Military Sealift Command Reconfigures Tanker Fleet: "The fleet of tankers operated by the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC), is being reconfigured to meet fuel requirements in support of U.S. forces worldwide.
This seagoing force of government-owned and U.S.-flagged chartered ships, is acquiring a new chartered ship, MT Empire State, as two government-owned ships complete their service to the command.
The newly built, U.S.-flagged Empire State came under charter to MSC for up to five years Oct. 7 and will operate worldwide carrying refined petroleum products for DoD, primarily between commercial refineries and DoD storage and distribution facilities.
Empire State is owned and operated by a private shipping company under contract to MSC. Built at General Dynamics, NASSCO in San Diego, the double-hulled Empire State is 600 feet long and has a cargo-carrying capacity of approximately 331,000 barrels. The ship's construction was completed in July 2010, at which time Empire State went to work for MSC under a short-term charter.
Two of MSC's four government-owned tankers transferred out of service Oct. 1. USNS Paul Buck and USNS Samuel L. Cobb began their service to MSC in the mid 1980s, along with three other new construction T-5 tankers that came under long-term charter to the command in 1985 and 1986. In 2003, MSC purchased four of those ships - Buck, Cobb, USNS Lawrence H. Gianella and USNS Richard G. Matthiesen. Since then, these ships have served as the core of MSC's tanker fleet along with an MSC chartered shallow-draft tanker.
"Our T-5 tankers have served us well for the past 25 years, and as they approach the end of their service lives, the State-class ships will allow us to continue to fulfill our requirements to transport fuel for the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) - Energy," said John Joerger, MSC's tanker project officer. DLA Energy procures and manages fuel for all of DoD.
Upon deactivation from MSC service, Cobb and Buck transferred to the U.S. Maritime Administration's National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF), which comprises about 30 dry cargo ships and tankers kept in reserve for possible activation and use in support of national defense and national emergencies.
Gianella transferred to MSC's Maritime Prepositioning Force in 2009 and Matthiesen will remain in service to MSC until early 2011, when the ship will join Cobb and Buck in the NDRF.
In fiscal year 2010, MSC carried 1.5 billion gallons of petroleum products worldwide in support of DoD operations ranging from delivering fuel to combat forces operating in Iraq to replenishing McMurdo Station, Antarctica and Thule Air Force Base in Pituffik, Greenland.
Military Sealift Command operates approximately 110 noncombatant, civilian-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships, conduct specialized missions, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world and move military equipment and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces.
"
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
US and Afghan governments make contact with Haqqani insurgents | World news | The Guardian
US and Afghan governments make contact with Haqqani insurgents | World news | The Guardian: "Both the Afghan and US governments have recently made contact with the most fearsome insurgent group in Afghanistan, the Haqqani network, the Guardian has learned.
Hamid Karzai's government held direct talks with senior members of the Haqqani clan over the summer, according to well-placed Pakistani and Arab sources. The US contacts have been indirect, through a western intermediary, but have continued for more than a year.
The Afghan and US talks were described as extremely tentative. The Haqqani network has a reputation for ruthlessness, even by the standards of the Afghan insurgency, and has the closest ties with al-Qaida. But Kabul and Washington have come to the conclusion that they cannot be excluded if an enduring peace settlement is to be reached."
Hamid Karzai's government held direct talks with senior members of the Haqqani clan over the summer, according to well-placed Pakistani and Arab sources. The US contacts have been indirect, through a western intermediary, but have continued for more than a year.
The Afghan and US talks were described as extremely tentative. The Haqqani network has a reputation for ruthlessness, even by the standards of the Afghan insurgency, and has the closest ties with al-Qaida. But Kabul and Washington have come to the conclusion that they cannot be excluded if an enduring peace settlement is to be reached."
Thursday, October 7, 2010
US Army Scientists Solve 'Colony Collapse' Mystery
Honeybee Killer Found by Army and Entomologists - NYTimes.com"Since 2006, 20 to 40 percent of the bee colonies in the United States alone have suffered “colony collapse.” Suspected culprits ranged from pesticides to genetically modified food.
Now, a unique partnership — of military scientists and entomologists — appears to have achieved a major breakthrough: identifying a new suspect, or two.
A fungus tag-teaming with a virus have apparently interacted to cause the problem, according to a paper by Army scientists in Maryland and bee experts in Montana in the online science journal PLoS One."
Now, a unique partnership — of military scientists and entomologists — appears to have achieved a major breakthrough: identifying a new suspect, or two.
A fungus tag-teaming with a virus have apparently interacted to cause the problem, according to a paper by Army scientists in Maryland and bee experts in Montana in the online science journal PLoS One."
