for U.S. warfighters and allies around the world," said Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems. "When it enters service, WGS-4 will join three other WGS satellites that deliver critical communications to help warfighters execute missions with greater safety and efficiency."

Boeing built and tested the WGS-4 spacecraft at its manufacturing facility in El Segundo. Upon arrival at Cape Canaveral on Nov. 15, the satellite was moved into a processing facility to complete a series of prelaunch tests that validated the satellite's operational readiness, including its ability to communicate with the ground control segment and launch site.

Boeing has delivered three WGS satellites and is under contract for six more, including WGS-4. They are built on the proven Boeing 702HP platform, which features highly efficient xenon-ion propulsion, deployable thermal radiators, and advanced triple-junction gallium-arsenide solar arrays that enable high-capacity, flexible payloads. The WGS communications payload has unique flexibility that is important to the military, as well as the ability to interconnect terminals that operate in different frequency bands and to reposition coverage beams based on evolving mission needs. WGS supports missions ranging from tactical communications to and between ground forces, to relaying data and imagery from airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms.

Photo credit: Boeing photo

Neg. #: SEF11-10875-345

Contact:

Tiffany Pitts
Space & Intelligence Systems
Office: 714-372-2307
Mobile: 714-329-3027
tiffany.l.pitts@boeing.com

Cathie Fjeseth
Space & Intelligence Systems
Office: 310-662-7762
Mobile: 310-977-3600
catherine.fjeseth@boeing.com

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Failing To Learn ~ US Resumes Drone Attacks In Pakistan

2012-01-17T18:36:00.000-05:00

Defense News: DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Failing To Learn ~ US Resumes Drone Attacks In Pakistan
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Myra MacDonald - Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 17, 2012: When Pakistan’s Express Tribune wrote this week that the CIA was likely to resume drone strikes for the first time since November, it included a quote from an unnamed Pakistani official saying that Pakistani authorities believed drones were “strategically harmful but tactically advantageous”. I tweeted the link and asked who would explain to the Pakistani public that the drone strikes – which have fuelled intense anti-Americanism – were seen even in their own country as “tactically advantageous”.

One of the answers was particularly telling. It was from a supporter of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) of former cricketer Imran Khan – who has risen in popularity on a wave of anti-Americanism, opposition to drone strikes, and belief the government of President Asif Ali Zardari has sold out to the United States. Here is the tweet:

“I find this so infuriating. It is about time the present #Zardari administration was shown the door. #PTI for #Pakistan”

Yet the popular view that American money is being used to bribe Zardari into allowing the country to be attacked by U.S. missiles has no basis in reality. In as much as drone strikes are discussed with Pakistan – and there is a great deal of disagreement about how far they should be used - the “red lines” have been negotiated with the Pakistan Army, which controls foreign and security policy. Such is the lack of transparency in Pakistan.

But if that seems too strange, then let’s look at the approach in the United States to drones. We might, perhaps, have expected it to use the pause in drone strikes to improve their transparency. Indeed, given their impact in fuelling anti-Americanism, Washington might have considered publishing some photographs to prove its contention that the drone strikes do not cause the kind of civilian casualties assumed in Pakistan? After all, if Iran could down a drone and gain access to U.S. technology, how much more can be given away in a photograph?

Yet instead, we had a leaked story from the New York Times that the pause in drone strikes was allowing al Qaeda and Pakistani militants to regroup. (Note to the U.S. administration – rightly or wrongly, a leaked story in the NYT is seen in Pakistan as a statement of policy so it would be far better to come out and say it yourself.) And sure enough, just days after that story, the United States resumed drone attacks.

The big problem with this lack of transparency is that it has become almost impossible to discuss the merits of drone strikes rationally. That has been lethal to the U.S.-Pakistan relationship; it is damaging to the U.S. image in the world as a whole; and it is also distorting Pakistan’s current struggle for power between the civilian government and the military.

