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US airstrike blocks ISIS fighters evacuated in deal with Lebanon

WASHINGTON A U.S. warplane bombed a bridge and cratered a road in Syria to block the movement of Islamic State fighters who were being evacuated in a controversial deal that was hatched with Lebanon, Hezbollah and ISIS, according to Army Col. Ryan Dillon, a spokesperson for Operation Inherent Resolve. The convoy is "no longer moving east," Dillon said, and the coalition's goal was achieved. Agence-France Presse was first to break the news of the strike on social media. , Buses carrying hundreds of Islamic State militants and their families arrived in eastern Syria on Tuesday following a negotiated evacuation from the Lebanon-Syria border, where the U.S.-backed Lebanese army deployed for the first time in years. The convoy included roughly 20 vehicles and upward of 200 ISIS fighters, Dillon said, citing open-source reporting. , If the convoy resumes moving eastward, Dillon said, the U.S.-led coalition will target the convoy again in accordance with the Law of Armed Conflict. , But, there are civilians and family members among the ISIS fighters, and if the coalition can properly discriminate between the two they will target the ISIS terrorists. Lebanon launched a military operation a little over a week ago targeting ISIS militants on the Syria-Lebanon border. A ceasefire was declared shortly thereafter and a deal was hatched between ISIS fighters and Lebanon to move the militants toward the ISIS stronghold of Deir Ez Zour in the Euphrates River Valley area of Syria, according to The New York Times. , Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, That deal was strongly opposed by U.S. and Iraqi officials. Islamic State militants and their families began leaving a border area between Lebanon and Syria on Monday as part of a controversial negotiated deal with the extremist group to end its presence there, Lebanese and Syrian media reported. "The coalition, we are not party to this agreement between Lebanon, Hezbollah and ISIS," Dillon told the New York Times. "Their claim of fighting terrorism rings hollow when they allow known terrorists to transit territory under their control. ISIS is a global threat, and relocating terrorists from one place to another is not a lasting solution.", Brett McGurk, U.S. special envoy to the coalition fighting ISIS, took to social media to blast the deal. "Irreconcilable ISIS terrorists should be killed on the battlefield, not bused across Syria to the Iraqi border without Iraq's consent," he posted on Twitter. "Our coalition will help ensure that these terrorists can never enter Iraq or escape from what remains of their dwindling caliphate.'"

Soldiers shooting artillery off ships Tell it to the Marines

Some Arty soldiers are about to get their sea legs. Soldiers will fire Army artillery and rockets from the decks of Navy ships this summer in the largest maritime exercise in the world. For the first time last year, Marines successfully fired High Mobility Rocket Systems from the deck of the amphibious assault ship Essex. That success was a first salvo in work to integrate fires between the two forces and find ways to use their equipment in the near-shore fight. At that time, the Marines also asked industry to submit proposals for a mobile coastal missile defense system so that once they get ashore then can fire back to the sea. But the Army's partnering with the Navy, especially with artillery pieces, is a new effort altogether, though not without warning. The cross-domain fires portion, or bringing various fires from long-range missiles down to close-range mortars from all the assets, regardless of service branch, has been a part of the Army's multidomain battle concept for at least the past year. But news specific to the artillery portion and soldiers on ship decks was recently reported from an interview by Warrior Maven with Maj. Gen. John Ferrari, director, Program Analysis and Evaluation, G-8. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup, "The Army is looking at shooting artillery off of Navy ships. Innovation is taking existing things and modifying them to do something new," Ferrari said. And that's going to happen at the bi-annual Rim of the Pacific exercise, scheduled for late June. The multidomain concept seeks all services to work jointly in ultra fast-paced battles of future conflict. To strike enemies quickly and respond before their own systems are targeted they must bring all the guns to the fight. Artillery and short-range rockets supplement the longer-range fires of naval missiles currently aboard ships, covering potential gaps closer to the coast. The cross-domain fire teams are in experiment mode now, bringing units from elements of ground combat, cyber, air defense and artillery to maneuver together rather than large formations of a single firepower such as three artillery battalions, Ferrari said.

How the US dropped more munitions in Afghanistan this year than it has since the height of the war

U.S. forces in Afghanistan have dropped more munitions in the first three months of this year than during the same time period in 2011 a time widely considered the height of the war there. The spike in bombing comes after years of drawing down U.S. troops across the country's remote villages and looks like it relies increasingly on an intelligence network grounded in technical capabilities rather than human interactions. Numbers released by U.S. Air Forces Central Command document 1,186 munitions expended by aircraft in January, February and March this year. In 2011, during those same months, the military documented 1,083 weapons released. Those weapons releases include both manned and unmanned aircraft. The Pentagon has said the increase in kinetic air operations is part of a scheme to degrade the Taliban's finances by targeting drug labs, which the insurgents are known to tax. This drug lab bombing campaign has been touted by military leadership as a new, innovative approach to defeating the Taliban. But that's not the only difference between the old war and the new. During 2011, the number of U.S. troops in-country hovered just below 100,000. As of September 2017, that number was reportedly around 15,000. With more than six times the number of troops at the height of the war, airstrikes conducted were frequently close-air support missions, called in by U.S. forces as they wandered into nests of enemy fighters. Today, though, the targets of airstrikes look largely pre-planned. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, "The increased airpower supports a deliberate air campaign designed to degrade the Taliban's primary means of funding its operations narcotic production," Air Force Capt. AnnMarie Annicelli, spokeswoman for Air Forces Central Command, told Military Times. "The United States has shifted from a time-based approach to one based on conditions," she added. "Conditions on the ground not arbitrary timetables will guide the strategy. In this new campaign, we no longer recognize arbitrary fighting seasons,' but instead will apply relentless pressure on the Taliban as demonstrated by the nonstop airstrikes since late November.", Some missions against drug labs are conducted by teams of Afghan and U.S. special operations forces carrying out raids. These ground-based attacks sometimes bring back pictures and reports that help illuminate the narcotics business. To date, these efforts combined have deprived the Taliban of an estimated 220 million in revenue, according to Army Col. Lisa Garcia, a spokeswoman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. However, some experts express serious doubts about those numbers. David Mansfield, a senior fellow at the London School of Economics, has researched opium production in Afghanistan for the past 20 growing seasons. In a January report for the LSE's International Drug Policy Unit, he questioned the high tax rate U.S. officials claim the Taliban apply to drug labs, as well as the total value of the drugs said to be destroyed. "I really don't know how U.S. forces came to the conclusion of a 20 percent tax rate to the Taliban," Mansfield told Military Times. "Fieldwork and, indeed, economics suggests that it is nothing like this.", "Ultimately, without them sharing the assumptions that inform how they calculate their estimate of the loss the Taliban incur from these lab strikes, then what they are reporting could at best be described as hope over substance I am afraid the math on this just doesn't make sense to anyone other than themselves.", Mansfield also expressed concern that ground-based intelligence gathering and post-impact reporting after airstrikes was poorly done, based on a Nov. 19 airstrike in Musa Qala in Helmand province. His research determined that three of the six buildings struck that night were not actually drug labs. One building was frequently used by local Taliban, while the other two were owned by an opium trader known as Hajji Habibullah. "Hajji Habibullah was sleeping in his residence with his wife, and children a 7-year-old daughter and four sons aged between 3 and 8. ... Only Hajji Habibullah's son-in-law survived the attack," according to Mansfield's research. "It is also alleged that the slight delay between the air strikes allowed any occupants to escape to the river to the west of the opium bazaar. No such opportunity was afforded to Hajji Habibullah and his family as it was his compound that was first struck.", Mansfield's research underscores concerns that without the same amount of troops on the ground as in past years, the intelligence gathering for airstrikes may be inadequate. It's not entirely clear how U.S. forces are gathering the intelligence necessary to conduct strikes effectively, given the roughly 85 percent reduction of troops since 2011. David Shedd, former acting director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said that the "technical intelligence is as good as it's ever been," but human intelligence gathering has likely receded alongside the footprint of U.S. forces. "I left the DIA at a time when the forward physical presence was a very good barometer, but I'm told that the technical collection piece is much better," Shedd said. "I can't imagine the human intelligence piece is just as good with fewer people, but the technical collection remains very, very strong.", For technical intelligence, Shedd pointed to the greater capabilities of aircraft sensors downrange to scour targets, as well as the monitoring of radio frequencies and other, more complex signals and imagery collection. "Does it replace on-the-ground, tactical elements that I would trust to report back accurately? Probably not 100 percent," Shedd said. "But I understand it's in the good enough' category to maintain this campaign where it's at now.", Before the drawdown, troops working remote village stability operations would constantly collect information to pass up the collection chain, where it was sussed through and fused together within a broader network of technical and ground-based data. National intelligence agencies rarely have the granularity of intelligence gathering that a ground force could provide after "literally going around the mountain, and over the hill to conduct a battle damage assessment or pre-strike report," Shedd said. In an era with a much smaller forward-deployed presence, it remains unclear if the replacement of human intelligence-gathering with technical collection will always suffice. Citing operational security concerns, Garcia, the U.S. forces spokeswoman, said she couldn't provide information on how exactly they are currently sourcing their intelligence. Additionally, "we cannot provide any further information about whether or not coalition advisers or Afghan tactical air coordinators were on the ground for specific strikes," Garcia said, referencing the teams of operators who could provide ground-based intelligence and targeting information prior to an airstrike. Garcia would only add that U.S. advisers "are seeing successes on the battlefield as a result of tactical air coordinators."

Iran can expand range of its missiles says revolutionary guard commander

WASHINGTON A senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said Monday that Tehran has can expand the range of its missiles beyond the current limit of 2,000 kilometers the latest in a war of words with Washington. "We have the capability to build missiles with higher ranges," IRGC Aerospace Force commander Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh said, according to the Fars news agency. "The number 2,000 kilometers is not a divine decree what has been decided until today is based on our needs.", Hajizadeh noted that many "enemy bases" were located 300 to 800 kilometers from the country's borders. The remarks, to Iranian university students in Tehran, came days after the U.S. and Iran traded accusations over Tehran's latest ballistic missile test and amid accusations that Tehran tested a missile that can reach European countries. U.S. President Donald Trump in August reactivated economic sanctions on Iran after leaving a multilateral Iran nuclear deal because the deal did not ban Iran's testing of ballistic missiles. On Dec. 1, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of test-firing a medium-range ballistic missile capable of carrying "multiple warheads," in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231. The missile "allows it to strike parts of Europe and anywhere in the Middle East," Pompeo said. Iranian officials have since said that Iran has no plans to develop nuclear weapons, and in a recent news release, it called America's withdrawal from the nuclear deal as "unlawful." Iranian officials in recent days have stressed the precision-striking power of the country's arsenal. The U.N. Security Council subsequently discussed the matter behind closed doors without taking action. However, Britain's U.N. ambassador, Karen Pierce, told reporters afterward that members expressed "a lot of concern" about the test launch and said the 2015 resolution doesn't say nuclear weapons must be on the missiles. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, She called Iran's actions "inconsistent" with the resolution and "part and parcel of Iran's destabilizing activity in the region.", "If you wanted to demonstrate to the international community that you were a responsible member of it and you were genuinely interested in regional peace and security, these are not the sorts of missiles you would be test launching," Pierce said. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis recently said that "right now the strategic level of threat from Iran is less worldwide than North Korea's, but it is certainly significant regionally, and it could grow beyond that if it's not dealt with.",

Pentagon identifies US soldier killed in Afghanistan

The Defense Department on Friday released the name of the soldier who was killed this week in Afghanistan. Sgt. James Slape, 23, died Thursday in Helmand province from wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device. He was deployed in support of Operations Resolute Support and Freedom's Sentinel. Slape, of Morehead City, North Carolina, was assigned to the 430th Explosive Ordnance Company, 60th Troop Command, of the North Carolina Army National Guard. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of sergeant. Slape's unit deployed to Afghanistan in April and is scheduled to return to the U.S. in the spring. Slape joined the North Carolina Guard in 2013 and, after training, graduated as an explosive ordnance specialist in 2015. The incident is under investigation, officials said. "We are deeply saddened by the news of Sgt. James Slape losing his life while serving our country,' said Maj. Gen. Greg Lusk, adjutant general of the North Carolina National Guard, in a statement. "We honor his courage, his selfless service and we extend our deepest sympathy to his family, friends, and fellow soldiers as we hold them firmly in our hearts and prayers during this difficult time."

Streamlight launches ProTac railmounted HLX laser

Streamlight Inc. a leading provider of high-performance lighting and weapon light/laser sighting devices, introduced a laser-equipped model of its popular ProTac Rail Mount HL-X weapon light. The ultra-bright long-gun light delivers 1,000 lumens, while offering double-switch functionality and an integrated red aiming laser with a unique clamp design to maintain windage and elevation adjustments. The ProTac Rail Mount HL-X Laser offers the latest in close combat/defense illumination technology for rifles, carbines, and sub-machine guns with MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rails. Its specially designed clamp allows the light to rotate to maintain windage and elevation settings in any mounted position. The new light also features multi-fuel options, including either a USB rechargeable system that uses a Streamlight 18650 USB battery, or a CR123A lithium battery version. "Tactical, military and other users alike can benefit from the ProTac Rail Mount HL-X Laser's targeted bright white light and its red aiming laser with adjustable windage and elevation for enhanced accuracy," said Streamlight President and Chief Executive Officer Ray Sharrah. "It also offers the functionality of double switches, including both a push button tail switch or dual remote pressure switch, to suit user preference.", The new light uses a high power LED to deliver blinding white light that produces a concentrated beam with optimum peripheral illumination. Featuring high, low and strobe settings, on the high setting, the ProTac Rail Mount HL-X Laser provides 1,000 lumens and 18,200 candela over a beam distance of 270 meters. On low, the light provides 60 lumens and 1,100 candela over a beam distance of 66 meters. The new light also features TEN-TAP programming that allows user selection of one of three different programs high/strobe factory default high only or low/high. The light is powered by either one Streamlight 18650 USB battery or two CR123A lithium batteries. When using an 18650 USB battery, the ProTac Rail Mount HL-X Laser delivers up to 1.5 hours of run time on high and 23 hours on the low setting. With CR123A lithium batteries inserted, the light provides up to one hour and 15 minutes of run time on high and over 20 hours on low. The ProTac Rail Mount HL-X Laser mounts to a broad range of weapons safely and securely by means of a one-handed, easy on-and-tighten interface that permits users to keep their hands away from the gun muzzle. The light can be operated with either a multi-function, push-button tactical tail cap switch or a dual remote pressure switch with latching push-button. Both switches allow for one-handed operation of the momentary, variable intensity or strobe settings. Fabricated from 6000 series machined aluminum with a black anodized finish, the light features a high temperature, impact-resistant Boro Float glass lens. It measures 6.56 inches in length, with its weight varying depending on the two battery options. With the CR123A battery, the light weighs 10.3 ounces it weighs 10.8 ounces with an 18650 USB battery. The light is IPX4 rated for water-resistant operation. Extensively live fire tested, it features impact-resistant construction and an extensive operating temperature. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for GearScout Weekly, Streamlight offers an optional 18650 Battery Charger that can recharge either one or two batteries simultaneously, and permits charging through either AC/DC or USB power sources. The ProTac Rail Mount HL-X Laser with the 18650 USB battery has an MSRP of 275 and includes a rail grabber, pushbutton tail cap switch, remote pressure switch, hardware kit and 22-inch USB cord. The CR123 A lithium battery model has an MSRP of 260. The light comes with Streamlight's Limited Lifetime Warranty.

US Navy to add 46 ships in five years but 355 ships wont come for a long time

WASHINGTON The U.S. Navy will grow by more than 40 ships over the next five years, the Navy's Budget director said Monday. But while the fleet will grow rapidly in the near term, the gains will sputter out shortly thereafter. While the shipbuilding budget request saw a relatively modest increase in the service's 2019 submission over the previous year, service-life extension programs, a bevy of new destroyers and littoral combat ships will push the Navy's numbers higher rapidly to 326 ships in 2023. That's a jump of 46 ships over just the next five years from today's count of 280. But from there the pace of growth will slow significantly, adding the final 30 ships of the Navy's goal over the next quarter century. The Navy will not reach the goal of 355 ships until the 2050s, said Rear Adm. Brian Luther, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget. Click here for more on President Trump's FY19 budget!, The Navy's new 30-year shipbuilding plan gets to President Obama's goal of 308 ships by 2020, a year faster than the previous administration's goal of 2021, and then moves up to 326 ships by the end of the five year future-year defense planning projections, and building 10 more ships than Obama was planning for during the same timeframe. The service will also buoy their numbers through service-life extensions on six of the older cruisers, meaning that in total, the service will have modernized 17 of its 22 cruisers past their 35-year service life. The Navy is currently upgrading its newest 11 cruisers through a phased modernization plan. , Defense News embarked on the ship, facing decommissioning, officers and sailors agreed USS Mobile Bay has plenty of life left in the tank. It is unclear which cruisers will be modernized, and how it will affect the planned retirement of those cruisers starting in 2020, though the shipbuilding plan doesn't show any large surface combatants retiring until 2024. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Navy Times Daily News Roundup, The Navy's end strength will also increase over the next five years, adding nearly 17,000 sailors, an approached that Luthor said was disciplined to not add ships or equipment without the needed sailors to support them. "I think the number we identified matches the ownership costs that we identified," Luther said in his rollout of the Navy's FY19 budget. "So we grow in lead of some of the equipment because we have to train people ahead of when the ship arrives. It was a disciplined approach to ensure we didn't procure a ship without people, we didn't procure a ship without armament, we didn't procure a ship without armament. So it's a very balanced and disciplined approach. Subs take a dive, The Navy's 326 ships in 2023 will mark a high point under the current plan, but a slew of ship retirements starting in 2024 will start to drag down the numbers again. Those losses are driven by the final Los Angeles-class attack boats leaving the fleet and a handful of large surface combatants likely a combination of cruisers and oldest destroyers. That will drag the fleet numbers to between 313 and 315 for a handful of years before the fleet is projected to start growing again in the 2030s. Perhaps most distressing of all is that even with the Navy's current plan to continue buying two Virginia-class attack boats per year even during years when they buy the Columbia-class ballistic missile subs the fleet of attack boats will still see a precipitous decline in numbers to 42 boats, down from a projected 52 in 2019. , The fleet's requirement is 66 attack boats, a number the shipbuilding plan doesn't hit until 2048. "We already know we have a capacity gap, and if it's taking longer to get there and we even have a decrease from where we are today you're just going to put more strain on the force," said Thomas Callender, a retired submariner and analyst at the Heritage Foundation. "And if you look at the adversaries, the Russians are investing in and building new submarines. The Chinese are as well.", The path to reaching a 355-ship Navy seems all but clear. The Navy has identified anti-access area denial as a significant threat, Callender continued, and shorting the investment in attack boats, which can operate in areas that are denied by enemy missile batteries in the air and on the surface, doesn't make a lot of sense. "It runs counter to where they say the threats are going to be it's a say-do mismatch," he said. , All told, the Navy's 30-year shipbuilding plan won't ever get that close to 355 ships. The highest the current plan gets is 342 in 2039. , Some advocating for 355 ships were disappointed that the Navy doesn't seem to be emphasizing the smaller ships to drive up numbers, opting instead to accept fewer, more capable ships. "Overall, although I'm glad to see the numbers come up, I think they are bypassing some opportunities," said Jerry Hendrix, a retired Naval Flight Officer and analyst with the Center for a New American Security. Hendrix said he'd like to see the Navy explore some more creative options for maintaining force structure like procuring more frigates and fewer high-end destroyers to drive numbers, and identifying some of the Los Angeles-class attack boats to be refueled and extended in service to keep the attack boat numbers from dipping too low. "If you can re-core some of those boats there may be between six and eight that we can extend that will help us get through that bathtub," Hendrix said.

First F35B Fighter Jets Arrive in Japan

MELBOURNE, Australia The first Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters have arrived in Japan, beginning the type's first permanent overseas basing assignment with the US Marine Corps. According to the III Marine Expeditionary Force, F-35Bs from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron VMFA 121 "Green Knights" arrived at Marine Corps Air Station MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, at approximately 530 p.m. local time on Wednesday. These are the first of what will eventually be 16 VMFA-121 F-35Bs to be based at Iwakuni, with 10 aircraft scheduled to arrive this month and another six to arrive over the summer. Defense News reported earlier that the F-35Bs had left MCAS Yuma, Arizona, to cross the Pacific on Jan. 9. "The arrival of the F-35B embodies our commitment to the defense of Japan and the regional security of the Pacific," said Maj. Gen. Russell Sanborn, the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing commanding general. "We are bringing the most advanced technology to the Pacific to respond to the wide range of missions we take part in and provide greater support to our regional allies.", Iwakuni is already home to a forward-deployed Marine F/A-18D Hornet squadron and a squadron of KC-130J Hercules tanker-transport aircraft, along with a number of air assets of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. In addition, two more Marine Hornet squadrons are normally on temporary rotations to Iwakuni at any one time under the Unit Deployment Program UDP. III MEF has yet to respond to a Defense News query on whether the basing of the F-35Bs at Iwakuni will result in any changes to the UDP. The Green Knights will join in regional joint exercises this year throughout the Pacific Command's area of responsibility, including the biennial exercise Northern Edge in Alaska, Forager Fury in Guam, and Exercises Ssang Yong and Max Thunder in South Korea. The squadron will also use Exercise Northern Edge as predeployment training for their first operational shipboard deployment with the F-35B, with the Wasp Amphibious Ready Group as part of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in the fall of 2017. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, The amphibious assault ship Wasp is scheduled to become part of the US 7th Fleet's forward-deployed naval forces in the fall of 2017, when it moves from Norfolk, Virginia, to Sasebo, Japan, according to an earlier release from US Pacific Fleet. The Wasp, unlike the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard, which the Wasp will be replacing at Sasebo, has been modernized to conduct operations with the F-35B.

Nuclear warhead manager seeks FY19 funding for new nuke designs

WASHINGTON The agency in charge of managing America's nuclear warheads is in discussions with the Office of Management and Budget about getting funding to start work on two new nuclear capabilities sought by the Trump administration. The National Nuclear Security Administration, a semiautonomous agency within the Department of Energy, is a key player as the government seeks to create both a low-yield warhead for its submarine-launched ballistic missile and a new sea-launched, nuclear-capable cruise missile. But while the Pentagon has identified those two systems as vital to national interests, and has set aside 22.6 million in fiscal 2019 for a low-yield ballistic warhead, the NNSA's budget request for FY19 doesn't contain any funds to support that work. "We are leaning as far forward as we possibly can, working with OMB and the Department of Defense" on the question of FY19 funds, said Lisa Gordon-Haggerty, the NNSA head, during congressional testimony Tuesday. Philip Calbos, acting deputy administrator for defense programs at NNSA, later added that it would be "beneficial" for the agency to be able to begin work on the two new systems in '19, rather than having to wait until money is put into the FY2020 request. The officials did not clarify how they would go about getting that money added to the budget request, but it could come as either a supplemental request from the administration or through Congress during the authorization and appropriations process. Members of the House Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee seemed open to that option during Tuesday's hearing, with several members saying they looked forward to talking with the agency officials in a smaller setting. The Nuclear Posture Review laid out the need to invest in both a short-term development of a low-yield nuclear warhead that could be put on the Navy's Trident ballistic missiles, as well as a new nuclear-capable cruise missile that can be launched by naval vessels. But while the DoD is ready to invest in the near-term capability, the NNSA appears to have been unable to incorporate the final decisions of the NPR, as it was building its budget at the same time. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, Calbos described the NNSA's portion of work on the submarine-launched ballistic missile as "a moderate level of effort, again relatively speaking, at a moderate cost. And we believe we can fit it in, in the near term." That is in line with the belief, expressed by defense officials, that the agency should be able to simply modify a handful of the W76-1 warheads already undergoing a service life extension. In an exclusive exit interview, Frank Klotz, who retired on Jan. 19 as the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, warns that his agency is stretched to the limit. And because the sea launched cruise missile capability is not as near term, that should not impact the series of currently ongoing warhead life-extension and modification programs assuming those all stay on track. Both officials said they believe the warhead modernization efforts currently underway will not be impacted by the additional projects, but acknowledged that the real driver of keeping things on track comes down to stable funds. "This is not a one-, two-, three-year effort. It took us a while to reach the point we are in, in respect to the enterprise, and it will take us a while to get it back on secure footing for the next several decades," Calbos said. "Technically, we have the workforce that can do it. We're beefing up the enterprise so it can do the work it needs to do. We need sustained funding for many years.",

Hardware endstrength Russia and China sanctions Heres the deal lawmakers reached on the huge defense

WASHINGTON U.S. House and Senate negotiators reached agreement Monday on a 716 billion defense authorization bill that includes a sizable boost in military end strength, more ships and planes than the White House asked for, and a compromise on U.S. sanctions on Russia. The agreement comes months ahead of Congress' typical schedule for the sweeping defense policy measure. The legislation has been finalized by Congress for 57 consecutive years but not passed before the start of the new fiscal year in the past decade. The House is expected to vote on the deal this week, and the Senate possibly in August. From there, President Donald Trump is expected to sign it into law. Senior committee aides said the speed of the work was designed to avoid political fights and unrelated policy debates heading into the November midterm election, The measure authorizes a base defense budget of 639 billion and 69 billion more for overseas contingency operations. The totals match previously agreed upon spending plans for fiscal 2019, but break with administration priorities in a host of areas. Hardware. For aviation, lawmakers backed administration plans for 77 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, with limitations on software upgrades pending cost and schedule information. The bill would back the Air Force plan to kill its JSTARS recapitalization program while restricting retirement of the legacy E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System. It requires the Air Force to develop a plan to sustain the aircraft until the follow-on program is ready. For the Navy, the bill funds 13 ships three beyond the president's budget request to include two Virginia-class submarines, three littoral combat ships an additional Ford-class aircraft carrier, two TAO-205 oilers, one expeditionary sea base, and one T-ATS towing, salvage and rescue ship. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, The bill contains 200 million to expand the submarine industrial base and to aid in the advanced procurement of the Columbia-class sub in 2022 and 2023, according to House aides. Personnel. The legislation calls for a 2.6 percent pay raise for troops starting next January, a mark agreed upon by both House and Senate lawmakers in their separate drafts. Conference committee members agreed upon end-strength increases in line with the White House's requests for military might. The Army's end strength will grow by about 4,000 soldiers, the Navy's by 7,500 sailors, the Air Force by 4,000 airmen and the Marine Corps by about 100 Marines. The final agreement also includes House-backed language requiring the secretary of defense to certify that any military units or vehicles to be used in any national military parades or displays will not harm current service missions or readiness. Senate lawmakers successfully argued provisions that would give each of the services more flexibility with officer promotion rules, including changing promotion timelines and personnel limits on specialty skills. Turkey F-35s. The bill bars delivery of the F-35 to Turkey until the U.S. government submits an assessment of the U.S.-Turkey relationship. It also requires an assessment of the operational and counterintelligence risks posed by that country's planned purchase of the Russian-made S-400 air and missile defense system to weapons systems and platforms operated jointly with Turkey, including the F-35. The bill includes a sense of Congress calling on Turkey to release "wrongfully detained" U.S. citizens Andrew Brunson and Serkan Golge, according to a bill summary. Russia sanctions. The bill includes a compromise waiver under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA, that provides leniency for strategic partners and allies purchasing Russian military equipment, so long as they are taking steps to wean themselves from it. A Democratic summary of the bill says the measure is more stringent from the Republican-backed provision in the House version of the bill, China. The conference report dropped a Senate-backed provision banning Chinese telecom giant ZTE from doing business with both the government and private sector in favor of a the House-backed provision that would ban ZTE from working with the government. The bill would strengthen the interagency committee that reviews deals between foreign investors and U.S.-based businesses for national security concerns. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, ot CFIUS, would receive broader abilities to block transactions with Chinese companies that could pose a national security risk. Wildlife protections. The bill excludes a House-backed provision, opposed by Democrats, that would have prohibited the greater sage grouse and the lesser prairie chicken from being listed under the Endangered Species Act for a period of 10 years. It also maintains the endangered status of the American burying beetle. The bill would require that the Navy seek government approval every seven years for plans that potentially harm marine mammals less than the current five-years but more frequently than the 10 years proposed by the House.

Your new Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force talks promotions enlisted pilots dwell time and more

The Air Force's new top enlisted leader, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth Wright, doesn't mince words when he talks about his rough, early days in the service. "I was a pretty crappy airman, honestly," Wright said in a Feb. 15 interview in his new, still-bare office at the Pentagon. "I used to get in trouble a lot, got wrote up a lot. Coming to work late, not paying my bills, talking back, just kind of being irresponsible. Fighting. I used to fight a lot when I was a young guy." But Wright was fortunate enough to gain the attention of a tough master sergeant who took him under his wing, set him straight, and became a father figure to him. The example that Master Sgt. Joe Winbush set inspired Wright's own leadership style and his desire to help other young airmen find their talents. And now, as the 18th chief master sergeant of the Air Force, Wright has the opportunity to help shape the entire enlisted ranks for the better. Wright took over Feb. 17 as the new CMSAF, at the retirement ceremony for his predecessor, Chief Master Sgt. James Cody. Wright was previously the command chief master sergeant of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and U.S. Air Forces Africa, headquartered at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. He comes from a dental background and has deployed to support Operation Desert Storm and to Afghanistan. Wright joined the Air Force in 1989 but it wasn't the path he ever imagined himself on. Even though his hometown of Columbus, Georgia, is an Army town that's home to Fort Benning, he didn't come from a military family or have any desire to pursue a career in the armed forces. Call it an omen' But Wright had to drop out of Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina after less than a year because he didn't have enough money to stay in school. He went back home to mull over his future, he said. "I was laying on the couch, I rolled over, my wallet fell out, hit the ground, one thing fell out it was an Air Force recruiter's card," Wright said. "I looked down at it, and said, Hey, I'll join the Air Force.' I called a recruiter and two months later I was in San Antonio. It was kind of call it an omen." It wasn't a good fit at first, as he got into what he called "19-, 20-year-old mischievous stuff. That type of stuff that in today's Air Force, you won't last long doing those types of things.", But during Wright's first few misguided years at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina, Winbush noticed him and took him under his wing. "That was the beginning of my 180," Wright said. One day after Wright had been in the Air Force for about three years Winbush handed Wright an application to join the base's honor guard. Wright handed it back and said he wasn't interested. "He gave it back with a few choice words," Wright said. "So I had to clean my act up a little bit. My uniform used to be really shoddy. I wasn't really that into serving. But joining the base honor guard gave me a different perspective.", Wright worked his way up to team lead, and recalls vividly the day he had to present a flag to the widow of a late airman during a funeral. "I remember the second that I changed my life around, when I presented this flag and made eye contact," Wright said. "You have to say this canned statement. 'On behalf of the president of the United States and this grateful nation.' I made eye contact with the spouse. She cried, and that moment, I said to myself, 'Hey man, you got to get your life together. You got to get serious about your life and your career.'", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Air Force Times Daily News Roundup, The newly-focused Wright began working harder, winning awards, going back to school, and paying more attention to the way he looked and the way he spoke. Winbush "was really tough on me," but fair, Wright said. "Even though he was a dental guy, he was more like a maintenance NCO. A lot of cursing, a lot of hard lessons to learn. He would always tell me what I need to hear, not what I wanted to hear.", Sometimes, Winbush's tough love included letting Wright fall and make mistakes. And when Wright screwed up, unbeknownst to him, Winbush would talk to his first sergeant or commander not to get Wright off the hook, but to ask his leaders not to give up on the young airman. "He would say, give him whatever he deserves, letter of counseling, letter of reprimand," Wright said. "But he would assure them, 'I'm working on him, I got him.' To this day, he's still tough on me. Had it not been for him, I don't think I would have made it in the Air Force, and certainly I don't think I would have made it to where I am today.", The new Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth Wright said he was a "pretty crappy airman" until a tough master sergeant took him under his wing. Here, Wright greets an airman during a 2015 visit to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. Photo Credit Staff Sgt. Michael Battles/Air Force, The new chief's agenda, Today, there is no shortage of challenges facing the enlisted force. The biggest concern Wright sees is the punishing operations tempo enlisted airmen are working under with limited resources, and the resulting drag on morale. "The fact is, we ask our airmen to do a lot with a lot less people, and a lot smaller budgets," Wright said. "Being a young airman or a young NCO in the Air Force is tough.", It's especially tough for young NCOs who have to do their primary job and then also have to supervise a handful of other young airmen, all while balancing their family needs, deployments, and other requirements such as professional military education, he said. The active-duty Air Force is slated to grow from 317,000 airmen both officers and enlisted to 321,000 by the end of this year, which is an improvement over the 311,000 at the beginning of fiscal 2016. But that's still close to historically low end strength levels and is far less than the more than 510,000 active-duty airmen during the Gulf War. And while the Air Force is short staffed, it has no shortage of missions daily operations in Iraq and Syria supporting the mission to fight the Islamic State, ongoing operations in Afghanistan, the need to support Eastern European allies wary of a resurgent Russia, and countering an emboldened China. That isn't likely to change anytime soon, Wright said. And while the Air Force wants to eventually grow to 350,000, that's still years away from happening. So the Air Force needs to find ways to ease the burden on airmen tasked with those fights, and help their families cope with challenges such as frequent deployments by making them more "resilient.", Wright said the Air Force has several programs to help airmen and their families, but they might need to be better coordinated to work more effectively. But even airmen who aren't dealing with deployments will still have challenges a bad supervisor, or a pass over for the next promotion, or other problems and they'll need to learn resiliency too, Wright said. "It happens to all of us," Wright said. "These things are designed to help us grow, and as an airman, you have to be able to bounce back from that.", Wright said he doesn't have plans for new programs, but wants to "synthesize" existing programs to get them to better work together. He also wants to make sure airmen know what kind of programs are out there to help them and that it is OK to seek mental health services. In high demand, The Air Force has long been concerned about high deployment rates, and in recent years has made progress in ensuring most airmen are home for at least twice as long as they were deployed before they are called up again. But there are some highly in-demand career fields such as those at Air Force Special Operations Command that have been facing a 11 dwell-deploy ratio, meaning they're deployed about as long as they're home. Easing the strain on such airmen will be tough, Wright said, because they have a "unique and specific skill set." Wright said the Air Force will need to talk more to commands in the Army, Navy and Marine Corps that have similar skill sets and are facing similar challenges, to get new ideas on how to handle it. Wright also wants to focus on improving the Air Force's training. That could include getting rid of unnecessary training to allow airmen to better concentrate on what matters, as well as taking advantage of technology, such as for "virtual" training. Better training will be key to achieving Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein's desire to overhaul how Air Force squadrons operate, Wright said. "I don't think we get to be the greatest Air Force that ever existed without being really well-trained," Wright said. "As the boss focuses on revitalizing the squadron, I think you can give the commander more responsibility, more authority, you can give him more resources, but if the airmen in the squadron aren't well-trained, they won't be able to perform their mission.", Leadership development is another area of interest for Wright. "How can we get the right airman in the right job at the right time with the right experience, and the right attitude?" Wright said. "It comes down to managing talent. Not only do those airmen need to be well-trained, they need to be well-led. Well-trained, well-led, resilient airmen will be the goal.", Wright said he thinks the new enlisted evaluation system a major effort during Cody's tenure is working as intended, and was the right move. "I think it's fair, I think it allows folks a broad range of opportunities to advance, to get promoted, to be recognized, to receive decorations, all things that were pretty limited under our old system," Wright said. "When I wasn't getting promoted, I wasn't happy with the system, so there are some folks that may not like it. I do hear some feedback about, we still have some issues with the performance ratings, and some folks are still far to the right receiving ratings that may be inflated. We need to figure out a way to get everybody thinking the same way with respect to the performance ratings.", Incoming Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth Wright said he looks forward to getting "unfiltered" feedback from enlisted airmen. , Photo Credit Staff Sgt. Micaiah Anthony/Air Force, About a year and a half from now three years after the new performance system went in place the Air Force will take a look at it to see how it's going. Wright said he also has heard complaints from some that it has led to favoritism. He said he's "not nave enough" to think that never happens, but that in most cases, it's subconscious favoritism. "Those are real problems, so I think we as senior leaders owe it to our airmen that the chiefs and the other senior NCOs are aware of those biases, and are aware of the perception that there is favoritism, and they understand the importance of being as objective as possible, and not whether you like the person," Wright said. Return of warrants?, Wright is happy with how the effort to allow enlisted airmen to fly the unarmed RQ-4 Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft is going so far. And he thinks that, eventually, the range of aircraft enlisted airmen can fly will be expanded even further, to armed MQ-1 Predators and MQ-9 Reapers and perhaps even to flying manned aircraft. "We have airmen that are perfectly capable of flying, not just other RPA systems and dropping ordnance, but that are perfectly capable of flying manned aircraft," Wright said. "Many of them have private pilot's licenses. I don't know that it will happen on my watch, but I think that's the natural progression. We have some brilliant young minds in our Air Force that are perfectly capable of flying manned aircraft.", Wright said he's "a little torn," because part of him thinks an enlisted airman who is talented enough to fly a manned aircraft deserves an officer's commission. And Wright said it's worth taking a look at reviving the warrant officer program to handle enlisted pilots, as well as other specialized fields. But he said it will require more study to see if it makes sense for the Air Force, and that he doesn't now have a position for or against warrant officers. The 'unfiltered' truth, Wright is planning a series of trips to bases around the world over the next few months, beginning with his first week in office, to talk to enlisted airmen face-to-face and find out what's on their minds. He also plans to continue Cody's practice of holding Chief Chats town hall-style meetings where the chief takes questions from enlisted airmen, that are then posted on YouTube. And Wright said he plans to be active on social media platforms such as Facebook to get feedback from airmen. "I'm all about access," he said. "I plan to be very open and accessible.", It's important to hear honest thoughts from enlisted airmen, he said even if those thoughts might make those airmen's leaders uncomfortable. "One of the hardest things for any senior leader is, how do you get to the truth, unfiltered?" Wright said. "Even when I go on a base visit and I say I want to have breakfast with some airmen, they're going to send the sharpest, most professional airmen with questions that have been vetted through the chief and the commander. And then they're going to tell them, 'Don't say anything to embarrass me, and don't bring up anything we probably can't fix in the squadron.' So it's hard for any senior leader to get to the ground truth. So that's why I like going to the gymnasium, and the DFACs dining facilities, and veering off. It'll be a little harder for me to do now, to veer off on my own, but I'll get away from the team."

US Air Force secretary JSTARS recap decision coming this month

WASHINGTON A decision on the future of the JSTARS recap program appears to be imminent, with the U.S. Air Force's top civilian doubling down on statements that the service would decide whether to cancel the program this month. By the end of October, the U.S. Air Force will have completed a "rapid assessment" to determine whether the service can use existing platforms including legacy aircraft, drones and other sensors to accomplish the mission that a new battlefield management aircraft would be charged with, U.S. Air Force Heather Wilson explained. "We really want the engineers to look at this. Is it possible to fuse the data? Do we have the technology developed and ready? We don't want to do some hand-waving over a PowerPoint chart. Really show us that it is possible to do it this way, and what is the timeline by which we can do this. So that's the scrub that we asked them to do," she said during an Oct. 5 event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "And yeah, it's a cycle with the budget, and we know that we've got a request for proposals out there, and we've got people making decisions. We should be able to make a rapid assessment and a decision so that we can explain to the secretary of defense through the budget process, as well as the other branch of government Congress what we think is the best thing to do and lay that out for them.", The future of the JSTARS recap program appears to be in limbo as the U.S. Air Force reevaluates the path forward for replacing its aging battle management surveillance system. Currently, three prime contractors are in source selection for the JSTARS recap competition, which will replace the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System that provides ground surveillance, targeting information and command and control. Boeing, Lockheed Martin and JSTARS incumbent Northrop Grumman have all submitted proposals for the recap program, and Northrop and Raytheon are duking it out to produce the radar that will be integrated with the aircraft. The JSTARS recap program originated because of the perceived strain to the legacy E-8C fleet, which were thought to reach the end of their lifespans early next decade. Now U.S. Air Force leaders believe they can fly the E-8Cs until about 2030, and they aren't convinced a large airborne node is the most survivable way to conduct the mission going forward. As a result, the service is considering whether to cancel the recap program, using existing assets as a stopgap until a more advanced solution is developed. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Military Space Report, The Air Force's decision on whether to cancel the JSTARS recap program will be driven, in part, on whether the service can provide a similar capability by networking together its existing platforms and sensors, the head of Air Combat Command said Monday. Speaking broadly about changes to the U.S. Air Force's space enterprise, Wilson described how the service is weighing how and when to disaggregate platforms, making them more distributed and less vulnerable to attack. "There are tradeoffs there," she said, adding that the same conversation is happening in the JSTARS recap debate about future command and control. Her statements don't appear to bode well for the future of the program. "We've got one large aircraft that we developed in 1991. It's a great aircraft, a great concept, but technology has moved on from that. And everything is a sensor," Wilson said. "If an F-35 can send its picture and its radar image to another aircraft and we're also pulling all of that down to a ground station in the Middle East, why can't we do this distributed? We're meeting only 5 percent of combatant commander requirements for battlefield command and control today. Can we do better than this?" she asked. "We're asking ourselves those questions, and that does mean moving money among programs to try to meet more priorities.", If the U.S. Air Force decides to move forward with the JSTARS recap, it is expected to award a contract next year to one of the three competitors. The program is worth an estimated 7 billion. Following Wilson's speech, Byron Callan of Capital Alpha Partners said the timing of an October announcement would be consistent with timing on fiscal year 2019 budget decisions. "There might be more insight here from the Association of the U.S. Army meeting next week, as JSTARS is important for ground forces surveillance and support," he wrote in a digest to investors.