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Guard to add forces for better homeland response
Guard to add forces for better homeland response: "The National Guard has added a Homeland Response Force package to its current chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield-explosive or CBRNE response capabilities.
The new HRF package should help provide a more robust response to any homeland incident, Guard officials said today. They added there will be 10 HRFs, one in each Federal Emergency Management Agency region, stood up by Oct. 1, 2012.
"This will allow us to save lives and mitigate human suffering as rapidly as possible," said Air Force Col. Tim Cathcart, the chief of the National Guard Bureau's joint training and education division.
The National Guard's current CBRNE Enhanced Response Force Package mission has 17 teams of 186 people each throughout the country providing a quick response to a weapon-of-mass-destruction incident, Cathcart said.
When activated, they initiate search and extraction from collapsed buildings, victim decontamination, medical triage and transport to stabilization facilities, where doctors will treat victims before they are moved to a hospital or designated medical facility, he said.
The purpose of the HRF mission is to create a bigger force providing command and control of multiple CERFPs, weapons-of-mass-destruction civil-support teams and other Guard assets during an incident, Guard officials said.
"A HRF is built around a CERFP, with some additional forces, which makes the total number of people activated for mission like this 566," said Cathcart. "You take the original 186 from the CERFP mission and add in force protection and a command and control capability, making sure everyone is integrated, knows what the mission is and maintains situational awareness of the incident."
The HRF mission also has a joint focus, which allows different services and agencies to learn from each other, work better, exercise better and feel more comfortable with capabilities and assets, he said.
Cathcart said NGB works very closely with its partners at U.S. Northern Command, U.S. Army North, the Joint Interagency Training and Education Center at Charleston, W.Va., and the U.S. Marine Corps.
"This creates an integrated Department of Defense CBRNE response construct where we share training and a similar understanding of the task and conditions that we are going to perform and at the same standards," he said.
The goal is to allow both National Guard and active-duty forces a faster response time over a wider area of coverage, because everyone will be moving at the same rate with the same plan, he said.
"It will help mitigate any redundancy or confusion during an actual response, allowing us to do a better job at working together as a team, because we have been training and planning for operating the same way we would be in that kind of environment," Cathcart said.
"It's going to make things simpler for us to make sure we're providing a better response to the nation because we've practiced and trained to similar standards."
"
The new HRF package should help provide a more robust response to any homeland incident, Guard officials said today. They added there will be 10 HRFs, one in each Federal Emergency Management Agency region, stood up by Oct. 1, 2012.
"This will allow us to save lives and mitigate human suffering as rapidly as possible," said Air Force Col. Tim Cathcart, the chief of the National Guard Bureau's joint training and education division.
The National Guard's current CBRNE Enhanced Response Force Package mission has 17 teams of 186 people each throughout the country providing a quick response to a weapon-of-mass-destruction incident, Cathcart said.
When activated, they initiate search and extraction from collapsed buildings, victim decontamination, medical triage and transport to stabilization facilities, where doctors will treat victims before they are moved to a hospital or designated medical facility, he said.
The purpose of the HRF mission is to create a bigger force providing command and control of multiple CERFPs, weapons-of-mass-destruction civil-support teams and other Guard assets during an incident, Guard officials said.
"A HRF is built around a CERFP, with some additional forces, which makes the total number of people activated for mission like this 566," said Cathcart. "You take the original 186 from the CERFP mission and add in force protection and a command and control capability, making sure everyone is integrated, knows what the mission is and maintains situational awareness of the incident."
The HRF mission also has a joint focus, which allows different services and agencies to learn from each other, work better, exercise better and feel more comfortable with capabilities and assets, he said.
Cathcart said NGB works very closely with its partners at U.S. Northern Command, U.S. Army North, the Joint Interagency Training and Education Center at Charleston, W.Va., and the U.S. Marine Corps.
"This creates an integrated Department of Defense CBRNE response construct where we share training and a similar understanding of the task and conditions that we are going to perform and at the same standards," he said.
The goal is to allow both National Guard and active-duty forces a faster response time over a wider area of coverage, because everyone will be moving at the same rate with the same plan, he said.
"It will help mitigate any redundancy or confusion during an actual response, allowing us to do a better job at working together as a team, because we have been training and planning for operating the same way we would be in that kind of environment," Cathcart said.
"It's going to make things simpler for us to make sure we're providing a better response to the nation because we've practiced and trained to similar standards."