TALKING TO THE TALIBAN:AN ELUSIVE PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN

It is the season for “progress” on Taliban talks. In January 2010, the London conference on Afghanistan put the idea of negotiating with the Taliban firmly on the international agenda. In February 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a major policy speech, insisted it was time the United States began to talk to its enemies. Her speech was accompanied by a leaked report that Washington was in factalready holding direct talks with the Taliban to try to convince them to join a political settlement and sever ties with al Qaeda. And now we have the Taliban agreeing to open a liaison office in Qatar to help speed along the talks process as Washington prepares to withdraw most combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

But what are we actually looking at here? A quick-fix settlement that could provide just about enough cover for war-weary western governments to pull their troops out before Afghanistan descends again into civil war? Or a serious process which might offer an enduring peace? Do we believe the Taliban are now more amenable to talks than they were before? Or rather that domestic political compulsions in the United States are driving it more rapidly towards the exit?

Let’s be clear. The idea the Taliban would be willing to negotiate some kind of power-sharing deal, and that talks could be helped by measures like the release of prisoners, has been around for a couple of years, if not longer. Moreover, a lasting settlement would require not just a deal with the Afghan Taliban led by Mullah Mohammed Omar, but also reconciliation among all the different actors inside Afghanistan as well as deep-rooted governance reform. It would need intensive regional diplomacy to prevent the country’s neighbours from undermining any settlement — whether this be driven byPakistan’s unhappiness with Indian involvement in Afghanistan, or the temptation for Iran to queer the pitch as its row with the west over its nuclear programme worsens.

Arguably the chances of reaching a lasting settlement are less now than they were before the United States sent extra troops to Afghanistan in 2010 aiming to decisively turn the tide and force the Taliban to the negotiating table from a position of strength. Since then, the military campaign has splintered the Taliban, making it harder for its Pakistan-based leadership to bring younger and more radicalised fighters into an overall settlement. The souring of ties between the United States and Pakistan over 2011 – particularly after the killing of bin Laden on May 2 - and the deteriorating political environment inside Pakistan itself, all argue against the chances of making a real and enduring peace process work.

In that context, a new book due out this month on the relationship between the Taliban and al Qaeda by Kandahar-based researchers Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn could hardly be better timed. “An Enemy We Created, The Myth of the Taliban/Al Qaeda Merger in Afghanistan, 1970-2010” should be compulsory reading for anyone trying to separate reality from political spin. It is also an essential guide to what might yet be achieved through talks, and what might have been achieved had serious talks been held earlier.

The authors, who edited the memoirs of former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, examine in detail the failure of attempts to convince Afghanistan’s then Taliban rulers to expel Osama bin Laden in the years before the Sept. 11 2001 attacks. That these attempts were not inevitably doomed to fail is underlined by their assertion that the relationship between the younger and less experienced Afghan Taliban and the Arabs in al Qaeda was considerably less close than was commonly assumed (an argument also made by other scholars.)

However, they argue that Washington’s single-minded focus on bin Laden jarred with the Taliban’s often conflicted views - where international pressure to expel al Qaeda competed with their own domestic insecurities as well as concerns about how such a move would be viewed by Muslims outside Afghanistan, particularly in the Arab world . Even after the Sept. 11 attacks, the authors argue that an outcome other than war might have been possible. “A different development of the conflict is imaginable. Neither the United States nor the Taliban displayed the political will or insight to make it happen.”