Russia warns of consequences following Norways call for more Marines

Russia issued threats following Norway's decision to invite several hundred more Marines to the Arctic country for training. The threat was made via a posting to the Russian Embassy's Facebook page on Thursday. "Such acts are contrary to the Norwegian decision of 1949 to "not open bases for foreign forces in Norwegian territory as long as Norway is not attacked or threatened with attacks," the Russian statement reads. "They make Norway less predictable, can increase tension, and cause an arm's race destabilizing the situation in northern Europe. We view it as unfriendly and it will not remain without consequences.", Earlier this week, Norway invited the Corps to send up to 700 Marines for rotational training in Norway for a period of five years, more than double the size of the current rotation. The high north country also opened up a second training location in Setermoen, Norway, for the Marines. Previously, Marines have been based out of Vaernes, Norway. "More predictable rotational USMC training and exercises in Norway will significantly improve opportunities to develop and enhance interoperability between USMC and Norwegian forces," Norwegian Minister of Defence, Frank Bakke-Jensen, said in a press release. The threat from Russia also follows a series of NATO and U.S. exercises in the region. In early June, NATO kicked off Saber Strike 2018 in the Baltic states and a maritime exercises known as BALTOPS. , Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Get the Marine Corps Times Daily News Roundup, And in late May, the Corps sent M1A1 Abrams tanks to Finland for the first time to participate in a Finnish armored vehicle exercise. , Since 2017, the Corps has been sending six-month rotations of roughly 330 Marines to Norway for extreme cold weather training. Currently, nearly 330 Marines with 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment based out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, is in Norway conducting training. It is the Corps' third rotation to the Scandinavian country. On Tuesday, Gen. Robert B. Neller, the commandant of the Marine Corps, told audience members at the Naval War College in Rhode Island that the Corps would be sending an additional 300 Marines currently in Romania to Norway. "The United States Marine Corps and Norway have a long-standing and successful relationship that we look forward to strengthening," Bakke-Jensen, said in a press release. "We will continue the dialogue with the U.S. and the USMC, aiming for mutual agreement in the near future on the continuation of the rotational training and exercise activity, says Frank Bakke-Jensen.", Reuters first reported the Russian Embassy statement.

Numbers game How the Air Force is following the Army and Navys bad example

On Sept. 17, Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson stole a page from the Army and the Navy, announcing that the Air Force needed to grow its number of operational squadrons by 25 percent, from 312 to 386. The Army and the Navy have both mastered the art of using absolute numbers of soldiers and ships, respectively, to describe what the future force should look like. The strategy is clear Give Congress and the public a big impressive number, and then argue anything less would put the nation at risk. Who can blame them? Describing force structure needs with one single, specific, easily bumper-sticker-able number has proven effective in defending budgets on the Pentagon's bureaucratic playground. However, thinking in these over-simplified and strictly numerical terms is actually bad for the safety of the nation it allows decision-makers and those who hold them accountable to ignore the equally, if not more important, discussion of the qualitative capability of the joint force. Let's review the tape. During the course of the contraction in defense spending beginning in fiscal year 2013, Army leadership held fast to a requirement for 490,000 soldiers in the active component, in spite of clear direction in the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance to reduce the size of U.S. ground forces. Similarly, the Navy's 2016 Force Structure Assessment established a requirement for 355 ships, which Navy leadership invoked to support its budget request, describing it as "the Navy the nation needs." Since then, the 355 number has taken on near-mystical importance. Is the Air Force's 386-squadron goal just another pipe dream?, History suggests this focus on numbers worked as a means of grabbing defense dollars Between the fiscal year 2018 and fiscal year 2019 defense budget requests, the Army grew by 10 percent, the Navy by eight percent, but the Air Force grew by only six percent. So it's hard to blame Secretary Wilson for taking this step, in light of the success the Army and Navy seem to have had with similar approaches.That said, is the Air Force actually too small? As always, the answer depends on what you want the Air Force to be able to do. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, Using the new National Defense Strategy as a yardstick, it seems reasonably safe to say that the Air Force should grow if we want it to be able to best China and Russia while sustaining operations in the Middle East and continuing to support the joint force in mobility, space, and other areas. However, limiting the public dialogue around the Air Force's requirements to a single number of operational squadrons cheats the nation out of the more critical conversation detailing what those squadrons need to be able to do and in what kinds of environments. By focusing on the number, the debate treats a light attack squadron the same as an F-35 squadron. Pressure to meet the target number of squadrons run the risk of driving decisions to buy in higher volume at the less costly and less capable end of the spectrum, as we have seen in justifications of the continued buy of the Littoral Combat Ship above the Navy's own requests for the platform. Dumbing down the conversation about the Air Force's future force structure to a single number can have serious consequences for the shape of the future joint force, ones that we will sorely regret given the United States' eroding technological edge against China and Russia. We may get to the "right" number of squadrons, but whether or not they will be the right kinds of squadrons, with the right capabilities required to retain military advantage over near-peer competitors, is a separate question one largely neglected by Wilson in her remarks. The Air Force wants more space squadrons...but they could lose them to the Space Force soon. Although the Air Force has played this numbers game in the past, in recent years it has consistently been more focused on the future and the imperative to maintain U.S. military technological dominance than the other services, spending more on research and development and making difficult decisions to pursue the smaller but more capable force that the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance called for. Monday's announcement portends a possible reversal of this approach. This about face is doubly troubling given that DoD is very likely at peak budget level, with another contraction a distinct possibility in the near term. The temptation to simplify the conversation about what the future Air Force needs to look like down to a single number is strong. However, doing so, particularly in a period of fiscal contraction, can result in aestrategic decisions to retain more force structure than the service can afford to keep fully modernized and ready. By focusing only on quantity and foregoing the more nuanced and difficult discussion the qualitative capabilities the future Air Force will need, we risk neglecting the imperative to retain U.S. military advantage against China and Russia, which is the central security challenge of our time.

Punishments but no criminal charges in US attack on Afghanistan hospital

WASHINGTON A U.S. gunship attack on a hospital in Afghanistan that killed 42 people occurred because of human errors, process errors and equipment failures and none of the crew knew they were striking a trauma center, a top U.S. general said Friday. No criminal charges have been leveled against U.S. military personnel for mistakes that resulted in last's year's attack on the civilian hospital in Afghanistan operated by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders. The group has called the attack a war crime. Gen. Joseph Votel, the new head of U.S. Central Command, said that the trauma center was on a no-strike list but that the gunship crew didn't have access to the list. The Pentagon was releasing the full report on the investigation on Friday, including details about what exactly led a U.S. Air Force special operations AC-130 gunship to bomb the hospital and how those mistakes were made. According to one senior U.S. official, a two-star general was among about 16 American military personnel disciplined because of the attack. A number of those punished are U.S. special operations forces. No one was sent to court-martial, officials said. However, in many cases a nonjudicial punishment, such as a letter of reprimand or suspension, can effectively end a military career. The officials were not authorized to discuss the case by name and requested anonymity. The U.S. airstrike in the northern city of Kunduz last October was carried out by one of the most lethal aircraft in the U.S. arsenal. Doctors Without Borders has called the attack "relentless and brutal.", The Associated Press reported in March that more than a dozen U.S. military personnel had been disciplined in connection with the bombing, and that the punishments were all largely administrative. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, The crew of the AC-130, which is armed with side-firing cannons and guns, had been dispatched to hit a Taliban command center in a building 450 yards from the hospital, the U.S. military said in November. Hampered by problems with their targeting sensors, the crew relied on a physical description that led them to begin firing at the hospital even though they saw no hostile activity there. Officials have said the attack was caused by human error, and that many chances to prevent the attack on the wrong target were missed. A separate U.S. report on the incident, obtained last fall by the AP, said the AC-130 aircraft fired 211 shells at the hospital compound over 29 minutes before commanders realized the mistake and ordered a halt. Doctors Without Borders officials contacted coalition military personnel during the attack to say the hospital was "being 'bombed' from the air," and the word finally was relayed to the AC-130 crew, the report said. The attack came as U.S. military advisers were helping Afghan forces retake Kunduz, which had fallen to the Taliban on Sept. 28. It was the first major city to fall since the Taliban were expelled from Kabul in 2001. Afghan officials claimed the hospital had been overrun by the Taliban, but no evidence of that has surfaced. The hospital was destroyed and Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French acronym, MSF, ceased operations in Kunduz. Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Corker erupts at GOP leaders for derailing vote on Trump tariffs

WASHINGTON Republican Sen. Bob Corker gave Republican colleagues an earful Tuesday for blocking a vote on his legislation to check U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff authority. The proposed amendment to the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act would have given Congress a shot at overturning the president's steel and aluminum tariffs. It was one of several derailed in a deadlocked amendment process for the bill. Finally, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. called for a vote to end debate Tuesday evening, setting the Senate up to pass the massive policy bill next week. This capped an impasse Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee had their amendments to bar indefinite military detention of U.S. citizens blocked by Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Chuck Grassley, so they were blocking all other amendments. Earlier in the day, Corker, R-Tenn. who serves as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, rebuked GOP leaders for quashing his amendment to avoid blowback from the president. Corker, who is retiring after his term ends, has publicly feuded with Trump before. " Gosh, we might poke the bear!' is the language I've been hearing in the hallways. We might poke the bear. The president might get upset with us as United States senators if we vote on the Corker amendment,' " Corker said in a fiery floor speech. "I know that every ounce of power possible is going to be used to keep from voting on this amendment because, well, my gosh, the president might not like it, and, therefore, we as senators might be offending someone by deciding whether we in fact want to assert some responsibility over a process of tariffing where we wake up, ready, fire, aim," Corker said. Corker has been a vocal critic of Trump's decision to invoke national security to levy a 25 percent surcharge on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum from Europe, Mexico and Canada. On the floor Tuesday, he said he feared Trump is provoking retaliatory action and that he wanted to head that off. Corker's amendment would require the president to submit to Congress any proposal to adjust imports in the interest of national security under Section 232 and that in turn would receive a vote within 60 days. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, Corker said he would not hold up any other amendments just because he could not get a vote. "For the last year and a half ... under leader McConnell, we have had one amendment vote. One amendment vote," he said. The Trump administration's steel and aluminum tariffs have sparked fears in the defense sector. On Tuesday, Sen. Jim Inhofe, the No. 2 Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, objected to Corker's amendment, citing procedural reasons. He said after conferring with House colleagues, he was convinced inclusion of the "non-germane" amendment would jeopardize passage of the final bill. "I would like to join Senator Corker in finding another bill, and I will do all I could to help him to get that on as an amendment, but not to the defense authorization bill," Inhofe said. "I think this would cause a lot of damage. The House agrees with this. I can't let that happen.", Corker said outside the chamber that he would instead look for another piece of legislation to which he can attach his legislation, according to a report in The Hill.

Space Force and midterms share stage as Trump signs Pentagon policy bill

WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump signed the 716 billion defense policy bill for fiscal 2019 into law at the Army's Fort Drum in New York on Monday making personal pitches for Republican candidates and his controversial Space Force proposal. At a giant ceremony in an aircraft hangar, Trump called out specifics in the National Defense Authorization Act, such as the setting of military pay raise at 2.6 percent starting next January, its additions of 15,600 more troops to the armed services' overall end strength, and a laundry list of added aircraft and ship purchases above what the White House requested. "Last year we secured a historic 700 billion to rebuild our military," Trump said. "Next year we have 716 billion to give you the finest planes and ships and tanks and missiles anywhere on Earth. Nobody makes them like we do.", Trump also gave his most articulated pitch to date for a new space-focused military service and suggested the U.S. had lost its technological edge to rivals. Trump said specifically that China created a military space organization and broadly that other nations are developing technologies to disrupt communications, blind satellites and "jam transmissions that threaten our battlefield operations.", "Our foreign adversaries and competitors have already begun weaponizing space," Trump said. "I've seen things that you don't even want to see, what they're doing, and how advanced they are. We'll be catching them very shortly. ... We will be so far ahead of them in a very short period of time, your head will spin.", Trump's visit to Fort Drum, home to the 10th Mountain Division, was marked by a military exercise that included artillery fire and rotary-wing aircraft. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, "A few moments ago, I witnessed your extraordinary capabilities firsthand during an artillery raid demonstration, so I'd like to begin by applauding the 10th Mountain Division Combat Aviation Brigade, along with the Third Battalion, Sixth Field Artillery," he said. "I hate to say this, but nobody stands a chance against you folks. Nobody stands a chance.", Vice President Mike Pence, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan attended the event and more than a dozen uniformed soldiers flanked Trump as he signed the bill. The 2019 NDAA is named for Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz. who has been battling brain cancer at home since last year, but Trump did not mention McCain, a repeated critic of his. Trump also claimed credit for the bill's Pentagon spending boost, though it represents an increase over his budget request, hard won by McCain and Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. "The National Defense Authorization Act is the most significant investment in our military, and our war fighters in modern history, and I am very proud to be a big, big part of it. It was not very hard," Trump said. "You know, I went to Congress, I said let's do it, we got to do it. We're going to strengthen our military like never, ever before and that's what we did.", This was Trump's first visit to upstate New York since becoming president. Fighting to maintain Republican control of the House, Trump is set to attend a fundraiser Monday for Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney, who is locked in a competitive race with her Democratic rival. President Trump has ordered the creation of a new branch of the military focused on space something his own secretary of defense has opposed. At the ceremony, Trump recognized Rep. Elise Stefanik, who represents Watertown, home to Fort Drum, and chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities and sits on the House Intelligence Committee. Though Stefanik's district is comfortably red, The New York Times spotlighted her re-election race as an example of where Independents represent a powerful force. "She's an incredible representative," Trump said, later calling out her work to add artificial intelligence provisions to the NDAA. Trump also briefly recognized HASC member Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz. who is vying for the GOP nomination for Senate. Also in the audience, McSally did not endorse Trump in 2016, but has sought his support to help edge out more right-leaning contenders. The 2019 NDAA passed the House by a vote of 359-54 and the Senate by 87-10. This early passage of the NDAA into law lawmakers labor until late fall before reaching agreement on the legislation gives lawmakers facing midterm re-election fights some campaign-trail fodder. No words or thanks for the senator and former POW, who is battling brain cancer. It remains to be seen whether those bragging rights will extend to defense appropriations, once lawmakers return from summer recess. The Senate passed a four-bill spending "minibus" for the departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, as well as a number of other government agencies. Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. announced that he had reached an agreement with Senate Democrats on bringing defense appropriations legislation to the Senate floor later this month, as part of a broader effort to wrap up fiscal 2019 military spending issues before the election. One wild card is Trump's threat in late July to push the government into a shutdown unless Congress funds his border wall. If appropriations bills aren't passed and signed into law by Sept. 30, without a stopgap funding measure, it would trigger a shutdown. The Pentagon doesn't intend to ask for a big increase for funding in FY2020. In a statement Monday, Thornberry said it is "essential" that appropriations be approved before the start of the fiscal year. He and other pro-defense lawmakers have pressed for predictable defense spending on the grounds that shutdowns and stopgap spending is wasteful and harms military readiness. "This measure continues to rebuild and repair our military while making needed reforms in the Pentagon," he said of the NDAA. "It takes important steps to confront the aggressive behavior of Russia, China, and others. Most of all, it helps ensure that our troops get what they need to carry out the missions they are assigned."

Lockheed planning big shift away from LCS propulsion system for its future frigate offering

PARIS Lockheed Martin is planning to shift from its littoral combat ship's water-jet propulsion to a propulsion system that the U.S. Navy is more familiar with for its future frigate offering, Lockheed's vice president for small combatants and ship systems told reporters at the 2018 Euronaval show. As it works through the Navy's requirements for its FFGX program, Lockheed is hoping that a more traditional twin-screw design with independent drive trains will entice the service towards its offering. One of the major hang-ups with the design requirements for all the competitors has been requirement that the engineering spaces be separated by a certain number of meters so that if the ship takes damage in one area, the other space should be online to drive the ship. If the design can't meet the spacing requirement, an alternative propulsion unit has to be installed. The Navy has awarded 15 million contracts to four companies for conceptual designs for the FFGX program. For Lockheed, the decision was to try and meet the spacing requirement, which is making its FFGX offering a bigger ship than the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship. "We felt the more traditional approach to the suite, going with more of the ... port and starboard side, redundant type of propulsion trains, that familiarity would be well received by the Navy. Going to more of a common system sized for the FFGX," said Joe DePietro. "It does require the ship to be longer, given those separation requirements and how you plan to stagger your port and starboard configuration of the combining gear/reduction gear, running into a single shaft into a screw on either side. You have to have a certain amount of separation and they have to be fully independent.", As for the system itself, Lockheed is keeping its options open, but is looking hard and combined diesel and gas systems, or even combined diesel and diesel, give the speed requirements for FFGX, which are well reduced from what they were for the speedy LCS. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, The fleet has been receptive but mixed on the idea of a straight diesel propulsion system. But the trade-off for gas turbines is less fuel efficiency, which impacts range, DePietro said. In February, the Navy announced that it had awarded design contracts to asked to Huntington Ingalls, Lockheed Martin, Austal USA, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, and Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri have all been asked to submit mature designs. Lockheed is playing a strong hand going into selection, however, because of its partnership with Fincantieri on the Freedom-variant LCS, which is built at Fincantieri's Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin. Lockheed will either win the award for its modified LCS or it will be a systems integrator for Fincantieri's FREMM, which is another leading competitor for the program. The anti-submarine warfare FREMM Alpino is pretty darn cool It's built to fight and has plenty of power to go around. It has espresso machines, which may or may not land in the Navy version. But it's also not perfect.

B2 Spirit stealth bombers 200 airmen deploy to Guam

Three B-2 Spirit stealth bombers and approximately 200 airmen arrived at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam Monday. The aircraft and airmen, assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, deployed to Guam in support of U.S. Pacific Command's bomber assurance and deterrence mission, according to Pacific Air Forces. During this "short-term deployment," the B-2s will conduct local and regional training sorties. They will also work with "key regional partners, ensuring bomber crews maintain a high state of readiness and crew proficiency.", The nuclear-capable stealth bombers join several B-1B Lancer conventional bombers at Andersen Air Force Base. PACOM has said the Lancers are "ready to fulfill U.S. Forces Korea's Fight Tonight mission if called upon to do so." , The B-1Bs have flown over the Korean Peninsula for drills with U.S. and Korean forces over the past few months as tensions remain high between the United States and North Korea due to the Norths determination to continue developing its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Air Force Times Daily News Roundup, In a meeting with South Korean officials Jan. 9, North Korea agreed to send athletes to the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month, a breakthrough after months of hostilities. But after the meeting, Ri Son-kwon, who led the North Korean delegation, criticized South Korean reporters for saying the talks including discussion of de-nuclearization. "All our cutting-edge weapons, including our hydrogen bomb and intercontinental ballistic missiles, are not targeting our Korean brothers, China or Russia but the United States," Ri said, according to pool reports. "If we begin talking about these issues, then today's good results might be reduced to nothing.", A lone B-2 Spirit flew to Guam from Whiteman in October for a short-term mission. The stealth bombers also deployed to Guam in August 2016 as part of an historic integrated bomber operation with B-1B Lancers and a B-52 Stratofortress.

Another government shutdown is possible Whats at stake for the military

WASHINGTON Congress could cause a partial government shutdown next month, with proposed defense spending at the center of a looming feud between Capitol Hill and the White House. The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled its proposed fiscal 2018 budget for all federal programs and a plan to fund the last few months of fiscal 2017, which ends Sept. 30. And while Republicans control both houses of Congress, Democratic party leaders have threatened to allow a shutdown unless some compromises are made. Should that happen, it could disrupt military operations both at home and overseas, and delay ambitious plans to recapitalize the force. Currently, the Defense Department and most other federal programs are running off a continuing budget resolution that expires at the end of April. The White House plan includes a 25 billion boost in base defense spending for the final five months of the current fiscal year, and at least 18 billion in cuts to non-defense programs over the same period. The extra money is for "urgent warfighting readiness needs," President Trump said in an accompanying letter to Congress. It's also necessary, he says, to begin a "sustained effort to rebuild the U.S. armed forces," and to address shortfalls in everything from personnel and training to equipment maintenance and munitions. Standing in the way is a new agreement from congressional Democrats to lift the defense spending caps known as sequestration without corresponding spending increases for non-military programs. Party leaders have refused to do that for the last six years. To overcome Senate procedural rules, Republicans would need at least eight senators from outside their party to approve any spending plan. Earlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. indicated that any "poison pill riders such as defunding Planned Parenthood, building a border wall, or starting a deportation force" will force Democrats to oppose Republican budget plans, even if that means a partial government shutdown. The White House's fiscal 2017 proposal does include 1.4 billion for the first phases of building a wall along the Mexican border. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, What does this mean for the Pentagon, and rank-and-file military personnel and their families? Earlier this month, House lawmakers voted 371-48 in favor of a 578 billion spending bill to keep the military operating through September, roughly matching the White House's request but allotting the funding differently and excluding proposed cuts to non-defense programs. That measure is currently stalled in the Senate. The last extended government shutdown occurred in October 2013, resulting in unpaid furloughs for civilian workers employed by the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. That disrupted some basic services on military bases and installations, and delayed implementation of some military pay and benefits. The White House spending plan for the remainder of 2017 also includes 5 billion in new funding for overseas contingency operations, including 1.4 billion for the mission in Iraq and Syria, and 1.1 billion for ongoing operations in Afghanistan. Another 2 billion for be set aside for a "flexible fund" for the war against Islamic State militants, to "maximize the impact of U.S. counter-terrorism activities and operations.", A partial shutdown this year would not affect VA operations, since its full 2017 budget was approved by Congress last fall. The administration's fiscal 2018 budget plan also includes a stark divide between defense and non-defense spending, with a 52 billion boost for the military and 64 billion in proposed cuts to the State Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, and other federal programs. But lawmakers must resolve spending plans for the current fiscal year before fully engaging in that debate.

Government asks high court to hear transgender military case

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to issue an unusually quick ruling on the Pentagon's policy of restricting military service by transgender people. It's the fourth time in recent months the administration has sought to bypass lower courts that have blocked some of its more controversial proposals and push the high court, with a conservative majority, to weigh in quickly on a divisive issue. Earlier this month, the administration asked the high court to fast-track cases on the president's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which shields young immigrants from deportation. Administration officials also recently asked the high court to intervene to stop a trial in a climate change lawsuit and in a lawsuit over the administration's decision to add a question on citizenship to the 2020 census. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a frequent target of criticism by President Donald Trump, is involved in three of the cases. Trump's recent salvo against the "Obama judge" who ruled against his asylum policy not one of the issues currently before the Supreme Court prompted Chief Justice John Roberts to fire back at the president for the first time for feeding perceptions of a biased judiciary. Joshua Matz, publisher of the liberal Take Care blog, said the timing of the administration's effort to get the Supreme Court involved in the issues at an early stage could hardly be worse for Roberts and other justices who have sought to dispel perceptions that the court is merely a political institution, especially since the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. At an especially sensitive moment for the Supreme Court, the Trump administration is "forcing it into a minefield that many justices would almost surely prefer to avoid," Matz said. The Supreme Court almost always waits to get involved in a case until both a trial and appeals court have ruled in it. Often, the justices wait until courts in different areas of the country have weighed in and come to different conclusions about the same legal question. So it's rare for the justices to intervene early as the Trump administration has been pressing them to do. One famous past example is when the Nixon administration went to court to try to prohibit the publication of the Pentagon Papers, the secret history of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. In the immigration case, the administration told the high court it should step in and decide the fate of DACA ahead of an appeals court's ruling because the policy otherwise could be in place until the middle of 2020 before the justices might otherwise rule. The appeals court has since ruled, but the administration's request that the court hear the case stands. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, In the military case, the administration argued that the Supreme Court should step in before an appeals court rules because the case "involves an issue of imperative public importance the authority of the U.S. military to determine who may serve in the Nation's armed forces.", The White House's late Friday announcement was influenced by the these documents. In a statement, Peter Renn, an attorney for Lambda Legal, which brought one of the challenges to the transgender military policy, called the Trump administration's action Friday a "highly unusual step" that is "wildly premature and inappropriate.", The Pentagon initially lifted its ban on transgender troops serving openly in the military in 2016, under President Barack Obama's administration. But the Trump administration revisited that policy, with Trump ultimately issuing an order banning most transgender troops from serving in the military except under limited circumstances. Several lawsuits were filed over the administration's policy change, with lower courts all ruling against the Trump administration. Still ongoing in lower courts are the census and climate change cases. The Supreme Court for now has refused to block the climate change trial. In the census question case, the court has agreed to decide what kind of evidence a trial judge can consider and indefinitely put off questioning of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. But it rejected an administration request to delay the trial and allowed other depositions to take place. The court will hear arguments in the census question case in February. It's unclear when it will act on the administration's other requests.

Diplomats ousted US Europe punish Russia over spy case

WASHINGTON The United States and more than a dozen European nations kicked out Russian diplomats on Monday and the Trump administration ordered Russia's consulate in Seattle to close, as the West sought joint punishment for Moscow's alleged poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain. Warning of an "unacceptably high" number of Russian spies in the U.S. the Trump administration said 60 diplomats would be expelled all Russian intelligence agents working under diplomatic cover, the U.S. said. The group includes a dozen posted to Russia's mission to the United Nations who the officials said were engaged in "aggressive collection" of intelligence on American soil. The move was one of the most significant actions President Donald Trump's administration has taken to date to punish Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin, especially over its intelligence activities. The last time they spoke, less than a week ago, Trump congratulated Putin for his re-election but didn't raise the March 4 spy poisoning, Russia's alleged election-meddling in the U.S. or its own tainted voting process, prompting dismayed critiques even from Trump's fellow Republicans. "This is the largest expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in United States history," said U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman. The American penalties were echoed by announcements in European capitals across the continent, including those in Russia's backyard. All told, 18 countries were ousting more than 100 Russian spies, British Prime Minister Theresa May said, in addition to 23 already kicked out by the U.K. The list included at least 16 European Union nations, with more likely to follow. Germany, Poland and France each planned to boot four, the Czech Republic three and Italy two. Ukraine, a non-EU country with its own conflicts with Moscow, was expelling 13 Russians, President Petro Poroshenko said. All three Baltic states said they would kick diplomats out. Canada, too, said it was taking action, kicking out four and denying three who have applied to enter the country. Almost all of the countries said publicly that the Russian diplomats they were expelling were actually spies. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, The expulsions came with a chorus of condemnation for the Kremlin for the poisoning, Russian spying and other Western grievances. Poland's Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz called it "the right response to the unfriendly, aggressive actions of Russia." In the Czech Republic, where Russian officials have claimed the poison may have originated, Prime Minister Andrej Babis dismissed that allegation as "an utter lie.", In Washington, Russia's ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov, was summoned early Friday to the State Department and told that the 60 diplomats would have one week to leave the country, the State Department said. Russia's Embassy in Washington responded on Twitter by hinting at retaliation, asking its followers to vote which U.S. consulate should be shuttered St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg or Vladivostok. Russia will likely respond quid pro quo using the "principle of reciprocity," the Kremlin said a suggestion that Russia may expel an equal number of diplomats. Russia's Consulate General in Seattle must close by April 2. The facility is a particular counter-intelligence concern to the U.S. because of its proximity to a U.S. Navy base, said the senior U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to be identified by name. The U.S. actions appeared to signal an increased level of concern about the extent of Russian spying in the United States. Senior officials said they estimated Russia had roughly 100 intelligence officials at its diplomatic posts in the U.S. suggesting that dozens will remain even after the 60 are expelled. "The United States and many of our friends are sending a clear message that we will not stand for Russia's misconduct," said U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Trump's envoy to the U.N. Britain had already expelled 23 Russian diplomats, accusing them of being undeclared intelligence agents, which led Russia to expel the same number of British diplomats. The European Union has already recalled its ambassador to Russia. The steps on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean add to a serious escalation of tensions between Russia and the West that has been building since the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer convicted of spying for the U.K. and his daughter, Yulia. The two remain in critical condition and unconscious. A policeman who responded to their home was also injured. Britain has accused Moscow of perpetrating the attack using a Soviet-developed nerve agent known as Novichok. The U.S. France and Germany have agreed it's highly likely Russia was responsible. Russia's government has denied responsibility and has blasted Britain's investigation into the poisoning. Monday's expulsions appear to involve the largest number of Russians kicked out of the United States since 1986, when the Reagan administration expelled 55. The George W. Bush administration expelled 50 Russians in 2001 in retaliation for the Robert Hanssen spy case. In its waning days, the Obama administration expelled 35 over alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Trump has repeatedly wavered on whether he believes Moscow was behind the election-meddling, despite assessments from U.S. intelligence agencies and the special counsel investigation into Russia's actions and potential collusion with Trump's campaign. But this month, Trump's administration hit Russians with its first sanctions for the campaign interference, and also accused Moscow of an elaborate plot to hack America's electric grid and key infrastructure.

Pentagon investigators slam militarys oversight of supply ships

The Navy's failure to oversee maintenance of supply ships operated by contractors has gotten so bad that one "developed a hole in the hull" while it was transporting Marine Corps gear to an exercise and never made it to its destination, according to a Pentagon Inspector General report released last month. The IG's probe lambastes the sea service's Military Sealift Command, or MSC, for failing to properly oversee maintenance of its prepositioned ships a fleet of vessels strategically placed around the globe and packed with supplies in case a large-scale war suddenly erupts. It is the latest alarm to be sounded over the sorry readiness woes of MSC vessels, ships with an unsexy but vital wartime mission. Between December and August, IG investigators focused on MSC's 20 prepositioned ships that are contractor-operated because they comprise the majority of the 26 prepositioning vessels. They determined that MSC officials fail to ensure these vessels are maintained or provided with preventive maintenance plans. MSC also doesn't verify that the contractors perform preventive maintenance when they say they do, IG found. "As a result, MSC is unable to accurately assess the condition and readiness of the contactor-operated ships, which has impeded the combatant commanders' ability to carry out planned operations," the report states. Navy ships that provide at-sea resupply of fuel, ammo and other surface combatant essentials have seen a surge of readiness issues in the past five years. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Navy Times Daily News Roundup, The MSC Prepositioning Program plops gear and supplies on ships bobbing in oceans across the world to ensure a rapid response due to major war or humanitarian disaster. It serves all four branches and the Defense Logistics Agency, with the services determining the cargo and funding the program. Prepositioned ships can equip and supply 16,000 Marines for a month but Corps officials alerted IG investigators to a pair of instances "where a prepositioning ship was unable to attend planned exercises because of maintenance deficiencies," the report states. MSC spokesman Troy VanLeunen told Navy Times that the ship PFC Dewayne T. Williams developed a two-centimeter by five-centimeter hole in its hull while the ship was departing Diego Garcia for an exercise in April 2017. "The ship received a temporary repair before departing for a regularly scheduled overhaul in June 2017," he said in an email. By failing to make sure the contractors performed scheduled preventive maintenance to get the most of the ships' lives, the taxpayer might have incurred nearly 140 million in recent unplanned overhaul and dry dock costs, the IG estimated. "MSC committed 544.7 million to contractors without assurance that they would execute all the required maintenance on its prepositioning fleet," the IG report states. Marine officials reported that when one ship experienced overhaul delays, it cost the Corps more than 517,000 to maintain equipment that sat out exposed to the elements, plus another 177,000 to extend a stevedore contract, the report states. The average age of the supply fleet's ships is 43 years, and Virginia Rep. Rob Wittman said this week that such ships would be vital should a conventional war break out. In other cases, MSC officials failed to train contractors on the system they're supposed to use to report problems, IG determined. One ship's chief engineer told investigators that the maintenance system only listed procedures for six of the 12 life rafts on the ship, "for several years.", That crewman also said the Navy provided no maintenance plan for upkeep of the ship's winches. These problems were exacerbated by contracts that "did not state specific requirements for the contractors' training" and use of the reporting system, according to the IG. The U.S. Army has been laying the foundations to fight once again in Europe. But if war were to break out tomorrow, the U.S. military could be hard-pressed to move the number of tanks, heavy guns and equipment it would need to face-off with Russian forces. MSC officials told IG that their agency had sought funding to fix some of the deficiencies beginning in 2013 and expected to receive a partial financial injection during the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1, 2019. , "MSC also affirmed that it will continue to request additional funding until the effort is completed," the report states. Command spokesman VanLeunen said MSC already began undertaking several of the IG report's recommendations, including hiking management oversight and readiness assessments for the contractor-run ships. Officials implemented an enhanced inspections program and the command is updating contract language that will help ensure mariners on the ships know how to use the maintenance reporting system, he added.

After a combined 21 years of service these military working dogs got the sendoff they deserve

Air Force veterans aren't usually presented a bone with their certificate of retirement, but Astra and Marky aren't your typical airmen. The ribbon-decorated vests they wore at their joint retirement ceremony weren't unusual, nor was their combined 21 years of service. It was their tails that stood out at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina. Astra and Marky are patrol explosive detector military working dogs with the 20th Security Forces Squadron. On March 14, they officially transitioned from service members to pets. "I've seen too many memorials for K9s, so I wanted something special that everybody can actually see and enjoy," said Senior Master Sgt. Anthony Wolfe, 20th SFS operations superintendent, in a press release. Astra and Marky swept nearly 110,000 vehicles and facilities at Shaw and overseas, supporting Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, Inherent Resolve and Freedom's Sentinel, among others. Marky, who deployed six times, has a Purple Heart for injuries suffered in an explosion with his handler, according to the press release. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup, Both dogs can look forward to the easy life now. , "No longer will Astra be known as military working dog," said Staff Sgt. David Mussio, 20th SFS MWD trainer and Astra's new owner, in the statement. "She gets the chance to really be a pet, no longer hearing the word no,' she gets to lay on the bed, she gets to lay on the couch, she gets to eat what she wants. She really gets to enjoy life now."

Taliban ceasefire halted fighting but not the Corps mission in Helmand

The brief few days of peace between the Taliban and Afghan government was a watershed moment for the war-torn region, when thousands of Taliban fighters entered Afghanistan's cities to join government officials in celebrating the annual Muslim holiday of Eid. The three-day cease-fire boosted hopes of ending the nearly 17-year war, with the U.S. largely relegated to the sidelines of an Afghan-led push for peace. But in the backdrop of peace talks, the Corps is continuing its mission to rebuild Afghan forces to eventually shoulder the entire burden of security in Afghanistan's most violent province, Helmand Valley, where a third rotation of Marine advisers is slated to arrive this fall to replace the current task force of nearly 300 Marines. "Our commitment to this mission is enduring," Capt. Joshua Benson, a Marine spokesman, told Marine Corps Times. A stream of photos on social media over Eid-al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of fasting and Ramadan, showed Taliban fighters praying alongside Afghan forces. Nevertheless, U.S. and Afghan forces were still at war with a handful of other terrorist groups who are not under Taliban leadership, underscoring the complexity of the conflict in Afghanistan. Prior to the start of the unilateral cease-fire announced by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on June 7, U.S. Special Forces and Afghan troops launched a major offensive, dubbed Hamaz 3, against ISIS fighters in Nangarhar province. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Get the Marine Corps Times Daily News Roundup, Ghani's cease-fire ultimately went into effect on the 27th day of Ramadan. The Taliban announced its own cease-fire on June 9, which kicked off on Eid, and lasted for three days. The U.S. forces in the region agreed to abide by the cease-fire declarations with exception to "U.S. counterterrorism efforts against IS-K, al-Qaida, and other regional and international terrorist groups, or the inherent right of U.S. and international forces to defend themselves," Lt. Col. Martin O'Donnell, a spokesman for the Resolute Support mission, told Marine Corps Times. And not all was quiet on the Helmand front at the outset of Ghani's cease-fire. "U.S. aircraft have conducted non-lethal shows of presence' in both Ghazni and Helmand province since Afghanistan's unilateral cease-fire began," O'Donnell said. The Reapers will be contractor owned and operated. U.S. forces also conducted a strike in Helmand that targeted al-Qaida, he said. An opium-rich province, Helmand has been a key battlefield in the Afghan conflict. Thousands of U.S. Marines have fought to secure the rural landscape from Taliban militants and to deny the insurgents access to cash from the drug trade. The Corps got out of Afghanistan for several years but returned to the volatile province in 2017 to rebuild a fledgling Afghan Army's 215th Corps. The Marines today have a new mission focused on training and advising Afghan forces and bolstering the security bubble around the beleaguered provincial capital of Lashkar Gah. Today, about nine of the 14 districts in Helmand are under insurgent control or influence, according to latest figures from a government watchdog, the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction, or SIGAR. "However, the Afghan forces continue to make progress in securing the key population centers in Central Helmand," said Marine Capt Aaron Reep, Afghan National Army 215th Corps operations adviser. "One of the primary goals of TFSW is to assist the Afghan forces in providing security for the highest percentage of the population possible.", The bloody province is in a bit of a stalemate however. Territory seldom changes hands if but for brief moments. Even offensive operations by the Taliban have reaped few rewards except for increasing Afghan forces' casualties and the plunder of weapons and equipment, according to SIGAR. The Corps has attempted to alter the balance of power by aiding its partner forces with U.S. airpower, drones, surveillance, and the reintroduction of the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS. Since HIMARS started supporting the Corps' mission in Helmand in October 2017, the Marines have fired roughly 115 HIMARS precision rockets targeting Taliban leadership and narcotics operations, Marine Corps officials said. Those operations, coupled with TFSW's intelligence gathering capabilities, have had devastating effects destroying millions in Taliban financing operations and removing key leaders from the battlefield. Over a ten-day period from May 17-26, U.S. strikes in Helmand killed more than 70 senior Taliban leaders, defense officials said. The largest strike came from four HIMARS rockets that struck a Taliban command and control center and killed 50 including the "deputy shadow governor of Helmand, multiple Taliban district governors, intelligence commanders and key provincial-level leadership from Kandahar, Kunduz, Herat, Farah, Uruzgan and Helmand provinces," according to an assessment from U.S. Forces-Afghanistan. "We continue to see progress in the capabilities and professionalism of the Afghan National Army 215th Corps and 505th Zone Afghan National Police, especially in the use of organic Afghan aviation and indirect fire support," Benson told Marine Corps Times. "The Marine advisers at the Regional Military Training Center at Camp Shorabak continue to have significant impacts in developing the proficiency of Afghan infantry kandaks that rotate through the eight-week Operational Readiness Cycle training course.", But peace in Afghanistan appears to be elusive, though not impossible, and Helmand is likely to serve as a major spoiler to any peace deal. "Helmand is a particularly difficult problem because there the war is over control of the multibillion-dollar drug business, not just politics," said Barnett Rubin, senior fellow and associate director of the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. "I am afraid that the major drug traders will be key actors in any peace process, not just Taliban and government. We will have difficult choices because they will oppose peace if it means a crackdown on narcotics. Peace will require a gradual approach to counter-narcotics, not a zero-tolerance approach," Rubin said. Some analysts believe Taliban fighters are disillusioned with the never-ending fight and that may drive a wedge between forces fighting in the field and senior Taliban leadership. But the Taliban's cease-fire ended abruptly while Ghani offered to extend the cease-fire, the Taliban ordered its fighters back to the battlefield and attacks resumed, suggesting the group to be more cohesive than originally believed. "The cease-fire refuted the thesis that the Taliban are fractured or splintered. They behaved as a single disciplined organization obeying their leadership," Rubin said. Nevertheless, the ability to implement a cease-fire may bode well for potential peace prospects. But what would peace look like in Afghanistan and what kind of concessions will the Afghan government make to the Taliban?, Analysts have argued whether the Afghan government would be willing to part with territory or potentially use Helmand as a bargaining chip. "There is no possibility of a settlement in which Taliban are given control of some provinces. Both the government and the Taliban are opposed to dividing Afghanistan in that way. Taliban could participate in the power structure in the areas where they are influential," Rubin said.

Revealed The new structure for the Pentagons tech and acquisition offices

LONDON Pentagon leaders, already worried about the emerging technologies that will shape the next generation of war, have reorganized their leadership structure to emphasize quantum science, artificial intelligence and directed energy, Defense News has learned. The new effort is a major restructuring for the two Pentagon offices that determine how the Department of Defense buys and develops weapon systems. Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan approved the changes in a July 13 memo, obtained by Defense News. The 17-page document lays out the organizational charts for the offices of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment and the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, as well their responsibilities. The two offices were created Feb. 1, when Congress required the former Acquisition, Technology and Logistics ATL office to be divided. A potential organization chart was published in August, but the new document features significant changes, particularly on the RE side. Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza confirmed that Shanahan's memorandum has been provided to Congress, as well as briefed to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. "USD RE and USD AS have been briefing the Congress throughout the reorganization process and will continue to do so. We have long said that this process will take time to complete. The signing of this memorandum is just one step in the reorganization," Baldanza told Defense News. Here's how the two offices will operate, Research and Engineering, The research and engineering office is tasked with focusing on the future, or as the memo puts it, serve "as the chief technical officer of the Department with the mission of advancing technology and innovation.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Get breaking news in your inbox, The new plan includes a deputy undersecretary who reports directly to Griffin and who oversees all other offices reporting to the deputy. The setup does not include assistant secretary or deputy assistant secretary jobs but instead, all offices are marked as directorates. The individual offices reporting directly to the deputy include the Pentagon's DIUx commercial tech hub, the Strategic Capabilities Office, the Strategic Intelligence Analysis Cell, the Missile Defense Agency, and DARPA. The memo calls for two "Directors of Defense Research Engineering," Research Technology and Advanced Capabilities. Baldanza confirmed that those two offices are equivelent to assistnat secretary levels, but said they do not need to be confirmed by the Senate. Click here to view a PDF of the RE chart, The breakdown reflects the RE focus on high-end technologies. There are five assistant directors listed under the Defense Research and Engineering office microelectronics, cyber, quantum science, directed energy and machine learning. Under the Advanced Capabilities office, there are four assistant directors networked C3, space, autonomy and hypersonics. In this setup, it appears Griffin's job will be to serve as an overseer on programs to ensure they are not outdated by the time they come to fruition, and that long-term challenges and capability needs are understood. Under the memo guidance, Griffin is to provide "technical risk assessments" and advise the Secretary of Defense on potential future concerns, including interoperability and cyber capability throughout the lifecycle of the program before any approval of a Milestone A or Milestone B decision. When requested, the office will provide an independent estimate of whether the program correctly "anticipates the evolution of capabilities to meet the changing threats, technology insertion, and interoperability and be fielded when needed, prior to the obligation of funds for technology development, systems development, or production.", Acquisition and Sustainment, This office continues to have the bulk of the authorities that were issued to ATL. As with previous hierarchies, there are three assistant secretary roles acquisition, sustainment and nuclear/chem/bio. However, the various sub-offices in those three chains have been changed, most notably for Kevin Fahey, the ASD for acquisition. He told reporters July 16 that his office will be focused on "enablers," and the new offices listed appear to trend in that direction. As with RE, the new hierarch calls for a deputy undersecretary who reports to Lord, with all other offices reporting to the deputy. Another significant change since an August organizational tree the deputy assistant secretary of defense for industrial policy had been listed as reporting to the assistant secretary for acquisition. Now, that office reports directly to the deputy undersecretary of defense, in a move that reflects the importance of the industrial base to the Pentagon. The office will also be renamed from its current "Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy" title to just Industrial Base, with the manufacturing aspect moving over to RE. In addition, the small business office will now report to the Industrial Base office. Eric Chewning, who holds that role, told reporters July 16 that his office would change its direction to ensure a greater focus on industrial base issues. Click here to view a PDF of the AS chart, "There's a real need to get back to what I'll call a real industrial policy capability within the Pentagon, to address the sorts of problems that we know we're going to face going forward," Chewning said. In addition, the current assistant secretary of defense for energy, installations and environment appears to have disappeared from the chart, with the three DASDs reporting up to that office now reporting to the ASD for sustainment. There are four director-level positions that report to the deputy Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell, Special Programs, Strategy, Data and Design and International Cooperation. There had been some question about whether International Cooperation would end up on the RE side in some capacity, but the authorities spelled out in the document specify that Lord received oversight of international technology development, with the memo ordering that AS work with the undersecretary for policy to establish and manage "the cooperative RD program, and promote the establishment of mutually beneficial international cooperative RD programs consistent with national security considerations." It also directs AS to oversee international technology work with NATO. In terms of authorities and missions, those listed line up with what has largely been expected- AS will have oversight on large, existing issues. One that appears to be new ordering AS to establish and maintain the "DoD management and administrative structure for Modeling and Simulation MS," as well as leading an executive council on MS, which involves developing "policies, plans, and programs to coordinate, harmonize, and rationalize DoD MS, including the DoD Modeling and Simulation Master Plan and Investment Plans.", Interestingly, the memo specifically calls out a role for the AS structure to combat China on the industrial front. "In support of National Defense Strategy objectives, conducting geo-economic analysis and assessments to inform the development of industrial policies to maximize U.S. competitive advantage in an era of great power competition and counter strategies from competitor nations such as China," it read.

