Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Top Marine: We Love These Budget Cuts! No, Seriously! | Danger Room | Wired.com

Top Marine: We Love These Budget Cuts! No, Seriously! | Danger Room | Wired.com: "There were big winners in the Pentagon’s $100-billion overhaul on Jan. 6. Then there were the Marines. They lost their prized, 40-ton swimming tank, in development since the 1990s. The vertical-landing version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — meant to replace the Marine Corps’ entire current fighter fleet — was put on a two-year probation. “Marine Corps: big loser,” Politico declared as the budgetary dust settled.
But in the days following the announcement, Gen. James Amos, the Marine commandant, put a surprising spin on the cuts to his branch’s biggest programs. To hear Amos describe them, the cuts have freed up funding for the Marines to buy better weapons, faster — at least as far as ground vehicles go. “The Marine Corps has come out in a pretty good position … even though you’d never know it by reading the newspapers,” Amos said."

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NATO Missile Defense for Europe





NATO has agreed to provide ballistic missile defense or BMD for all of Europe. This NATO BMD will protect NATO (European and American) military forces in Europe. It will also – for the very first time – protect the civilian population throughout Europe from ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction launched from the Middle East.
Much of this NATO missile defense for Europe – known as the European Phased Adaptive Approach – will actually be provided by the United States armed forces. This will include seaborne AEGIS missile defense on board US Navy ships in the Mediterranean, as well as land based radars and interceptor missiles.
This e-book describes how NATO missile defense for Europe will be organized and implemented.