"
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Study finds cost of the wars up to $900B
Study finds cost of the wars up to $900B: "A new study estimates that the cost for the United States of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will reach about $900 billion over the next 40 years and there's no plan to pay for it.
The study, conducted by Nobel Prize economics laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, was presented Thursday during a hearing at the U.S. House of Representatives Veterans' Affairs Committee.
'The evidence from previous wars shows that the cost of caring for war veterans continues typically to rise for several years and peaks in 30-40 years after a conflict,' Bilmes said. 'The costs rise over time as veterans get older and their medical needs grow.'"
The study, conducted by Nobel Prize economics laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, was presented Thursday during a hearing at the U.S. House of Representatives Veterans' Affairs Committee.
'The evidence from previous wars shows that the cost of caring for war veterans continues typically to rise for several years and peaks in 30-40 years after a conflict,' Bilmes said. 'The costs rise over time as veterans get older and their medical needs grow.'"
Ohio company makes bid for Northrop Grumman shipbuilding | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com
Ohio company makes bid for Northrop Grumman shipbuilding | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com: "A little-known Cleveland-based firm has bid to acquire the entire shipbuilding unit of Northrop Grumman Corp., including the big shipyard in Newport News that builds aircraft carriers and submarines for the Navy, a company executive confirmed Monday.
'To the best of our knowledge, we're the only company that has made an offer on the entire enterprise,' said Ed Bartlett, president and CEO of Cleveland Ship LLC.
Terms of the offer have not been disclosed, but Northrop's shipbuilding division may be worth as much as $4.6 billion at an average industry multiple, according to Bloomberg News.
If successful, Cleveland Ship would acquire Northrop Grumman's shipyards in Newport News; Pascagoula, Miss.; and Avondale, La.; as well as two subsidiaries, AMSEC LLC, based in Virginia Beach, and Continental Maritime, a San Diego ship repair facility.
The acquisition company would be known as Cleveland Shipbuilding Group Inc., and Northrop's Newport News facility would become 'CSG Newport News Shipbuilding,' Bartlett said."
'To the best of our knowledge, we're the only company that has made an offer on the entire enterprise,' said Ed Bartlett, president and CEO of Cleveland Ship LLC.
Terms of the offer have not been disclosed, but Northrop's shipbuilding division may be worth as much as $4.6 billion at an average industry multiple, according to Bloomberg News.
If successful, Cleveland Ship would acquire Northrop Grumman's shipyards in Newport News; Pascagoula, Miss.; and Avondale, La.; as well as two subsidiaries, AMSEC LLC, based in Virginia Beach, and Continental Maritime, a San Diego ship repair facility.
The acquisition company would be known as Cleveland Shipbuilding Group Inc., and Northrop's Newport News facility would become 'CSG Newport News Shipbuilding,' Bartlett said."
Ohio company makes bid for Northrop Grumman shipbuilding | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com
Ohio company makes bid for Northrop Grumman shipbuilding | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com: "A little-known Cleveland-based firm has bid to acquire the entire shipbuilding unit of Northrop Grumman Corp., including the big shipyard in Newport News that builds aircraft carriers and submarines for the Navy, a company executive confirmed Monday.
'To the best of our knowledge, we're the only company that has made an offer on the entire enterprise,' said Ed Bartlett, president and CEO of Cleveland Ship LLC.
Terms of the offer have not been disclosed, but Northrop's shipbuilding division may be worth as much as $4.6 billion at an average industry multiple, according to Bloomberg News.
If successful, Cleveland Ship would acquire Northrop Grumman's shipyards in Newport News; Pascagoula, Miss.; and Avondale, La.; as well as two subsidiaries, AMSEC LLC, based in Virginia Beach, and Continental Maritime, a San Diego ship repair facility.
The acquisition company would be known as Cleveland Shipbuilding Group Inc., and Northrop's Newport News facility would become 'CSG Newport News Shipbuilding,' Bartlett said."
'To the best of our knowledge, we're the only company that has made an offer on the entire enterprise,' said Ed Bartlett, president and CEO of Cleveland Ship LLC.
Terms of the offer have not been disclosed, but Northrop's shipbuilding division may be worth as much as $4.6 billion at an average industry multiple, according to Bloomberg News.
If successful, Cleveland Ship would acquire Northrop Grumman's shipyards in Newport News; Pascagoula, Miss.; and Avondale, La.; as well as two subsidiaries, AMSEC LLC, based in Virginia Beach, and Continental Maritime, a San Diego ship repair facility.
The acquisition company would be known as Cleveland Shipbuilding Group Inc., and Northrop's Newport News facility would become 'CSG Newport News Shipbuilding,' Bartlett said."
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