Congress to MDA Prepare for spacebased missile attacks

WASHINGTON Congress made another aggressive push for space-based missile defense by carving out language in the fiscal 2018 defense policy bill that asks the Missile Defense Agency to develop capabilities to track and respond to missile attacks from space. Specifically, the bill would require MDA to develop both a persistent space-based sensor architecture and a space-based ballistic missile intercept layer. The language also teases out what could be the Pentagon's recommendations stemming from the yet-to-be-released Ballistic Missile Defense Review expected by the year's end. Because it hasn't been published, conferees placed a caveat in all sections of missile defense language in the report stating that the MDA should only commence with strategies and plans in the National Defense Authorization Act if they are consistent with the recommendations of the review. Some experts believe that gaining space-based missile defense capability may be more critical to outpacing the threat than anything that can be done to improve the system on the ground. They say that space-sensors increase the lethality and effectiveness of ground-based interceptors within the GMD system but also add capability to other elements of the overall system, such as the Patriot missile defense system, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system and the Aegis system. Ahead of the release of the new administration's first budget request, U.S. defense officials are pushing to renew the effort to get missile-tracking sensors into space. Congress wants the MDA to develop "a highly reliable and cost-effective" persistent space-based sensor architecture designed to perform a variety of functions to include "control of increased raid sizes," "precision tracking of threat missiles," fire-control quality tracks of evolving threat missiles," "discrimination of warheads," and "effective kill assessments.", The layer should also be able to integrate with command-and-control battle management systems within the BMDS and integrate with other elements like THAAD, Aegis, Aegis Ashore and Patriot. Congress requires the MDA to deliver a plan no later than one year past the enactment of the law on how it will develop the sensor architecture including cost estimates and an acquisition plan to include operation and sustainment over the course of the life of the system. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, The plan should also include an assessment of the maturity levels of critical technologies needed and how technologies can be rapidly matured. And the MDA should also include an analysis of what new capabilities the architecture bring that are not already part of other sensor architectures. The report also requires the MDA to develop a space-based ballistic missile intercept layer that is regionally focused, capable of intercepting threats in the boost-phase of flight, and achieves an operational capability "at the earliest practicable date.", The Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Review is underway and lawmakers, through both the House and Senate defense policy bills, are signalling the direction they want to go when it comes to developing the future defense architecture against both regional and homeland missile threats. Congress is giving the MDA one year past the enactment of the legislation to produce a plan to achieve the capability over a 10-year period, according to the report. Lawmakers want a concept definition phase as part of the plan that would consist of multiple contract awards "to identify feasible solutions consistent with architectural principles, performance goals and price points.", Following that, conferees also want a technology risk reduction phase with three competitively awarded contracts to mature technologies, algorithms, components and subsystems, the report states. This phase would produce a "medium-to-high fidelity" digital representation of an intercept weapon system and a test schedule that leads to a live-fire boost phase intercept during fiscal year 2022 if the technology is mature, according to the legislation. A technology development phase would result in two competitively awarded contracts to mature the weapon system concepts and potentially conduct the FY-22 live-fire. Congress is also requiring the MDA to establish a space test bed for the weapon systems to conduct research and development for a space-based defensive layer to include space-based interceptors and directed energy platforms. Also tackling the boost-phase intercept challenge, Congress wants the agency to "rapidly" develop and demonstrate a boost phase intercept capability "as soon as practicable," the report states. The demonstration should incorporate existing technologies and be developed in cooperation with U.S. Pacific Command to address "emerging threats and heightened tensions in the Asia-Pacific region," according to the report. The reports asks the defense secretary to submit with the president's fiscal year 2019 budget request a plan to achieve the boost-phase capability requirement to include funding and a test schedule.

Tech problems shut down DoD spouse scholarship program

Military spouses eligible for up to 4,000 in tuition assistance through a Defense Department program can't apply for the benefit thanks to technical problems that have extended a planned July server outage into August. The planned updates to the My Career Advancement Account online portal, including the move to a new website, were slated to run July 19-27. The site remains down after encountering what officials characterized as "unforeseen technical issues" in a Monday Facebook post. The program is open to spouses of active-duty service members in paygrades E-1 to E-5, W-1 and W-2, and O-1 and O-2, including spouses of activated members of the Guard and Reserve Title 10 orders in those same paygrades. It allows spouses to pursue job-related licenses, credentials or academic degrees from MyCAA scholarship-approved accredited colleges, universities or technical schools. Could this be a first step in expanding the MyCAA program to more military spouses?, Via social media and in a statement to Military.com, officials said they are working on a temporary plan that would allow eligible spouses to apply for and manage their MyCAA accounts over the phone. Updates on that plan, and on the website's relaunch, will be posted at the Defense Department's Spouse Education and Career Opportunities Facebook page, officials said. A Defense Department spokeswoman told Military.com that spouses already registered with SECO via Military OneSource would receive updates via email, or via phone if requested.

S400 Strengthens Chinas Hand in the Skies

TAIPEI A deal between Russia and China for procurement of the new S-400 air defense system will serve as a force multiplier for Beijing in its quest to dominate the skies along its borders, experts said. The 400-kilometer-range system will, for the first time, allow China to strike any aerial target on the island of Taiwan, in addition to reaching , the missile system will let China reach air targets as far as New Delhi, Calcutta, Hanoi and Seoul. Total coverage of The Yellow Sea and China's new air defense identification zone ADIZ in the East China Sea will also be protected. The system will permit China, if need be, to strike any air target within North Korea. The S-400 will also allow China to extend, but not dominate, the air defense space closer to the disputed Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, said Vasiliy Kashin, a China defense specialist at the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, Moscow. China refers to the islands as the Diaoyu, and tensions between Beijing and Japan have been increasing for over the past several years as China continues to claim the islands. China's current inventory of S-300s, at a range of 300 kilometers, only allows it to strike targets along Taiwan's northwestern coast and cannot reach has no range against capital cities in India and South Korea, said Alexander Huang, chairman, Council on Strategic and Wargaming Studies, Taipei. The S-400 will present a significant challenge to Taiwan's ability to conduct air defense operations within its own ADIZ, which covers the Taiwan Strait. , "Of course, these new systems will also give China extra capability to deter and deny hostile air threats, making regional forces more cautious when operating near China," Huang said. Rosoboronexport CEO Anatoly Isaikin announced the sale made the announcement on April 13. He told news media outlets that the S-400 was in demand in the international market and that China would be the first export customer. No specifics were revealed, but the actual contract was most likely signed in the last quarter of 2014, Kashin said. He said believes the deal will include four to six 4-6 battalions at about US 3 billion. , The S-400 is capable of intercepting missiles and air breathing targets, he said. Rosoboronexport, Russia's state defense export agency, did not respond to Defense News DN requests for additional information. Rosoboronexport is the Russian state's defense export agency. The S-400 is a decent system and an evolutionary progression of China's air and missile defense modernization, said Mark Stokes, executive director of the Project 2049 Institute. "It would be interesting to know what specific missile variant is being exported, and where the systems would be deployed," he said. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, He said the Deployment of S-400 systems opposite Taiwan could naturally would drive increased Taiwan to increase investment into asymmetric capabilities designed to exploit vulnerabilities in China's air defenses, he said. Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense MND is not surprised by the revelation and the military is was keeping a close watch on developments, said Maj. Gen. Luo Shou-he, MND spokesman. He said Russia and China have cooperated closely had close cooperation on military issues for decades, he said, including arms sales and exchanges of defense technology. "To cope with the potential threat of this new system, the ROC Taiwan armed forces has already completed its analysis of the missile threat, and tweaked its tactics and strategies to reflect countermeasures for engaging the S-400," he said. Luo said Flight training by Taiwan's armed forces would still continue as planned and remain unaffected by the new system, Luo said . "In the future, the ROC military will continue to keep a close eye on China as the S-400 begins deployment and take precautions for any possible new contingencies.", Kashin said China is gradually improving its long-range air defense missile production capabilities, but still lags behind Russia in this area. Chinese systems can sometimes compete effectively be strong competitors on the international markets, "but that was achieved not so much by the system capabilities but by Chinese willingness to provide favorable financial conditions and to transfer technology," he said. China would no doubt attempt to reverse engineer the S-400, as it has done with previous sales of the S-300, but reverse engineering is time consuming, Kashin said, and Russia is . Any attempt to steal the technology would be a waste of energy for the Chinese, especially since the Russians are now working on the next-generation system, the S-500. The S-500 is expected to enter serial production in 2017 roughly, the same time China receives its first S-400 delivery, Kashin said. Email [email protected]

DoD Embraces Commercial Space Boom But Warns of Its Limits

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. From reusable rocket engines to hypersonic spaceplanes, the Pentagon is looking to leverage a recent boom in commercial space innovation for military applications. But not all missions can be outsourced, according to one top military official. Space Command Chief Gen. John Hyten laid out the case for the Defense Department's continued dominance of the space arena here at the Space Foundation's annual National Space Symposium. The US Air Force will control the vast space surveillance network for the foreseeable future, he emphasized during a Thursday media briefing. The Air Force is currently managing space traffic for the entire world by default, analyzing data and maneuvering assets in orbit to make sure they don't collide with each other or with free-floating debris. The Joint Functional Component Command for Space and the 14th Air Force is responsible for tracking about 23,000 objects in space each day, and sends warnings to operators around the globe to prevent accidents. DoD officials and members of Congress, most notably Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla. have urged the Air Force in recent months to outsource some of the responsibility for space traffic management and situational awareness to a civil or commercial entity. The command and control piece of space trafficking in other words, the conjunction reporting and collision avoidance can be done commercially for a lower cost, Bridenstine argues. Bridenstine's American Space Renaissance Act, officially unveiled this week at the Space Symposium, proposes that the Federal Aviation Administration's office of commercial space transportation take over that burden, leveraging unclassified information from Strategic Command's Joint Space Operations Center JSPOC as well as commercial data. "I would prefer that I take the airmen today that are doing basically collision avoidance and orbital analysis across the board for everybody else, and if somebody else could do that and I could focus those airmen on other missions, I'd be much happier," Hyten said Thursday. "We shouldn't be doing flight safety for everybody in the world, we should be focused on missions for the Department of Defense.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, But the Pentagon wants to keep certain information out of the public domain. Much of that sensitive data is gathered via satellite and analyzed alongside unclassified communications by the JSPOC at Vanderberg Air Force Base, California. "Here's the catch the catch is that the United States Air Force and the United States military are going to operate the space surveillance network from now as long as you can foresee," Hyten said. "We do that mission for space control, we don't do that mission for space traffic management, and we're going to do that mission for space control as long as you can see into the future.", Hyten supports a path forward where the JSPOC provides data to the FAA so the civil agency can do the collision avoidance, he said. But "we have to make sure that we end up where we don't have competing catalogues," he said. "If all you are talking about is tracking rocks, because actually in order to do flight safety you don't need to know what the thing is, you just need to know where it is and where is it moving," Hyten said. "So if you can just say, 'Here are the rocks, do your collision avoidance,' then that's okay.", As robust and innovative as the modern commercial space sector is, industry alone will never be able to build certain capabilities, according to Hyten. For example, the 914 million Space Fence will increase the objects the DoD tracks in space by a factor of 10, he said. The Pentagon will examine opportunities to work with commercial companies that are producing high volumes of small, nimble spacecraft as part of the new Space Enterprise Vision rolled out earlier this week, Hyten said Thursday. Investing in a distributed space architecture made up of hundreds or thousands of miniature systems, instead of just a few expensive, large satellites, could potentially reduce costs and enhance resilience against hostiles, experts contend. But while these small commercial satellites will play a role in certain missions, they are limited in capability, Hyten said Thursday. Miniature spacecraft open many doors, but they will never be able to do the nuclear-hardened command and control mission, for instance, he said. "People keep thinking that small satellites are the solution to lots of problems," Hyten said. "The problem with small satellites is if you want to communicate with an 18-inch disk on a Humvee in the middle of the desert someplace and you want to do it from 22,300 miles away, physics tells you that you have to have a giant antenna with a lot of power.", Email [email protected], Twitter @laraseligman

The Air Forces next step after its light attack demo A combat trial

HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. This month, three industry teams will hand over four different light attack aircraft to Air Force pilots for a series of flight demonstrations to test just how well the aircraft can prosecute targets on the ground while operating in austere desert environments. Those that prove their mettle will move on until the next phase of the experiment a combat demonstration in the Middle East. Specifically, planes could participate in the fight against the Islamic State and other terrorist groups, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told reporters Wednesday. The Air Force won't know for sure whether it will pursue a combat demonstration until the experiment at Holloman Air Force Base is finished. Then, the service will take the data it has collected and assess the aircraft cost, capability and the manufacturer's production capacity. "That data is intended to inform strategic decisions. It will also tell us whether we take this to the next step, to what we call a combat experiment, and whether any of these aircraft are ready for that," Wilson said. "That combat experiment could take place early next year.", Reporters headed to Holloman AFB on Wednesday to get a glimpse of the four aircraft participating in the demo the A-29 from Sierra Nevada Corp. and Embraer, the AT-802L Longsword by L3 and Air Tractor, and the AT-6 Wolverine and Scorpion jet, both by Textron. They weren't the only interested parties. Several top Air Force officials also visited the base to observe the experiment, including Wilson Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein, who flew both the A-29 and AT-6 today Gen. Mike Holmes, who heads Air Combat Command and Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, the service's top uniformed acquisition official. Representatives from about a dozen international partner militaries also attended, including members from Canada, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Paraguay. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Military Space Report, Although there is no real winner of the light attack demo, the A-29 Super Tucano and AT-6 Wolverine already seem to be a step ahead of the other options in terms of moving on to the next phase. Both aircraft have been categorized as "tier one" by the service for the purpose of the experiment, meaning that they meet all of the Air Force's objectives, which include the ability to take off from unimproved fields and having an ejection seat. Should the Air Force decide to press on with a combat demonstration, it would likely continue to evaluate those two planes, Bunch said. "If the two tier ones' are successful in executing the first phase of the experiment and they want to continue to participate in the experiment, we plan to work with the combatant commanders to utilize both of those resources if they want to go forward," he said. But the "tier two" offerings the Scorpion jet and AT-802L won't necessarily be left behind. "I believe the tier twos are going to learn from this. I believe they are going to understand what we were looking for," Bunch said. "They now have our criteria that were in the invitation to participate, so I think they'll analyze that, they'll go back and look at their systems, and then they can advance those.", Or those companies may choose to go a different direction with their platforms. The experiment's criteria were heavily centered around the needs of Air Combat Command, Bunch acknowledged. However, the requirements of other potential customers, such as the special operations community or international partners, may be different. If Wilson and Goldfein approve a combat demonstration, Air Combat Command ACC will take the reins from Air Force Materiel Command, which is executing the experiment at Holloman, Holmes said. Col. Michael "Starbaby" Pietrucha, ACC's staff lead for light attack, said the command is already starting to consider how it could execute a combat demonstration. Though much is still to be determined, the demo will likely involve bringing light attack aircraft to the Middle East and having it fill in for other aircraft, like the F-16 or A-10, when low-end missions need to be executed. A future combat exercise might also emphasize the aircraft's ability to network with coalition ground forces. "If we decide to move forward with a combat demo, we will take what we've learned and then take that forward with some kind of a low cost network," Holmes said. "It might be a cellphone. It might be an iPad, taking advantage of networks that are already there in some of these places."

Boeing pushes back on the KC46 programs bad reputation with the Air Force

SEATTLE Boeing has now racked up more than 3 billion worth of pretax charges on the KC-46 due to cost overruns and schedule delays, but the head of its defense business told reporters Thursday that the program's problems are, for the most part, in the rearview mirror. Last week, the company disclosed another 81 million-pretax penalty on the program in its financial report for the first quarter of 2018. , Leanne Caret, the CEO of Boeing's defense sector, put a positive spin on the cost growth, saying that the expense indicates the work that is being done to get the product right as the company sprints toward a contractual obligation to deliver 18 certified tankers this year. "The charges we took are tied to the certification efforts and the test efforts as we continue to finish up towards first delivery," she said Thursday during a media visit to the company's KC-46 production facilities in Everett, Washington. , According to the terms of Boeing's fixed-price development contract with the U.S. Air Force, the company is responsible for any costs over the 4.9 billion award. "I think what you're seeing is that the amount of charges has continually decreased over time, again showing there has been no new technical issues," Caret said. "But we are still in a development program, and I want to make certain that the capability we're delivering to the war fighter meets their intent. So we'll do the right thing as we move forward, as we have historically.", The past several months have been difficult ones for the KC-46 development program as Boeing comes down to the wire in its efforts to deliver the first tanker this summer. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Military Space Report, Caret has also maintained that the company can meet the "required assets available" obligation, or RAA, to deliver a total of 18 certified KC-46s and nine refueling pods this year although the actual deadline is in October. "This isn't about one aircraft, and then we're going to get started on another one," she said. "We have an entire fleet of tankers here, and as we head toward the first delivery, we're going to be able to start really ramping up and getting these to the customers the way we need." , But the Air Force is more pessimistic, saying that its assessments show that the first delivery will likely not occur until the end of the year, with RAA occurring some time next spring. , Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson has been publicly dismissive of the Boeing's progress, telling lawmakers that the company has perhaps been too focused on its lucrative commercial business to give the tanker program the attention it deserves. "One of our frustrations with Boeing is they're much more focused on their commercial activity than on getting this right for the Air Force and getting these aircraft to the Air Force. And that's the message we took to them in Seattle last week," Wilson told lawmakers in March. Boeing obviously sought to combat that perception during its media trip, in which reporters spoke with the men and women fabricating the refueling booms, installing the wiring, flight testing the aircraft and performing quality control at its Everett Modification Center. There, reporters saw four KC-46s awaiting the final touches inside, another seven tankers outside the facility and eight KC-46s about 40 miles away at Boeing Field. In total, Boeing has 34 KC-46s in some stage of production, and the first four aircraft planned for delivery have already flown and are in storage. Caret, who took the top Boeing defense gig in February 2016, told reporters that she wanted them to understand the magnitude of work being accomplished in Washington state and the passion of the company's workers. Overall, the picture she gave of the program's trajectory was sunny and sometimes at odds with the Air Force perception of Boeing continually overselling how quickly it will be able to fulfill its delivery obligations. She downplayed tension with the Air Force, saying that she was "totally in line with them in terms of their sense of frustration" on the program. Although Air Force leaders have said they are dissatisfied with Boeing's performance, Caret said Boeing had not made any "specific change" to production efforts because the company had already devoted its full resources to its No. 1 program. , "The real disconnect is working through flow times," she said. "There's a lot of paperwork associated with delivering a system such as this, working through our paperwork, working through the FAA and the military paperwork and making sure all of those flows align, and that's what we're in conversations with the government on, and it's collaborative.", In order to be fully certified, the KC-46 must receive an amended type certificate for the aircraft's commercial systems and a supplemental type certificate for its military-specific systems. So far, the Federal Aviation Administration has issued an ATC, and the aircraft in April wrapped up the testing necessary for the STC. , The next step will involve additional flight tests with the C-17, F-16 and KC-135 to ensure those aircraft can receive fuel from the KC-46, as well as closing out a key deficiency with the aircraft's remote visual system that must be corrected before delivery. So does that mean the Air Force should be doing more to make receiver aircraft available and to expedite the testing process?, "This is a team sport," Caret said. "We all collectively need to make certain that we're doing all the proper analysis, that we're having the right conversations. So I feel very comfortable with our relationship with the U.S. Air Force and the transparency that we have. , "We collectively work together to look at every opportunity, likewise every risk to make sure that there's a balance going forward and we're doing the right thing for the war fighter.",

The Corps is dishing out big bonuses for grunts and other jobs Heres whats in it for you

The Corps' latest Selective Retention Bonuses are packing all kinds of goodies for a slew of job fields, but this year's plan dishes out nearly 70,000 for qualified Marines in specific infantry billets. New for this year are kickers for air traffic controllers, infantry squad leaders and a series of squad leader initiatives to boost the lethality of the Corps. The Corps is planning to dole out nearly 136 million in fiscal year 2019 in bonuses and kickers to incentivize Marines to stay in. "There are three infantry squad leader initiatives intended to increase lethality in the Ground Combat Element by focusing corporals and sergeants who have completed or will commit to completing Infantry Small Unit Leader Course ISULC and have between 5 to 7 years of time in service," Yvonne Carlock, a spokeswoman for Manpower Reserve Affairs, told Marine Corps Times in an emailed statement. Squad Leader Development Program Marines re-enlisting for 36-48 months and lateral moving into the primary job field of infantry squad leader, or 0365, are eligible for 30,000. The bonus applies to FTAP Marines First Term Alignment Program in the primary job fields of 0311 riflemen, 0341 mortarmen, 0351 infantry assault and 0352 anti-tank missile gunner. Marines must remain in the operational force for a minimum of 36 months and are eligible for the 72-month lateral move kicker of 40,000, which can net qualified Marines a total of 70,000. Lateral move kickers are for Marines re-enlisting for 72-months and lateral moving to specific job fields. Squad Leader OpFor Kicker Marines re-enlisting for 48 months are eligible for 20,000. The bonus applies to FTAP corporals and sergeants hailing from the 0311 field who intend to become ISULC complete or are already ISULC complete. The Marines must agree to remain in the infantry battalions for 24 months. The kicker can be added to any additional primary job field bonus. If an 0311 Marine has a job field bonus of 4,500, he can earn up to 24,500 with the kicker. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Get the Marine Corps Times Daily News Roundup, 24-Month Qualified Rifle Squad Leader Initiative First-term 0311 corporals and sergeants who are ISULC complete can get 10,000 if they extend for 24 months. The Marines must remain in the infantry battalions during the extension. Also new this year Kickers for air traffic controllers. Zone A and B Marines who re-enlist for 48 months with the primary occupation of 7257, or air traffic controller, and hold or intend to gain an necessary military occupational specialty, or NMOS, of 7252, 7253 or 7254 will get a 20,000 kicker on top of any primary MOS bonus. Zone A Marines have between 17 months and six years of service while Zone B Marines have between 6 and 10 years. Aircraft maintainers stand to make a lot of cash depending on their zone and qualifications. The Corps is dishing out 20,000 kickers for aircraft maintainers from corporal to gunny who re-enlist for 48 months and are holding current qualifications of collateral duty inspector, quality assurance collateral duty representative, quality assurance representative or safe for flight. The Marine must be willing to remain with a maintainer unit for the first 24 months after completion of the Marine's first contract. An F-35B maintainer in Zone B with the right qualifications who re-ups for 48 months and agrees to stay on station gets the 20,000 kicker and a primary MOS bonus of 30,000, for a total of 50,000. There's also a 20,000 kicker for Marines who re-up for 48 months and volunteer for recruiting, drill instructor or Marine Security Guard Detachment Commander. These kickers are predicated on the Marine obtaining these job fields and completing necessary training. "Kickers were highly effective in FY18 Early Reenlistment Kicker resulted in more than 2000 submissions above average SDA Kicker resulted in more than 1000 volunteers Aircraft Maintenance, 672 qualified Marines opted to remain in flying squadrons and 411 of 493 FTAP Lat Moves elected the 72-month Kicker," Carlock told Marine Corps Times. Big this year are bonuses for Marines lateral moving into recon, counter intel, cyber or those looking to become elite special operators with the Raiders. On top of the 50,000 bonus a sergeant can net moving into these fields, he or she also rates a 72-month lateral move kicker, meaning these job fields can fill a Marine's wallet with 90,000 in cash. The Corps is dishing out up to 10,000 on top of any Selective Retention Bonus for Marines across Zones A, B or C in specific job fields specified in the MARADMIN if they re-enlist for 48 months between July 5 and September 30. To see a detailed list of the requirements and information related to bonuses and kickers check out the recent MARADMIN.

This battalion commander tried to withhold holiday time off for recruiters who didnt make quotas

Army Recruiting Command is undermanned and tasked with filling a large gap of recruits after missing last year's goal. Though the service is trying to fill those recruiter slots and coming up with new marketing to get young Americans in the door, there have been a handful of drastic measures floated this year, and the most recent one came from Army Recruiting Mid-Atlantic. That battalion commander ordered that only soldiers and station commanders who'd met a certain quota would get to work a holiday schedule, according to a memo posted Thursday by U.S. Army WTF Moments. "The recruiting brigade commander has rescinded this battalion directive, as it is not in line with U.S. Army Recruiting Command headquarters or brigade policy or guidance," USAREC spokeswoman Kelli Bland told Army Times on Friday. Lt. Col. Keith Bryant had targeted recruiting station commanders who hadn't made their first quarter goals, as well as individual recruiters with fewer than three enlistments since October. Rather than taking half days or working every other day from Dec. 20 through Jan. 2, the official holiday period, they would have to work normal hours. And during those hours, if they were not already cleared for holiday leave, they would be doing mandatory training with the battalion command sergeant major. "Battalion commanders had the ability to determine if half days or day-on/day-off schedules would work best in their formations for non-holiday days," Bland said. "Dec. 24 and Dec. 31 are both training holidays for USAREC, so there are two four-day weekends during the holiday break.", It's not the first time the Army's recruiting commanders have taken unusual measures to enforce productivity. In a memo made public in May, a Texas recruiting brigade commander put together a memo ordering longer hours and more Saturday shifts for his recruiters, but the commander never signed the memo and pushed it out. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup, The Army is extending retention control points for some mid-grade NCOs. And in April, Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey proposed involuntarily sending some NCOs with recruiting experience on temporary duty to help with the summer busy season. The Army fell 6,500 recruits short of its goal for 2018, and this year is trying to bring in another 66,000. Meanwhile, retention is historically high. "We're on glide path to make our 2019 retention goal by June," Dailey told Army Times on Tuesday. It's likely that senior leaders will consider adjusting the recruiting goal to balance the authorized end strength number with the surge of soldiers signing on for another enlistment, he added.

Benefits basics Commissaries and exchanges

, Commissaries and exchanges have undergone some major changes in the last year, with more proposals on the horizon that would affect the benefits ... including a proposal by Defense Department officials to consolidate the programs. What you need to know about both, What they are Commissaries are on-base stores that sell discounted groceries to authorized customers. Exchanges are on-base stores with an online component that sell a variety of items ranging from clothing and shoes to toys, furniture, home appliances and electronics. They have on-base gas stations and stores that sell alcoholic beverages. Eligibility As of Veterans Day 2017, all honorably discharged veterans can shop at online exchanges. This has opened up the exchange online shopping benefit to about 13 million additional veterans who didn't previously have any military shopping benefits. Otherwise, veterans who don't retire from the military generally don't have exchange or commissary privileges. This veterans benefit doesn't apply to brick-and-mortar stores. By the end of 2017, more than 56,000 veterans had shopped at Shopmyexchange.com using the tax-free benefit. In general, anyone with a valid military ID card can shop in commissary and exchange stores and online. Also eligible are 100 percent disabled veterans, surviving spouses, and former spouses with dependent children. The details For decades, commissary items were sold at cost from the manufacturer or distributor, plus a 5 percent surcharge used to build and renovate stores. That changed in 2017, when officials began using new authority to raise and lower prices responding, they said, to outside-the-gate competition. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Pay and Benefits Report, Lawmakers require that any price changes can't change the overall level of customer savings, but those savings will vary depending on what's purchased. DoD has put increasing pressure on commissary officials to reduce the amount of taxpayer dollars about 1.3 billion a year to operate the stores. FREE DOWNLOAD 2018 Military Times Benefits Guide , On the shelves Along with price changes, customers have seen expanded private-label, or store-brand, offerings. Among the first were bottled water and plastic bags they've expanded to include cheese, rice and dry beans, foam and plastic plates, shelf stable juices, water enhancers and powered soft drinks, paper towels and bath tissue. While customers are paying less for some products, the commissaries no longer carry some popular national brands. At checkout In late 2017, commissaries began to accept the Military Star card, which is a credit card program run by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service. Commissaries continue to accept other forms of payment, including other major credit cards, but those card issuers charge the government transaction fees the Military Star card doesn't. Anyone who doesn't pay the Star Card balance in full each month will pay interest that money goes back to support the exchanges and morale, welfare and recreation programs. Want to bag 'em yourself? Commissary testing some lanes without baggers. WHAT'S NEW, More private-label products have either hit commissary shelves recently or will arrive soon, including baking goods, ketchup, mustard, peanut butter, mayonnaise, broth, cooking sprays, canned beans, and other items. Officials plan to increase the inventory of such products gradually to about 3,000 to 4,000 items. Behind the scenes, Defense Department officials have been working on a plan to consolidate the commissaries and exchanges into a single "defense resale enterprise." It's a draft proposal the law will have to be changed, and it's unclear how lawmakers will react.

North Korean leader agrees to dismantle main nuclear site if US takes similar action

PYONGYANG, North Korea The leaders of North and South Korea announced a wide range of agreements Wednesday which they said were a major step toward peace on the Korean Peninsula, but with a big condition for denuclearization. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stated he would permanently dismantle his main nuclear complex only if the United States takes corresponding measures. Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed in their second day of meetings to an ambitious program meant to tackle soaring tensions last year that had many fearing war as the North tested a string of increasingly powerful weapons. Their agreements include more buffer zones to reduce tensions, and a no-fly zone above the military demarcation line that bisects the two Koreas. Kim promised to accept international inspectors to monitor the closing of a key missile test site and launch pad and to visit Seoul soon. But while containing several tantalizing offers, their joint statement appeared to fall short of the major steps many in Washington have been looking for such as a commitment by Kim to provide a list of North Korea's nuclear facilities, a solid step-by-step timeline for closing them down, or an agreement to allow international inspectors to assess progress or discover violations. The question is whether it will be enough for U.S. President Donald Trump to pick up where Moon has left off. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, Trump told reporters Wednesday "we're making tremendous progress" with North Korea and "we had very good news" out of the summit. Trump didn't indicate in his brief remarks whether the U.S. would be willing to take further steps to encourage North Korean action on denuclearization. However, he claimed credit for quelling the tensions that had escalated sharply during the first year of his presidency before his own summit with Kim in June. The news from the summit brought a quick and negative response from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who tweeted that he was concerned the visit would undermine efforts by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley to impose "maximum pressure" on the North. This week's summit comes as Moon is under increasing pressure from Washington to find a path forward in efforts to get Kim to completely and unilaterally abandon his nuclear arsenal. "We have agreed to make the Korean Peninsula a land of peace that is free from nuclear weapons and nuclear threat," Kim said. The joint statement said the leaders would push for a Korean Peninsula without nuclear weapons and to "eliminate all the danger of war.", North Korea has been demanding a declaration formally ending the Korean War, which was stopped in 1953 by a cease-fire, but neither leader mentioned it Wednesday as they read the joint statement. A look at what was achieved at the summit, and what wasn't, Border buffers, no-fly zone, Moon and Kim made what appear to be concrete moves to reduce tensions on their border. According to a statement signed by the countries' defense chiefs, the two Koreas agreed to establish buffer zones along their land and sea borders to reduce military tensions and prevent accidental clashes. They also agreed to withdraw 11 guard posts from the Demilitarized Zone by December and to establish a no-fly zone above the military demarcation line that bisects the two Koreas that will apply to planes, helicopters and drones. The two Koreas eventually aim to withdraw all guard posts, where combat troops are stationed. They also decided to launch their first-ever joint searches for soldiers killed during the Korean War next April at a DMZ area where one of the fiercest battles happened. Here's how you can tell Americans from others, experts say, and other mysteries DNA can solve. The Koreas would stop live-fire and field maneuver exercises in the areas 5 kilometers 3.1 miles from the military demarcation line and in waters close to the maritime boundary. The countries also would put covers on coastal-based artillery guns. They agreed to "disarm" their jointly controlled area at the border village of Panmunjom, the site of the past two Kim-Moon summits. It's also where North Korean soldiers sprayed bullets at a colleague fleeing to the South last November. According to Seoul documents, the Koreas would pull back weapons and guard posts in the area to let 35 "unarmed personnel" from each side guard the village and let tourists freely cross concrete slabs forming the demarcation line there. Denuclearization What would that mean?, According to a joint statement released by Seoul, North Korea agreed to permanently dismantle a launch pad and an engine-testing facility at its northwestern rocket-firing center in the presence of international experts. The North also said it could take further measures such as permanently dismantling its main Nyongbyon nuclear complex if the United States takes reciprocal measures. While symbolic, the dismantling of the missile engine test site and launch pad wouldn't represent a material step toward denuclearization of North Korea, which after a torrent of weapons tests last year declared its nuclear force as complete. The North has invested much effort to improve the mobility of its most powerful missiles, which are designed to be launched from vehicles. The level of access foreign experts will have at the North Korean sites is also unclear. The move wouldn't be entirely meaningless if Washington and Seoul could successfully argue that, in allowing outside experts, Kim accepted in principle that agreements should be verified. This could make it harder for Kim to reject inspections once the denuclearization process proceeds. The North unilaterally dismantled a nuclear testing ground earlier this year, but didn't invite experts to observe the event. Still, the discussions on the North's denuclearization continue to fail to answer the basic questions of what, when and how. The North for decades has been pushing a concept of denuclearization that bears no resemblance to the American definition, vowing to pursue nuclear development until the U.S. removes its troops from South Korea and the nuclear umbrella defending South Korea and Japan. Some experts say that Washington is trying to shape the nuclear talks as a bilateral arms reduction negotiation between two nuclear states, instead of a process to surrender the North's nukes. "The only firm promises North Korea made was to permanently dismantle the missile engine test site and launch pad," said Cheong Seong-Chang, a North Korea expert at South Korea's Sejong Institute. He said the statement is unlikely to satisfy hawks within the Trump administration calling for the return of the pressure campaign against the North. Summer Olympics, The Korean leaders agreed to pursue a joint bid for the 2032 Summer Olympics. They also plan to send more combined teams to the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games and other major sports events. For many South Koreans, it would be mind-boggling that the Koreas are even talking about sharing the Olympics. North Korea boycotted the 1986 Asian Games and the '88 Summer Olympics, both held in Seoul, and relations dramatically worsened on the eve of the Seoul Olympics with the North's bombing of a South Korean passenger jet that killed all 115 aboard in December 1987. At the start of their meeting, Kim thanked Moon for brokering the June summit with Trump. "It's not too much to say that it's Moon's efforts that arranged a historic North Korea-U.S. summit. Because of that, the regional political situation has been stabilized and more progress on North Korea-U.S. ties is expected," Kim said, according to South Korean media pool reports and Moon's office.

Dont reactivate the old frigates internal US Navy memo recommends

WASHINGTON A move gaining traction in the upper echelons of the Navy to bring back mothballed Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates would cost billions, cut into modernization accounts for other ships and add little to the Navy's capabilities, according to documents obtained by Defense News. The Navy estimates that bringing back 10 of the Perry-class frigates would cost in excess of 4.32 billion over 10 years, and take away from money needed to modernize the Navy's existing cruisers and destroyers. In return, the Navy would get a relatively toothless ship only suitable for very low-end missions such as counter-drug operations. "With obsolete combat systems and aging hulls, these vessels would require significant upgrades to remain warfighting relevant for another decade," the document reads. "Any potential return on investment would be offset by high reactivation and life-cycle costs, a small ship inventory, limited service life, and substantial capability gaps. "Furthermore, absent any external source of funding, these costs would likely come at the expense of other readiness, modernization or shipbuilding programs.", Both the chief of naval operations and the secretary of the Navy have mentioned they are considering recommissioning the frigates as a way of boosting fleet numbers as they pursue a goal of 355 ships. But some experts have pushed back on the idea, saying that the money is better spent on more capable ships and investing in the future. A single-page internal memo, which was circulated in the Chief of Naval Operations office in October, estimated the Navy would have to spend at least 432 million per ship over the decade of service, a figure that well exceeds the cost of procuring one brand new littoral combat ship. A second October memo described to Defense News said that of the 10 frigates left for recommissioning, two are reserved for foreign sales, one isn't seaworthy, and the remaining seven would still cost more than 3 billion to bring back. The paper instead recommends putting the money toward destroyer and cruiser modernization, as well as littoral combat ship procurement and development of the next-generation guided-missile frigate now in development. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Navy Times Daily News Roundup, "Funding for frigate reactivation should not come at the expense of Cruiser and Destroyer modernization, Littoral Combat Ship procurement, and FFGX procurement," the memo reads. "If additional funding were made available, recommend funding the service life extension of Cruisers before funding FFG-7 reactivation as Cruisers would not require additional combat systems modernization and would provide much greater warfighting capability.", Labeling the ship the FFGX, the ship will be expected to keep up with the full carrier strike group and operate independently in high-end threat environments. , Navy Secretary Richard Spencer told reporters in September that he was considering bringing the frigates out of retirement and mentioned using them for counter-drug patrols off of South America. "One of the things we might look at is bringing the Perry-class to do a limited drug interdiction mode," Spencer said, according to USNI News. But that idea rubs some observers the wrong way, saying that reactivating the frigates would be throwing good money after bad. "The idea that we would spend several billion dollars over ten years on bringing corroded ships out of the boneyard to service a tertiary mission in an era of renewed great power competition is nonsense," said Bryan McGrath, a retired destroyer captain and consultant with The Ferrybridge Group. "How many Ticonderoga-class cruiser upgrades or destroyer modernizations will be deferred in pursuit of this unwise idea? The president said he wanted a 350 ship Navy he didn't say he wanted it tomorrow.", In October, Defense News reported that the remaining 22 so-called Tico cruisers will start leaving the fleet in 2020 at a rate of two per year. The cruisers, which boast 122 vertical-launch missile cells and two five-inch guns, are the largest surface combatants in the fleet. The influential head of a House sea power subcommittee is calling on the Navy to enter its oldest 11 cruisers into a service-life extension program rather than retire them at the end of their 35-year hull life. In response to the report, Rep. Rob Wittman, chairman of the House Seapower subcommittee, called on the Navy to modernize its oldest cruisers and keep them in the fleet. "Instead of discussing the decommissioning of cruisers, we need to spend more time discussing the maintenance, modernization and service-life extension of all twenty-two cruisers," Wittman said.

McCain warns Trump to watch his words after North Korea fire and fury

WASHINGTON Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain said Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump has to watch his words better after the commander in chief threatened North Korea in an escalating nuclear standoff. "It's a difficult challenge, and I hope the president, which he is not now doing, would be very careful about the language he uses," McCain, R-Ariz. said in a Facebook town hall broadcast from his office in Phoenix. "I'm not exactly sure the president recognizes that when he speaks, as the most powerful person in the world, his or her words reverberate all over the world," McCain said. McCain also cautioned Trump to consult with his advisers before shooting from the hip on Twitter. "I'm not saying the president should stop tweeting that's something he likes to do," McCain said. "But before he tweets, it would be nice for him to control it, to consult with some of his very experienced and talented national security team.", In a previous interview, McCain told KTAR News that Trump would be better off emulating President Teddy Roosevelt's "walk softly" and "big stick" ethos. "The great leaders I've seen don't threaten unless they're ready to act, and I'm not sure President Trump is ready to act," he said. Trump on Tuesday told reporters North Korea "had best not make any more threats to the United States or they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen." It was apparently a response to reports Pyongyang has produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead. On Wednesday, North Korea announced it was reviewing plans for a preemptive strike on Guam, including Andersen Air Force Base, and it ripped the U.S. for provocative military flights in the region. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, That in turn prompted Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to warn North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to "take heed" and stop the nuclear threats that could lead to the destruction of his people. McCain was among the chorus of lawmakers, mostly Democratic, who criticized Trump's saber rattling as unhelpful in the face of diplomatic efforts to deescalate. The SASC's ranking member, Sen. Jack Reed, D-N.Y. said Trump made an unhelpful ad lib and that the "U.S. and international community must work together to strategically apply pressure on North Korea at every point necessary to neutralize this threat.", "When it comes to North Korea, the United States has many tools diplomatic, financial and others to work with, not just military options," he said. McCain hinted at the potential carnage if the U.S. went to war with North Korea. Pyongyang, he said, can launch strikes on South Korea from thousands of protected artillery positions over their shared border. He urged a multipronged effort to not only press China to use its influence to have Pyongyang back down but to deploy the American-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system in South Korea. The South Korean government called for increased deployment of THAAD launchers in July following North Korean missile tests, but the system is politically divisive there and an irritant to China. McCain urged Trump to listen to his team, lauding Mattis, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and national security adviser H.R. McMaster by name. He did not mention White House adviser Steve Bannon save to reference reports Bannon is clashing with McMaster over the administration's foreign policy direction. "I would resolve this internecine strife between Bannon and McMaster," McCain said. "You can't run a train with two engineers. You can only have one.", Otherwise, McCain advised calling in Cold War-era diplomats like Henry Kissinger and George Schultz for advice. McCain could not resist knocking his old foil on national security issues, President Barack Obama, who left Trump with "eight years of failures" to clean up, he said. Otherwise, McCain was upbeat about his ongoing treatment for brain cancer, calling it a "tough struggle," adding "I have to beat it.", He said he would return to the Senate to take up the annual defense policy bill in September, when Congress returns from recess. He promised floor debate on "a couple hundred amendments."