It is the season for “progress” on Taliban talks. In January 2010, the London conference on Afghanistan put the idea of negotiating with the Taliban firmly on the international agenda. In February 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,in a major policy speech, insisted it was time the United States began to talk to its enemies. Her speech was accompanied by a leaked report that Washington was in fact already holding direct talks with the Taliban to try to convince them to join a political settlement and sever ties with al Qaeda. And now we have the Taliban agreeing to open a liaison office in Qatar to help speed along the talks process as Washington prepares to withdraw most combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Let’s be clear. The idea the Taliban would be willing to negotiate some kind of power-sharing deal, and that talks could be helped by measures like the release of prisoners, has been around for a couple of years, if not longer. Moreover, a lasting settlement would require not just a deal with the Afghan Taliban led by Mullah Mohammed Omar, but also reconciliation among all the different actors inside Afghanistan as well as deep-rooted governance reform. It would need intensive regional diplomacy to prevent the country’s neighbours from undermining any settlement — whether this be driven by Pakistan’s unhappiness with Indian involvement in Afghanistan, or the temptation for Iran to queer the pitch as its row with the west over its nuclear programme worsens.

Arguably the chances of reaching a lasting settlement are less now than they were before the United States sent extra troops to Afghanistan in 2010 aiming to decisively turn the tide and force the Taliban to the negotiating table from a position of strength. Since then, the military campaignhas splintered the Taliban, making it harder for its Pakistan-based leadership to bring younger and more radicalised fighters into an overall settlement. The souring of ties between the United States and Pakistan over 2011 – particularly after the killing of bin Laden on May 2 - and the deteriorating political environment inside Pakistan itself, all argue against the chances of making a real and enduring peace process work.

While this assertion will no doubt be fiercely disputed by historians for years to come, what is relevant to today is that the two sides did not know how to talk to each other. While the United States was in a hurry – just as it is now keen to bring a quick end to the Afghan war – the Taliban dithered, worried about their position inside Afghanistan. While the United States focused on international terrorism and the threat to its own people, the Taliban filtered its views through the prism of Islam. Even today, it is hard to see how two such different entities – one a superpower, the other a relatively new and fragmented movement – can talk to each other directly without an outside mediator, and a great deal of time and patience.

As for the present situation in Afghanistan, the authors argue that a settlement incorporating much of the Taliban movement is becoming harder and harder as the U.S.-led military campaign separates the leadership from new and younger fighters in the field. ”There are still possible interlocutors and options for discussions at the moment, but the veteran Taliban’s leverage over the chain of command is becoming increasingly limited, to a degree that significantly hampers their influence over all parts of the movement currently fighting, rendering the chance of forging a lasting peace more and more unlikely.”

Indeed, while the authors assert that “the supposedly unbreakable link” between the Taliban and al Qaeda was “the principal strategic blunder of the war”, they argue that younger fighters, with no memory of peace in Afghanistan, are now in fact more likely to be drawn towards al Qaeda and other militant groups.

“The new and younger generation of Afghan Taliban are more susceptible to approaches by foreign jihadist groups, including al Qaeda, causing an increasingly ideological shift in the conflict. This development, paired with an overall increase in suspicion among the Afghan population as to the United States and its ‘real intentions’, bodes ill for the future. Current policies … are a key factor driving the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda together…”

None of that is to suggest that talks are pointless, nor that they should not have been started in earnest much earlier. But it does indicate that it will be incredibly difficult to reach a lasting peace agreement - and bear in mind, the more talk there is of a settlement with the Taliban, the greater is the incentive for their rivals and enemies to prepare for civil war, or for spoilers to try to sabotage the process. (To be fair, the United States and its allies have also been preparing for a situation in which there is no settlement by the end of 2014.)

And in the interests of keeping everyone honest, we should look out for any widening discrepancy between the U.S. domestic political need for a “quick fix” way out of Afghanistan, and the realities on the ground.

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“An Enemy We Created” is due to be released on January 18.

And among many good reports on a political settlement on Afghanistan, do also read this overall examination by the Afghan Analysts Network; and from earlier last year, this report by The Century Foundation (pdf). For a more micro level look at the kind of compromises which might need to be made, read this report by Antonio Giustozzi and Claudio Franco about how the Taliban have been allowing schools to operate in areas under their influence in return for the introduction of a more conservative curriculum.

(Reuters photo by Ahmad Masood)

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