Persian Gulf veterans still fighting for proper health care 25 years after war

Retired Marine Capt. David Winnett is grateful for his Tricare health program, which keeps him from having to go to the Veterans Affairs Department to treat his Gulf War-related illnesses. At the VA, says the moderator of the 10,003-member Facebook group Gulf War Illnesses, veterans often are sent to mental health providers when they show up with symptoms considered classic of Gulf War illness, such as gastrointestinal dysfunction, skin rashes, muscle and joint pain, profound fatigue and cognitive issues. Winnett said more than 300 veterans responded to an informal survey he posted to the group asking whether they had been referred by VA to mental health professionals instead of having their physical health problems addressed and treated. "All over the country, it's the same thing being reported. These people walk into a VA hospital or clinic and either the physicians don't know about Gulf War illness or they pretend they don't know and the veteran ends up in the psych ward," said Winnett, who has fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome that began after his 1991 deployment. Advocates for Gulf War veterans were in Washington on Tuesday for the 25th anniversary of the Operation Desert Storm ground assault, pushing for continued research and improved treatment for veterans with Gulf War-related illnesses. Speaking before the House Veterans' Affairs oversight subcommittee, veterans and scientists who have studied Gulf War diseases say the VA is not doing enough to ensure its physicians are following recommended treatment guidelines for these veterans with chronic health conditions. And, the advocates add, even those guidelines, issued in 2014, are flawed, relying heavily on behavioral therapy to ease symptoms, as well as psychiatric medications. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, "The health problems of Gulf War veterans are not vague and extremely variable, as is often suggested," Roberta White, chair of the department of environmental health at Boston University School of Public Health, told subcommittee members. "I cannot think of any illness in which all patients share exactly the same symptoms. ... Gulf War illness is not different from any other disorder in this way.", Earlier this month, a scientific panel hired by VA to review research on Gulf War illnesses and make recommendations released a report saying the department should stop searching for causes of these illnesses and instead focus on monitoring and treating those who are sick. The report, the 10th by the Institute of Medicine on Gulf War illnesses, found that Gulf War veterans are at increased risk for developing post-traumatic stress, anxiety, Gulf War illness and chronic fatigue syndrome, but do not appear to have higher incidence of cancer, respiratory illnesses or other neurodegenerative conditions. The IOM panel, led by Deborah Cory-Slechta, an environmental medicine professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, said that without actual records of individual exposures, and the prospect of obtaining the data unlikely, VA should spend its resources on researching treatments and taking care of patients. "The committee wants to emphasize that it did not recommend that research on the health of Gulf War veterans be stopped," Cory-Slechta said. "Rather, the committee found that research that continues to seek a causal link between Gulf War illness and other health conditions found in Gulf War veterans and specific chemical exposures, such as anti-nerve agent pills, sarin or pesticides, is not likely to yield useful information.", According to the report, the only condition that can be proved to be caused by Gulf War deployment is post-traumatic stress disorder. The investigation also found "sufficient evidence of an association" for generalized anxiety disorder, depression, substance abuse, gastrointestinal symptoms, chronic fatigue syndrome and Gulf War illness, the catch-all term used to describe unexplained symptoms from Gulf War exposures. The panel also found a "limited but suggestive" link between Gulf War deployment and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS fibromyalgia chronic pain and self-reported sexual dysfunction. But it found little or no evidence that cancer, skin conditions, birth defects, musculoskeletal system diseases, multiple sclerosis and other illnesses were related. Of the 700,000 troops who served in the Persian Gulf War, more than 33 percent are receiving medical treatment from the VA. That figure is up from 13 percent in 2000. According to Dr. Carolyn Clancy, assistant deputy undersecretary for health, safety and quality at the Veterans Health Administration, 145,000 Gulf War veterans have undergone a physical for enrollment in the VA's Gulf War registry. Clancy said VA is "taking every possible step to help these veterans" and continues to invest in research on their diseases. "I assure you VA is ... advancing clinical research and clinical care for Gulf War veterans. Since our last meeting, VA has conducted 60 studies on Gulf War illnesses. Research investment has risen form 5.6 million in 2012 to 14 million this year, and that's a conservative estimate," Clancy said. She said many of VA's studies are focused on novel treatments for veterans and that the department does not suggest that these illnesses are psychiatric in nature. "We have centers of excellence, War-Related Illness and Injury centers, which are charged with conducting cutting-edge research, clinical research and advanced care for Gulf War veterans," Clancy said. "We have learned how important it is to integrate care around our veterans and their needs.", But veterans and lawmakers say VA's efforts to date have not been enough. After listening to testimony, subcommittee chairman Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo. a retired Marine major who served in both the Persian Gulf War and Iraq War, promised more action. "The lack of progress that has been made by the VA in the three years that has passed since these problems were first visited by this committee is frustrating and disconcerting. I think veterans should be treated better, and I will be exploring options for how to address these issues in the coming weeks," Coffman said. New Hampshire Rep. Ann McLane Kuster, the oversight subcommittee's ranking Democrat, said it is imperative to address Gulf War veterans' needs with an eye toward taking care of post-9/11 veterans in the future. "If we don't understand the causation behind Gulf War syndrome and exposure to toxins and other trauma, like post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, how it all comes together, we are not going to have an understanding of helping those who we have put in harm's way in Afghanistan and Iraq. We need to continue investigating causation while we move forward," Kuster said. Coffman said he is considering a legislative proposal by Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn. that would create a VA "center of excellence for toxic wounds," a one-stop shop for research, clinical policies, administration and leadership for environmental exposure medicine. "Instead of having this research fragmented by each problem whether it be Agent Orange, Gulf War syndrome, burn pits let's bring it together to really try to combine resources and get down to the bottom of this, for the vets affected now and in the future," Coffman said. Patricia Kime covers military and veterans' health care and medicine for Military Times. She can be reached at [email protected].

From specialists to sergeants major the Army is overhauling its education system

Top to bottom, the Army is changing the way it educates soldiers. From professional military education to the transition back to civilian life, the Army is trying to grow better leaders and give soldiers tools to translate their knowledge into civilian education, officials said during a presentation Oct. 10 at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. "The noncommissioned officer education system began in 1973. But it was time to reexamine the way we were developing leaders," said Command Sgt. Maj. David Davenport, the senior enlisted soldier at Training and Doctrine Command. "What we came up with, it was more than just PME. We wanted this well-rounded noncommissioned officer, with a broad set of skills and experiences.", Those changes include the end of Structured Self-Development distance learning, a revamped Basic Leader Course, course credit for the Sergeants Major Academy, opportunities for soldiers to earn non-academic credentials, and a couple of documents that can help soldiers translate their education after they transition back to civilian life. Goodbye, SSD. Hello, DLC. Soldiers might be doing their at-home professional military training modules on a computer now, but the Structured Self-Development courses that eat up so much of an NCO's time are actually based on a system developed back in 1973. "It's been over 43 years since we've touched anything in our NCO education system," said Command Sgt. Maj. Jimmy Sellers, commandant of the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy. "Our problem was that we were driving this vehicle of NCO professional development system for about 34 years, with no change," he added. "We kind of kicked the tires, changed the tires, did some updates to the system. All we were doing were oil changes.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup, A study of PME, with soldier and leader input, found a stagnant, disorganized system. "We confirmed that we are who we thought we were," Sellers said. "We lacked a lot of communication skills. Our PME was not synchronized. There were really no true outcomes. Everyone was kind of rowing their own boat depending on what PME you went to.", In response to soldier complaints, the Army will review and improve its Structured Self-Development courses. Beginning in June 2018, that's all over. The Army is scrapping SSD for a new system called the Distributed Leader Course. It's still many hours sitting at a computer, officials said, but the new Distributed Leader Course experience is completely different. "If you've ever seen or played the game Call of Duty,' it comes up just like Call of Duty,' " Sellers said. "It describes everything they have to do inside the mission.", Rather than clicking through a series of pictures, the course takes a soldier on a sort of "choose your own adventure" track. "Every decision that a soldier makes, in terms of DLC, is graded and evaluated," Sellers said. "If they make a decision based off the mission statement to do one thing, it can cost them some points in terms of their overall grade.", At the same time, good decisions can raise scores. "They're just not sitting behind a screen clicking. They're actually learning," Davenport told Army Times. "Along the way, if they don't meet a gate, it comes back at the end and tells them what they need to go back and work on. Instead of, You just failed, redo it again.' ", And if you do fail, Sellers said, the system locks you out for 30 days and sends a note to your NCO in charge. The content will also be different. From its study of PME, the Army settled on six leader core competencies that all NCOs, regardless of military occupational specialty, must master. "The artist formerly known as common core,' " Sellers said. Those six must-haves are readiness, leadership, training management, Army and joint operations, program management and communication. "The Advanced Leader Course and the Senior Leader Course really had no leadership," Davenport said. "There is very heavy technical and tactical training in there.", Soldiers will now be tested on those at every level of DLC and schoolhouse PME. DLC courses will also feed directly to the Basic Leader Course or Advanced Leader Course, for example, to prevent soldiers from studying up for the computer course and then forgetting everything they learned. "When you get to ALC, DLC II will be tested again," Sellers said. "There's no longer a brain dump. It's progressive and sequential.", And the score you get on DLC will be your baseline for the following leader course, Sellers said, so soldiers with low distance learning scores will have to make up ground in the schoolhouse. "In the end, what I hope soldiers don't think is that it's just a name change," Davenport said. "It looks nothing like SSD.", All-new Basic Leader Course, In order to thread these new leader core competencies up the chain of PME, TRADOC decided it was time to overhaul the Basic Leader Course, which is the Army's first NCO development school. The new BLC, according to TRADOC, will still take the traditional 22 days or 169 hours to complete, but the rest looks very different. Rather than three modules, the course is divided into the new core competencies. Specialists will spend between seven program management and 42 leadership hours on each. There will be fewer lessons 22 rather than the current 30 but also no multiple-choice exams. "When you take a look at BLC and the redesign, the main point that soldiers should take away from it is we're teaching soldiers, soon-to-be noncommissioned officers a lot about how to train," Sellers said. "Instead of training them, we're teaching them how to train.", Rather than teaching specialists how to do things and trusting they'll take them back to their units and figure out a way to break them down for junior soldiers, BLC will teach them effective ways to pass on training. "They're going to be able to go back to their organizations and teach their soldiers about land navigation and map reading, by giving them certain tasks," Sellers said. "BLC will be evaluating them on how well they execute the task and train the task to their fellow peers, before they go back to their organizations.", Evaluation, Davenport said, will start with an assignment of a specific warrior task. "He's going to have to, or she's going to have to, look it up, develop a lesson plan, give the class, record the training," he said. This will not only start leadership and management training from a lower level, Davenport said, but it will standardize PME according to the goals laid out in doctrine. "It used to be that when they went back to the brick-and-mortar, and you go back to your unit, they could say, Oh, that's not the way we do it here,' " he said. "Now, it's to the standard, according to doctrine. That's the reinforcement time of what they've learned in BLC.", College credit at USASMA, If the Army's leadership course continuum is like a military version of primary and secondary school, the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy is its institution of higher learning. Now, officials are working on codifying that idea, by getting the 10-month senior NCO school credentialed for undergraduate course hours. In mid-November, the Fort Bliss, Texas, school will be evaluated by the Higher Learning Commission, Sellers said. The goal is to gain approval for the education provided by USASMA to be worth between 40 and 42 hours of bachelor's degree course credit. "That means that if you're a sergeant major that comes in with no degree, this is an opportunity, based on our new curriculum, to walk out the door with a bachelor's degree," Sellers said. Specifically, sergeants major who have started working on a degree can include the USASMA course work, or those who haven't done any college can use USASMA as a starting point. The school can be divided into four academic departments, Sellers said Military Operations, Force Management, Command Leadership and Professional Studies. The curriculum falls under a degree in leadership and workforce development. Students can also use USASMA courses toward credentials or certifications. "For example, I'll use myself as a supply logistician," Sellers said. "If I got to the Department of Professional Studies and wanted to do something like functional training and support operations, because I know that I'm going into a support operations job, I can do that for a couple of weeks and get certified there.", If USASMA gets approval to offer college credit, a pilot would begin with class 69, which begins next summer. Class 70 would then be the first fully accredited course, Sellers said. TA for credentials, One of Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey's top initiatives this year has been creating a program for the Army to pay for civilian credentialing for troops, whether the certificates pertained specifically to their MOS or not. That plan is still underway, Dailey said Oct. 10, and it's doable within the Army secretary's powers. But credentialing costs money some of the most highly technical ones can cost thousands and must be renewed regularly, so Dailey said he is working with Congress to allow soldiers to use education dollars already available to them. "My goal is to get tuition assistance and credentialing assistance equal," he said. For decades the Army has offered tuition assistance to soldiers who want to earn degrees, and now leadership is looking into how to translate that program to cover civilian credential training and certification for soldiers to study skills both in and out of their specialties. The law that allows the military to pay up to a certain amount of service members' college tuition and fees prevents that pot of money from being used for credentials. "I'm working with the office of the secretary of defense and Congress to figure out how to fix that," Dailey said. A working group with Ray Horoho, the Army deputy undersecretary for manpower and reserve affairs, Dailey added, is putting together a credentialing pilot program, which will be funded. New DA Form 1059, To help keep track of all of the PME soldiers complete, the Army is working on a new Service School Academic Evaluation report, to be fielded in December 2018. "First of all, we're moving away from bullets to an all-narrative," Davenport said. "NCOs, instructors are going to have to write about their soldiers.", The Army continues its push for soldiers to get the education they need to succeed in and out of uniform. The new DA form 1059 will be filled out at each level of PME, to include class standing, PT score, height and weight, Multi-Source Assessment and Feedback 360 and writing assessment score. "As you may be aware, if you're keeping up, one of the tenets in the Leader Core Competencies is a communication program," Davenport said, so the form will include grades on oral presentations and written ability. Davenport jokingly included a bit of trivia in his explanation "SMA Dailey was No. 1 of 500 at USASMA. Sgt. Maj. Davenport was 500 of 500.", Army U transcript, To tie all of this together PME, credentials, USASMA college credits the Army wants soldiers to begin putting together a transcript of their professional education, starting at BLC. The plan has been in the works for years, and Davenport said a pilot program would soon begin testing at Fort Benning's armor school. The Army launched a program designed to improve soldier learning and, it is hoped, allow soldiers to earn more college credits. The transcript would pull from all 28 of the Army's personnel databases, he said, to accurately lay out a soldier's education and experiences in one document. "So, when that soldier transitions, and they go to an academic university, to the registrar's office, it's clear what that soldier did while they served our great country," he said.

Warren a critic of Pentagon bloat and nukes heads to 2020 presidential run

WASHINGTON Sen. Elizabeth Warren, an advocate of reining in America's military budget and commitments around the globe, on Monday took the first major step toward launching a widely anticipated campaign for the presidency. While Warren's banking her reputation as a populist fighter can help her navigate a Democratic field that could include nearly two dozen candidates, she has also boosted her global affairs and national security credentials in recent years, in part by joining the Senate Armed Services Committee. "No matter what our differences, most of us want the same thing," the 69-year-old Massachusetts Democrat said in a video, which highlights her family's history in Oklahoma and military family ties. "To be able to work hard, play by the same set of rules and take care of the people we love That's what I'm fighting for and that's why today I'm launching an exploratory committee for president.", The announcement comes weeks after Warren made a foreign policy speech at American University calling for a smaller defense budget, a pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and a "no first use" nuclear weapons policy. By linking her foreign policy with her left leaning economic views, Warren may win over liberal primary voters, but it's unclear how this will play with moderate voters concerned with terrorism and actions by Russia and China. "We need to refocus our international economic policies so that they benefit all Americans, not just wealthy elites," she said in the American University speech. "At the same time, we must refocus our security policies by reining in unsustainable and ill-advised military commitments and adapt our strategies overseas for the new challenges we'll face in this coming century.", Warren has championed defense spending in her home state, but she used the speech to condemn America's "bloated defense budget," saying it's time to end "the stranglehold of the so-called Big Five defense contractors" as evidenced by President Donald Trump's friendliness toward Saudi Arabia and its war in Yemen. "The defense industry will inevitably have a seat at the table but they shouldn't get to own the table," Warren said. "It is time to identify which programs actually benefit American security in the 21st century, and which programs merely line the pockets of defense contractors then pull out a sharp knife and make some cuts.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, Where to cut? Warren has called for no new nuclear weapons, extending the New START Treaty through 2026 and a no-first-use policy for nuclear weapons. When Trump is undermining arms control agreements, she said, the U.S. "should not spend over a trillion dollars to modernize our nuclear arsenal.", Warren burst onto the national scene a decade ago during the financial crisis with calls for greater consumer protections. She quickly became one of the party's more prominent liberals, even as she sometimes fought with Obama administration officials over their response to the market turmoil. Now, as a likely presidential contender, she is making an appeal to the party's base. Her video did not touch on foreign policy or national security, but noted the economic challenges facing people of color and showed images of a women's march and Warren's participation at an LGBT event. In an email to supporters, Warren said she'd more formally announce a campaign plan early in 2019. Warren is the most prominent Democrat yet to make a move toward a presidential bid and has long been a favorite target for Trump, particularly amid controversy over her claims of Native American heritage. Warren enters a Democratic field that's shaping up as the most crowded in decades, with many of her Senate colleagues openly weighing their own campaigns, as well as governors, mayors and other prominent citizens. One of her most significant competitors could be Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who is eyeing another presidential run harnessing the same populist rhetoric. Sanders, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, has a history of challenging Pentagon spending, particularly the use of overseas contingency operations funding to skirt statutory budget caps. Hosting Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Pentagon Comptroller David Norquist at the panel in March, Sanders questioned the massive compensation packages of top defense contractor CEOs and demanded that the Pentagon end its waste and abuse of taxpayer funds following years of reports of fraud and mismanagement. Warren has the benefit of higher name recognition than many others in the Democratic mix for 2020, thanks to her years as a prominent critic of Wall Street she also originally conceived of what became the government's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She now faces an arduous battle to raise money and capture Democratic primary voters' attention before Iowa casts its first vote, which is more than a year away. She has an advantage in the 12.5 million left over from her 2018 re-election campaign that she could use for a presidential run. Warren's campaign is likely to revolve around the same theme she's woven into speeches and policy proposals in recent years battling special interests and paying mind to the nexus between racial and economic inequities. "America's middle class is under attack," Warren said in the video. "How did we get here? Billionaires and big corporations decided they wanted more of the pie. And they enlisted politicians to cut them a fatter slice.",

Trumps halt of war games could weaken defenses in Korea

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump's decision to suspend major U.S. military exercises in South Korea could weaken allied defenses, depending on the length and scope of the hiatus. But the potential for diplomatic damage seems even greater. The United States, South Korea and Japan were making a public display of solidarity Thursday over the outcome of Trump's summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un. But analysts and former officials with experience in U.S.-Asia policy were shaken by Trump's failure to inform the Asian allies or even the Pentagon before mothballing the military maneuvers. "Those exercises are critically important because they are deterrence," said Chuck Hagel, a former defense secretary in the Obama administration. He welcomed Trump's willingness to talk to Kim but worried that the president has underestimated the complications he has introduced for the Pentagon by suspending the military drills. "You don't just shut them on and off like a water faucet," he said. The next exercise, Ulchi Freedom Guardian, was set for August. The exercises in question go well beyond routine training, which apparently is unaffected by Trump's decision. Large-scale exercises are done to ensure that evolving tactics, procedures and plans can be carried out smoothly and that U.S. and South Korean forces are in sync. They also are a means of showing allied solidarity, which is part of the psychology of deterring enemy attack. The U.S. has stationed combat troops in South Korea since the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice and no peace treaty. The more than 28,000 U.S. forces serve as a military tripwire against North Korean aggression. The next major exercise with South Korea is known as Ulchi Freedom Guardian last year's version was held for 11 days in August and involved about 17,500 U.S. troops. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, The U.S. has insisted these kinds of drills are defensive measures to demonstrate U.S. and South Korean preparedness to respond promptly to any aggression by the North. But when Trump announced his decision to halt them, he characterized them as "provocative" and as "war games.", "Those are literally the North Korean and Chinese talking points," said Christine Wormuth, the Pentagon's top policy official from 2014 to 2016. She noted that the North and China have long complained that the military exercises, including those involving U.S. strategic bombers, are a rehearsal for invasion. Trump returned the salute as Kim Jong Un smiled in the background. In further explaining his reasons for suspending major exercises, Trump said they "cost a fortune," though even the Pentagon, which foots the bill for U.S. participation in all such maneuvers, has been unable to say what they cost. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' office on Wednesday sent out a request to military commands for cost estimates for the main military exercises held on and around the Korean Peninsula, according to officials who spoke about the request on condition of anonymity to discuss internal communications. In the past, some estimates for smaller exercises have been about 2 million, while some larger ones have cost 15 million or more all relatively minor expenses for a department with a budget now exceeding 700 billion. On Thursday, the Pentagon issued a brief statement saying Mattis had discussed the summit outcome with his South Korean counterpart, including they can work together to "fulfill the president's guidance" on military exercises. Michael Green, who was Asia director on the National Security Council staff during the George W. Bush administration, said the likely damage from suspending drills is multiplied by Trump's failure to inform South Korean and Japanese officials in advance and his focus on cost-savings from the suspension. This was then compounded, in Green's view, by Trump's dubious assertion on Twitter that North Korea no longer poses a nuclear threat. "The No. 1 problem with this, geopolitically, is that it suggests to our allies that we are just incompetent, that we don't recognize the threat," Green said. He worries that it undermines confidence in the American commitment to the defense of South Korea and Japan. Harry Harris, the retired Navy admiral and former commander of U.S. forces throughout the Pacific, said Thursday he believes the North's nuclear weapons still pose a threat, but he endorsed Trump's decision to suspend U.S. military exercises. "We should give major exercises a pause to see if Kim Jong Un is serious about his part of the negotiations," Harris said at a Senate hearing to consider his nomination to be U.S. ambassador in Seoul. Harris said the suspension of drills reflects a "new landscape" in Korea and provides "breathing space" for progress in negotiating North Korea's nuclear disarmament. Without mentioning that South Korea and Japan were not consulted before Trump suspended drills, Harris said such decisions should not be taken unilaterally. U.S. President Trump is calling on the military to suspend joint military exercises with treaty ally South Korea on the eve of the confirmation hearing for his prospective ambassador to the country. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, briefed his South Korean, Japanese and Chinese counterparts on the Singapore summit. At a news conference in Seoul, Pompeo said "staying closely aligned with our allies ... will be critical" to success with North Korean denuclearization, but he had nothing to say about the suspension of military drills. The White House has said that the maneuvers were suspended "in a show of good faith," for as long as productive negotiations with the North continue, and that "regular readiness training and training exchanges" will continue. The Pentagon, however, has remained silent on what Trump meant and hasn't confirmed it will cancel or postpone the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise. When Ulchi Freedom Guardian was announced last year, the U.S. military called it a "computer-simulated defensive exercise designed to enhance readiness." Also participating were troops from nations that contributed forces during the 1950-53 Korean War, including Australia, Britain, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, New Zealand and the Netherlands. In Wormuth's view, Trump's stated concern about the cost of such exercises, combined with his talk of eventually bringing all U.S. troops home from South Korea, is likely to create doubt in Seoul and Tokyo about American steadfastness. "This is going to further erode people's confidence in our staying power," she said.

Amazon cloud automation help resuscitate OCX program

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. When Raytheon ran into trouble developing the U.S. Air Force's next-generation GPS control stations, it turned to a tiny Pentagon office populated with technology geeks from Silicon Valley for software help. The Operational Control System program called OCX for short had been plagued with cost overruns and scheduling delays for years, culminating in a breach of the Nunn-McCurdy provision last year, which requires military services to notify Congress if a weapons program's cost per unit increases 25 percent or more above the current baseline estimate.But the program is back on track, said Bill Sullivan, Raytheon's program manager, and suggestions provided by the Defense Digital Service proved transformational. "It was taking us over two weeks of time, 80 hours of time, to build a unit of software, do some unit testing, do some functional testing and then get results out the back end," he told reporters at Space Symposium. "By introducing these commercial software best practices, we've shortened that to three hours." The Defense Digital Service, or DDS, formed in 2015 as one of former Defense Secretary Ash Carter's pet projects meant to take technical innovation from the commercial sector and bring it to the Pentagon. Until recently, the office was most famous for spearheading efforts like the department's bug bounty program, but the Air Force disclosed earlier this year DDS employees were also at work on acquisition programs, with OCX as the flagship. So, what did DDS do to revamp OCX?, First, Raytheon adopted DevOps, an up-and-coming style of software development that injected automation into the process, Sullivan said. "When a developer writes some new code and checks it into the system, builds are automatically kicked off, unit tests which have been written are automatically run, the results are automatically processed and then all software developers can get access to the results at the same time," he explained. The software tools running those tests are typically commercial off-the-shelf, but are customized by Raytheon. Although DevOps is a commercial best practice, it hadn't filtered into a major Defense Department acquisition program until DDS suggested using it on OCX. Another new element for a military weapons program is the use of Amazon Web Services' cloud computing platform for integration and testing although not deployment of unclassified software elements. "What that does for us it provides an ability to really just be a lot more nimble in terms of environment," Sullivan said. "Instead of having to find space and having to go buy a bunch of servers and rack them up, the virtual nature of the cloud provides you the ability to very quickly stand up an environment and then tear it down when you're done and then start all over again.", That has enabled Raytheon to write and check code more quickly and freed the company from hardware constraints, he added. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, OCX is now progressing according to schedule. The company recently wrapped up the factory qualification of Block 0 an early iteration runs the system's launch and checkout system and is set to deliver it in September or October. The system has been deployed at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, and currently is going through site acceptance testing, Sullivan said. The launch of the first GPS III satellite will occur in March 2018, but OCX won't become fully operational until 2020 when Block 1 comes online. Block 1 will add more cybersecurity functionality to the system, and Raytheon has finished coding six of seven Block 1 software iterations and integrated five of them, Sullivan said. The company continues to work with the Air Force Digital Service team, the service's offshoot of DDS that spawned last year, he added. "It's been kind of an evolution. It's impossible to learn everything in a day, so we continue to try to do the things necessary that we think will give us the value for the amount of investment that we put into it to succeed in the program," he said. Air Force acquisition leaders are interested in broadening the Air Force Digital Service's work to other software-heavy weapons programs. Earlier this year, Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, the service's top uniformed acquisition official, said he and his civilian counterpart, Darlene Costello, were making a list of potential programs that could benefit from the office's expertise.

European Defense Agency chief questions unhealthy defense trade with the US

PARIS The head of the European Defense Agency said Europe must wean itself from U.S. high-tech weaponry, proposing that arms deals with Washington could decrease in an effort to achieve greater "strategic autonomy" for the continent. Jorge Domecq said the development would be a natural outcome of emerging efforts by the European Union to boost its military capabilities. "Does strategic autonomy mean less business in one direction?" he asked during a speech at the Eurosatory defense trade show in Paris. "Perhaps," he said, answering his own question before posing another "But do we want to continue a business relationship across the Atlantic which is undoubtedly unbalanced but unhealthy in terms of the defense capability of Europe?", Domecq indirectly criticized the Pentagon for plowing ahead with what he characterized as "disruptive technologies" that are no longer interoperable with European allies. The trend of European nations purchasing advanced U.S. capabilities should stop if the continent wants to stand on its own feet militarily, he argued. "If you have capabilities for which you don't have the industrial capacity to sustain them, and you have to ask the neighbor to give you the hose each time you want to water the plants, you don't have a garden you have a dry piece of land," he said. The Spaniard's talk is sure to evoke mixed reactions on the other side of the Atlantic. While U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded greater haste from Europeans in building up their own defenses against a resurgent Russia, the prospect of Europe dialing back U.S. arms imports as a consequence is unlikely to sit well with American vendors and their advocates in Congress. Companies unveiled their version of a "Euro-tank" at the 2018 Eurosatory trade show in Paris, combining a German chassis with a French turret. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, There is no need for Washington's defense industry hawks to worry quite yet, however. Europe is still catching up in certain technology areas and military spending remains comparatively low. In addition, Eastern European countries like Poland continue to favor U.S. equipment over their neighbors' offerings no matter what, regarding it as a kind of political insurance policy against Moscow. Domecq cautioned against the idea of interpreting EU strategic autonomy as being squarely directed at the United States. Washington itself should have an interest in the development, as it would improve Europe's standing as "an interesting partner for our allies," he said. The EDA chief's comments come as the EU is slated to make key decisions this year about a new wave of common funding for defense projects under the Permanent Structured Cooperation initiative for security and defense. They also follow deepening consternation by many Europeans over an escalating trade war with the Trump administration that they perceive as fundamentally illogical. Domecq's agency is involved in key aspects of an emerging European defense bureaucracy, including formulating new defense requirements across EU member states. During his speech, Domecq pointed to the United States as a role model for integrating the defense industry into the government's broader national security playbook. A similar degree of interplay, he argued, would be key to realizing European defense ambitions.

UK prime minister moves to reassure industry as Brexit terms lose support

LONDON British Prime Minister Theresa May put her Brexit troubles aside July 17 to open the Farnborough Airshow with a speech promising increased spending on research and technology and a possible deal to raise performance in the local aerospace sector. But industry executives are hoping she will approve a similar deal for the defense sector. May's Brexit respite was only temporary, as her defense procurement minister, Guto Bebb, resigned Monday night to vote against government changes involving the hardening British terms for leaving the European Union. That has no impact on the British government and industry working together in a number of high-tech sectors or the pulling together of deals to improve productivity and competitiveness as part of a wider economic prosperity effort. Aerospace and defense both massive contributers to the British economy in terms of jobs, technology and exports are among the sectors negotiating agreements with the government's business and strategy department. The company CEO singled out the Galileo satellite program as a "catalyst" to keeping U.K.-EU cooperation on track. Discussions have been underway for several months on a defense sector deal to match that being proposed for aerospace. Much of that work on the industry side has been done by the Defence Growth Partnership, another industry-government initiative. Originally set up four years ago to improve British defense exports and the local skills base, the DGP has evoloved to cover wider strategic issues in defense. Industry and government officials have been working on a defense sector deal for months, and executives say it's possible a deal will emerge by the end of the year, or more likely in early 2019. DGP co-chairman Alan Cook said the two sides are working on a deal that will involve both sides commiting to tackling barriers to growth and to increasing competiveness. Cook said the work was more or less complete. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, "We are not quite there with the defense sector deal, but we are pretty close. I think we will be ready by the end of the year to get going on this," he said. May's Farnborough announcements included a commitment to jointly fund alongside industry 343 million U.S. 454 million in investments toward research and development projects, such as environmentally friendly aircraft. Some of the projects will be dual use so the benefits will flow through to the defense aerospace sector. Airbus executives have warned about a possible withdrawal from the U.K. of its wing-building activities in the event the government fails to secure a satisfactory trade deal with the EU when Britain exits the organization. The spending pledge was an opportunity for the government to get on the good side of the country's key industrial sectors. However, it wasn't the civil research spending that got top billing. May also announced the launch of Britain's combat air strategy at about the same time Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson was taking the wraps of a full-scale model of the proposed Tempest combat jet at the BAE Systems pavilion. BAE, Leonardo, MBDA and Rolls-Royce have all signed up to further development of the Tempest, with a target of flying a demonstrator by 2025. The combat air strategy outlines the way the U.K. will acquire future capability to maximize the overall value to industry and the military. A long-awaited defense space strategy is expected to be released later this year, while a national shipbuilding strategy for warships is already in place. All of these initiatives, however, are overshadowed by what could be the imminent publication of the defense modernisation program. The program, which is basically a defense review, will likely bring big changes to military capabilities and priorities against a background of changing threats and major budget shortfalls.

Hybrid warfare in the Middle East

Special operations commanders cover a range of threats in the Middle East for attendees of MESOC in Amman, Jordan.

Infantry Officer Course lowers requirement for hikes

Faced with towering attrition rates, the Marine Corps has steadily modified its grueling Infantry Officer Course changes that top Marines say are not attempts to water down standards, but to more accurately replicate today's real-world requirements. Recent changes include the number of evaluated hikes required to pass the course, and the removal of the physically demanding Combat Endurance Test as a strict requirement to graduate. Under the new requirements, only three of those nine hikes will be evaluated, and Marines will have to pass all three evaluated hikes in order to graduate. The condition that Marines at IOC participate in nine hikes remains unchanged. Under the previous rules six of those hikes were evaluated, and Marines had to pass five of those six evaluated hikes. The Corps in recent years has struggled to meet its goals in graduating an adequate number of new infantry officers. Attrition rates reached as high as 25 percent in 2014. But since implementing the new modifications, last year the Corps hit its target for the first time since 2008, Brig. Gen. Jason Q. Bohm, the commanding officer of Marine Corps Training Command, told reporters at a roundtable discussion Friday. The Corps argues the changes made to the hikes more accurately reflect standards outlined in the Marine Corps infantry training and readiness manual standards that undergo a formal evaluation every three years. The recent increase in graduation rate is also attributable to a newly added IOC preliminary course at The Basic School that helps better prepare future infantry leaders for the physically and mentally demanding challenges at IOC. That course starts two months before newly commissioned officers graduate from The Basic School. Marine officials contend The new course has been successful in reducing injuries at IOC. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Get the Marine Corps Times Daily News Roundup, Attrition rates under 10 percent are considered acceptable, but Bohm said he would like to see those numbers at 5 percent or below. , "That was a principal driver behind us making modifications to the course," Bohm said. But, he argues, "it was not about lowering attrition, it was about making students more successful to complete the course." , The Corps has come under criticism regarding the notoriously grueling 13-week infantry course that so far has only seen one woman successfully graduate. But most washouts from the IOC are men only 35 women have attempted the course, and only five of those have attended the IOC after the job field was opened to women. A retired Army colonel asks how often Marine infantry officers carry 152-pound loads in combat, as they are required to do at Infantry Officers Course. The recent changes, the Corps argues, have nothing to do with gender integration in the combat arms job fields or a watering down of any standards. , "Technically what we have done is we have modified graduation requirements, but we actually tie our requirements now more to the TR Marine infantry training and readiness manual standards." , While the Corps has modified graduation requirements to accurately reflect the infantry manual, Marines attending the course will still have to participate in all the events. , One of the evaluated hikes was changed to meet gender-neutral standards referred to as Military Occupational Specialty Specific Performance Standards, or MSPS, Bohm said. The 2015 NDAA called for the service branches to draft gender-neutral standards as the services began gender integration into the combat jobs previously closed to women. That hike that was changed is the 15-km hike, which must be completed within three hours while humping 105 lbs of kit and weapons. , The other two hikes evaluated for graduation purposes are a 7-mile hike carrying 95 lbs and a 9-mile hike carrying 105 lbs. , The hikes are "progressive in both distance and weight," Bohm said. , But the Corps has struggled to adequately explain how its changes to the IOC are not an attempt to make the course easier, especially if one of the intended goals is to increase graduation numbers. , The Corps temporarily increased infantry course standards in 2012 when it made made passing the CET a graduation requirement. That change was made to reflect an operational shift to a more physically demanding operating environment, according to Bohm. The CET was first introduced in 1994, but was only a graduation requirement from 2012 to November 2017. In 2012 the Corps was changing how its forces operated on the ground. In Iraq, Marines were primarily vehicle mounted, but in Afghanistan "they were now fighting in mountainous terrain, foot mobile, carrying loads in austere conditions. So that started to modify the physical expectations of what we required," Bohm said. , The Corps has since made gradual modifications over the past two years to help boost graduation rates. While far fewer Marines are deployed to Afghanistan, the Corps is now prepping for a major confrontation with more capable adversaries like Russia and North Korea, where the climate and terrain may be more physically taxing than anything Marines have fought in since the Korean War. "The course is as hard as it's ever been. We did not do away with any training events," Bohm said. , But, the Corps did make a major modification to one of its most grueling hikes known as the weapons company and weapons platoon hike. Previously, Marines had to conduct a single file forced march carrying heavy and medium weapon systems that could weigh anywhere from 125 lbs-150 lbs. , "There was a lot of angst about our students having to carry 150 lbs," Bohm said. , Now the hike is done as a tactical displacement, where Marines practice bounding during a simulated attack. The Marines are no longer required to single-handedly carry all 125-150 lbs, and can pass the weight off to a buddy as they tire. , Bohm argues that this modification better reflects operational reality. Marines spread load heavy weapon systems during marches, no single Marine ever carries the weight of the heavy weapon systems themselves. That weight is passed throughout the platoon or company throughout the hike. To now graduate from IOC, Marine officers will need to

Japans potential buy of 100 more F35s would have big international significance

WASHINGTON and MELBOURNE, Australia Japan is reportedly interested in buying another 100 F-35s, including a version of the aircraft that could allow it to operate from its Izumo-class destroyers. If it does, aerospace experts expect that the massive deal will have reverberations beyond Japan, or even beyond China. Japanese news outlet Nikkei, which first reported the potential deal, said the Japanese government would purchase a mix of the conventional F-35A as well as the F-35B, the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing version of the jet. A Dec. 5 Mainichi Shimbun article said Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party had come to an agreement with one of its coalition partners in the National Diet to buy 99 F-35s to replace some of the country's aging F-15s. Japanese Defense Ministry officials have said they are studying whether the F-35B could operate from its Izumo-class helicopter destroyers, including what would be needed to convert the two existing ships to be able to accommodate the F-35 and how much it would cost. The Izumo class is comprised of two ships, the Izumo and Kaga, which are the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's largest ships. The clock is ticking on Japan's Phantom fighters as the country prepares to draw down use of the Cold War-era jet. Three experts Doug Birkey of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, John Venable of the Heritage Foundation and Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group agreed the buy would first and foremost send a message to China. "The Japanese are living in a very, very challenging environment, and it's one in which they don't ever want to go to outright combat," Birkey said. "The only way, then, to deal with that and still defend their principle interest is to deter the Chinese and have a robust force, and that's where the elements of what fifth-gen aircraft bring to the table are essential.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Military Space Report, Having "B" models that could operate from ships would "complicate a potential adversary's targeting faculties" by creating a more diverse set of problems for China such as fighters that aren't dependent on terrestrial runways and added firepower around Japanese surface vessels, Venable said. Aboulafia called the prospect "intriguing" and said the development would allow Japan to have a more muscular and assertive foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific region. But even beyond that, a larger Japanese buy could soften any industrial blowback that comes from forcing Turkey out of the F-35 program, Venable said. The U.S. government is considering removing Turkey from the program over its planned purchase of the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft system, although a final decision has not been made. As a partner on the F-35, Turkish industry is expected to rake in about 12 billion over the program's life, according to Lockheed Martin. While those contracts would still need to be renegotiated with other companies, a Japanese buy of 100 planes would neutralize the loss of the 100 planes Turkey plans to buy. "I know that would be not something that Lockheed would want to endure, but if we did have to cancel that, then it would offset that pretty much on a one-to-one basis," Venable said. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force is continuing to train more pilots, maintainers and other support personnel on the Lockheed Martin F-35A fighter jet. A larger Japanese F-35 purchase would also be hugely advantageous to the United States, Birkey said. Not only does it give the Japanese military options for more cooperation with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, but the F-35's sophisticated sensor suite and data-fusion capabilities means that more data can be collected around the Asia-Pacific and shared with other partners. "The information piece on these aircraft is really important because it is a huge region. And so the ability to understand when and where you need to be to net the desired effect and understand the environment in real time, it's huge," he said. "So the ability to gather the data, to process it, to fuse it and share it with your teammates is really good.", The domestic outlook for more Japanese F-35s, Japan has already committed to buying 42 F-35As and received its first Joint Strike Fighter in 2016. If it does come down in favor of purchasing the F-35B, it will be the third foreign nation to do so, following the United Kingdom and Italy. Shigeyuki Uno, the principal deputy director of the defense planning and programming division of Japan's Ministry of Defense, did not confirm whether 100 planes were on the bargaining table. But he did tell Defense News that any plan to acquire more F-35s including F-35Bs is about more than military capabilities and could be a "controversial issue" domestically. More detail on the subject will be released later this year in the National Defense Program Guidelines, Uno said. In order to have the budget to buy another 100 F-35s, Japan may have to give up on its hopes of producing a homemade replacement to its F-2 fighter jets. That could tank Lockheed Martin's proposal to build a hybrid of the F-22 and F-35 in Japan, Aboulafia said. "It doesn't completely kill it, but it makes it extremely unlikely. I mean, let's look a the requirement here," he said. "You've got the present 42 F-35s on order, then you've got the F-15 and F-2 replacement requirement. This 100 F-35s takes sic care of that F-2 replacement requirement. There is still a question of the F-15 replacement requirement, but that keeps getting pushed down the road.", Lockheed Martin declined to discuss the specific discussions occurring behind the scenes among itself, Japan and the U.S. government on the prospect of further sales. "While we have not been officially notified of an increased order, as always, we will support our U.S. and Japanese government customers to ensure they can meet their current and future defense needs," it said.

Secret cellphone recording of barracks hazing leads to six NJPs and a courtmartial

A spate of aggressive room inspections and an assault in the barracks at Camp Pendleton, California, last year resulted in a punishment of at least seven noncommissioned officers for hazing-related misconduct, according to a Marine Corps investigation. The incident occurred in April 2017 when two junior ranking Marines a private first class and a lance corporal were subjected to five different room inspections in one night, according to the investigation. , It was the end of a hellish series of field day room inspections when several corporals pushed into the barracks room of the junior Marines. "Why you look like a f**king bitch? You going to f**king cry?" one corporal asked one of the junior Marines in room 353. "Boy, give him no attitude I will throw you into a f**king wall," another corporal told a private first class, according to a cellphone recording of the incident. Before the NCOs had entered the room for the final inspection, the lance corporal had decided to start recording, which he told investigators was a means to defend himself later. "Minutes before they entered the room I heard shuffling and muffled voices outside of our door and proceeded to flip my phone upside down and record audio," the lance corporal said in a statement to an investigator. Marine Corps Times obtained a copy of the battalion-level command investigation through a Freedom of Information Act request. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, The incident involved between six to eight noncommissioned officers, most of whom were corporals, with 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group. The investigation led to a guilty plea by Marine Cpl. K.D. Lee at a November summary court-martial to "wrongfully condoning or ignoring hazing that she knew or reasonably should have known did occur," a spokesman for the 1st Marine Logistics Group previously told Marine Corps Times. Lee was reduced to lance corporal and sentenced to 60 days' restriction and forfeiture of two-thirds of one month's pay after pleading guilty. , Six other noncommissioned officers were NJP'd. , The completed investigation recommended one corporal face Article 81 conspiracy, Article 92 hazing and Article 128 assault charges. It's unclear who was accused of assault because the Marine Corps redacted from the report the names of the specific Marines involved in the incident. , The incident occurred on April 6, 2017, when Marines with Bridge and Bravo companies of the 7th Engineer Support Battalion were conducting a field day cleanliness room inspections. , During the first round of inspections a corporal passed the room, but a sergeant, inspecting the lance corporal's Service Charlies uniform, told the two junior Marines to conduct further general cleanup. A third inspection was conducted by two Bridge Company corporals who failed the room and said it would need to be reinspected. , After they left the room, the lance corporal in the tradition of the infamous lance corporal underground sent a text message to warn other Marines about the inspection. "Just got checked its Cpl. name redacted and Cpl. name redacted and Cpl. name redacted on some sort of power trip cuz he was screaming like a Bravo Company NCO and Cpl. name redacted was like some sort of passive aggressive hype man," the text said. The two inspecting corporals caught wind of the text messages, and returned to the room and failed it again. , Several other corporals, inspecting a nearby room, joined in. , Up to eight NCOs entered the room. , "He has been to 29 Palms he's a f**king salt dog," and unidentified corporal can be heard saying on the recording, which was turned over to investigators. According to a statement to investigators, one of the corporals from Bravo had pinned the private first class to the wall. "He's barely putting his hands on you. Do you know how many times that guy's been deployed and not been NJP'd and shit? He doesn't give a f**k that was a little taste of Bravo," a corporal can be heard saying on the recording, according to the investigation. , The investigation also recommended several other corporals involved in the incident be charged with hazing. , During the investigation, two corporals said "Bravo Company is known as boot camp Bravo" and that the company merely "holds Marines to a higher standard. , "Bravo company has a mentality within its non-commissioned officer corps that condones hazing," the investigation reads.

Retirement Guide Army officer wonders if injuries affect retirement decision

Army Maj. Matthew Riley is the classic example of why the decision about whether the new Blended Retirement System is a distinctly individual one. He has more than nine years of service and works as a microbiologist at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland. But because of a serious injury during a previous assignment that resulted in a permanent profile, he's concerned that in the future, he may be facing medical retirement or separation. "I've recovered enough to do my job, but one concern I have is my injury getting worse, and not making my 20 years," Riley said. "I will do this job as long as they allow me.", Riley discussed his concerns, and his financial status, with Carlos Perez Jr. a retired colonel now serving as the chief operating officer of American Armed Forces Mutual Aid Association. "The principal thing a service member has to reconcile in his or her mind is the likelihood that he or she is going to stay until retirement," Perez said. "Maj. Riley plans to stay as long as the Army will let him. In his case, let's say he serves four or five more years and is medically retired and is still eligible to receive retirement pay. That's still advantageous and probably more advantageous than the Blended Retirement System, from a purely financial point of view.", Riley was unsure how medical retirement will be treated under the Blended Retirement System. More than 1.6 million service members are eligible to make a choice between the military's legacy retirement system and the new Blended Retirement System, which goes into effect Jan. 1, "Just like the legacy retirement plans, a member retired for physical disability has the option of calculating his or her retired pay based on either longevity or disability rating" under the BRS, said Air Force Maj. Michael Odle, DoD assistant director of military compensation policy. "The processes for calculating retired pay based on a disability rating has not changed. BRS has no impact on how that is determined. If a member is rated with a 30 percent disability the retired pay would be based on a multiplier of 30 percent. Furthermore, an 80 percent, 90 percent, or 100 percent disability would still equal to a 75 percent retired pay multiplier as it does today under the legacy retirement system.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Retirement Report, It's still the same decision-making process, said Perez. "If I know today for a fact I'm going to stay to retirement, the current system is advantageous," he said. "If I know I'm absolutely not going to stay until I retire, then the Blended Retirement System does allow you to put away some money for retirement that you would otherwise not be able to.", However, the bulk of that BRS benefit requires troops to contribute to their Thrift Savings Plan. To maximize the benefit, they'd need to put in 5 percent of their base pay not an option for Riley, he said, as he faces significant student loan debt. Riley wasn't aware of the continuation pay service members get at 12 years of serviceunder BRS. According to the Defense Department's BRS calculator, his estimated payout, which would come in about 2 years if he opted into BRS, would be about 19,000. In order to get the most benefit from BRS in the future, he'd need to put most of that 19,000 into his TSP, he said, but instead, he'd probably need it more at the time, to pay off his student loans. But to receive the continuation pay under BRS, the service member must agree to serve another four years. With his uncertain medical situation, Riley questioned whether he would have to repay all or part of the continuation pay if he were unable to serve the extra four years for medical reasons. DoD guidance states that troops may have to repay all or part of the payout if they don't fulfill their commitment, but that each situation is different. "The decision whether or not to recoup any portion of the continuation pay bonus is the prerogative of the military department secretary," DoD spokesman Army Maj. Dave Eastburn said. Riley said he's leaning toward staying with the legacy system because he feels the 20 percent extra in his retirement pay will make a big difference in his quality of life. Retirement pay under both the BRS and legacy systems begins immediately upon retirement, while contributions made by the service member and by DoD to the Thrift Savings Plan can't be withdrawn before age 59 without hefty taxes and penalties. Riley has run a variety of scenarios on the DoD BRS calculator. "I looked at everything from the best BRS payout to the most realistic scenario and was amazed to find that all but one showed significant advantages and long-term benefits in the legacy system," he said. "The calculation that showed the best BRS benefit was putting in the highest TSP, with a high rate of return, with 50 percent of my continuation pay back into the TSP.", He said the comparison totals aren't as important to him as the amount he would receive each year after retirement, which is also laid out in the DoD calculator. In all options, he said, "the BRS doesn't even come close to matching the legacy monthly payments until around 14 years post-retirement.", While he's single now, if he later marries and has children, "personally, I worry that my financial need will be greatest right around retirement age.", If Riley has his wish, he'll keep working as a microbiologist in the Army and serve for 30 years. If he leaves after 20, when he's 46, his calculations are that his pension would be about 15,000 more a year under the legacy retirement system. "Thinking where I'll be in my life right then, would I rather have that 15,000 then?" he asked. "Yes.",

DSCA head looking at creating security cooperation university among other ideas

WASHINGTON The new head of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency is seriously considering the creation of a security cooperation university, as he looks for ways to speed the famously deliberate foreign military sales system. Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, who took over DSCA in August, is intrigued by expanding the current education options for those in the security cooperation world into "a genuine university, a security cooperation university if you will.", Hooper said he has been studying how the Defense Acquisition University was stood up and how it has evolved as a potential model for this new venture, which he described as a place that would "not only provide courses for people going to the field, but a genuine font of learning and knowledge, specifically focused on security cooperation. And we've already taken steps in that direction.", The issue was raised at the annual AUSA conference Oct. 10, where Hooper appeared as part of a broader panel on building allied capabilities and was asked about his near-term areas of focus. The long-awaited sale of F-16 fighter jets to Bahrain has helped set a new annual record in weapon sales cleared by the U.S. State Department. One major one is education of the workforce, something that Hooper's predecessor, Vice Adm. Joseph Rixey had also made a priority. That is easier said than done, however, with Hooper noting that his office could not provide an actual number of how many people work in the career field. "We just didn't know. So the first step that we've taken is, to go out and conduct what we call a data call,' to identify the population of people who are actually working in security cooperation, so that we can start to determine how many people we have, where they are, how we would craft a career field in order to move forward and create that cadre of security cooperation professionals," he said. His other near-term priority involves ensuring greater dialogue between DSCA and the service components, in order to align priorities with the services and combatant commands. As a result, Hooper's office is now hosting monthly meetings with stakeholders in order to make sure "we're all on the same page and we all have the same information.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, Both those changes will likely be welcome to industry and allied nations, both of which routinely complain that the American system for foreign weapon sales moves too slowly. Speaking to reporters after the panel, Hooper articulated what he sees as the five big-picture challenges that could be done differently in order to speed the process up. The first is working early with partners on defining requirements before a request is submitted, something those familiar with the FMS process often highlight as a key early issue. After all, if a country is going to be disallowed from purchasing a piece of equipment, there is no point in letting them ask for it and then starting that process. In addition, countries often do not know what piece of American gear would be best for a specific mission set. Second is looking at what Hooper called "non-standard, non-programs of record requests, special requests," with the DSCA head pointing out that the various equipment in the U.S. inventory are easier to clear more quickly. The third issue is the question of technology transfer and the rules over what nations can and cannot have access too. More broadly, the fourth issue is what Hooper called "policy and politics," which he said he is "continuing to take a look at.", "Often there are policy dimensions of our security cooperation programs and those are issues that must be taken into consideration as we look to improve the security cooperation processes and reform security cooperation," Hooper said. The final issue is industrial capacity, or as he put it, "making sure that our industrial partners have sufficient heads up so that they can fulfill whatever requirement are identified by our partners and we can get it to them as quickly as possible.", Overall, Hooper said he is trying to drill down in those five focus areas, with an "eye towards how can we collectively address those to make our efforts more efficient, more effective, and more agile and responsive."

US India and Japan launch joint naval exercises to keep China in check

NEW DELHI The navies of the United States, India and Japan have begun war gaming in the Bay of Bengal as part of the Malabar 2017 exercise. Three aircraft carriers the USS Nimitz of the U.S. Navy, INS Vikramaditya of the Indian Navy and the JS Izumo of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force are part of the 21st edition of the exercise July 10-17, which analysts say is aimed at checking the increased Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean region. Without naming any country, Rear Adm. William Byrne, commander U.S. Strike Group 11, told reporters at Chennai that the only strategic message Malabar 2017 is sending is to "eliminate possibilities of miscalculations" and that "we are together." Gurpreet Khurana, Indian Navy captain and executive director of the National Maritime Foundation, said, "Malabar is essentially a combined endeavor between India and the U.S. now expanded to Japan to translate their national-strategic convergences in the Indo-Pacific region into functional maritime-military collaboration." "The thrust of the exercises at sea this year would be on aircraft carrier operations, air defense, anti-submarine warfare ASW, surface warfare, visit board search and seizure VBSS, search and rescue, joint manoeuvres and tactical procedures," according to the official release of the Ministry of Defence. The Indian Navy is being represented by the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya with its air wing, guided missile destroyer Ranvir, stealth frigates Shivalik and Sahyadri, anti-submarine warfare corvette Kamorta, missile corvettes Kora and Kirpan, one Russian-made Sindhughosh-class submarine, fleet tanker INS Jyoti and U.S.-made long-range maritime patrol aircraft P8I. The U.S. Navy has fielded the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier with its air wing, Ticonderoga-class cruiser Princeton Arleigh Burke-class destroyers Kidd, Howard and Shoup along with integral helicopters a Los Angeles-class attack submarine and one long-range maritime patrol aircraft P-8A. The Japanese have fielded their JS Izumo, a helicopter carrier, with SH-60K helicopters and missile destroyer JS Sazanami. Beginning in 1992, the Malabar exercise was a bilateral sea exercise between India and the U.S. until 2015, when it became trilateral after the formal inclusion of Japan. In 2007, the exercise included five nations, with Japan, Australia and Singapore as invitees, Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, However, China made a diplomatic opposition to the extended exercise, after which it was restricted only to Indo-U.S. bilateral exercise until 2015, when Japan officially joined. "Unlike India, Japan and the U.S. Australia has not made its strategic priorities clear in terms of its commitment to join the three in 'moderating' China's increasingly assertive behavior," said Khurana. Making a case for Australia to join the exercise, Khurana said, "Cooperation with Australia is very important to India for good order in the Indian Ocean. Hence, it's very professional navy would be among the foremost choices for inclusion in Malabar, provided the aforesaid ambiguity with regard to China is addressed.", "The Malabar exercises come at a time when India, the U.S. and Japan have serious concerns on the dramatic growth and deployment of the Chinese Navy," said Probal Ghosh, retired Indian Navy Captain and independent defense analyst. "India is concerned about the large deployment of Chinese submarines, warships and tankers in the Indian Ocean," Ghosh added.

This is why A10s have been training to land on highways near Russia

The U.S. Air Force's A-10 Thunderbolts and special tactics airmen have been practicing rough landings on improvised runways in the Baltic countries this month. , In early June, A-10s from the Michigan Air National Guard's 107th Fighter Squadron and combat controllers from the 321st Special Tactics Squadron practiced landings and take-offs from rural highways and abandoned runways in Latvia and Estonia. The airmen were training as part of Saber Strike 18, an annual NATO exercise designed to strengthen the alliance's capabilities across Europe. , The practice of landing both airlift and close-air support platforms on improvised runways has been a long-standing capability in the Air Force's arsenal. These rough landings give aircraft access to areas that lack conventional airports, Maj. David Dennis, director of operations for the 107th Fighter Squadron, said. "The assumption is that the enemy is going to immediately destroy known airfields, so the A-10 has been tasked with being able to forward deploy into areas that are a little bit more austere whether they're known airfields, riverbeds or old highways," Dennis said in a squadron video release. Combat controllers from Air Force Special Tactics Squadrons can parachute onto the improvised airfields in advance of an aircraft's arrival. From there, they direct air traffic, set up forward refueling points, and control airstrikes in support of friendly forces in the area. , Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Air Force Times Daily News Roundup, Only recently, however, have A-10s returned in force to Europe for rough landing operations. In June 2016, during that year's Saber Strike exercise, A-10s landed on a highway in Estonia for the first time in 32 years. Then again, in August 2017, A-10s practiced on another Estonian highway in the north of the country. The training iterations are becoming a yearly necessity. , The A-10, with its wide, rugged tires and high ground clearance, is adept at these types of landings and takeoffs, Dennis said. , "The reason why the A-10 can do this ... is because it was designed to do this," Dennis said. "Landing gear, all the way up to the high bypass engines that sit above the airplane, all of that is specifically designed so the airplane is not just survivable but can operate in this austere environment.", In photos and videos of the event, the Air Force explained that the operations are designed to protect Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all members of the NATO alliance that collectively border Russia and close Russian ally Belarus. , Since Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014, the Baltic states have feared a similar action against their own border regions. , "The region is of rising importance in the context of Europe's changing security order," NATO researchers wrote in a 2016 review of the alliance's defense strategy. , Military exercises in the Baltic states, dubbed NATO's "eastern flank," are a key avenue through which deterrence and defense can be boosted. "The number of major exercises conducted by NATO fully encompassing the land, sea and air power of its Allies in the Baltic Sea region should be increased," NATO researchers wrote. "With Russia conducting snap' military exercises numbering 30,000-80,000 troops proximate to Baltic borders since the onset of the Ukraine crisis, the previous NATO exercises that have taken place in the region, such as the 6,000-strong Steadfast Jazz in November 2013, now seem rather modest."

Army Looks to Accelerate AirandMissile Defense Programs

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- The Army is taking a hard look at the possibility of accelerating some existing air-and-missile defense programs to keep pace with emerging threats, according to service leaders speaking Tuesday at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium.Army Space and Missile Defense Command Commander Lt. Gen. David Mann and other senior leaders in missile defense presented the Army vice chief of staff last month with some materiel and non-materiel solutions and recommendations to bridge current AMD capability gaps over the next five years, said Rick DeFatta, the director of the Capability Development and Integration Directorate at the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command's Future Warfare Center.Mann told the same audience at the symposium that the Army senior leadership is really concerned about "what can you do for me now, what can you do for me tonight based upon the threats that we are facing and so there is a great sense of urgency about looking at what we can do right now."According to a slide shown at the conference, the Army is looking specifically at the possibility of accelerating the Indirect Fire Protection Capability IFPC program as well as the Army's command-and-control element of its future air-and-missile defense system called the Integrated Battle Command System IBCS.The IFPC program is being developed in stages with the first version designed to defend against unmanned aircraft systems as well as other air threats such as rotary wing helicopters. The second phase of the program would add the capability to defend against rockets, artillery and mortars.The Northrop Grumman-made IBCS is expected to reach initial operational capability in 2019. Then the Army will integrate sensors and shooters to create a full missile defense system.Some of the desired capabilities the Army needs now is 360-degree defense against missile threats, the ability to counter unmanned aircraft, better threat classification and discrimination, protection against electronic attack and integrated fire control, the slide lists.Army missile defense leaders are also recommending the service invest further in directed energy efforts, focus on surveillance capabilities for applicable combatant commands and continue to sustain investments in the AMD modernization strategy, according to the slide.Congress and leaders throughout the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Army are looking "very closely" at directed energy, Mann noted, adding right after he was done briefing the vice chief last month, he asked for a directed energy information paper.In terms of non-materiel solutions, the Army is recommending using Short Range Air Defense SHORAD Avengers to support combatant command exercises and Combat Training Center rotations.The service is also thinking about increasing Army missile defense command and integrated air and missile defense force structure, according to Mann.The Army will move forward on its C-UAS strategy and implement supporting training plans at the Centers of Excellence, at home station and at CTC rotations as well as updating tactics, techniques and procedures.Mann added electronic warfare is another area receiving a lot of interest in terms of "how do we ensure that our sensors are able to provide the data that is necessary to prosecute a threat and what I mean by that is if you are able to blind some of our exquisite sensors, whether its Patriot or whatever, that is not a good thing, so there is a lot of interest in looking at passive sensors that basically provide the threat with a lot more challenges in defeating our sensor capability."Email [email protected] @JenJudson

A congressional perspective on the Fitzgerald McCain collisions Commentary

Unfortunately, the tragic collisions of both the U.S. Navy destroyers Fitzgerald off the coast of Japan and John S McCain near Singapore were preventable. Since these incidents, Congress and the Navy have worked together to assess why these collisions occurred and, more importantly, determine what fundamentally needs to happen to ensure they do not occur again. This is a time to step back and truly reassess the Navy's surface warfare community, implement necessary changes and end some current, failing practices. Constitutionally, Congress maintains an important oversight role for all executive departments, including the Department of the Navy. Therefore, in response to the Fitzgerald and McCain collisions, I held a joint hearing of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, of which I am the chairman, and of the Readiness Subcommittee to receive testimony from Navy leadership. At that hearing in September, Adm. Bill Moran, vice chief of naval operations, and Rear Adm. Ron Boxall, director of surface warfare, confirmed a few broader themes that have plagued the Navy for years. First, operational demands around the world continue to grow, but the Navy's size remains the same or diminishes. Second, while forward-deployed naval forces ships home-ported outside of the United States provide increased global presence, they also assume more risk in training opportunities due to their high operational tempos. Third, the Navy does not receive the resources it needs, namely money and time, to properly conduct maintenance on ships and fully train sailors. Then in early November, Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, briefed a second joint meeting, comprised of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee and the Readiness Subcommittee, on the outcomes of two investigations one specifically on the McCain and Fitzgerald collisions and the other on problems more broadly throughout the 7th Fleet. As CNO Richardson talked through the timeline of events and answered questions from my colleagues and me, it became evident that each ship's leaders and watch standers made a series of poor decisions in the hours, as well as moments, prior to their respective collisions. With respect to the comprehensive review conducted under the direction of Adm. Philip Davidson, the commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, CNO Richardson acknowledged significant training and readiness shortfalls and offered a multitude of recommendations to rectify them. CNO Richardson organized these recommendations to the surface warfare community into three categories actions that are currently in progress actions that will take months to implement and actions that will require further study before possible implementation. While I applaud the efforts the Navy has taken so far, including keeping Congress informed of progress, I think many of the numerous recommendations in the comprehensive review only address the symptoms of the problem rather than the root causes. At the most basic level, we have warships valued in the billions of dollars with critical national security missions being led and driven by officers and sailors that, through no fault of their own, lack adequate training. In fact, because of the talented individuals in our Navy, crews are often able to learn on the job and overcome training deficiencies. But this is neither an ideal nor a sustainable model. Navy officialdom admits to widespread failures at the core of its most basic function safely operating ships at sea. We, the Navy and Congress, need to look past some of the bullet-point fixes and look at the total problem. For instance, I don't believe we should add more high-level billets to oversee tasks that should have already been handled by existing staff. Creating more bureaucracy often doesn't fix a problem. Further, adding a week or two of training to existing classes like the Basic Division Officer Course and the Advanced Division Officer Course isn't going to fix the lack of ship-handling skills demonstrated by the recent rash of ship collisions and groundings. If we want to improve ship-driving skills, let's provide an actual training experience on a ship rather than in a simulator, and let's consider outside, independent credentialing. We should consider having ensigns spend a year on a merchant ship and obtain their third mate's license before stepping foot on a U.S. warship. This would ensure they have been trained, observed and tested under one set of standards in basic mariner watch standing before getting to their gray-hulled ship. A sailor's first experience in ship driving should not be on the bridge of a Navy warship in a real-world scenario. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Navy Times Daily News Roundup, We too often find that our surface warfare officers, or SWO, are jacks of all trades but masters of none this needs to change. At their basic core, SWOs should be competent and proficient ship handlers. When we look to the Navy's other core warfare communities aviation and submarines most will tell you the best pilots in the world are naval aviators and that U.S. submariners are the best at operating nuclear-powered submarines. However, when it comes to ship handling, a host of groups will line up to debate who is the best. Currently, there are organizations that are better at driving ships than SWOs there needs to be no debate on this. U.S. Navy SWOs need to have the same rigor in ship handling that we expect from the other communities in their respective craft. Further, let's take a look at how other communities develop their professionals. The idea of borrowing a proven pipeline from other communities is not uncommon to Navy leadership. For instance, I applaud the surface community's recent development of their warfare tactics instructors, or WTI junior officers who have been selected to focus on advanced war-fighting tactics within a specific warfare area. The development of SWO WTIs was directly adapted from the Navy's Top Gun school for pilots. Naval aviators learned their lessons about eroded aerial tactics in the late 1960s, but it took the surface community until 2015 to realize there were deficiencies in their tactics. The same parallel exists now with ship driving. From the reviews I've read and the briefings I've attended, it is clear the Navy is taking the Fitzgerald and McCain collisions seriously and working to make changes. I want to ensure we are making the right changes to fix the root cause of the problem. Congress will need to work with the Navy to provide the right funding for readiness and training, and I stand ready to do so with many of my colleagues. From these unfortunate incidents, let's ensure we build a better, safer and more capable Navy. My colleagues and I will continue to demand from the Navy their overall action plan, including timelines, to address these tragedies, and we will require direct information on the progress of their plan every 90 days.

The lightattack aircraft competition will be down to two competitors

WASHINGTON The U.S. Air Force is preparing to begin buying light-attack aircraft next year and the winner is going to be either Textron's AT-6 Wolverine or the Sierra Nevada Corp.-Embraer A-29 Super Tucano. According to a pre-solicitation posted on FedBizOpps on Aug. 3, the service will put out a final request for proposals to the two competitors in December with the hopes of awarding a contract by the end of September 2019. However, Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told Defense News on Monday that service leaders have not yet made a final decision on whether to greenlight a program of record. Should that happen, the pre-solicitation will ensure that the service can move as quickly as it would like to eventually procure new planes, she said. If the new weapons program moves forward, it appears the service will limit the competition to the two aircraft currently involved in the service's light-attack experiment. The pre-solicitation states that SNC and Textron Aviation "are the only firms that appear to possess the capability necessary to meet the requirement within the Air Force's time frame without causing an unacceptable delay in meeting the needs of the warfighter.", The Air Force's decision to only consider the A-29 and AT-6 had been foreshadowed by officials' rhetoric, like that of Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, its top uniformed acquisition officer, who repeatedly stated that the service would likely limit a competition to those two participants. "The whole way we got to where we're at, we put out an invitation to participate, and we only had two that met all of the criteria that we were looking for," Bunch said in July. "We experimented with those, and they performed well enough that we did another phase, and those are the only two that we invited in for phase two. So at this point right now I'm seeing it as a competition between two airplanes.", Foreign defense companies want a piece of OA-X, but they could be too late. However, the determination pours cold water on several potential competitors who either didn't make it to the second phase of the experiment like the AT-802L Longsword built by L3 Technologies and Air Tractor or foreign firms like Czech aerospace manufacturer Aero Vodochody or South Africa's Paramount Group, which had hoped the U.S. Air Force would run a full and open competition. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Military Space Report, Air Force officials in favor of buying new light-attack aircraft believe investing in low-cost, off-the-shelf planes will yield long-term cost savings, as those aircraft will be able to accomplish low-end missions at a lower cost per flight hour compared to the fourth- and fifth-generation fighters currently operating in the Middle East. "We must develop the capacity to combat violent extremism at lower cost," Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said in a statement released Monday afternoon. "Today's Air Force is smaller than the nation needs and the light attack aircraft offers an option to increase the Air Force capacity beyond what we now have in our inventory or budget.", Service leaders are also hopeful that if the U.S. Air Force signs on to buy light-attack planes, other countries engaged in the counterterrorism fight may also join in on the buy, lowing the price per plane for all customers and making it easier for their militaries to cooperate during coalition missions. "It is important to look at the light attack aircraft through the lens of allies and partners," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein said in a statement. "An interoperable light attack aircraft that delivers common architecture and intelligence-sharing network capabilities will enhance our collective ability to compete, deter and win across all domains.", The pre-solicitation release follows the conclusion of the final leg of experiments between the AT-6 and A-29. Both planes began a series of flight demonstrations at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, in May. An attack aircraft revival may be coming soon to the Air Force. However, after an A-29 crash resulted in the death of a naval aviator flying the plane, the Air Force canceled the rest of the planned flights. A spokeswoman said then that about 90 percent of the flying portion of the experiment had been completed before the mishap. Since then, Textron and SNC have submitted additional maintenance data to the Air Force. Michael Rambo, Textron's director of defense sales, said the company had delivered most of the required information as of July 14 and that it was standing by to hear whether it could provide any further support, as the Air Force conducted additional tests of a network on which the light-attack aircraft would run. "The airplanes that we had out there were very successful in demonstrating some of that network capability, so as the Air Force continues to refine it, we're standing ready to assist them in that refinement," he said.

India cleared to buy protection system for Boeing VIP aircraft

WASHINGTON The U.S. State Department on Wednesday cleared the government of India to purchase two Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures Self-Protection Suites SPS for a pair of Boeing-made 777 aircraft. The systems, which come with an estimated 190 million price tag, will be used for "head of state" aircraft. India is in the process of procuring two Boeing 777-300ER jets for VIP transport. The proposed sale will "support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to strengthen the U.S.-Indian strategic relationship and to improve the security of a major defensive partner which continues to be an important force for political stability, peace, and economic progress in the Indo-Pacific and South Asia region," a statement on the website of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said. "The SPS will facilitate a more robust capability into areas of increased missile threats.", How U.S. lawmakers handle stiff Russia sanctions that inadvertently target India and other allies will be a test of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' clout on Capitol Hill. Included in the SPS package are infrared and electronic warfare countermeasures suites, countermeasure dispensing systems, and missile warning sensors, along with a variety of assemblies and associated technical support. Work will primarily be done at Boeing's Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, facilities. Industrial offsets are expected, but the details will be defined at a later date. DSCA notifications do not represent final sales if cleared by the Senate, the potential sale enters negotiations, meaning dollar totals and quantities can change. The notification is the first Foreign Military Sale cleared for India since last June. There had been concerns that India may be barred from buying more equipment under the anti-Russian law CAATSA, or the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act however, supporters of India in the U.S. government are working on a waiver process, given India's increased importance for American interests in the Pacific.

Mattis Deployorgetout rule is about fairness

WASHINGTON New rules requiring members of the military to be able to deploy or get out were put in place to ensure fairness in deployment rates, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said. "You're either deployable, or you need to find something else to do. I'm not going have some people deploying constantly and then other people, who seem to not pay that price, in the U.S. military," Mattis told reporters Feb. 17 in his first comments on the issue since the new policy was formally introduced. "If you can't go overseas and carry a combat load, then obviously someone else has got to go. I want this spread fairly and expertly across the force.", Under new rules first reported on by Military Times, military members who have been non-deployable for the past 12 months or more will be separated from the military. , Approximately 11 percent, or 235,000, of the 2.1 million personnel serving on active duty, in the reserves or National Guard are currently non-deployable, Command Sgt. Maj. John Troxell, the senior enlisted adviser to Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford, told Military Times earlier this month. Of that total non-deployable force, Troxell said, about 99,000 are on that list for administrative reasons, such as not having all their immunizations or their required dental exams. About 20,000 are not deployable due to pregnancy, and 116,000 are not deployable due to either short- or long-term injuries. In discussing why he felt this policy was needed, Mattis said he felt it was no longer fair to ask healthy warfighters to carry the load for others, particularly due to the stress on military families from multiple deployments. "They need time at home, they need time with their families. We may enlist soldiers, but we re-enlist families. That's the way it is. If you can't keep the family together, then you're either going to lose the family or you're going to lose the soldier, and that's a net loss for our society and for our military," he said. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, Mattis stressed that those who were injured in the field would be exempt from the new policy, saying "we'll find a place to use them. That's a special category. They've earned that special status." But for everyone else, either you have to be able to meet the requirements, or it's time for you to go. However, the secretary did acknowledge that the failure to meet deployability requirements is not always on the individual. The classic example is a situation where someone was unable to get a dental appointment quickly enough and hence did not meet the requirements. And so, Mattis' message is not just to the troops, but to those in charge make sure bureaucracy doesn't get in the way, and make every option available for those who need to get certain checks done. As an example, he imagined a scenario of "a base where everyone is dentally fully qualified, and they have a fort 200 miles away that's not, bring down the dentist and get them qualified.", "This isn't all somebody screwed up,'" he said. "The services have got to make certain they are working on deployability."

Do your homework on militaryfriendly real estate agents

Military families moving to or from areas with high concentrations of service members will have no problem finding real-estate support from agents boasting "military-friendly" service. Like most advertising claims, these should be vetted as much as possible when you select the person who will help you buy or sell something as important as a house. Kathleen Ricketts, a Realtor based in the Chicago suburbs and an instructor with the National Association of Realtors' Military Relocation Professional program, offered some tips on checking out prospective agents. 1. Be direct. Don't be satisfied with claims of expertise skip the fluff and simply ask the agent how many deals he or she has done involving VA loans, or permanent change-of-station moves, or whatever situation you're in, Ricketts said. While experience isn't a guarantee of future success, it does make it more likely that the agent has overcome typical problems with VA loan processing or other concerns in the past. There is no "right answer" when it comes to how many cases you need to become an expert it may vary by location, demand, years in the business, and other factors. However, Ricketts said a military-focused Realtor should do at least 10 VA-related deals a year. 2. Be demanding. "I tell agents that if you do get a spouse coming in, they're going to be PCS-ing, it's all hands on deck," Ricketts said. "That means you clear your schedule as an agent. And you are there, 24-7, for them, because they have such a limited time to come in." , Good agents will treat PCS moves "very similar to a corporate relocation, except it's on steroids," Ricketts said. That means assisting outside regular business hours and doing as much advance work as possible before the client arrives for home-scouting. If your agent won't commit to such a schedule, or if early returns aren't promising, Ricketts said, it's best to find someone else. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up to get Breaking News email, 3. MRP 101. Ricketts admitted she might be a bit biased as an MRP instructor, but she said the program offers Realtors a crash course that will benefit their military clients. Attendees are walked through the VA loan process with an eye toward helping their customers, but also toward educating fellow agents who may steer clients away from VA-related deals based on outdated information or speculation. Ask your prospective Realtor if they've attended the class he or she may even feature an MRP certification on their website, as a way to support their "military-friendly" status.

Pompeo to visit North Korea next week with Ford exec as envoy

WASHINGTON Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday appointed a senior executive with Ford Motor Co. to be his special envoy for North Korea and said they both would visit Pyongyang next week. Pompeo announced that he had chosen Stephen Biegun to handle day-to-day negotiations with the North over dismantling its nuclear weapons program. , Pompeo has been leading the effort for President Donald Trump and has already made three trips to Pyongyang since April, although there have been few visible signs of progress in the talks. The commander of U.S. forces in South Korea said Wednesday that he's cautiously optimistic nuclear diplomacy will work out with North Korea. But he also said Seoul and Washington must continue to apply pressure so that "there's not a reason or even an ability" for the North to back out. Biegun, Ford's vice president of international governmental affairs, was a White House staffer and aide to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice during President George W. Bush's administration. , He was also an adviser to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and was rumored to be a contender to replace H.R. McMaster as Trump's national security adviser. His appointment is the latest in a series of special envoy posts filled by Pompeo, who is seeking to tap veteran diplomats and national security officials to run delicate negotiations. , Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, Last week, he appointed the State Department's policy planning chief, Brian Hook, to run a group dedicated to Iran issues. He also named former ambassador James Jeffrey to be special representative for Syria and is expected soon to appoint another former ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, to handle issues related to Afghanistan.

Ensign commissions her 63yearold father as a Navy officer

Tyrone Krause raised his right hand Friday at Naval Station Norfolk aboard the guided-missile destroyer Ramage to take the oath to become a Navy officer at the ripe age of 63. Krause, the chief of cardio-thoracic surgery at Jersey City Medical Center, was commissioned as a commander after the Navy determined his 24 years of experience as a heart surgeon warranted a rank that typically takes 16 to 20 years to attain, the Virginian-Pilot reported. Making the commissioning experience expontentially more memorable, though, was the officer swearing him in Krause's own 27-year-old daughter, Ensign Laura Krause, who serves aboard the Ramage. The younger Krause then became the first officer her father saluted. "It feels great, I'm just going to soak it in right now," Cmdr. Krause told 13 News Now. "It's an honor to be on a Navy destroyer let alone being sworn in, by your daughter.", Cmdr. Krause obtained a waiver that allowed him to join beyond the standard age limit due to the much-needed skillset he brings, the Pilot reported. "I feel, surgically, I'm in my prime. I could still operate very well, and if I can give back and help some of our young men and women in the military, that's what I want to do.", Without his daughter becoming an officer, the elder Krause may have never considered such a unique career path. It was Ensign Krause's recruiter, after all, who discussed the Navy's shortage of qualified surgeons with the doctor, the Pilot reported. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Navy Times Daily News Roundup, A young sailor's interrogation quickly turned into a joyous occasion. , "I can't even describe to you what he means to me," Ensign Krause said. "It was because I joined that he thought it was an amazing opportunity to join.", The father-daughter duo, who once scaled Mount Kilimanjaro together, posed for photos after the commissioning and reflected on what the future holds. Cmdr. Krause will serve once a month at a Navy medical center in New Jersey, and he hopes to soon serve aboard a naval hospital ship and teach young corpsmen valuable lessons about treating trauma, the Pilot reported. "Sometimes I say to myself, How did I get into this? Why don't I just relax and sit in my backyard and drink some beer?'" Cmdr. Krause told the Pilot. "But that's not my style. I've always been on the move. And hopefully I'll always be on the move. "A lot of people in the private sector have a lot of skills they can bring to the Navy and military in general. You can be 40 years old, 50 years old and your profession may be something that's necessary...You can certainly give back."

Tillerson hopes to mend strained USTurkey ties

ISTANBUL U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Monday acknowledged severe strains in U.S.-Turkey relations, although he said he is hopeful of mending ties with the NATO ally and partner in the anti-Islamic State coalition. He also said he hoped that the U.S. and Turkey could replicate an agreement reached last week between the U.S. Russia and Jordan for a ceasefire in southwestern Syria in the north of the country. , Speaking to Turkey-based American diplomats in Istanbul, Tillerson said he believed the two countries are beginning to restore mutual trust that had been lost over the course of the last several years. He said since becoming secretary of state, he had met three times with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan including a lengthy session on Sunday night and that each time the tone of the conversation had improved. While challenges remain, Tillerson said he believed the first steps to re-establishing relations "on the proper basis" have been taken. , "I think our relationship here in Turkey which has been under some stress for some time, I hope we are beginning to put it on the mend," he said. "I think we're beginning to rebuild some of that trust that we lost in one another, they lost our trust to a certain extent, we lost theirs, so I think we are working very hard to rebuild that level of trust and that is the basis for any relationship.", "This is an extraordinarily important relationship to the United States for many, many reasons that you would well understand from a security standpoint to the future economic opportunities as well and the important geography just by luck of Mother Nature that the citizens of Turkey occupy at this crossroads of the world," Tillerson said. "So it's important for so many reasons which is why we must put the relationship on the mend, re-establish it on the proper basis and strengthen it going forward and I think we're taking the first steps in that regard.", Tensions between Washington and Ankara have been high over U.S. support for Kurdish rebels in Syria, Turkey's crackdown on dissent, particularly since last year's failed coup, and Turkish allegations the U.S. was sympathetic to the coup-plotters accusations that American officials have vehemently denied. , Turkey believes the Kurds want to establish an independent Kurdish state that would threaten its sovereignty and has vocally protested their arming by the United States in their fight against Syrian President Bashar Assad. In the meantime, the U.S. has been critical of what it sees as Erdogan backsliding on democratic principles, including human rights, in the wake of the coup attempt. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, On the potential for a ceasefire in northern Syria, Tillerson noted the arrangement that was announced on Friday at the G-20 summit in Germany. "We're making some progress down in Syria, we're hopeful that we can replicate that with Turkey on some areas in the north part of Syria," he said. "So we're going to be working hard on all those issues and I think, I hope that will also form a basis for improving the trust as well.", U.S. officials were cautious about Tillerson's optimism, noting Ankara's hardline antipathy for the Kurdish groups that Washington sees as key to destroying the Islamic State group. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the sensitive matters, said talks with the Turks were in their very early stages.

Marine F35s grounded due to software concerns

WASHINGTON F-35B joint strike fighters based at Yuma Air Station in Arizona have been temporarily grounded due to issues with a key support system.The issue centers on the stealth jet's Autonomic Logistics Information System, or ALIS, The software behind ALIS is woven through the F-35, and plays a vital role in everything from planning missions to maintenance. In April, ALIS 2.0.2 was installed on F-35A models and Navy F-35C models, but was delayed in getting out to the F-35B jump-jet variants. "Maj. Gen. Mark Wise, commanding general of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, made the decision to temporarily suspend VMFA-211 flight operations pending fixes to a recent ALIS software upgrade within version 2.0.2 that has presented some anomalies," Maj. Kurt Stahl, director of public affairs with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, wrote in a statement. "There is nothing wrong with the performance or safety of the aircraft itself, but it is imperative that we ensure the ground-based ALIS system is working properly before flight operations continue. , Stahl said that the F-35 Joint Program Office and prime contractor Lockheed Martin have dispatched engineers to help resolve these issues associated with the update, and said the issues center around "maintenance codes not being reflected properly in the system." News of the grounding was first reported by Inside the Navy. Critics of the F-35 will likely seize on the software issue as more proof that the famously delayed jet is of faulty design. The grounding comes just days after the U.S. Air Force began flying operations after a ground stop due for F-35A models at Luke Air Force Base. Those jets were grounded from June 9-21due to concerns about hypoxia among pilots. Since 2011, there have been 15 related hypoxia incidents for F-35A models five of which occurred in the last month, leading to the recent grounding. A spokesman for the U.S. Air Force said the service, which is the largest operator of the jet, said he was unaware of any software issues with the planes being flown. A spokesman for the F-35 Joint Program Office could not be reached for comment.

Veterans at center of medical marijuana legalization push

A trio of senators pushing for nationwide legalization of medical marijuana are putting veterans at the center of that effort, saying the law today prevents war heroes from getting all the care they need. The measure, which would reclassify marijuana to allow more medical use and research, is a long shot to pass the Republican-controlled House and Senate. But supporters Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. and Cory Booker, D-N.J. called the idea overdue and sorely needed, given the potential medical benefits. "Right now, veterans are prevented from getting the treatments they need to get relief from their suffering because of federal marijuana laws," Booker said at a press conference Tuesday. "Enough is enough.", Medical marijuana is legal in 23 states and the District of Columbia, and 12 additional states have laws regulating oils made from marijuana plants. But federal law still treats use and possession as a crime. Even in states where use is permitted, Veterans Affairs Department physicians are prohibited from discussing its use with patients, or from studying its potential benefits in treating problems such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Three senators have joined forces to push for wider acceptance of medical marijuana for veterans. Photo Credit AP, Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Marine Corps Times Daily News Roundup, Reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule II drug the same as medications such as methadone or oxycodone would allow more of that scientific research, especially among universities that currently won't consider experimenting with the illegal substance, Paul said. Some veterans advocates have pushed for wider research of marijuana use, given past studies on its effects in preventing seizures and pain. T.J Thompson, a disabled Navy veteran and member of Veterans For Medical Cannabis Access, said federal rules preventing VA doctors from discussing the drug hurt both veterans and the department, since it forces patients out of the system in order to understand all their options. Passing this bill, he said, could help close that gap. Gillibrand said she is hopeful other lawmakers will be persuaded to make the changes by stories of families who have seen medical improvement because of marijuana use, and start to think of the drug more like a heavily-regulated opiate than an illegal substance. The proposal would not change any rules regarding non-medical marijuana use.

The Air Force needs more special ops airmen This is how it plans to get them

The Air Force has activated a new recruiting squadron at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland's Medina Annex in Texas, focused on sourcing candidates for its special operations career fields. For the first time, a unit dubbed the 330th Recruiting Squadron will be solely dedicated to recruiting for the Air Force's ground-based combat jobs, known as battlefield airmen, and which include the pararescue, combat control, special operations weather and tactical air control party careers. The recruiting squadron, activated June 29, is being introduced alongside a new nine-week battlefield airmen preparatory course designed to better condition airmen before thrusting them into grueling, two-year training programs with attrition rates that traditionally exceed 75 percent. "The driving force behind this change is a need for more operators," Air Force Recruiting Service spokeswoman Capt. Erin Ranaweera told Air Force Times. "The attrition in the pipeline has historically drawn the most attention on this issue. However, the special operations training pipeline is rigorous because the battlefield is unforgiving, and special operators are built through years of extensive training," Ranaweera said. "The solution is to find and prepare better candidates before the pipeline begins.", The Air Force's battlefield airmen are in high demand around the world. Their footprints dot across the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia, where the different careers perform combat search and rescue, assault zone and airfield reconnaissance, and even close air support for other special operations forces. And that high operations tempo isn't expected to go away anytime soon. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Air Force Times Daily News Roundup, The multiple pipelines to train Air Force special operators vary in length. Combat control or pararescue airmen, for instance, typically take more than two years to train up and push out to a team. During those pipelines, which include training in combat diving, high altitude parachuting, combat medicine, air traffic control and survival, the teams bleed off the bulk of their candidates to self-elimination, injuries and performance failures. The other services' special operations units already have separate recruiting programs to address their high failure rates, according to Col. Claude Tudor Jr. 24th Special Operations Wing commander. "We will now have an organization on par with the Army, Navy and Marines, and how they have historically recruited and developed their special operations forces," Tudor said. "The bottom line is we need candidates with the physical and mental grit, who are bred with resilience and thrive in a challenging environment, to enter our pipeline.", The new approach marries a stricter evaluation of candidates prior to their arrival at Air Force basic training with a greater focus on mental resilience and physical strength before officially starting the pipeline. Chief Master Sgt. Joshua Smith, a 25-year veteran of pararescue, serves as the superintendent of the new preparatory course, which began a pilot program a year ago and has completed six classes of about 100 students per class. The individual careers have different attrition rates, but since the course was introduced, injuries have decreased by 30 percent and the production rate increased from 35 percent to roughly 57 percent for battlefield airmen as a whole. "The standards remain the same," Smith said. "Students can still self-eliminate any time in the pipeline, but we encourage them not to in the prep course.", "We created a course asking ourselves if it was your little brother, sister, son, daughter, whatever, what would you do to prepare them for the pipeline?" he added. Water confidence, in particular, has a steep learning curve. Underwater challenges like "buddy breathing" and "drown proofing" are difficult and dangerous for recruits to practice alone. Rather than dumping candidates into the pool to perform breath-holding tasks with instructors harassing them straight out of basic, airmen are eased into the process and taught more about their personal limits. Additionally, during the first week of the prep course, trainees receive a baseline testing of their functional movement, body composition, and even blood work. As the course proceeds, they split their time between classes on how to build rucks, nutritional science and other life skills, and working out. "We're optimizing student performance through technology," Smith said. "We have sensors hooked to students ... sometimes three at a time. We can watch what their bodies are doing and change their workouts to optimize conditioning.", Throughout the course, character attributes of students are also logged. "If we see a kid lacking professionalism or integrity, we can log that in a database. Over time, that creates a map of their personality," Smith said. Teammates also do peer reviews of one another, which is similarly added to the database. If a student fails a test or requires counseling, those personality maps can be referenced by instructors to make a decision on whether they should proceed. Although the battlefield airmen career fields are now open to women, none have completed a program so far. "The biggest issue we have is females coming into the Air Force not at the levels they need to be," Smith said. "With how long these schools are and the constant grind on the body, if they come in hitting the bare minimums, they do not make it very far because their bodies aren't able to recover that quick.", "But it's no different than the males. If they come here and don't meet the standards, they're out," Smith added. "The standard is the standard. We have proven in battle why it needs to be set so high. As long as you come in and meet that, we don't care what gender or race you are.", Something that is unique about the program the battlefield airmen careers have one of the few possibly the only gender neutral training facilities in the Department of Defense, according to Smith. "All of our students sleep in the same quarters and use the same latrines, no matter what their gender is," he said. On top of the preparatory course, the new recruiting squadron will be comprised of 96 recruiters operating in strategic locations across the country, as well as field developers civilian contractors who previously served as special operators. Recruits who have potential will work with developers before shipping out to basic training. Rather than simply passing the entry-level standards of the Physical Ability and Stamina Test for their respective career field, recruits are evaluated more closely by the contractors, who must sign off before allowing a candidate to proceed. The end result is a more thoroughly vetted trainee than what existed five years ago. "We've seen great results from the combination of the field developers and the new recruiting squadron," Smith said. "If a student needs 60 more days to train, he gets it. In the past, if a candidate met the bare minimum, he was shipping.", Poorly prepared trainees usually wither away in Air Force basic training, which isn't built to sustain the physical activity levels an operator requires. Furthermore, the developers have been known to "create tight bonds with the students they send," Smith said. "When they start the pipeline and have some challenging days, it's like a mentor. They can call them up and have that discussion about pushing through.", On top of the developers, the new 330th Recruiting Squadron serves to grab more public attention through social media, recruiting videos, and arranging for operators to make appearances at triathlons or civilian obstacle course events, like Spartan Races. "We are now sending forward the most viable candidate in probably 15 to 20 years, if not ever in history," Smith said. He added that the Air Force wants the battlefield airmen careers to hit a 70 percent production rate by 2020, reflecting the ever-growing need for the uniquely capable airmen. "The demand has never diminished," Smith said. "If anything it's higher than what it was two or three years ago.", "Special operations airmen are always embedded with other services' teams, and we have more taskings than we have airmen. Things are not calming down."

Air Force F22 Raptors are back at Kadena for the first time since 2014

F-22A Raptors this week returned to Kadena Air Base in Japan for the first time in more than three years, the Air Force said. In a release, Pacific Air Forces said that the fifth-generation fighters, aircrew and support personnel were from the 525th Fighter Squadron at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska. They are taking part in the theater security package program under the recently-renamed U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, which is intended to "signify a continued commitment to regional stability and security.", In a follow-up email, the 18th Wing at Kadena said that fourteen Raptors are deploying there. They will also train with local assigned units, the 18th said. "The theater security package deployments are requirements based, lasting as long as they are needed by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command," the 18th said. "While deployed, these squadrons execute a variety of missions, which can include ensuring access to the global commons, global situational awareness, combating piracy, active defense, and power projection.", PACAF's theater security package deployments have regularly been taking place since March 2004, the release said. The last time F-22s traveled to Okinawa, where Kadena is located, was in 2014. During that deployment, those F-22s, which were also from the 525th, took part in a bilateral November 2014 exercise with Japanese pilots called Keen Sword. They also participated in other training exercises, including exercise Foal Eagle alongside South Korean forces, that served as shows of force and deterrence to China and North Korea. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Air Force Times Daily News Roundup, The Air Force is once again offering some Korean language analysts a new selective retention bonus to convince them to stay in uniform longer. The newly-arrived F-22s are replacing F-35As, which returned to Hill Air Force Base in Utah after a six-month deployment to Kadena. The 18th Wing, the host unit at Kadena, did not say how many F-22s have been deployed there. "Combined, these deployments reinforce PACAF's commitment to the employment of fifth-generation fighter technology within the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility," the release said.

Pakistan pushed into Chinas embrace as US cuts military aid

ISLAMABAD Pakistan is being further pushed into China's embrace as a consequence of the U.S. State Department's plan to cut military aid to Islamabad, analysts agree. The U.S. decision came days after President Donald Trump's New Year's Day tweet that accused Pakistan of playing U.S. leaders for "fools," reiterating longstanding allegations that Pakistan gives safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan. "If the U.S. policy is to further isolate Washington from the mainstream world, then they are going the right way about it," said Brian Cloughley, an author, analyst and former Australian defense attache to Islamabad. "Pakistan will go even further into the Chinese embrace and very much on China's terms, of course.", Claude Rakisits, an expert on Pakistan and senior fellow at Georgetown University, believes that "given that the civilian government seems to be putting all its economic, political and strategic eggs in the Chinese basket, this will strengthen its hand vis-a-vis the military because it will be able to argue that the China card is the sure one to play.", It is actually through the prism of China, not terrorism, that analyst and former Pakistan Air Force pilot Kaiser Tufail believes Washington is acting. Regionally, "the U.S. sees hindrances in securing a permanent presence in Afghanistan so as to be a counterweight to the growing Chinese influence in the region," he said. The "U.S. wants Pakistan to oppose all political forces in Afghanistan which desire an ouster of U.S. troops from their country. These elements have been conveniently labeled as terrorists by USA, and Pakistan is being wrongly accused of supporting them," Tufail said. Essentially, Washington wants Islamabad to support U.S.-backed Afghan groups that do its bidding, and America's frustration has boiled over into halting military aid, he noted. A Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs news release issued Friday said Islamabad was "engaged with the US Administration on the issue of security cooperation.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, "Pakistan has fought the war against terrorism largely from its own resources, which has cost over 120 billion in 15 years," the release said, adding that the country is "determined to continue to do all it takes to secure the lives of our citizens and broader stability in the region.", How will the cuts impact Pakistan's military?, Despite the historically rocky bilateral relationship, Rakisits believes Pakistan's military will not welcome "diminished military ties with the U.S. because it has gained a lot out of that relationship over the years.", Cloughley, however, doubts the fiscal cuts will make much difference, "equipment-wise or even in operating costs," though he acknowledges there is "not a hope, given the present climate" of Pakistan's AH-1Z helicopter gunships being delivered, nor of any corvettes. Even if the cuts impact Pakistan's plan to acquire the Turkish T129 helicopter gunship, which uses American engines, Cloughley doesn't think the military will be overly concerned. "They'll find an alternative," he said. For better or for worse, that alternative is China, according to Tufail. And if Pakistan fills the gap with China, Rakisits said, Islamabad's "eventual over-reliance on China in the years to come will diminish Pakistan's foreign policy options.", Tufail said the cuts will likely impact the military's development programs, which could have serious consequences. An increase in terrorism in Baluchistan or a flare-up on the Line of Control in Kashmir could force Pakistan's military to undertake "some realistic risk assessment and analysis of state capacity that would be under economic strain.", "For Pakistan to retain full operational capacity of its front-line assets like the F-16s and anti-tank helicopters, which are of U.S. origin, rhetoric will have to eventually take a back seat. This is already evident from the Pakistan National Security Committee's consensus on not acting in haste,' and wanting to play a constructive role in the region,' " he said. How did Pakistan respond?, A Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman did not respond to Defense News' requests for comment regarding the cut in military aid, but the ministry's news release did discuss counterterrorism efforts. "We believe that Pakistan-US cooperation in fighting terrorism has directly served US national security interests as well as the larger interests of international community," the ministry said, adding that joint efforts and Pakistan's own counterterrorism operations "helped decimate Al-Qaeda and fight other groups who took advantage of ungoverned spaces.", The ministry went on to list failures on the Afghan side of the border. "Our efforts towards peace are awaiting reciprocal actions from the Afghan side in terms of clearance of vast stretches of ungoverned spaces on the Afghan side, bilateral border management, repatriation of Afghan Refugees, controlling poppy cultivation, drug trafficking and initiating Afghan-led and owned political reconciliation in Afghanistan. "Arbitrary deadlines, unilateral pronouncements and shifting goalposts are counterproductive in addressing common threats.", Rakisits said Pakistan "completely misread Trump, believing that little would change in the relationship. Washington called their bluff.", For Cloughley, however, Pakistan has at least one card to play It could retaliate by shutting down the Karachi-Torkham supply route used by the U.S. to transport materiel to and from Afghanistan.

What to expect from the Warrior Monk

The career and character of retired Gen. Jim Mattis has come under a microscope recently, since the revered Marine officer was tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to be the next defense secretary. The outpouring of reports and recollections published during the past several weeks offers some new insight into how the man known as the "Warrior Monk" might lead the nation's military and shape its national security strategy. For example, a former Marine officer who worked for Mattis wrote recently about the general's management style. Mattis does not micromanage people instead, he "fired those who were incapable or lazy, and empowered his staff to make decisions and carry out his intent," according to Joe Plenzler, a retired Marine Corps officer who served as Mattis' public affairs officer.In Task and Purpose, Plenzler wrote about "15 Things Mattis Taught Me About Real Leadership." On the Middle East, Mattis says his biggest concern is Iran. When he was the head of U.S. Central Command from 2010 to 2013, Mattis considered the regime in Tehran to be a bigger long-term threat than the Arab-led militants like al-Qaida and the proto-Islamic State group. "Nothing, I believe, is as serious in the long term, in terms of its enduring ramificationsas Iran," Mattis said in April, according to this profile of Mattis from longtime defense reporter and author James Kitfield.Mattis's strong anti-Iranian views were troubling to the Obama White House as well as some senior officers at the Pentagon, who worried those views could fuel a new conflict, according to a profile in Politico. Yet despite Mattis' blunt talk about killing the enemy, many foreign policy experts say Mattis will be a strong supporter of non-military tools and the civilian-led efforts often referred to as "soft power."The general once told lawmakers on Capitol Hill "'If you don't fully fund the State Department, then I need to buy more ammunition." His nomination was applauded by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, an influential group in Washington that lobbies for investing in the civilian size of national security tools, like development and diplomacy. "He has long been a forward-looking strategic thinker, championing the use of America's civilian tools alongside the military to keep our nation safe, including strong investments in development and diplomacy," said Liz Schrayer, the group's CEO, in a statement in early December.Some view Mattis' return to public life with concern. The distinctly liberal Nation magazine published a story under the headline " Trump's Cabinet Is a Coup Waiting to Happen," voicing fears about Trump tapping too many retired generals for top civilian jobs. Yet inside the tightly knit Marine Corps community, Mattis is viewed with unique reverence. , Many Marines say morale soared in units under Mattis's command. One memorable storyrecounted how Mattis, who has never married nor had children, offered to clock a Christmas Day shift as the "officer of the day" at a command post at Marine Corps Base Quantico. Mattis was a one-star general at the time, but had offered to sleep on the daybed in the command center on Christmas so the younger officer assigned to that shift could spend the holiday with his family.

New Army secretary committed to designing fresh future readiness blueprint

WASHINGTON The new U.S. Army secretary, confirmed in mid-November, has spent his first days in office on the ground with troops both in Afghanistan and at the National Training Center in California examining the readiness of the force and how the deployed are faring in their mission. But he's also turned his attention to laying some early groundwork for the Army's new Futures Command focused on modernizing the service. While readiness of the current force is Mark Esper's top priority, making sure it is modernized and capable into the future is a close second. "Modernization is future readiness, and so this is my message to acquisition folks, too You are critical to the future readiness of the Army, so we have to get it right," he recalled telling those tasked with standing up the Futures Command, which is expected to reach initial operational capability this summer, during a recent visit. The Army announced the new organization in October at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual convention in Washington along with its plan to prioritize modernization efforts in six areas Long-Range Precision Fires, Next-Generation Combat Vehicle, Future Vertical Lift, the network, air and missile defense, and soldier lethality. Lt. Gen. Edward Cardon was chosen to spearhead a task force in charge of the formation of the command, and "cross-functional team" leaders were named late last year to tackle each priority. , Esper told Defense News in an exclusive Jan. 3 interview in his Pentagon office that while he has met with those shaping the command and provided his view on the importance of the effort, "I don't want to give any guidance, I don't want to utter a word that throws them all off from one direction because that is the risk there.", Instead, he wants to wait to fully weigh in when the new task force comes to him with options in the February or March time frame. Much is on the table from how the command will be organized to what that means for other commands such as Training and Doctrine Command or Army Materiel Command. "We have had conference calls with the major commands and everybody is on board and agrees that we need a different way of doing business again, getting back to that key outcome, which is giving the soldier what they need when they need it, and there is support across the board with regard to that," Esper said. , Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, "And look, there are going to be trade-offs and all this and the reporting lines may change to make sure we get the optimization," he said, "but I think everybody recognizes that we have reached a point that we've got to just it's time to evolve from this industrial age system to a 21st-century-age system.", While Esper is more focused on making sure the new command's overarching architecture takes shape, he's tasked the Army vice chief of staff and the Army undersecretary to take charge of recommendations coming from the cross-functional team leads. , Yet, Esper said he expected to see important decisions coming from the CFT leads in the coming months and admitted some leads have a heavier lift to figure out the right way forward. The CFTs, he explained, are examining what programs make sense to keep within their portfolios and what programs should be discarded. But they also need to identify what might be missing, and if there is something, they will need to potentially initiate a new program within that portfolio, Esper added. In some cases, like the Future Vertical Lift portfolio, it is easier to see the path forward. And the Army is already heading toward using flight demonstrators to help define requirements for a future vertical lift aircraft. By building and flying demonstrator aircraft, it gives the opportunity for the service to fail early and fail cheaply, Esper noted, and to learn from mistakes and get to a higher level of technical readiness earlier in the program. But for other portfolios within the new modernization command, more work has to be done, in part due to the nature of the technology involved. "The network is hard, it's really, really hard because it's complex because those types of capabilities or the technology is really in the commercial sector more than the military sector, and it's moving quickly and yet you can't just take it from the civilian world and put in the military world because you have to make it secure, it has to be ruggedized and it has to be able to operate in certain environments, and so that is the challenge," Esper said. Making a tougher job for the CFT lead in charge of the network, the Army recently decided to curb the cornerstone capability of its tactical network, the Warfighting Information Network-Tactical, or WIN-T, system, in favor of other capabilities. The service said it needed to entirely reboot its tactical network to operate against emerging threats on the battlefield. , "I think with all of this, you do have to understand you have to get your requirements right, and I think for the network the key, or part of the key going forward, has to be to understand the architecture and to map it out so we have the plan going forward," Esper said. "It's like building a house you have to have a blueprint.", Having a blueprint doesn't necessarily mean deciding who will supply the fixtures or materials or what will be used, but it defines what is needed, he noted. Esper said the Army plans to present a strategy on the network to Congress "soon" in response to the National Defense Authorization Act legislation requesting it. , As the CFTs work out blueprints, or solutions, to meeting modernization priorities, Esper also noted that he'd like to see the service, where possible, get away from the idea of filling capabilities with interim, gap-filler solutions that would be scrapped once a next-generation capability comes online. "My philosophical approach to this is let's not make the perfect the enemy of the better," he said, repeating a well-known statement from his confirmation testimony. "To put some more meat on those bones, what I think about is let's not think as much about interim capabilities. If we made the requirements so high, if we raised the bar so high that we think we need to have an interim, maybe we need to kind of lower that bill, those requirements, so it's not perfect but it's better than what we have now," Esper said. "And then we build a system that we can scale, that we can modularize, that is kind of open architecture that we can kind of build upon."

Navy studies Training testing may kill whales dolphins

source GAIA package Sx_MilitaryTimes_M6201310308300011_5675.zip Origin key Sx_MilitaryTimes_M6201310308300011 imported at Fri Jan 8 181811 2016 , Navy training and testing could inadvertently kill hundreds of whales and dolphins and injure thousands over the next five years, mostly as a result of detonating explosives underwater, according to two environmental impact statements the military released Friday. The Navy said the studies focused on waters off the East Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, Southern California and Hawaii from 2014 through 2019, the main areas where it tests equipment and trains sailors. The studies were done ahead of the Navy applying to the National Marine Fisheries Service for permits for its activities. Most of the deaths would come from explosives, though some might come from testing sonar or animals being hit by ships. Rear Adm. Kevin Slates, the Navy's energy and environmental readiness division director, told reporters this week the Navy uses simulators where possible, but sailors must test and train in real-life conditions. According to the reports, computer models show training and testing may kill 186 whales and dolphins off the East Coast and 155 off Hawaii and Southern California. Off the East Coast, there could be 11,267 serious injuries and 1.89 million minor injuries such as temporary hearing loss. The reports also said the testing and training might cause marine mammals to change their behavior such as swimming in a different direction in 20 million instances. Off Hawaii and Southern California, the reports said the naval activities may cause 2,039 serious injuries, 1.86 million temporary injuries and 7.7 million instances of behavioral change. But Michael Jasny, senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the Navy was underestimating the effect of its activities on marine mammals. He pointed to a study by government and private sector scientists published last month in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society showing mid-frequency active sonar can disrupt blue whale feeding. The study says feeding disruptions and the movement of whales away from their prey could significantly affect the health of individual whales and the overall health of baleen whale populations.

Report Russian jet buzzes US spy plane over Baltic Sea

A Russian jet came within 20 feet of a Navy surveillance aircraft as it flew in international airspace over the Baltic Sea on Tuesday, CNN reported. The intercept involving the Russian Su-27 jet and a Navy P-8 Poseidon was considered safe, but unprofessional, according to the CNN report. Navy officials would not confirm the incident but downplayed such an occurrence. "U.S. Navy ships and aircraft routinely interact with military units from other countries," the spokesman for Navy forces in Europe, Lt. Cmdr. Zach Harrell, said in an email. "If an unsafe interaction occurs, we will provide more information at that time.", It was the second incident of a Russian jet buzzing a U.S. aircraft over the Black Sea in as many months. Tuesday's intercept follows a January incident, when a Su-27 flew within 5 feet of a EP-3 Aries spy plane flying in international airspace over the Black Sea, forcing the American aircraft to fly through the Russian jet's flight wash. A similar incident occurred in late November, when another P-8 was left in another Russian jet's afterburners, causing that P-8 to roll 15 degrees and experience what the Navy dubbed "violent turbulence.", The Poseidon and Aries are used for intelligence and reconnaissance. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Navy Times Daily News Roundup

Joint AirtoGround Missile Destroys Small Boat in Test

WASHINGTON The missile that will ultimately replace the US Army's Hellfire missile successfully destroyed a small remotely piloted boat from more than 4 kilometers away, according to the service.In a Dec. 7 flight test at Eglin Air Force Base Maritime Range, Florida, the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile JAGM was launched by an AH-64D Apache pilot and was successfully guided to the target using both laser and radar sensors, Defense News has learned.The Program Executive Office Missiles and Space and the Joint Attack Munition Systems Project Office along with the US Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center and Lockheed Martin which is developing JAGM for the Army and makes Hellfire missiles conducted the test.The test, according to the Army, is the tenth successful JAGM flight test. The point of the test was to demonstrate JAGM's maturity and capability against different kinds of targets in a variety of environments.The Army has been relatively quiet about JAGM, last announcing a test its seventh in May 2016 when the Army fired JAGM from a Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft system and hit a truck target going roughly 20 mph at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. In that test, the missile flew slightly longer than 8 kilometers at an altitude similar to where a Predator unmanned aircraft might fly. The missile has also been tested on Apache attack helicopters and Marine Corps Cobra helicopters. The 66 million JAGM missile engineering and manufacturing development contract was awarded to Lockheed Martin in the summer of 2015. The contract could ultimately be worth up to 186 million, as it includes two additional options for low-rate initial production valued at about 60 million each, the Army has said. JAGM is intended to reach initial operational fielding in 2018. At the end of 2017, the Army will conduct a limited user test with pilots firing JAGM missiles from Apaches in what is believed to be typical operational scenarios. The JAGM missile's threshold requirements are to fly on the Apache and Cobra, Romero said, but the Army is considering what other platforms on which to test JAGM's capability defined as "objective" requirements. Gray Eagle is an obvious candidate considering it carries Hellfire and also will be teamed with Apaches in reconnaissance missions. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief

Turkey says its Syria offensive against Kurdish fighters doesnt hinge on US pullout

ANKARA, Turkey Turkey's foreign minister says a planned Turkish military offensive against U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria doesn't depend on whether the United States withdraws its troops from the region. Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview with NTV news channel on Thursday that Turkey would take the necessary steps to thwart threats from the fighters "whether they U.S. withdraw or don't withdraw.", Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday that Turkey will not refrain from military action to protect its borders from what he describes as threats posed by Syrian Kurdish fighters. Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish fighters, who are allied with U.S. in the fight against the Islamic State group, as an offshoot of outlawed Kurdish rebels inside Turkey. Turkey this week rejected U.S. national security adviser John Bolton's demands for assurances that Ankara would protect the Syrian Kurdish fighters before Americans withdraw. Cavusoglu says American "security units" are trying to deter President Donald Trump from his decision to pull out.

Should US troops be involved in the Yemen civil war

WASHINGTON House lawmakers approved a measure to block all U.S. forces and equipment from involvement in the ongoing civil war in Yemen, in an effort to stop American forces from assisting Saudi Arabia in the hostilities there. The 248-177 vote could soon spur the first veto of President Donald Trump's administration, since White House officials have already criticized the resolution as an attack on the executive branch's war powers. Eighteen House Republicans backed the plan, along with nearly all of the chamber's Democrats. Senate lawmakers still need to weigh in on the measure before it heads to Trump's desk, Military commands in recent years have provided aircraft refueling services as well as other logistical support in the Yemen conflict but no troops on the ground. White House officials have argued the work is intended to strengthen ties with a foreign ally to prevent the spread of violent extremism in the region. U.S. lawmakers expect Congress will pass a resolution ending U.S. involvement in Yemen's civil war, forcing President Trump to issue the first veto of his presidency. But lawmakers argued that the president has overstepped his authority by inserting U.S. forces into the conflict without a formal declaration of war. Supporters of the congressional resolution argued that regardless of the technical explanations, the end result of the cooperation is America being drawn deeper into a conflict with no direct ties to national security. "U.S. bombs are bombing school buses. U.S. bombs are bombing those in Yemen who are innocent citizens," said Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee, D-Texas. "This resolution clearly says we should stop the hostilities against the Houthi forces. More importantly, we should stop being used by the Saudi forces.", Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. and sponsor of the resolution, said the goal is to "end American complicity in the atrocities in Yemen." Outside observers have put the death toll of the four-year-old conflict at more than 50,000 and warned that tens of thousands more face the threat of famine because of the fighting. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, "This is not a complex issue," he said in a floor speech before the vote. "For the last two years, we have been assisting the Saudis in bombing Yemeni civilians If you care about American interests, if you care about the outrage that the Saudis are inflicting on Americans and on the world, the only patriotic thing to do is to vote for this resolution.", Critics of the measure said it unfairly limits Trump in a way that his predecessors were not constrained. "The president of the United States does have legitimate powers as commander in chief to support friends and allies short of war without congressional approval," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. "That has happened time and time and time again I think the president is working well within his rights.", The U.S. Senate is poised to make a historic rebuke of President Donald Trump's foreign policy after voting Wednesday to advance a resolution to halt American military support for Saudi Arabia's ongoing war against Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen. This resolution calls for removal of all U.S. troops from "hostilities in or affecting Yemen" within 30 days, but includes caveats to exclude any military operations directed at al-Qaida terrorists in the region. The measure now heads to the Senate, where a similar resolution passed last year. If supporters can secure another successful vote there, it would create another round of political problems for the president. Trump has already been under fire for his relationship with Saudi leaders after the White House skipped a deadline last week for a report on the royal Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman connection to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.

2018 military pay raise is the biggest in eight years but how generous is it

WASHINGTON Congressional lawmakers are boasting that the recently passed fiscal 2018 defense authorization bill has the largest pay raise for troops in the past eight years. But that has less to do with newfound generosity among lawmakers and more to do with the expected rise in civilian wages next year. Included in the massive budget bill, finalized by the Senate Nov. 16 and expected to be signed into law by President Donald Trump in coming days, is a 2.4 percent pay raise for service members starting Jan. 1. Your 2018 pay raise chart every rate for every rank, It's only the second time since 2010 that the pay raise has topped 2 percent it was 2.1 percent last January and was a point of pride among congressional leaders who backed the bill. The mark is 0.3 percent above what President Donald Trump and the Pentagon had requested. It translates into about a 680 annual boost from 2017 pay for younger enlisted ranks, and about 1,080 a year for more senior enlisted and junior officers. A mid-career officer will see almost 2,000 a year extra under the plan. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Pay and Benefits Report, But the 2.4 percent figure is also the mark mandated as the standard pay raise under federal law. In past years, the White House and Congress have gone below those expected levels in an effort to save money for other military priorities. Outside groups have argued this amounts to a cut in military pay, since those lower pay raises fail to keep pace with the cost of living. The authorization bill includes a 2.4 percent pay raise for troops, boosts in military end strengths and equipment, and more acquisition reforms. If Congress had backed Trump's plan for a 2.1 percent pay raise, the 0.3 percent drop from the mandated level would have saved Pentagon planners 200 million next year and 1.4 billion over the next five years. Now, that money instead will go into troops' wallets. The new raise goes into effect Jan. 1, unless other budget issues being debated in Congress intervene. Currently, federal programs are running under a 10-week budget extension agreed upon by lawmakers in September. If House and Senate leaders can't reach a full-year budget plan by the end of the year, it could prompt a partial government shutdown, which will delay some military pay and bonuses. If, however, lawmakers approve another budget extension through a second continuing resolution, they could include extra money to fund the military pay raise beginning Jan. 1, as they did last year.

Parris Island evacuated ahead of Hurricane Irma

Nearly 6,600 recruits and 1,000 personnel are being evacuated from Parris Island, South Carolina, to Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Georgia, officials said. It is not yet known how long the recruits will train in Georgia, said Capt. Adam Flores, a spokesman for Parris Island. It will depend on the weather and if the storm causes any damage to the recruit training depot. Hurricane Irma is expected to hit the East Coast this weekend as a Category 4 storm. The evacuation began Friday morning, Parris Island posted on its Facebook page. Commercial buses are being used to take the recruits and other personnel to Georgia. An advance team of Marines has already arrived in Georgia to prepare for the influx of personnel. This is not the first time that Parris Island has evacuated to Georgia. In October 2016, recruits were moved there ahead of Hurricane Matthew.

Marines train Afghans in air support

As U.S. commanders prepare the Afghan security forces for an aggressive push against the Taliban this year, Marines are training a cadre of Afghan attack controllers to call in airstrikes. During recent operations around Marjah, Afghan troops used small ScanEagle drones to identify targets, which were then destroyed by Afghan A-29 Super Tucano turboprop aircraft, said Marine Maj. Kendra Motz, a spokeswoman for Task Force Southwest. The highly trained Afghan controllers are "making a tangible impact on the battlespace," said Marine Capt. Robert Walters, an air adviser with Task Force Southwest. It was the first time that Afghan Tactical Air Coordinators called in airstrikes on targets that were not stationary or preplanned, Motz told Marine Corps Times. By using drones and coordinating airstrikes with its own aircraft, the Afghan military outmaneuvered the enemy and now controls Marjah's district center. "With weeks of planning, training and integrating prior to the Marjah operation, their close-air support is causing the Taliban to lose ground while the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces take that ground," Walters said in a news release. The Afghans' successes comes after the Marine Corps expanded training for Afghan Tactical Air Coordinators from three to eight weeks, Motz said. The curriculum focuses on the close-air attack process, casualty evacuation, map reading and other skills that make Afghans more adept at destroying targets and getting wounded troops to safety. Since President Trump took office, he has approved sending more U.S. trainers to Afghanistan to help Afghan troops and police reverse the Taliban's momentum and destroy the Islamic State, which has taken root in Nangarhar province. The Afghan security forces have struggled since the U.S. declared an end to combat operations at the end of 2014. Without U.S. airpower to support Afghan security forces, the Taliban and ISIS overran nearly half of the country. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, Now the U.S. wants to boost the Afghan air force as part of a wider effort to prepare for the traditional fighting season, which begins in spring. The U.S. military plans to "focus on offensive operations and we'll look for a major effort to gain the initiative very quickly as we enter into the fighting season," Army Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, told The Associated Press. Votel said as the coalition builds up the Afghan Air Force and trains more security forces, the Afghans will become better fighters "By the time they get to the next fight," he said, "they will be able to really present a significant offensive capability.", There are now as many as 16,000 U.S. forces in the country almost double the size of the force that Trump inherited. The Afghan air controllers training program was started a couple years ago, but Afghan air controllers have only recently taken part in operations in Helmand province, Motz, said. "The first ATACs were successfully employed in Helmand in September 2017 while supporting Maiwand 6 in Gereshk," Motz said. "Since then, ATACs have supported multiple operations in Marjah, Nad Ali and Sangin.", In a relatively short time span, 18 Afghan controllers have graduated from the course, which includes learning how to coordinate casualty evacuation and close-air support missions with Afghan Mi-17 and MD-530 helicopters as well as C-208 fixed-wing planes, which are used as air ambulances. Graduates receive additional training from the Air Force's 438th Air Expeditionary Wing. The main aircraft that Afghan forces use for close-air support are the MD-530 Cayuse Warrior helicopters and A-29 Super Tucano. The lumbering Russian Mi-17s are typically used for troop transport and are slowly being phased out as Afghan forces switch to U.S. UH-60 Black Hawks. "Airpower brings increased combat capability and independence to Afghan forces," Gresback said. "Additionally, their freedom of ground maneuver provided by aerial fires and close-air attack capabilities is important to Afghan operations, and enables the Afghan Air Force to support corps and campaign objectives.", The development comes as Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, has once again made the sparsely populated province a main focus of America's new strategy in the region. In the past several weeks, U.S. aircraft to include B-52s, F/A-18s, F-22s, F-16s, and even High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, have struck Taliban poppy and opium processing labs in Helmand. "The ATAC program and the concept of close-air attack are both very new to the Afghans and require a skill set that takes time to foster successfully," Motz said. "Task Force Southwest advisers will continue to train, advise and assist the ATACs for the 215th Corps to further develop this capability.",

Number of Air Force dronerelated mishaps has remained steady since 2011

The Air Force sustained 271 Class A, B and C aviation mishaps involving unmanned aerial vehicles from fiscal 2011 to 2017, according to data obtained by Military Times. The number of mishaps has been mostly stable during that time, with an average of about 39 incidents per year. The service documented 43 mishaps involving drones in FY11, with the latest data showing 38 mishaps in FY17. , However, there is no linear trend suggesting that the number of UAS mishaps is getting better or worse. Only 30 accidents were recorded in 2013, while 2015 was an exceptionally bad year, with 49 mishaps. That lack of trend line was the same among all classes of accidents, from the most serious Class A mishaps that incur 2 million or more in damages, the Class Bs that range from 500,000 up to 2 million, or Class C events that are more than 50,000 in value but less than 500,000. You may not have heard of Silver Fang, but aviation mishap data obtained by Military Times shows the drone has spent a lot of time in the Middle East. What does seem to be trending downward, however, is the rate of Class A and B mishaps among the service's three most-used drones Northrop Grumman's RQ-4 Global Hawk, the now-retired MQ-1 Predator and the MQ-9 Reaper, both made by General Atomics. All three aircraft documented high mishap rates when they were introduced, data from the Air Force Safety Center shows. However, the mishap rate sharply decreased as operators got more practice using the aircraft and as flight hours increased, and has now leveled out. , Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, In FY17, the MQ-9 Reaper experienced its lowest rate of Class A Mishaps, charting only four such accidents even though it flew a record 292,000 hours that year. , The Global Hawk, the Air Force's other major still-active UAS, has had only one Class A mishap and one Class B mishap since FY12. The mishaps occurred in FY2017 and FY2016, respectively, however, the numbers of Global Hawk flight hours have almost tripled since FY12. Many of the Predator and Reaper mishaps can be attributed to one of several key factors a lost communications link, generator problems or a hard landing. , However, those common descriptors don't tell the whole story, said Col. William Culver, chief of the aviation safety division. "There are many components that can fail in an RPA which would inevitably produce the "lost link" code that will end up in the one-liner," he said in an interview. , "In a lot of those mishaps ... there's a high probability lost link' was not the causal reason for the mishap. It's a result of something else occurring on the RPA that led to the lost link, but because it went lost link, it's identified in the one-liner.", The "hard landing" and "lost link" problems have been looked into by multiple Safety Investigation Boards, with their recommendations flowing to Air Combat Command, which decides whether to put them into practice. Culver said the assessments have "paid off" as there are fewer lost links and hard landings. Generator failures were an especially big problem for the MQ-9 from about 2013 to 2016, when there were at least seven incidents of the equipment failing in flight, leading to a crash where the aircraft was completely destroyed. , An Air Force investigation into MQ-9 Reaper crash in the CENTCOM details what doomed the armed drone. The Air Force responded by upgrading its MQ-9 inventory with a direct drive, brushless alternator that could temporarily supply power to the UAS if the generator went down. It also began buying MQ-9 Block 5 drones, which come equipped with a new generator and backup generator. The generator problem seems to have completely subsided as of FY2017, as none of the one-line descriptions of MQ-9 mishaps mention issues with the system.

The Navy sends a carrier back to Russias Arctic haunts

Navy carrier aviation is back in the Arctic Circle for the first time in nearly 30 years, the latest sign that the Pentagon is looking to flex its muscles during an era of great power competition. The Harry S. Truman entered the Norwegian Sea on Friday, the first flattop to do so since September 1991, according to a U.S. 6th Fleet press release. The carrier and select escorts from its strike group are preparing to participate in a massive NATO exercise straddling late October and early November, but they arrived Friday in fast-thawing northern waters in the wake of warnings from the Navy's top officer about rising Russian activities there. The Truman's path on Friday was across what strategists call the "GIUK Gap," waters around Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom considered vital if American warship must rush to Europe to aid allies. It's also a key route for Russian submarines slipping into the North Atlantic. On Aug. 24, the Navy re-established the 2nd Fleet, a stalwart force during the Cold War, to patrol the Atlantic Ocean, including northern climes. The Arctic panel at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space exposition comes at a time when the sea ice on top of the world continues to retreat, presenting billions of dollars in new economic potential that is surfacing alongside new environmental and security challenges. The Truman's northern voyage echoes Cold War patrols, said Dr. Daniel Goure, a former defense official and senior vice president of the Lexington Institute think tank. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Navy Times Daily News Roundup, Sending the Truman and her escorts there is more than a show of force, Goure said. It's about reacquainting a new generation of officers and sailors with what could become a maritime battlefield. "I'd wager that the carrier strike group command has never participated in this kind of exercise in that area, and if he has it hasn't been since he was an ensign," Goure said. Goure predicted these deployments likely will become the norm. "It's not just about training for this kind of warfare but specifically training the location that we may have to fight," he said. "So you are going to see more large-scale training in the Mediterranean, training in the Arctic and training in the western Pacific.", Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson warned this summer that Chinese ships are regularly underway in the nearby North Atlantic, and that Russia's subs have been this active in those waters in a quarter century. "Even five years ago, we wouldn't have seen anything like this," he told Voice of America. Vice Adm. Andrew L. "Woody" Lewis took the helm of the 2nd Fleet in a Friday ceremony aboard a carrier tied up to a pier at Naval Station Norfolk. The Truman's arrival in the Arctic this week marks the first carrier to operate in the area since the now-retired America in September 1991. "Despite the arduous weather and sea conditions, these men and women are demonstrating this ship can bring a full spectrum of capabilities to bear anywhere in the world," Capt. Nick Dienna, the Truman's commanding officer, said in a Navy release. The Truman strike group will conduct air, surface and underwater exercises in the rough seas, freezing temperatures and relentless winds before joining 30 NATO allies for the massive Trident Juncture maneuvers. The exercise will take place in Norway and off the NATO ally's shore, plus the Baltic Sea. It's slated to involve 14,000 American troops alongside 36,000 personnel from friendly nations. More than 50 aircraft, 65 ships and 10,000 vehicles also will take part in the maneuvers, planners say. In his news release, Carrier Strike Group 8's commanding officer Rear Adm. Gene Black called the exercise "a fantastic opportunity to learn from our Allies on their home turf."

The US Armys three focus areas to avoid protracted combat

WASHINGTON As the U.S. Army's Multi-Domain Operations concept continues to evolve and be tested, the service is finding three key areas to focus on ahead of any major conflict. Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley, the head of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, told reporters Dec. 9 that as his office continues to experiment with the MDO concept and war game it out, a focus on the "competition space" the time before a conflict breaks out between two sides will put the Army in a strong position to dictate the flow of how a conflict will play out. "Leveraging the competition space, we found, is the most important aspect of getting the conflict portion right. That's something that we have to expand our capabilities in, and we're not completely postured to do right now," Wesley said. How can the Army evolve its major operational concept and align its modernization strategy with the multidomain battlefield?, The first focus area is on countering information warfare and unconventional warfare, Wesley said, in what will not come as a surprise to those who have paid attention to what Russia has done in recent years. The second area of focus Wesley calls "conducting the intelligence preparation of the battlefield." At its core, this involves studying the enemy order of battle and understanding how a conflict may flow. And if that seems like a classic tenet of combat to you, Wesley wouldn't disagree. "That's something we used to do all the time in western Europe in the 1980s, and since we've withdrawn from the continent, we don't do that to the degree we used to," he said. "Plus, there are aspects to doing that, which are virtual, that we didn't do in the 80s that we have to do now.", The third aspect is about posturing your forces to be agile enough to quickly enter a conflict if needed. Doing so, Wesley believes, "precludes protracted conflict. If you can transition rapidly and force your opponent to recalculate, that can preclude the need for protracted conflict.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, Wesley's team has had a busy year, developing and testing their ideas while publishing MDO 1.5 and switching from being under Training and Doctrine Command to the Army's new Futures Command. Despite that move on the organizational chart, ARCIC has stayed at Fort Eustis, Virginia, and remains geolocated with TRADOC, which has helped mitigate unnecessary duplication of overhead. Several hurdles remain for multidomain operations. So what are the U.S. armed services doing about it?, By having TRADOC continue to manage basic administrative issues such as personnel, travel and orders assistance, ARCIC is able to focus on using its limited staffing where it's most needed. As part of the move to Futures Command, ARCIC is in the process of standing up three new groups an internal Red Team, an Operational Environment section, and a 3/5/7 office modeled on the service's operations and planning general staff position. "We're not just moving deck chairs," Wesley said. "Instead, we're also having to evolve our culture and change our organization so that its sufficiently nested" within Futures Command. Asked if he was worried about people in ARCIC having too many bosses, Wesley waved those concerns away as unrealistic. Sometimes "having one boss is a luxury that is impractical. And particularly when you're talking about the need to modernize across the entire enterprise not just material modernization but doctrine, organization, training, leader development, policy, facilities, personnel," he said. "So those dotted lines are healthy because they force integration, which is indispensable to do this concept."

Spec ops needs 5000 soldiers

If you dream of donning the coveted Green Beret or flying helicopters with the Army's elite Night Stalkers, now's your chance. This year alone, the Army is seeking about 5,000 candidates for special operations to include 3,000 candidates to try out for Special Forces more than 950 soldiers to serve in civil affairs and another 800 for psychological operations. The Night Stalkers, formally known as the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, also is looking for new recruits, both male and female, to serve in the air and on the ground. For more information on how to apply call 910-432-1818 or visit www.sorbrecruiting.com. "With the downsizing of the Army, the relevance of special operations has never been greater," said Maj. Jason Hetzel, a civil affairs officer and commander of D Company in the Special Operations Recruiting Battalion. "Right now, we're recruiting Special Forces, PSYOP and civil affairs enlisted personnel as well as officers.", Officers who want to go Special Forces, civil affairs or PSYOP, must act quickly. The deadline to submit a packet is March 20. This year, SORB is seeking officers only in year group 2012 for those three career fields, Hetzel said. "It's very critical for an officer, if he wants to apply into one of these three branches of special operations, now is his time," Hetzel said. "Once that window closes, for all intents and purposes, he or she cannot get into special operations.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup, Special operations grants soldiers access to some of the military's best training, including the combat diver course. Photo Credit Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika/Army, In some instances, an officer can get a waiver, but Hetzel said those are few and far between because of the way officers' career paths are laid out. , "That's on a case-by-case basis," he said. "When I brief officers, I say do not bank on getting a waiver. They're very rare.", "If you're an individual who's extremely motivated, highly intelligent and creative, and you want to be around similar people, Army special operations is the way you want to go," said Command Sgt. Frank Gilliand, the senior enlisted soldier for the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, which is responsible for training and growing special operations soldiers. "If you want to travel the globe, meet great people and get a sense of satisfaction that you can't find anywhere else, Army special operations is the way to go.", Some of the benefits of going special operations, Higher promotion rates. The average promotion rates for Special Forces, civil affairs and PSYOP soldiers from staff sergeant to sergeant first class are "more than three times greater than their conventional Army counterparts," officials said. A recent update to the Army's enlisted promotions regulation includes a provision that specialists and corporals who successfully complete the Special Forces Qualification Course will be automatically promoted to sergeant. In addition, sergeants who have been recommended for promotion in their previous military occupational specialty will be promoted to staff sergeant on the "first calendar day of the following month upon successful completion of all phases of the qualification course," according to the regulation updated Feb. 2. Access to some of the military's best training. Some examples of schools special operations troops attend include Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School free-fall parachute school and the combat diver course, Hetzel said. Special pays and bonuses. Special operations soldiers can qualify for a variety of special pays, such as language pay, which can be worth as much as 1,000 a month, according to SORB. Other special pays include jump pay 150 a month, special duty assignment pay 375 a month, demolition pay 150 a month, dive pay 220 a month, and High Altitude Low Opening pay 75 a month. Deployment opportunities. Special operations soldiers work in 65 countries around the world. Their deployments average four to eight months at a time, so while they deploy more often, it is for shorter periods of time. Up to 150,000 in reenlistment bonuses. The Army is offering top-tier Selective Reenlistment Bonuses worth up to 72,000 for Special Forces, civil affairs and PSYOP soldiers. It also is offering up to 150,000 to Special Forces senior NCOs to delay their retirement. Path to civilian education. Successful Special Forces, civil affairs and PSYOP candidates earn 48 credit hours when they complete their qualification courses. An additional 16 credits is earned in a traditional classroom setting, giving soldiers an associate's degree from Fayetteville Technical Community College. About 700 NCOs completed their associate's degree in 2013 and 2014 281 of them have enrolled in a bachelor's program. The JFKSWCS also offers a master's program through National Defense University and the Naval Post Graduate School. The program is fully funded and open to all NCOs, warrant officers and officers. It includes a 10-month resident program at the NDU Satellite Campus on the JFKSWCS campus on Fort Bragg, North Carolina. More than 172 soldiers have graduated from the NDU program since its inception in 2010. Almost half of those were NCOs. And, of course, job satisfaction. "When you enter special operations, you get to serve alongside some of the most professional officers and NCOs our Army has to offer," Hetzel said. A 'unique calling' , During the eight years he spent in 1st Special Forces Group, Sgt. 1st Class Steven Koszarek has served six combat deployments and traveled to Southeast Asia to countries such as the Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia. A Special Forces medic, Koszarek has had the chance to learn jungle survival and complete pack mule training with the Thais, and attend the U.S. military's free-fall parachute school. "We get to do stuff sometimes that people pay to do, but the Army lets us train that way," Koszarek said. "We're given opportunities, if we want, to explore wilderness medicine or mountain medicine. I've had far more training opportunities, military and civilian.", Spec ops soldiers are eligible for HALO pay. Photo Credit Lance Cpl. Donald Peterson/Marine Corps, Koszarek, who speaks Tagalog and Pashto, said he's also acquired a taste for Asian food, to include balut, a delicacy from the Philippines, and durian, known as the "king of fruits" in Southeast Asia. "It's a great job," he said. "I really don't want to get out if I don't have to.", Koszarek, who is now an instructor at the JFKSWCS Noncommissioned Officer Academy, served in the Navy for six years before leaving to pursue his education. He joined the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, hoping to contribute and make a difference. "I didn't know how much I could contribute until I actually attempted it," Koszarek said. "And now I know, I still want to continue. It's why I stayed in. Working with the people, there are great soldiers to your left and right, it's hard to walk away from that.", His advice to aspiring special operations soldiers?, "If you're out there, all you have to do is try," he said. Serving in special operations is a "unique calling," said Lt. Gen. Charles Cleveland, commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command, in a statement. "Regardless of what the future might bring, what problems might exist, we will always be able to deliver the nation with world-class, unequaled special warfare and surgical strike capabilities as long as we remain true to our first principles," he said, "to have the right people, aggregated into amazing teams, rallied behind a unique commitment to the nation.", As the Army gets smaller and as special operations veterans start leaving the service, Hetzel fears there may be "an education gap.", "You have a lot of new, young soldiers out there who just aren't aware of the opportunities special operations brings," he said. "That's one thing we're trying to educate people on. Special operations isn't for everybody, but we want to empower soldiers and leaders out there with the knowledge that a career in this profession is available to them.", Special Forces, In fiscal year 2015, the Army is looking for about 3,000 candidates to attend Special Forces Assessment and Selection, officials from the Special Operations Recruiting Battalion, or SORB, said. Recruiters are seeking about 2,000 active-duty enlisted soldiers, 1,540 new recruits for the 18X program, and about 400 active-duty officers. The push for Special Forces NCOs is "our main effort" this year, Hetzel said. "With the general drawdown in the Army, we're looking at a smaller pool of individuals," he said. At the same time, the requirements for Special Forces is going up. The minimum General Technical score required of Special Forces candidates will increase to 110 from 107 at the end of February, Hetzel said. On average, 37 percent of SFAS candidates will be selected to enter the Special Forces Qualification Course. The Army has increased the GT score requirement for Special Forces from 107 to 110. Photo Credit Army, Among the 18X population, about 61 percent are selected to enter the qualification course. "Some of the things we're looking for are those individuals who are intelligent, athletic, people persons who can converse or who can function in any kind of arena," said Sgt. 1st Class Wade Crumwell, a Special Forces recruiter with SORB who has served in 3rd Special Forces Group. The Special Forces Qualification Course is 67 weeks long, except for 18D medics, who get 103 weeks of training, Gilliand said. Among the active-duty enlisted population, only one in every eight recruits will earn the Special Forces tab, he said. About one in five 18X recruits these are new soldiers who first go to basic and advanced individual training and airborne school before showing up to selection will earn the tab, Gilliand said. "It's not as simple as the GT score or a specific score on the ASVAB," he said. "It's how well-rounded an individual is in everything they do. There are some intangibles.", Attributes such as integrity, courage, perseverance, personal responsibility, and adaptability are "core attributes we look for," said Gilliand, who is a Special Forces soldier. Civil affairs, The SORB is looking for more than 950 candidates for the civil affairs field this year. Of those, recruiters are seeking 737 active-duty enlisted soldiers and 225 officers. There are nearly 1,000 candidates needed for civil affairs. Photo Credit Army, On average, 64 percent of active-duty candidates will be selected to enter the Civil Affairs Qualification Course. At the end of February, the Army will start requiring civil affairs candidates to have a GT score of at least 107, Hetzel said. Before, there was no requirement or minimum, he said. The change is to "further refine the quality of soldier so you get the most professional individual from the conventional force into special operations," Hetzel said. Civil affairs training is 46 weeks, Gilliand said. For every two recruits, one will graduate, he said. "We maintain high standards, and when these guys walk across the state, they're proud because they've accomplished something," he said. Psychological affairs, This year's recruiting goal for PSYOP is about 800 soldiers 642 enlisted and 158 officers. PSYOP also will institute a minimum GT score of 107 at the end of February. One of the focus areas this year is to try and increase the number of female candidates, said Sgt. 1st Class Roberto Flores, a PSYOP recruiter assigned to the SORB. "A lot of females in the military don't understand that there are special operations opportunities available to them already now," he said. On average, 64 percent of active-duty candidates will be selected to enter the Psychological Operations Qualification Course. Just one in every 2.5 recruits will graduate the 43-week course, Gilliand said. Flores has served in this career field his entire career. "We're looking at the thinking athlete, a problem-solver, someone who can think outside the box, can approach something and have a different view of it," Flores said. "We're looking for somebody who wants to join our ranks, that individual who's hungry and wants to do something different.", 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, The 160th has soldiers serving in 97 different specialties, said Master Sgt. Tom Mattingly, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the regiment's recruiting cell. Fifty-eight of those are enlisted MOSs and the rest are warrant officers and officers, he said. Night Stalkers insignia, Photo Credit Army, A big challenge is awareness, Mattingly said. "A lot of people in the support career fields don't understand how they fit into the 160th," he said. "They're an integral part of the success of our mission.", Among officers and warrant officers, the regiment is seeking pilots for the AH-6 and MH-6 Little Bird, MH-60 Black Hawk and MH-47 Chinook, he said. The 160th also is looking for officers and warrants in specialties such as intelligence and logistics, Mattingly said. As part of its Aviation Restructuring Initiative, the Army is eliminating the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior from its inventory. The 160th is "absolutely" looking at that population "to give them an opportunity to continue their careers in the Army," Mattingly said. Kiowa pilots who are already offered a transition to a different airframe can still try out for the 160th, Mattingly said. If they don't successfully qualify for the 160th, it will have "no bearing" on their initial transition, and they will be able to continue on in the conventional Army, he said. The regiment also is seeking female officers, warrant and enlisted soldiers, Mattingly said. So far, three female pilots have successfully qualified to fly for the regiment, and they primarily fly the MH-60. To join the 160th, applicants must make it through Green Platoon. Officers undergo a seven-day assessment. If selected, they attend the three-week Officer Green Platoon, Mattingly said. Aviators who successfully complete Officer Green Platoon then go on for about six more months of aviation training. , Enlisted candidates must have a GT score of 100 or higher, and they complete an administrative assessment before they are offered a chance to attend the six-week Enlisted Green Platoon. Warrant officers who are accepted into the regiment are allowed to stay until they retire, if that's what they choose to do, Mattingly said. Officers have an initial commitment of four to six years, depending on their specialty, and it's not uncommon for enlisted soldiers in the regiment to stay for an average tenure of eight to 10 years, he said. "It is a very unique and very exciting mission," Mattingly said. Chief Warrant Officer 4 Raymond Smiley has served as a Night Stalker for about 21 years, first as an enlisted soldier and later as an MH-47 pilot. "It is hands-down the best aviation unit to be in," Smiley said. During his time with the regiment, Smiley has deployed dozens of times, including to Iraq and Afghanistan. One of his favorite tours was early in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said. "The people, the camaraderie, the missions, we were very, very busy then," he said. Smiley also participated in Operation Anaconda on March 4, 2002, high up in the snowy, 10,000-foot mountains of eastern Afghanistan. The deadly Battle of Roberts Ridge cost seven American lives. "It was very long, very intense couple days of flying," Smiley said. "I was lucky enough to not be shot down.", Smiley said he is proud of his fellow Night Stalkers and their actions during that operation. "When you have guys on the ground, that's one of the things I love about this place, we're going to go do it," he said. "We're not going to disobey orders or go out and do cowboy stuff, but we're going to do what it takes, and we did. We got everyone off that mountain.", Smiley said he hopes to finish out his career as a Night Stalker. "I wouldn't want to go anywhere else," he said. "I'm very fortunate to have a job that I enjoy getting up and doing every day."

Congress again facing a looming VA care funding crisis

WASHINGTON For the second time in less than a year, a controversial Veterans Affairs health program is just weeks away from running out of money and disrupting care for thousands of patients. And, for the second time over that span, lawmakers hoping for sweeping changes to VA health operations are scrambling to balance their long-term solutions with a short-term funding headache. At issue is the Veterans Choice Program, which allows some veterans to receive private-sector care paid for with taxpayer dollars. The program is restricted to veterans who live 40 miles from the nearest VA facility or face a 30-day wait for care there, and has been at the center of debates over how to best deliver medical care to ailing veterans. Twice this year Congress has intervened to prolong the program, first in April to remove a later-summer expiration date for the funds, then in August to add 2.1 billion to keep the program solvent through the fall and winter. On Tuesday, VA Secretary David Shulkin officially informed lawmakers that he expects the program to run out of money sometime in the next month. He is requesting yet more intervention from Congress. "Nearly 1.9 million veterans have sought care through the VCP since its implementation in 2014," he wrote in a letter to congressional leaders. "Unless additional funds are provided, veterans using the current VCP will be less able to access timely health care as close to their homes as possible.", Shulkin had warned as far back as August that VA would face a new funding shortfall at the start of 2018, and lawmakers used that warning as an impetus for a series of sweeping new VA health care reform proposals currently pending on Capitol Hill. The furthest along is a measure sponsored by Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Johnny Isakson, R-Ga. which would add 4 billion in bridge funding to the Choice program but eventually replace it with a new community care initiative that would provide easier access to non-VA medical appointments for veterans. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup, This week, Isakson urged his congressional colleagues to quickly advance the measure, either as a stand-alone bill or as part of ongoing appropriations discussions on Capitol Hill. The plan would allow veterans to seek more care outside the VA system but leaves department doctors at the center of medical planning for patients. "It is critical that we pass this bipartisan legislation before the end of the year to ensure veterans continue to have access to efficient, timely and quality health care," he said in a statement "The bill makes much-needed improvements to the community care programs offered by the VA and helps ensure that our veterans continue to get the very best care when and where it makes the most sense for them.", He has the support of Democrats from his committee he co-wrote the measure with committee ranking member Jon Tester, D-Mont. and a host of veterans groups. Shulkin has generally backed a series of reform proposals pending in Congress, including Isakson's measure. , But the measure's price tag, which the Congressional Budget Office says tops 54 billion over five years, has raised concerns among House members. And two other prominent Republican senators Jerry Moran of Kansas and John McCain of Arizona have offered their own legislation as both and alternative and a roadblock, arguing the Isakson bill doesn't go far enough to overhaul VA systems. "Spending must be accompanied by real reforms that result in better care for veterans," Moran said Wednesday. "The status quo is not sufficient. The challenges faced by veterans are not the result of a lack of resources, but a problem of management and unnecessary bureaucracy at the VA.", At the same time, Senate and House negotiators are also working on a broad budget deal to finalize appropriations for all of federal operations for fiscal 2017, in hopes of avoiding a government shutdown later this month. If the sweeping health care changes aren't finalized before Congress' holiday break next week a potentially difficult legislative path, given major tax reform measures also under consideration in the next few days appropriators could include more short-term funding for the Choice program in their budget bills. Last week, Shulkin said he would be open to "a short-term, very limited extension of funding for the existing Choice program to allow sufficient time for a final agreement to come together" on the larger reforms. But it's unclear if Democrats will go along with that plan. Tester told reporters on Wednesday that he wants a full-year budget for VA and the Isakson bill passed before the end of the year. "If the goal here is just to keep kicking the can down the road, we're not in favor of that," he said. "We need to fix VA.", Shulkin warned in his letter Tuesday and similarly in a letter over the summer that allowing the Choice funding to lapse without a fix would result in "decreased access to care, damaged community partnerships and interrupted care continuity for veterans." Those patients could not all be covered by other VA care options, he insisted. House lawmakers have been unable to move their less expensive, less expansive community care bill out of committee in recent weeks. They're expected to recess for the year by Dec. 22. That leaves congressional leaders about a week to figure out how to deal with the latest VA care crisis, or to decide to delay a decision to January and face a potentially even larger problem then.

Rough Path Ahead for NuclearTestBan Treaty

WASHINGTON US Secretary of State John Kerry last week pledged to renew a push for the US to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, but the way forward appears rocky. Speaking at an Oct. 21 event organized by the National Nuclear Security Administration NNSA, Kerry pledged to spend his last year in office making the case for why the US should sign onto the agreement, known as the CTBT. "I am determined that, in the months to come, we're going to reopen and re-energize the conversation about the treaty on Capitol Hill and throughout our nation," Kerry said. "Because there should be no doubt that it is in the best interests of our country to join the treaty and to urge others not to wait, but to go ahead and do so themselves as soon as possible.", That may be easier said than done, however. The last major push to ratify the CTBT came in 1999, when it failed in the Senate 51-48. Kerry believes concerns among senators about the US ability to do non-explosive testing and the question of whether the capability exists to make sure others are not violating the treaty are no longer valid, thanks to technological improvements. "The factors that led some senators to oppose the treaty in 1999 have changed, and, so, choices should change as well," Kerry said. Analysts, however, say there is a lot of work that needs to be done before the treaty has a chance. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, Kingston Reif of the Arms Control Association says there is a "pretty clear understanding that there aren't 67 votes in the Senate at the current moment for the agreement," something he and others blame, at least in part, on the lack of institutional knowledge about the issue. Less than a fifth of the Senate remains from the 1999 fight. "Any future Senate vote will require a significant amount of groundwork to be laid, in terms of education and outreach," Reif said. "The administration, at least to this point in its tenure, has not launched the kind of effort necessary to ultimately achieve CTBT ratification. So it's very good to hear they are considering stepping up their engagement.", Talking on a panel before Kerry's speech, Brian P. McKeon, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, said during a panel that the Clinton administration needed to do more groundwork in the Senate before launching the CTBT fight, calling the timing "a little premature.", "The lesson is, we need to lay a lot of groundwork, both in the Senate and even in the executive branch," said McKeon, who was chief counsel for the Democrats on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations during the last CTBT fight. "With any treaty, but particularly with an arms-control treaty or security treaty, there are so many more people paying attention closely in the Senate and in the broader public arena than is the case with most other treaties the Senate works on," McKeon added. "It really takes a major investment both in the executive branch and the Senate of time, energy, will. And, candidly, it was a little bit rushed, and I do not think we had that investment lined up in terms of preparation of the environment.", Adding to the challenge is a general sentiment in the Senate against signing large international agreements and treaties, something that was already underway during the Bush administration, which hit roadblocks on treaties such as the Law of the Sea. "There is hostility to the president, but the bigger problem is the hostility to international treaties and agreements writ large," Reif said. Another challenge is whether the Department of Defense would support a push for a new treaty. Franklin Miller, who held a number of top Pentagon roles during the original CTBT fight, said during the event that the Pentagon was "always skeptical about the CTBT.", "The fundamental question we will have to wrestle with at some point is, what is the treaty's purpose now?" Miller, now with the Scowcroft Group, said. Developing trust with both DoD and Congress is key for any CTBTPTP push, agreed Charles Curtis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "There is a continuing obligation on the Department of Energy and on NNSA to share with the Department of Defense the success of its work," Curtis said. "Trust in the Congress is probably the hardest to achieve of all of the important elements. It confounds the management of the laboratories, laborites, the lack of trust, and it confounds the civilian leadership in the department how to restore trust in the Congress in what has happened here.", Entry into the CTBT would legally prohibit the US from performing nuclear explosive tests, something the government has been doing on a de facto basis since 1992. Of the 183 total states that have signed the treaty, but only 164 have ratified it. More important, out of the 44 nations designated as "nuclear-capable states," India, Pakistan and North Korea have refused to sign the agreement, and only 36 have voted to ratify the agreement. For the agreement to go into force, the eight remaining nuclear-capable states China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the United States must ratify the document. Ratifying the agreement would not just be symbolic, argued Reif. He believes that Doing so would put pressure on China, India and Pakistan to ratify as well. "That would be a significant step if all those countries ratified, because then you'd have all the P-5 countries on board," he said. "Both India and Pakistan have said they don't intend to resume testing but they haven't ratified the treaty. Doing so would ensure they can't increase the sophistication of their nuclear arsenals via nuclear testing.", Reif points to a security argument, as well. The US has a long history of nuclear testing in its back pocket, more than any other nation. Locking other nations out of doing live testing would ensure the US maintains a lead in nuclear knowledge, "US ratification would not prevent the US from maintaining or upgrading its warheads without testing, just as we've been doing for the last 20 years, but it would make it harder for other states to conduct nuclear tests and, thereby, improve their arsenals or develop more advanced weapons," Reif said. "And it would be far more difficult for countries to pursue new nuclear advances through evasive or clandestine testing with the CTBT in force.", Email [email protected], Twitter @AaronMehta

Deterring Russia US Army hones skills to mass equipment troops in Europe

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. The U.S. Army is using heel-to-toe rotational deployments of armored brigade combat teams and combat aviation brigades in Europe to practice rapidly massing equipment and troops in countries near the Russian border.The 21st Theater Sustainment Command is laser-focused on decreasing the time it takes to move ABCTs and CABs into position from fort to port and then port to operational locations in Europe. And the command is also preparing to manage the process for units to disperse and then again rapidly join up for exercises throughout the rotation.U.S. Army Europe commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges has said many times that the role for the Army in the region over the last two years was to assure U.S. allies as concern builds over Russian aggression in Ukraine and the possible spread of that aggression into other countries in the Baltics.This year marks a shift into a new phase, where the purpose for the service is to deter Russia in addition to reassuring allies, the commander has said.This includes bringing in the new heel-to-toe ABCT and CAB for nine-month rotations. The ABCT will disperse to areas of responsibility aligned with the Atlantic Resolve mission the framework for the U.S. mission to assure allies in Europe and deter Russia through exercises and operations.One battalion will head to the Baltic region Atlantic Resolve North while another battalion will deploy to Romania and Bulgaria Atlantic Resolve South Hodges told Defense News last October. The bulk of the combat team will remain in Poland, staying in Polish barracks at training areas where some of the best ranges and maintenance facilities are situated, such as Drawsko Pomorskie.The Army faced one of its biggest challenge in January as it relearned to rapidly deploy large units and all of its resident equipment back to Europe through seaports and by road and rail.Within 14 days after arriving at the seaport in Bremerhaven, Germany, the ABCT was in place in Poland and ready to fight, Maj. Gen. Duane Gamble, the commander of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, said at the Association of the U.S. Army's Global Force Symposium this week.More than 2,000 pieces from the 3rd Brigade of the 4th Division out of Fort Carson, Colorado, traveled across the Atlantic to Bremerhaven where the sustainment command and other NATO allies helped offload the ships and prepared the equipment for voyage by rail and road within 36 hours.Overall, it was the largest shipment of equipment to reach Europe in two decades.The move comes at a time when the U.S. Army is backing away from using "activity sets" equipment set up in theater for units to fall in on during exercises in order to practice full-on rapid deployments of units with equipment. Gamble said he expects rotational deployments to continue for at least five years, keeping the sustainment command in Europe very busy. The speed of deployment is critical should Russia make a move into one of the Baltic states, and the sustainment brigade must master the speed and what it takes to move freely across countries. The sustainment command while happy with the time it took to move equipment, experiencing no major hiccups wants to beat its time by four days with the next rotational deployment the 1st Armored Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team set to arrive in Europe in September. While the mission was accomplished, "the plan doesn't survive first contact," as the saying goes, "because you have to adapt your way through the process," Gamble told reporters at the symposium. There's "no Army standard for this," Gamble said, and typically the process can take upward of 30 days. In order to get the deployment process down to 14 days, the command decided to take the 10-day process of integrating and calibrating equipment with the unit down to four days. Then the command worked backward to the time it would take from ramp down at the port to the delivery of equipment to the unit, calculating it would take nine to 10 days. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, The deployment was also sped up by flying most of the 3,400 ABCT personnel more directly to the area of operation and chose 50 personnel to help offload the ships and stage equipment. The Army also decided to convoy only 50 vehicles to Poland while the rest of the equipment moved by rail, Gamble said. "We did this for two reasons," he said. Last year at Poland's major military exercise Anakonda 16 "quite frankly, we overwhelmed ourselves, our own ability to manage the convoys, given our stretched forces, and we wanted to retrain to standard.", Now the Army will expand the convoy to 400 vehicles through Germany into Poland on the next rotation, Gamble said. This will allow the command to shorten the timeline from 14 days to 10. The command also found a way to shrink the timeline by not only using a rail line from Bremerhaven but also a military rail located 168 kilometers from the port that was used by Nazis during World War II to transport people to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. It is a "very capable rail head," Gamble said. For the next rotation in September, as Hodges suspected last fall, the ABCT will sail into several ports to test its ability to unload and come together in another designated point, Gamble confirmed. The theater sustainment command is also working through how to mass the ABCT within 72 hours for exercises this summer, Gamble said. The focus will be to develop a joint area of operations distribution system to support Saber Strike that will take place in June in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Then it will design a way to mass the ABCT for Saber Guardian in July taking place in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. During Saber Guardian, the command will also exercise the combatant command's Army Prepositioned Stocks equipment set at a high level of readiness for rapid deployment in an emergency. Gamble said he was not sure if the Army has the resources "right now" to mass the ABCT in 72 hours for Saber Guardian, adding it would be doable if most of the unit was in Poland at the start. However, if the unit is spread out from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea, "then it gets a little tougher.", Such an exercise for the sustainment command is not something that has been exercised in quite some time, he added. Lastly, the command will also work on logistics-related exercises within the Enhanced Forward Presence construct. NATO at the Wales Summit decided to deploy four multinational battalion battle groups in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland as part of the assurance and deterrence effort. The United Kingdom is paired up with Estonia Canada is partnering with Latvia Germany with Lithuania and the U.S. with Poland.

Trump expected to nominate head of US Fleet Forces Command for top post in Pacific

WASHINGTON Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is seeking to nominate the head of U.S. Fleet Forces Command to be the top U.S. military officer in the Pacific, according to three defense officials who spoke on background. , Adm. Phil Davidson's nomination sits with the White House, officials said, which means that barring any objections he'll relieve Adm. Harry Harris, who was nominated last week to be the U.S. ambassador to Australia. It also would mean that Davidson had fended off a strong challenge from the Air Force's top officer in the Pacific, Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy. An OSD spokesperson declined to comment for the article, saying "I have nothing to announce at this time.", If Davidson is in fact nominated, the 1982 Naval Academy graduate will inherit a nuclear standoff with North Korea and a slow-motion conflict with China over its expansive claims of maritime rights in the South China Sea. Adm. Harris, the outgoing PACOM, developed a reputation for being aggressive with U.S. forces deployed in the region, including a major show of force in November where three aircraft carriers conducted a simultaneous patrol in the waters near the Korean peninsula. Davidson has spent most of his career on the East Coast. He commanded the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, the cruiser Gettysburg and the frigate Taylor. Prior to being Fleet Forces commander, he commanded U.S. 6th Fleet in Europe. He has previous experience earlier in his career at a staff job at PACFLT, according to his official biography. Davidson recently presided over the Navy's Comprehensive Review of its Japan-based U.S. 7th Fleet after two deadly accidents claimed the lives of 17 sailors. Davidson's review found widespread readiness issues and a culture that cut corners to meet the unrelenting demand for Navy ships in the region. It is unclear if O'Shaughnessy is still under consideration, but sources said it was likely Davidson was the only name sent over. The Pacific Air Forces commander was the early favorite to replace Harris because of his extensive experience in the Pacific. But the post has always been a Navy admiral and many speculated that Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain would want to keep the post in Navy hands.

US officials say theyre not conducting presence patrols in Manbij Syria but new photos show otherwis

Operation Inherent Resolve recently posted pictures of U.S. soldiers near Manbij, Syria, conducting what the captions called "presence patrols." , But after Military Times reached out to U.S. officials, the photos were quickly removed from DVIDs, the Defense Department's media distribution website. "I have pulled those photos and cutlines for review and correction. I will release them for reposting at a future time to be determined," Col. Thomas Veale, public affairs director for OIR, told Military Times. Additionally, Military Times was told by officials that the forces were only "conducting security within their area of operations" and the term "presence patrol" does not accurately describe what's happening in the photos. But according to Jennifer Cafarella, a senior intelligence planner at the Institute for the Study of War, Inherent Resolve is obscuring the purpose of these patrols by using ambiguous language. "They're trying to use terminology to manage the Turkish reaction," she said. "The intended effect regardless of the framing is to deter Turkey from attacking.", A big part of deterrence is ensuring a message has clarity, and by obscuring the point of a patrol, U.S. officials might not be ensuring their Turkish counterparts understand the point, she said. In this way, OIR's shift in language could be poor messaging. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, Another possibility, though, is that U.S. officials are changing their position on Manbij. "Either they are failing at deterring or they are deciding to go with a different message," Cafarella said. Coalition forces have been in the vicinity of Manbij since around August 2016, when they supported locals in the liberation of the area from the Islamic State. , "We have maintained a relationship with the Manbij Military Council MMC, which was created to defend Manbij from Daesh," an OIR official said, using the Arabic term for ISIS. In a statement last week, Inherent Resolve officials called the MMC a "mixed Arab and Kurdish council." , Now, though, statements from Inherent Resolve describe the MMC as mostly Arab. "The MMC is a primarily Arab force made up of Manbij locals," the new statement reads. It also notes that "the predominantly Arab council has maintained security and stability.", The difference in ethnic makeup may seem innocuous to most Americans, but it is a linchpin in the dispute Turkey is lobbying the United States over. Turkey began a military offensive over its border into the Syrian city of Afrin in order to eliminate Kurdish fighters it considers terrorists and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened that the operation will soon extend to Manbij. Turkey considers the Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units, or YPG, to be linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which is considered a terror group by both the United States and Turkey. However, the YPG has been an key part of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in their fight against ISIS. Now, it appears that U.S. officials are attempting to "de-emphasize the level of YPG involvement in military and governing structures in Manbij in order to portray the situation as predominantly Arab and to portray the Turks as the aggressor in any possible endeavor," Cafarrella said. Still, the relationship between the YPG and U.S. forces is actually unclear, she explained. In fact, it seems the United States has very little leverage over the YPG, as evidenced by their failure to prevent Kurdish units from heading to fight in Afrin. In the end, Cafarrella said that the "United States is correct in that most of the Manbij Military Council in terms of volume is Arab, but they are subordinate to the YPG chain of command, or at a minimum are subordinate to YPG leadership.", She added that there have been recent protests in the Manbij area by Arabs against the MMC, "for abuses against the Arab population.", "Because that whole structure is still dominated by the YPG, its ideology and its goals," she said.

UK defense chief to reveal Type 31e shipbuilding strategy

LONDON Initial details on how Britain plans to build the first batch of new Type 31e general purpose frigates for the Royal Navy will be unveiled as the centerpiece of a national shipbuilding strategy scheduled to be released by the government on Sept. 6. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon will outline to Parliament on Wednesday a strategy that could see the frigate block built by several yards around Britain ahead of being assembled at a yet-to-be-determined facility. At present, Royal Navy destroyers, frigates and offshore patrol vessels are built by BAE Systems at two yards in Glasgow, Scotland. "This new approach will lead to more cutting-edge ships for the growing Royal Navy that will be designed to maximise exports and be attractive to navies around the world. Backed up by a commitment to spend billions of pounds on new ships, our plan will help boost jobs, skills, and growth in shipyards and the supply chain across the UK," Fallon said in a statement. The Ministry of Defence statement, provided ahead of the strategy unveiling, said that a batch of five general purpose frigates would be built at a cost capped at no more than 250 million U.S. 324 million each. Industry executives , who asked not to be named, said MoD officials believe lower cost commercial yards around the country can undercut BAE on warships like light frigates. In line with a long-standing policy in the U.K. the warships will be constructed in the country but could be "built in a way which could see them shared between yards and assembled at a central hub," according to the statement. The British already have experience assembling warships from blocks. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, The Royal Navy's two new 65,000-ton aircraft carriers were built in large blocks at six yards around the U.K. and floated around the coast to be assembled at the Babcock International yard at Rosyth, Scotland, by a BAE Systems-led industry and MoD alliance. Cammell Laird is also using the block build process on the 150 million polar research ship being built for the U.K. at its Birkenhead, England, yard. These should unlock our potential', The strategy content drew a positive response from Sarah Kenny, the chief executive at BMT, Britain's leading naval design house. "I am delighted that the strategy sets out an agenda which challenges the U.K. to raise standards and drives us to become more competitive, whilst also creating an environment that better enables success," Kenny said. "There are positive socioeconomic benefits to be reaped from cultivating the U.K.'s excellence in naval design and engineering, to deliver on our own ship design and shipbuilding demands. Developed properly, these should unlock our potential giving us a competitive edge in export to other navies around the world," she added. The option to block-build the Type 31e could end BAE System's monopoly on building frigates and other complex warships for the Royal Navy at its Scotstoun and Govan yards. The company currently has five offshore patrol vessels and three Type 26 anti-submarine warfare frigates for the Royal Navy on its order book for the Scottish yards. A further five of the Type 26 frigates are scheduled to be ordered from BAE sometime in the early 2020s in a build program expected to run until 2035. The MoD originally planned to build 13 of the Type 26 frigates to replace the Type 23 fleet on a one-for-one basis, but cut the number to eight in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, replacing the axed ships with the lighter, cheaper and less capable Type 31e. The SDSR said that by the 2030s the size of the Type 31 fleet could be increased beyond five warships, helping to rebuild a Royal Navy destroyer and frigate fleet that has shrunk to just 19 vessels. BAE declined to comment on the shipbuilding strategy. Aside from Babcock International which is building the last of four 90-meter-long offshore patrol vessels for the Irish Naval Service at its Appledore Shipbuilders facility in Devon, southwest England no one other than BAE has built a warship for a generation or more. Unveiling of the national shipbuilding strategy follows recommendations to the government by industrialist John Parker last November regarding how Britain could revive its maritime industry. He said in a statement issued ahead of the parliamentary announcement that the recommendations would "change the shape of naval shipbuilding over the country in the future.", "The next challenge is to come up with a world-leading design one that can satisfy the needs of the Royal Navy and the export market. We have the capability to do that, the will is there and it is a tremendous opportunity for UK shipbuilding," he said. Release of the strategy is set to trigger the competition to select the light-frigate design. Maritime industry bosses and other executives have been invited to a Sept. 7 meeting in central London to be briefed on the broad outline of the Type 31e program by Defence Procurement Minister Harriet Baldwin and other senior government officials. Further details are likely to emerge at an industry-briefing day scheduled toward the end of this month. The MoD says it wants the first Type 31e in service to replace the Type 23 HMS Argyll in 2023. Analysts in Britain reckon that could be an unrealistic timeline. The competition to design and build the Type 31e is restricted to British companies, according to an MoD spokesman. Babcock International, BAE Systems, BMT Defence Services and a small design consultancy known as Stellar Systems are among the companies likely to submit designs when the competition opens. The MoD is calling the light frigate the Type 31e to emphasize the importance of the warship's appeal in export markets to future shipbuilding capabilities in the U.K. Foreign navies have already been canvassed about their capability needs, and some of these have been built into the Royal Navy's requirements to make the warship attractive in an export market where it will face tough competition from the recently launched French intermediate frigate program and others. BMT's Kenny said the shipbuilding strategy's "endorsement of the Type 31e goes some way to promoting indigenous design capability. It is great to see the U.K. government following European counterparts and opening doors for U.K. ship design and shipbuilding in overseas frigate programs. Greater volume of U.K.-designed vessels and the resulting increased collaboration between industry partners and the U.K. enterprise can only result in a more superior solution for any naval customer," she said. An MoD spokesman said that while the build in U.K. policy remains for complex warships, that wouldn't extend to three large logistics-support ships scheduled to be acquired for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. That requirement will be opened to international shipbuilders in the same fashion as the four large oilers ordered for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary from the company Daewoo in South Korea. Two of the ships have been delivered to the U.K. where they undergo fitting of sensitive equipment at AP Falmouth, in southwest England, ahead of being handed over to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

How the Buffalo Soldiers helped turn the tide in Italy during World War II

African Americans have fought in every major conflict in which the United States has been involved, from the Revolutionary War on. They frequently served with distinction the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War, the 9th and 10th U.S. Colored Cavalry regiments during the Indian wars and the Spanish-American War, and the 369th Infantry Regiment during World War I all established outstanding fighting records. Yet with each new war in which the United States became embroiled, the white American establishment tended to forget the contribution made by black servicemen in previous conflicts. Each time, black soldiers were committed to combat in racially segregated units and had to prove themselves all over again. Of the 909,000 black Americans selected for duty in the Army during World War II, only one black division saw infantry combat in Europe the 92nd Infantry Division. The vast majority of African Americans in uniform were assigned to segregated construction or supply units or placed in units that performed unpleasant duties such as graves registration. The government's view was that blacks were not motivated enough or aggressive enough to fight. While the 92nd was referred to as a black unit, and its enlisted men and most of its junior officers were black, its higher officers were white. The 92nd, which had fought in France during World War I, was once again activated in 1942. Under the command of Maj. Gen. Edward M. Almond, the 92nd began combat training in October 1942 and went into action in Italy in the summer of 1944. The unit continued a long and proud tradition by retaining the buffalo as its divisional symbol. Its circular shoulder patch, which featured a black buffalo on an olive drab background, was called The Buffalo as was the division's official publication. The 92nd even kept a live buffalo as a mascot. The nickname Buffalo Soldier dates back to the late 1860s, when black soldiers volunteered for duty in the American West. The American Indians, who regarded the new threat as "black white men" coined the term Buffalo Soldier out of respect for a worthy enemy. According to one story, the Indians thought that the black soldiers, with their dark skin and curly hair, resembled buffaloes. Another story attributes the name to the buffalo hides that many black soldiers wore during the harsh winters out West, as a supplement to their inadequate government uniforms. Read more from HistoryNet, Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, In the spring of 1944, after years of pressure from the black community, the government grudgingly rescinded its policy excluding African American soldiers from combat. On July 30, 1944, the first wave of Buffalo Soldiers the 370th Regimental Combat Team disembarked at Naples, Italy, where they were greeted by a jubilant crowd of black American soldiers from other service units. The rest of the division would arrive a few months later. American troops were facing an uphill battle in Italy, and at that point, the Allies were desperately short of infantry troops. After months of hard fighting, the Allies had managed to push German forces under Field Marshal Albert Kesselring almost 500 bloody miles up the Italian peninsula. But even after the fall of Rome on June 4, 1944, the Germans had simply retreated in an orderly fashion from one line of defense to another rather than acknowledge defeat. On D-Day, two days after the victory at Rome, Allied soldiers swarmed across the beaches of Normandy. For the duration of the war, the American Fifth Army and the British Eighth Army, under the overall command of British General Sir Harold Alexander, would play second fiddle to the Allied push in France. During the summer of 1944, nearly 100,000 men of the Fifth Army, out of a total strength of 249,000, were transferred to the fighting in France. As the Allies stood at the south bank of the Arno River in July, preparing to assault Kesselring's most formidable barrier yetthe infamous Gothic Linethe Americans clearly had too many tanks and not enough infantrymen. Kesselring had built the line on the slopes of the Apennine Mountains, the 50-mile-deep range that, in northern Italy, runs diagonally from coast to coast and affords natural protection for northern industrial and agricultural centers. In addition to the 370th, at that point the 92nd consisted of two other infantry regiments, the 365th and the 371st four field artillery battalions, the 597th, 598th, 599th and 600th plus headquarters battery, the 92nd Reconnaissance Troop, the 317th Engineer Combat Battalion and 317th Medical Battalion, as well as a medical battalion, signal company, quartermaster company, maintenance personnel and military police. The Buffalo Soldiers were assigned to the IV Corps of the U.S. Fifth Army in two primary areas of operation, the Serchio Valley and the coastal sector along the Ligurian Sea. They occupied the westernmost end of the Allied front, while the Eighth Army attacked across the eastern portion of the Italian peninsula. The 92nd would face not only mountainous terrain and tremendous resistanceincluding the German Fourteenth Army and its Italian Fascist soldiers, the 90th Panzergrenadier Division and the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Divisionbut also an array of man-made defensive works. By fighting an impressive defensive campaign, Kesselring had gained time to build up his Gothic Line. Using 15,000 Italian laborers and 2,000 Slovaks, the Germans constructed bunkers, tank emplacements, tunnels and anti-tank ditches reinforced existing Italian castles and laid carefully designed minefields intended to herd enemy troops into interlocking fields of fire. At this stage in the Italian campaign the Allies did have one advantage. Italy was in a state of civil war, and the Italian partisan forces were proving more than a nuisance to the German cause. Guerrillas had even managed to kill one Luftwaffe division commander. As a result, one German commander, General Fridolin von Senger, discarded his general's insignia and rode in an unmarked Volkswagen. When the Buffalo Soldiers deployed along the front, they began to work together with the tankers of the U.S. 1st Armored Division. In addition to this division, the IV Corps consisted of the 6th South African Armored Division, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force and Task Force 45, composed of British and American anti-aircraft gunners who had been retrained and re-equipped for combat infantry duty. After landing on the Italian mainland at Salerno on September 9, 1943, the Allies had unsuccessfully attempted to destroy Kesselring before January 1944. Now they once again hoped to make significant advances before the snows came in the winter of 1944. The Fifth and Eighth armies planned an all-out attack on the Gothic Line in August, with the Eighth Army positioned along the Adriatic Coast and the Fifth Army directing its efforts against the center of Italy, toward Bologna. The IV Corps would cross the Arno River, take Mount Albano and Mount Pisano on the plain, extend their front and draw the enemy's attention. Meanwhile, the Fifth Army's II Corps, to the right along with the British XIII Corps, would drive the main assault into the center of the Gothic Line. The thinly spread IV Corps also had the task of guarding the Allied west flank against a German counterattack and protecting the crucial Allied port of Leghorn, or Livorno, on the coast. On September 1, the three battalions of the 370th Regiment, along with elements of the 1st Armored Division, crossed the Arno River and advanced north for two to three miles. By the early morning hours of September 2, the 370th Engineers and 1st Armored Engineers had cleared minefields, worked on fords and placed a treadway bridge across the Arno for the upcoming armored infantry assault. Task Force 45 was bogged down by heavy minefields, but the 370th pushed on. The 3rd Battalion of the 370th moved to the west of Mount Pisano, while the 1st Battalion advanced east of the mountain. Using mule trails, the 2nd Battalion advanced straight over the mountain. The Germans retaliated with small-arms, machine-gun and artillery fire while their forward elements began to pull back behind the Gothic Line. The Buffalo Soldiers advanced north beyond Mount Pisano and attacked the city of Lucca. They eliminated remaining enemy resistance around the road connecting Pisa to Lucca and spent the next several days patrolling and waiting for the rest of the Fifth Army to move up. The main attack started on September 10, and three days later the Buffalo Soldiers and 1st Armored tankers stood at the base of the northern Apennines. By September 18, the II Corps had breached the Gothic Line at Il Giogo Pass, and many of the 1st Armored tanks were shifted to that area. The IV Corps consolidated its units while holding its section of the line until late in the month, when patrols of Buffalo Soldiers entered the Serchio Valley. The men of the 370th had also penetrated the Gothic Line in their sector and now controlled Highway 12, which served as a crucial east-west communications artery for the Germans. In early October, they were ordered to take the city of Massa, near the coast, which was the first step in capturing the naval base at La Spezia. Although the Germans had been in continuous retreat in Italy, they resisted fiercely at Massa. They were determined to protect the western edge of the Gothic Line, especially because La Spezia's naval base was nearby. Beset by cold autumn rains, the Buffalo Soldiers found themselves fighting a new enemymudin addition to dug-in enemy troops. They did not take Massa at that point, and all across the Gothic Line, Kesselring's forces held on. Meanwhile, though the II Corps made some impressive headway, it failed to reach Bologna before the snows set in. After a six-day battle for control of Massa, the Buffalo Soldiers pulled back and regrouped. As the rest of the 92nd Infantry Division began to land in Italy, the Buffalo Soldiers of the 370th kept up the offensive on a smaller scale with power patrols consisting of between 35 and 75 men and at times machine-gun and mortar crews. The Fifth Army spent most of November conducting defensive actions in preparation for a renewed offensive in December. By late November, the last elements of the remaining two 92nd Division regiments, the 371st and 365th, had arrived. In addition to the 92nd's own regiments, a fourth regiment came under the division's controlthe 366th Infantry Regiment, with black officers and men. The 366th had originally trained for combat but had been initially assigned to guard duty on Allied air bases throughout Italy. The men of the 366th had performed so well in their former assignment that their commanding general did not want to give them up. As the 370th moved deeper into the Serchio Valleylater with elements of the 371stresupply became a logistical nightmare. No vehicles could reach the Buffalo Soldiers as they fought their way to the high ground of the 35-mile-long valley. Despite a wealth of technology and industrial might at their command, the Americans found themselves dependent upon pack animals, the same mode of transport employed by Hannibal Barca when he had invaded Italy more than 2,100 years earlier. One officer and 15 enlisted men formed the nucleus of the 92nd Division Mule Pack Battalion, which included an Italian veterinarian, two blacksmiths and 600 Italian volunteers who were given American uniforms and even wore the Buffalo insignia. The Americans scoured the countryside for mules and horses, which the U.S. government then purchased from locals. They eventually procured a total of 372 mules and 173 horses. Because the U.S. Army lacked the necessary equipment for pack animals, the blacksmiths had to hammer out their own horseshoes from German barbed-wire pickets. The animals brought up water, ammunition, anti-tank guns and other crucial materiel and transported the wounded to where they could receive treatment. As it turned out, however, the mules were apparently spooked by the smell of dead men and balked at carrying corpses. The 92nd was expected to launch a major offensive on December 1 in support of the II Corps' renewed attack on Bologna. The attack was rescheduled for Christmas Day due to a predicted German counterattack. When intelligence reports indicated a large German build-up in the northern region of the Serchio Valley, the men of the 371st were transferred to the coastal sector, and elements of the 366th were sent to the valley to support the 370th. Although the Fifth Army never launched its early December assault, it was not a quiet month in the Serchio Valley. The Buffalo Soldiers continued to advance, town by town, against German artillery, mortar and small-arms fire. American engineers at first repaired bridges and roads for the advance, but soon shifted to defensive work, laying minefields, rigging bridges for demolition, and helping to evacuate civilians in anticipation of the German counterattack. On Christmas Eve the Fifth Army called off its Christmas Day assault, but the Buffalo Soldiers, who were deployed on both sides of the Serchio River, continued to advance, facing German mortar and artillery rounds as they moved through more of northern Italy's mountain towns. The 366th's 2nd Battalion held the town of Barga on the American right flank, while the 370th held Gallicano, west of the Serchio River. On Christmas Eve, the 370th sent its 2nd Battalion east of the river into the little village of Sommocolonia, the northernmost edge of the American line. Light artillery and mortar rounds hit Sommocolonia but there seemed to be little enemy activity, so most of the 2nd Battalion moved out for duty elsewhere, leaving behind only two platoons. On the extreme right, just east of Sommocolonia, lay the villages of Bebbio and Scarpello, occupied by two platoons of the 92nd Division Reconnaissance Troop. Before sunrise on the day after Christmas, the Germans attacked the villages just north and east of Gallicano. Although the primary German assault seemed to come from west of the river, toward Gallicano, partisans were also battling enemy soldiers north of Sommocolonia later in the morning. Within two hours, Sommocolonia and the two American platoons there were surrounded. A third platoon moved up to reinforce the embattled Sommocolonia troops. Lieutenant John Fox, an artillery forward observer for the 366th, exemplified the impressive fighting spirit of the black soldiers. When enemy troops surrounded the lieutenant's position inside a house and were about to overrun him, he ordered artillery fire directly on his own position, sacrificing his life. Fox's heroic action bought valuable time that helped save other troops, and he was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. The two platoons of the 370th, along with a group of partisans, engaged in house-to-house fighting with the enemy during that battle. Many of the Germans were dressed as partisans, making the situation even more confusing and dangerous. Just before noon, the platoons were ordered to evacuate the village, but they were trapped. They managed to hold out until nightfall, but of the 70 Americans involved, only one officer and 17 men managed to fight their way out of the village that night as ordered. Meanwhile, the two reconnaissance platoons at Bebbio and Scarpello were overrun by enemy troops and ordered to fall back. Despite heavy fighting, they managed to withdraw to their command post at Coreglia. German artillery fire began to cut deeper into American lines, and the 370th ordered its troops to quit Gallicano and secure the high ground nearby. With the Allied port of Leghorn threatened, the Fifth Army called back the 1st Armored Division from II Corps control, and the 8th Indian Division, a British unit, moved to the area as reinforcements. On December 27, American fighter-bombers roared into the valley and hammered Sommocolonia, Gallicano and other front-line areas. By January 1, the Allies had more or less re-established their original positions. With the Germans less of an imminent threat, the 8th Indian Division pulled out, leaving the valley to the Buffalo Soldiers. The Fifth Army postponed its major offensive until April, but General Almond decided that his division would launch its own attack in February. Almond devised his operation not as a breakthrough assault but as a division-strength feeler movement' intended to determine enemy strength and deployment, draw more enemy troops to the area and enhance the division's own positions. Troops in the Serchio Valley were to seize the Lama di Sotto Ridge, overlooking the German supply center at Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, and create a diversion while the main assault concentrated on the coastal sector. Almond hoped to reach the Strettoia hill mass on the coast, just north of the Cinquale Canal, and then take Massa. Once in Massa, American artillery would come within firing range of La Spezia. Units were moved around again so that the 370th and 371st occupied the Coastal Sector while the 365th went to the Serchio Valley. The 366th was divided between both areas. On February 4, the 366th held Gallicano, and the next day it pushed its lines into the outlying villages. The 365th, to the east of the Serchio River, took the town of Lama, just north of Sommocolonia, and occupied Mount Della Stella at the foot of the Lama di Sotto Ridge. The 365th held out against numerous counterattacks until February 8, when a full battalion of Germans pushed the Americans off the hill and out of Lama. At nightfall on the 10th, after encountering grueling enemy artillery fire and grenadier counterattacks, the Buffalo Soldiers retook Lama. The Buffalo Soldiers on the coast were hit just as hard as their comrades in the valley. The Germans had tanks, field artillery and thousands of ground troops to protect La Spezia, and they could call on a weapon unavailable to the Americansheavy coastal guns. Emplaced at Punta Bianca, just southeast of La Spezia, the German coastal guns could not only lob shells into Massa but also reach all the way to Forte dei Marmi, which lay south of the Cinquale Canal. Fire from the powerful coastal guns left craters so large that Allied tanks literally fell into them. The remainder of the 366th and its supporting armorincluding another black unit, the 758th Tank Battalionadvanced along the coast. The 371st attacked on the far right through the coastal hill masses but ran into extensive minefields. The 370th advanced in column with its left flank on Highway 1 and its right flank in the hills. As they advanced, each battalion of the 370th leapfrogged the battalion directly to its front in order to keep up a continuous attack. Riding on the tanks, the 366th rolled into the sea to avoid mines, then came back onto dry land north of the Cinquale Canal. The first two tanks to hit the beach were knocked out by mines and blocked the way. Before long, four more tanks were destroyed by mines, but the 370th reached the canal and started to cross, taking a pounding from local mortar and machine-gun positions as well as from the coastal guns. The artillery fire prevented engineers from laying a bridge, and foul weather meant no air support for the Buffalo Soldiers that day. Three tanks were lost when they fell into underwater craters while crossing the canal. Despite numerous German counterattacks, the Buffalo Soldiers did manage to establish a line of defense north of the canal. Without a bridge, they had to hand-carry supplies across the water. Casualties were mounting, and the coastal guns kept pounding away. On the night of February 10, Almond called off the attack and ordered his troops back across the canal. The February operation cost 22 tanks and more than 1,100 casualties, including 56 officers. The 92nd underwent drastic changes before its involvement in an offensive in the spring of 1945. The Allies considered it absolutely crucial that the 92nd seize La Spezia during the April attack, but the previous months of fighting had depleted the division's strength. Although the U.S. Army had hundreds of thousands of black troops, it could not find enough combat-trained replacements for the 92nd, so the 371st went to the Serchio Valley under IV Corps control while the 366th and 365th were sent elsewhere. The 92nd built up the strength of the 370th, the only black regiment left in the division, while it gained two new regiments. In addition to the 473rd, made up of white anti-aircraft gunners turned infantrymen, the division received a ferocious fighting unit composed of Nisei soldiersthe famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team. These descendants of Japanese immigrants served in one of the most highly decorated American regiments of the entire war. The 370th formed the left flank, with the 442nd on the right and the 473rd in reserve in the nearby Serchio Valley. In order to avoid the relentless barrage from the coastal guns, the 92nd Division, now jokingly referred to as the Rainbow Division,' advanced toward Massa through the hills east of Highway 1. Even though fighter-bombers flew sorties over Punta Bianca and British destroyers shelled the German positions, the coastal guns continued firing. In less than two hours on April 5, 1945, the 370th's lead element, Company C, reached its initial objective Castle Aghinolfi. The company's artillery forward observer had to convince the artillery twice to give him fire support. Artillerymen could not believe that the riflemen had advanced so far. The Germans were surprised, too in fact, many were still eating breakfast when the Buffalo Soldiers arrived. Company C radioed for reinforcements, but the regiment had problems of its own, with two company commanders already killed. No help arrived. The Germans within the castle fired on the lone company with machine guns and mortars. Before long, the company had suffered 60 percent casualties. The forward observer and radioman were both hit and the radio was destroyed, cutting off all contact with the outside. The company had no choice but to pull back. Lieutenant Vernon J. Baker, the company's only black officer, volunteered to harass the enemy so that the wounded could escape. Armed with hand grenades, and on two occasions supported by Private James Thomas' automatic-rifle fire, Baker personally destroyed three machine-gun nests and an observation post. Baker, who had already received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, would receive the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions that day Editor's note That award was upgraded. Meanwhile, the 442nd fought the enemy ridge by ridge and systematically blew up German bunkers with bazookas. By April 6, the Nisei had control of Mount Belvedere. The 370th, Company C included, made another assault against the same hills but needed more troops to succeed. The 473rd moved up, and the hard-hit 1st Battalion of the 370th, which had had three company commanders killed in the first two days, went to the Serchio Valley to protect the American flank against a German counterattack. The 370th and 473rd, along with their supporting armored battalions, pushed through the hills and also advanced along Highway 1, although the German guns at Punta Bianca continued to pound away. On April 9, American tankers rolled into Massa but were driven back by staunch enemy resistance. In a supporting maneuver, the 442nd pushed forward through the mountains and flanked the city's eastern side. Finally, the Germans withdrew, and on April 10 the Americans controlled the city. The 92nd Infantry Division continued to press forward, though the bitter fighting continued as the Germans moved their reserve men and panzers into position. With the German lines receding, a full battalion of tank destroyers finally came within range of the coastal guns and over a six-day period sent more than 11,000 rounds into Punta Bianca. By April 20 the big guns were silent and the Germans were retreating. The Buffalo Soldiers fighting in the Serchio Valley had also been busy. The 370th had taken Castelnuovo on April 20 and pressed forward. They planned to meet up with the 442nd at Aulla, northeast of La Spezia, and cut off the German retreat. The fighting had left so much destruction that the Americans could not even use their mules, and the division was accumulating more prisoners than it had time to deal with. Partisans had been fighting at La Spezia, and on April 24 the 473rd moved into the city. Three days later, the 473rd and its supporting armor crushed the German resistance at Genoa. The 370th and 442nd in their sector helped prevent two enemy divisions from escaping through the Cisa Pass before the May 2 cease-fire officially ended the hostilities in Italy. Although Allied forces were ecstatic over their success in Italy, for the Buffalo Soldiers, it was a bittersweet victory. The military establishment considered the 92nd, which comprised less than 2 percent of all black Americans in the Army, a failure. Regarded as an experiment from the outset, the division had been closely watched and roundly criticized. Much of the blame for the setbacks in February 1945 and other similar occurrences was attributed to confusion between the junior officers and enlisted personnel. However, their officers were rotated so often that the men sometimes had no idea who their commanders were, and in many cases the most outstanding officers and NCOs were killed in action. In defense of the black junior officers, Lt. Col. Markus H. Ray, commander of the division's 600th Field Artillery Battalion which had all black officers and men wrote on May 14, 1945 I believe that the young Negro officer represents the best we have to offer and under proper, sympathetic and capable leadership would have developed and performed equally with any other racial group.They were Americans before all else.', The numbers alone tell an impressive story. Of 12,846 Buffalo Soldiers who saw action, 2,848 were killed, captured or wounded. The Buffalo Soldiers did, in fact, break through the Gothic Line. They reached their objective, captured or helped to capture nearly 24,000 prisoners and received more than 12,000 decorations and citations for their gallantry in combat. The soldiers of the 92nd Division had proved their worth through months of bitter combat in the Italian campaign.

Household goods delayed Heres how to make your inconvenience claim

One military wife was so frustrated by how long it was taking to get her family's unaccompanied baggage shipment from overseas that she took matters into her own hands She paid more than 200 to rent a U-Haul and drove it to pick up the small shipment out of storage herself. Like many other military families this moving season, this family has had delays in the delivery of their household belongings. They've paid 4,000 as they've waited out the delays, and they've had trouble communicating with the moving company. "We have a kid with a disability and she needs to sleep in a bed, not on an air mattress," the military spouse said. "We had to dip into our savings. I'm curious how much worse this is on enlisted families out there who don't have the money.", Because these delays cause hardships for military families, they have the option to file an inconvenience claim with the transportation service provider the company that was awarded the shipment. Some families don't realize this, and they may not get clear information about where to file a claim. These claims are separate from the claims for reimbursement for damage or loss to household goods that's discovered at delivery, although both are filed with the transportation service provider. It is the transportation service provider's responsibility to deliver a shipment on or before the required delivery date, said Army Maj. Dave Dunn, spokesman for U.S. Transportation Command, which oversees DoD's shipment programs for household goods and privately owned vehicles. The transportation service provider is awarded the shipment by TRANSCOM's Defense Personal Property Program, but usually subcontracts with other companies to pack, load, haul, unload and unpack the military shipments. If the shipment isn't delivered on time, the service member can file an inconvenience claim with the TSP, not the subcontracting companies. "Service members should contact their TSP regarding what is paid for with an inconvenience claim prior to making purchases," Dunn said. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Pay and Benefits Report, An inconvenience claim is not an entitlement, he said, adding that it likely won't cover the 200 this military wife paid to rent the U-Haul. Heirloom vases destroyed, dining room tables broken.... this is the PCS season. Service members are not entitled to per diem when household goods don't arrive on time, but they can be reimbursed for certain expenses. It's important to keep those receipts. The maximum amount of reimbursement can't exceed the daily lodging and meal per diem rate. Examples of some out-of-pocket expenses that can be covered are lodging, meals, laundry service, and furniture/appliance rental. Rental furniture includes beds/air mattresses, cribs, sofa, chairs, table, appliances and one TV per customer. It also could include purchase of sheets, towels, pots and pans, paper plates, napkins and disposable cutlery. Itemized receipts are required for lodging, meals/food, and furniture rentals. These expenses must be reasonable and relate directly to relieving a definite hardship. The TSP has seven days to acknowledge an inconvenience claim and 30 days to pay it, according to TRANSCOM. If there is a disputed claim, the service member can contact the installation's personal property office for help in resolving the dispute. Other points to remember

Reserves bolster deterrence efforts at Saber Guardian

CINCU, Romania and BEZMER AIR BASE, Bulgaria The U.S. Army-led Saber Guardian showed the U.S. Army reserve forces playing integral roles throughout the exercise across Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary this month. Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the U.S. Army Europe Command commander, said many of the major reemerging capabilities needed in Europe now come from the National Guard and the Reserve and he emphasized how reliant the command is on the reserves for amassing the right balance of military power to deter an aggressive Russia in Eastern Europe. On the side of a runway with two C-130s in the process of delivering equipment and supplies for an airfield seizure exercise at Bezmer Air Base in Bulgaria, Hodges told Defense News in an interview, that the two aircraft were from the Montana and Illinois Air National Guard. "The majority of the air lift comes from the National Guard," he said. "Right there that tells you how essential they are to what we are trying to do," in Europe to deter Russian aggression. Hodges has said frequently during his time as commander, "We only have 30,000 soldiers in Europe, we used to have 300,000. Our mission when we had 300,000, when we were young lieutenants, was to deter the Soviet Union and assure our allies. Our mission now with the 30,000 is deter Russia and assure our allies. Our task is to make 30,000 look and feel like 300,000.", And there's no better way to do it than bring in the reserve forces during exercises and training opportunities in Europe, he has said. During a river crossing exercise on the Danube in Romania and during another similar exercise in Hungary, the bridging unit, in both cases, was a National Guard or Army Reserve unit, Hodges said. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, "Every bit of bridge that I have is only when the Guard brings it over or the Reserve. I have no assigned bridging unit, so, obviously, I'm desperate to get them over as much as possible," he added. During the river crossing exercise in Romania, Hodges stressed the importance of the capability to defend waterways and bridging capability is crucial to that defense. , Last year, Hodges also declared a major capability gap in short-range air defense systems SHORAD in the European theater. To attempt to fill the gap, the U.S. Army is deploying National Guard Avenger Air Defense units on a rotational basis to Europe. South Carolina National Guardsmen from Company C, 2nd Battalion, 263rd Air Defense Artillery, were busy practicing with several Avenger systems during a few days of live-fire exercises on the shores of the Black Sea in Romania at Capu Midia Training Area during Saber Guardian. , At this time, the U.S. Army's SHORAD capability is entirely resident in the reserve forces. And roughly 75 percent of the Army's engineering and logistics capability are in the reserve component, Hodges said. The 926th Engineer Brigade, comprised of National Guard and Reserve soldiers, led a number of projects at the Joint National Training Center in Cincu, Romania, as part of Resolute Castle 2017, an exercise designed to not only build improvements to the training facilities there but also to help train the soldiers working on projects. Hodges said the efforts at Cincu are similar to several other projects elsewhere in Eastern Europe and are designed to ultimately strengthen capability across NATO forces. Building readiness Romanian base gets an overhaul to strengthen NATO forces, Also at Cincu, the National Guard's 5th Battalion, 113th Field Artillery unit out of North Carolina, rolled in to support Saber Guardian with its M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System HIMARS along with an additional battery of M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems from the National Guard's 1st Battalion, 147th Field Artillery Regiment from South Dakota. Together, the Guard units totaled roughly 300 people and 18 weapon systems, and were brought to Romania to participate in a massive combined arms live-fire exercise at the JNTC. , While the reserve forces are helping to bolster major capability gaps and add man power to the deterrence efforts, the units deployed are also getting experiences that far surpass what weekend training can provide. Lt. Col. Paul Hollenack, the commander of the North Carolina National Guard HIMARS unit, told Defense News at the training center while sitting in a tent in the pouring rain, that a senior enlisted soldier had told him, "This is probably the most Army of lot of these guys have had to do.", Hollenack said the units had been living on the side of a hill at the training center since July 3 and have had to build showers, for example, and figure out how to live in austere, difficult environments. The unit is also learning how to operate the weapon systems in difficult terrain, he said, mostly due to frequent torrential downpours creating extremely muddy conditions, which can't be trained on a range in North Carolina. The exercise operations also run at a different pace, something to which the unit had to adapt. And the HIMARS and MLRS units were positioned alongside a Romanian LARON battalion which operates a 152mm Multiple Launch Rocket System, so the units enhanced the experience by working on interoperability with the Romanians as well. During the airfield seizure exercise at Bezmer Air Base, Hodges also pointed out that the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, which jumped into a landing zone there on July 18, had the 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment Airborne Task Force Rapido from the Texas Army National Guard integrated into the unit during Saber Guardian. , "This is part of the pilot program where Guard units are matched up and integrated into regular Army units and the 173rd has done a terrific job, as have the Texas guardsman, of making this work," Hodges said. While the Guard unit already existed, in less than a year, "they are doing a battalion night joint force entry, multinational, into Romania as part of this exercise," Hodges said. "That is impressive and it also gives us another expansion of our capability.", The Army has spent the last year taking a hard look at multicomponent units as a part of the regular force structure where active and reserve forces are integrated into one operational unit at times where it makes sense where capabilities from both forces are tapped to enhance units as a whole.

Trump signs the largest VA budget ever

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump signed the Department of Veterans Affairs fiscal 2019 budget into law on Friday, giving the department a funding boost of more than 6 percent and pushing the agency's total spending over 200 billion for the first time. The president finalized the bill at a ceremony held in the North Las Vegas VA Medical Center, surrounded by federal officials and local veterans. He praised the massive spending measure as another promise kept by his administration. "With this funding bill we have increased the VA's budget to the largest ever," he said. "We are delivering the resources to implement crucial VA reforms.", The bill includes 1.1 billion for the start of a VA electronic health records overhaul and 400 million for opioid abuse prevention within the department, both efforts touted by Trump in the past. Thursday's House vote marks on the second time in the last nine years that Congress has finished its VA budget work on time. The final deal also includes a 1.75 billion increase in money tied to the VA Mission Act, passed at the start of the summer. The legislation will rewrite the department's community care programs, expanding veterans ability to access private health care at taxpayer expense. That money had stalled negotiations on the budget bill for months, and Democrats said they still are not satisfied with the short-term spending plug to cover what is expected to be an even bigger financial hole next year. "The bill the president signed today leaves a funding gap in May of 2019, expected to grow to more than 8 billion in fiscal year 2020," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement after the signing. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Retirement Report, "We do our veterans no favors when we make promises we do not keep, and I will continue to fight in Congress to make sure they receive the care they deserve.", The VA funding legislation also includes 10.3 billion in military construction funding for fiscal 2019 as well as the full-year budgets for the legislative branch and federal energy programs. Trump's signature came just a day after he blasted a similar sprawling budget package focused on the Department of Defense as a "ridiculous spending bill" because it omitted border wall funding he has demanded from Congress. The House is expected to finalize that legislation next week. If the president chooses to veto it, most federal departments would face a partial government shutdown. VA would be exempted from those problems, however, since their fiscal 2019 funding is now in place.

Bob Work has an idea to improve artificial intelligence

Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work, the architect behind the Department of Defense's Third Offset strategy, predicted the Pentagon could soon establish an Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence. , Work, speaking on the Center for a New American Security's Brussel Sprouts podcast on Jan. 9, explained that while the acquisition hierarchy within the Pentagon is changing, thinking within the department regarding the Third Offset remains consistent with his original vision. , The Third Offset was a plan, led by Work, to address the erosion of the U.S. military's technological superiority and focused on technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and data analytics. , "You are going to see the strategic capabilities office continue, DIUx continue I believe we are going to see an AI Center of Excellence, or something like that," Work said. , Such a center would help the department cement relationships with research universities, laboratories, and the commercial sector that are driving technological innovation in AI. , According to Work, "the DOD already has over 100 different relationships with universities, there are University Affiliated Research Centers, like Johns Hopkins applied physics lab and Lincoln Labs." , By tapping into these talent sources, Work said he hopes the United States will be able to be a leader in AI innovation and autonomous technology. The former deputy secretary warned his successors that, "if you cannot tap into those sources, then there is no way you're going to be the fast leader you need to be in this very competitive environment. There are going to be lots of fast followers because this stuff is going to be available to anybody because it is primarily commercial so you want to be the fast leader and have people responding to you rather than reacting to them." , Work has previously explained his vision for AI and autonomous technology as being more like Iron Man than the Terminator, but also discussed innovative ways AI can be used to strengthen the NATO alliance. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, Because AI and other methods of algorithmic warfare are much less expensive than conventional weapon systems, "even the smallest country can add a lot of value to a potential NATO operational fires network because they have this algorithm that will make the communications go faster and will change automatically security levels and change automatically English to French and French to German. So I think it's an extremely alliance friendly offset strategy and hopefully we'll start talking and seeing some real meat on the bones in NATO."

Merkel nudges China to help save the INF Treaty

MUNICH German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants China to join negotiations about saving the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. She made the appeal at the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 16, directing her words at the highest-ranking Chinese government official in the audience, Yang Jiechi, member of the Politburo and director of the Office of Foreign Affairs. "I know there are many reservations, but we would be delighted" about Chinese participation," she said. Merkel warned that Russia and the United States walking away from the 1987 pact could result in a new arms race in Europe. While the agreement was between Washington and Moscow, it has been key for Germany's and Europe's security for decades, she said. The United States announced weeks ago that it was retreating from the pact, reacting to what U.S. and European leaders believe is a years-long history of Russian violations. Moscow in turn also announced it would no longer be bound by it. Germany's defense minister is urging fellow NATO leaders to speak with one voice in their approach to ongoing crises, bringing to the forefront the simmering problem of diverging ideas threatening to split the alliance from within. The treaty prohibits the fielding of short-range and intermediate-range missiles in Europe. Merkel's public invitation of China to join the pact or whatever may follow it comes as officials have for some time lamented that Beijing's absence from the treaty has left a key blind spot in the global equilibrium of such weapons. Experts here said the chances of China jumping on the German chancellor's plea are dim. "It is very unlikely that China would give up their missiles," said Kori Schake deputy director-general of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. A large portion of the country's arsenal would be prohibited under the INF Treaty terms, including the class of weapons directed at Taiwan, she said. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia has six months to come back in compliance with the treaty, and that efforts were continuing to preserve it. After meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the conference, however, Stoltenberg said there were "no new signals on the Russian side.", Earlier at the event, he told reporters that if talks fail, the alliance has no intention of deploying new land-based nuclear weapons in Europe. Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Beatrice Fihn, of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, said she was discouraged that NATO has backed the United States in withdrawing from the treaty. Dialogue with Moscow was the right move, she said, cautioning at the same time that Russia uses disinformation and ambiguity to its advantage.

US Russia ultimately to blame for Syrian chemical attacks

PARIS Russia is ultimately to blame for any use of chemical weapons in Syria, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday amid reports of a suspected chemical attack this week near the capital, Damascus. Tillerson said Russia is violating a 2013 agreement it made with the U.S. on the removal of chemical weapons from Syria and is helping the Syrian government breach the Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans their use. The secretary of state said Russia must stop vetoing U.N. Security Council resolutions on holding those who use such weapons accountable. If it cannot support a future Security Council resolution to that end, it should abstain, Tillerson said. "There is simply no denying that Russia, by shielding its Syrian ally, has breached its commitments to the United States as a framework guarantor" of the 2013 agreement, Tillerson said. "Russia's failure to resolve the chemical weapons issue in Syria calls into question its relevance to the resolution of the overall crisis. At a bare minimum, Russia must stop vetoing and at least abstain on future UNSC resolutions on this issue," he said. Tillerson spoke in Paris, where the U.S. France and 22 other countries launched a new organization aimed at identifying and punishing anyone who uses chemical weapons. The group plans to publish information about chemical attacks to name and shame perpetrators and eventually sanction them. U.N. efforts to punish perpetrators in Syria have failed, repeatedly blocked by Russia. Activists and rescue teams said the Syrian government launched an attack Monday with suspected poisonous gas that affected nearly 20 civilians in a rebel-held suburb near Damascus. The Syrian government denies using chemical weapons Russia says extremists have used chemical weapons in the past. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said, "Those who carry out chemical weapons attacks need to be made aware that we know who they are, and we will go after them.", The French government announced Tuesday that it is freezing the assets of companies that help furnish material to the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center, a Syrian lab accused of producing chemical weapons. France says affiliated companies based in multiple countries have been furnishing materials for the manufacture of chemical weapons, including sarin gas.

The Army is already putting new gear in soldiers hands as it builds its modernization command

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama The new Army Futures Command is slated for initial operating capability this summer, with full capabilities a year later, but acquisition research teams are already down at the unit level to get soldier input on systems that in development. For example, an infantry battalion within the 82nd Airborne Division is testing a network prototype, one of the new command's six modernization priorities, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville told Army Times on Monday at the AUSA Global Force Symposium. "They've got the equipment, it's out with the troops, they're giving the feedback," he said. "The people that are developing the systems are there right with them, so they're actually using it and giving very good feedback.", Soldiers at the unit level, working with the command's cross-functional teams, will be key to all of Futures Command's projects, leaders said. "So they're helping us build this network from the ground up, and we're building it from the top down," McConville added. "Getting the input of users is extremely important, or you won't have a system that they're going to use when it gets fielded.", It's similar to a special operations model, he said, which has been an inspiration in the effort to streamline Army acquisitions as whole. "They get it down, they give special operators a chance to work with the equipment," McConville said. "They touch it, they feel it, and then we can quickly turn those things around.", Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup, The Army is standing up a new modernization command for the express purpose of efficiently developing capabilities and capacity, and it's going to need seasoned officers and plenty of soldier input to keep it running, Acting Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said. There will be more opportunities for those CFT representatives to visit units, as well as to bring soldiers out to Futures Command's eventual headquarters, he said. More junior leadership and enlisted soldiers will also have a place at those CFTs, Army Undersecretary Ryan McCarthy told Army Times. "I mean, they're led by one- and two-star generals, but in these meetings, we've got majors, lieutenant colonels," he said. "We're going to put some senior noncommissioned officers, sergeants major, on all of the cross-functional teams. We've got that underway right now."

Cruiser skipper fired after Tokyo Bay grounding

The commanding officer of the cruiser Antietam was fired Tuesday, a month after his ship ran aground during a botched anchoring operating in Tokyo Bay, according to a release from U.S. Pacific Fleet. Capt. Joseph Carrigan was relieved "due to a loss of confidence" in his ability to command the Yokosuka-based ship. The Jan. 31 grounding badly damaged the ship's two propellers and dumped about 1,100 gallons of oil into the bay. "The relief follows an investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding a grounding that occurred on Jan. 31 in waters near Yokosuka, Japan," according the Navy statement. "While the investigation is still under review by leadership, sufficient findings of fact emerged during the investigation to warrant the relief of the commanding officer." , Grounding a ship is almost always a career killer for a ship CO, though in rare circumstances the Navy will find that there were mitigating circumstances. The ultimate responsibility for the safety of the ship lies with the CO, the release said. "With ultimate responsibility for the safety and well-being of the ship and the lives of sailors, commanding officers are held to the highest standards of accountability and must have the full confidence of Navy leaders," the release reads. Capt. Jonathan Duffy, deputy commander of the Destroyer Squadron 15, has assumed command of the Antietam. Carrigan has been reassigned to U.S. Seventh Fleet headquarters in Yokosuka. Plans to repair the Antietam have not yet been finalized, according to the release. Up to this point, Carrigan has had a stellar Navy career, with a handful of joint, Pentagon and Capitol Hill postings that mark the bios of rising-star officers. He has worked in the strategy and policy shop inside the Chief of Naval Operations, and inside U.S. Central Command. He has worked as a speechwriter for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and a senior aide to the Pentagon's Director for Strategic Plans and Policy. He was also a military liaison to the office Sen. Jeff Sessions, now the Attorney General. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Navy Times Daily News Roundup, At sea, the career surface warfare officer has served as the executive officer of the destroyer Nitze, and commanded the destroyer Russell. He also served on the frigates Aubrey Fitch and Vandegrift, as well as the cruiser Lake Champlain.

US Air Force kickstarts nextgen rocket development

WASHINGTON The U.S. Air Force on Thursday released a request for proposals for further development of a next-generation launch vehicle, which will give the service access to space through two companies with homegrown rockets and engines. The ultimate aim of the program, called Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, or EELV, is to work with industry to fund at least two domestically made launch systems that can propel the military's heaviest and most complex payloads into space. It also provides a way for the service's most storied launch provider to transition away from using the Russian RD-180 engine, which will not be able to be used for national security launches past 2022 due to a congressional mandate. To win the Air Force's upcoming launch services contract, Orbital ATK will strip cost from its Next Generation Launch system by reusing components and materials from its other active rocket lines, Under Thursday's RFP, the Air Force will be able to issue up to three public-private partnerships for the "launch system agreement" phase of the program, which will fund the development of new rocket systems. SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and Orbital ATK are all expected to bid on the EELV contract. SpaceX is working on the Falcon Heavy rocket. Orbital is hoping to break into the EELV role with a Next Generation Launch system. And ULA a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing is developing the Vulcan. The Pentagon in March put forward a draft request for proposals for launch system public-private partnerships. In an earlier phase of the effort, the Air Force awarded public-private partnership agreements to SpaceX, Orbital ATK, ULA and Aerojet Rocketdyne for the development of new engines that could potentially propel the next-gen rockets. ULA and Aerojet both put forward engines meant for the Vulcan, with ULA working with Blue Origin on the BE-4 and Aerojet racing to develop the AR1 as an alternative. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Military Space Report, The Air Force has stated it will only be able support two launch providers, and intends to downselect to two companies no later than 2020 for launches in 2022.

The Bundeswehr famously bureaucratic wants to charm technology startups

MUNICH Germany's tech companies could see new business with the military, as Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen seeks to funnel more funding toward cyber technologies under plans to grow the country's defense budget. At least that's the plan. Von der Leyen struck an optimistic tone here at the Munich Security Conference when opening the event's inaugural "Innovation Forum." But, she acknowledged, the German armed forces have fallen behind the curve in some cases, as innovation was "happening elsewhere.", The discussion in Germany is essentially identical to one led in Pentagon circles for years What can government do to make itself attractive to non-traditional companies with great ideas? Hint The prospect of big sales may not be the main argument, as one tech CEO here said., Alex Karp, the co-founder and CEO of data-mining giant Palantir, joined von der Leyen on stage to dish out some advice for a country that he said has world-class engineers but sometimes lacks can-do optimism. With decades of executive experience in top German auto and engineering firms, including Audi, Volkswagen and ThyssenKrupp, Klaus Hardy Mhleck was tapped late last year to reshape the German military into a force fit for cyber conflicts. Palantir's own story is marked by its struggles to get the U.S. Army to adopt an application that predicts attacks with improvised explosive devices on the battlefield. At the time, the service had its own multibillion-dollar software planned and saw Palantir encroaching on its turf. The fight turned public and it became bitter, but for many it encapsulated what's at stake when big government meets Silicon Valley types. In the end, Karp said, what opened doors for Palantir was finding special operations forces who were so convinced of his counter-IED product that they would go to bat for it within their bureaucracy. "You go to the generals and tell them this will save my life," he remembers telling service members. Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for our Early Bird Brief, The German Bundeswehr last year created what officials hope will be an easier entryway for new ideas, the Cyber Innovation Hub. The new organization is slated to get 15 million over three years. Its leader, Marcel Otto Yon, said he hopes to reach full operational capability in a year. As von der Leyen and Yon see it, money isn't everything. Their concern is more about changing the thinking within the Bundeswehr to foster innovation and modify an acquisition process built on sequential iteration, not disruption. "We need a raise in the budget, without any question, but I have to think even more about how do I have to change the structures," said von der Leyen.

Army Rangers look to kit up their specially trained canines with cameras sensors

U.S. Army Special Operations Command is looking to kit up the 75th Ranger Regiment's dogs with new vests, cameras and sensors. To do that, USASOC is seeking proposals for multi-purpose gear that can be issued to the 75th Ranger Regiment's regimental dog program, according to a statement of work posted Wednesday. The Rangers' regimental dog program trains multi-purpose canines and their handlers in support of Ranger combat operations around the world. While most military working dogs are trained for specific tasks, the multi-purpose canine is intended to mirror the versatility of their special operations handler. The statement from USASOC reflects that versatility, asking for proposal packages that include tactical vests, cameras and sensors to be worn on their dogs, while still keeping the animal light and lethal. , According to the statement, hopeful contractors wishing to submit proposals should be willing to provide, Perhaps most important, the statement asks that contractors be familiar with "current tactics, techniques and procedures" of Ranger-canine combined missions. , Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup, "The contractor shall have a minimum of ten years of experience supporting MPCs in special operations," the statement reads. This means the contractor should at least "have ten years of relevant past performance in designing and fabricating equipment intended for use in support of MPC teams in military and law enforcement applications.", The statement notes the period of performance will occur from Feb. 1, 2018, through Jan. 31, 2023. Proposals are due by 10 a.m. Eastern time on Jan. 19.

Lowes expands changes its military discount program

National home improvement retailer Lowe's has expanded its everyday military discount program to include all honorably discharged veterans, as of May. The chain also has expanded the 10 percent discount to Lowe's online shopping, which will include free parcel shipping. It will provide for faster checkout and add the ability to use the discount at self-checkout in stores, said Lowe's spokeswoman Karen Cobb. , But the procedure for getting the discount has changed Active-duty service members, retirees and veterans must must sign up online for the Lowe's personal shopping card to qualify for the discount. This is not a credit card. , Spouses and dependent children up to age 18 can also get the discount, although the online signup process doesn't include an option for "spouses" or "children." , "The discount is linked to a MyLowes account, which can be shared by a household," said Megan Lewis, a Lowe's spokeswoman. "Once the service member signs up for the discount program, it will be linked to a MyLowes card that can also be used by their spouse.", Lowe's has offered discounts to military members and veterans for more than a decade. Previously, the 10 percent discount at Lowe's was available every day to active-duty service members, retired military and other veterans receiving VA benefits who showed their identification. For other honorably discharged veterans, the discount was limited to three days Memorial Day, July 4 and Veterans Day. , "The verification process is designed to be a simplified one-time signup," Lewis said. "Military and veteran customers can simply present their MyLowes card at checkout rather than show military credentials each time." , Fear no longer. Be the first to hear about breaking news, as it happens. You'll get alerts delivered directly to your inbox each time something noteworthy happens in the Military community. , By giving us your email, you are opting in to our Newsletter Sign up for the Early Bird Brief, Lowe's is phasing out the practice of presenting the ID at checkout, Cobb said. The website notes that Lowe's used a third party to verify eligibility for online enrollment, and may require additional documentation. In announcing the change, Robert A. Niblock, the chain's chairman, president and CEO, pointed to the business's founder, Army veteran Carl Buchan. , "Enhancing our discount program honors his memory and the commitment servicemen and women and their families make to our country," Niblock said.