America's secret plan to arm Libya's rebels - Middle East, World - The Independent

America's secret plan to arm Libya's rebels - Middle East, World - The Independent: "Desperate to avoid US military involvement in Libya in the event of a prolonged struggle between the Gaddafi regime and its opponents, the Americans have asked Saudi Arabia if it can supply weapons to the rebels in Benghazi. The Saudi Kingdom, already facing a 'day of rage' from its 10 per cent Shia Muslim community on Friday, with a ban on all demonstrations, has so far failed to respond to Washington's highly classified request, although King Abdullah personally loathes the Libyan leader, who tried to assassinate him just over a year ago.

Washington's request is in line with other US military co-operation with the Saudis. The royal family in Jeddah, which was deeply involved in the Contra scandal during the Reagan administration, gave immediate support to American efforts to arm guerrillas fighting the Soviet army in Afghanistan in 1980 and later – to America's chagrin – also funded and armed the Taliban.

But the Saudis remain the only US Arab ally strategically placed and capable of furnishing weapons to the guerrillas of Libya. Their assistance would allow Washington to disclaim any military involvement in the supply chain – even though the arms would be American and paid for by the Saudis."
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Merchant Vessel Defense Against Pirates

Preemptive Measures Can Prevent Boarding and Hostage Taking

Too often, ship operators fail to take proper anti-piracy security measures, effectively turning their merchant vessels into “Golden Geese” ripe for the taking, writes the author. He goes on to discuss proven methods of hardening commercial ships and training their crews to prevent pirates – whether from Somalia or elsewhere – from boarding vessels and taking crews hostage.

Northrop Grumman Submits Final Proposal Revision for MDA's Next Gen Aegis Missile

Northrop Grumman Submits Final Proposal Revision for MDA's Next Gen Aegis Missile: "Northrop Grumman has announced it has submitted its final proposal revision for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) Next Generation Aegis Missile (NGAM) concept definition and program planning procurement.

The new interceptor is a key element of the layered intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) defense of the nation and will be designed to engage intercontinental, intermediate-range and medium-range ballistic missile threats. MDA has said it plans to make multiple contract awards in early 2011 and plans to field the interceptor in the 2020 time frame."
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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.

U.S. looking at new moves on Somalia piracy: Clinton | Reuters

U.S. looking at new moves on Somalia piracy: Clinton | Reuters: "The United States is looking at new strategies to fight pirates off Somalia, who last month killed four Americans and represent a growing threat to sea traffic, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday.

'I'm fed up with it,' Clinton said in testimony to the Senate appropriations committee. 'We need to do more, and make it clear that the entire world better get behind what we do and get this scourge resolved.'

Pirates shot dead four U.S. hostages on a private yacht in waters off Somalia on February 22, the deadliest incident yet involving Americans kidnapped for ransom in an expanding lawless maritime region crossed by key shipping lanes.

Clinton said that existing efforts to stop the piracy, which include naval patrols by a number of nations, had failed to significantly dent pirate operations which are increasingly distorting world fuel trade due to higher insurance premiums."
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Merchant Vessel Defense Against Pirates

Preemptive Measures Can Prevent Boarding and Hostage Taking

Too often, ship operators fail to take proper anti-piracy security measures, effectively turning their merchant vessels into “Golden Geese” ripe for the taking, writes the author. He goes on to discuss proven methods of hardening commercial ships and training their crews to prevent pirates – whether from Somalia or elsewhere – from boarding vessels and taking crews hostage.

Computer expert says US behind Stuxnet worm

Computer expert says US behind Stuxnet worm: "A German computer security expert said Thursday he believes the United States and Israel's Mossad unleashed the malicious Stuxnet worm on Iran's nuclear program.

'My opinion is that the Mossad is involved,' Ralph Langner said while discussing his in-depth Stuxnet analysis at a prestigious TED conference in the Southern California city of Long Beach.

'But, the leading source is not Israel... There is only one leading source, and that is the United States.'"
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Cyber Defense

The US military is preparing for 21st Century electronic warfare and cyber terrorism. A joint US Cyber Command and four service cyber commands have been set up.

Their mission is to defend American military networks and civilian American infrastructure from cyber terrorism and from foreign government hackers.

The officers leading these cyber commands explain how they are organized, how they operate, and how they will protect the United States from foreign military hackers, intelligence agencies, and cyber terrorists.

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Merchant Vessel Defense Against Pirates

Preemptive Measures Can Prevent Boarding and Hostage Taking

Too often, ship operators fail to take proper anti-piracy security measures, effectively turning their merchant vessels into “Golden Geese” ripe for the taking, writes the author. He goes on to discuss proven methods of hardening commercial ships and training their crews to prevent pirates – whether from Somalia or elsewhere – from boarding vessels and taking crews hostage.

Milestone Nears For European Missile Defense Plan

Milestone Nears For European Missile Defense Plan: "The U.S. plan to defend Europe from a rapidly increasing ballistic missile threat will reach a milestone next week with the first deployment of missile defense technology, a senior Defense Department official said yesterday.
"The ballistic missile threat is real, and it's now," said John F. Plumb, the Pentagon's principal director for nuclear and missile defense policy, adding that the phased, adaptive approach to European missile defense is a capability designed to defend against that threat.

The USS Monterey - equipped with systems to detect, track, engage and destroy ballistic missiles in flight - will deploy next week from its home port of Norfolk, Va., for a six-month tour in the U.S. European Command area of responsibility, Plumb said.

The ship will participate in missile defense exercises and help to lay the foundation for future deployments, Plumb said, in "the first demonstration of our commitment to this ... in a long series of deployments that will follow."

President Barack Obama approved the phased, adaptive approach to European ballistic missile defense in 2009, and the NATO alliance agreed to the plan at its November 2010 summit in Lisbon, Portugal.

The approach will begin with existing technology and add more sophisticated systems now in development to build sea- and land-based missile defense systems in Europe throughout the rest of this decade, Plumb said.

"The first phase ... involves ships, because we have sea-based missile defense capabilities now, as well as forward-based radar that can provide information to those ships," he said.

The second phase will begin in 2015, he said, with the deployment of a land-based interceptor site in Romania. The interceptor, the Standard Missile-3 IB, or SM-3 IB, is in development now, Plumb said.

"That will be the first land-based deployment of this type of interceptor, and that will start to provide greater coverage for Europe," he said.

The SM-3 IA already is deployed on ships around the world, he said, and two other variants of the interceptor, the IIA and IIB, are scheduled to be in place as part of phases 3 and 4 by 2020. Plumb said each version of the interceptor will defend against missiles of greater ranges and speeds.

The ballistic missile threat to Europe from the Middle East, particularly Iran, is a driving force behind the phased, adaptive approach, he said.

"[Iran] continues to pursue more and greater capabilities," he said. "We need to have a way not only to deter them from using them, but also if deterrence fails to be able to intercept their missiles."

While the phased, adaptive approach is currently under U.S. European Command's authority, Plumb said, NATO agreed at the Lisbon summit to establish command-and-control systems allowing the alliance to take the lead in ballistic missile defense on the European continent.

"Europe is a big place," he said. "The more you can cooperate, and the more assets other nations can contribute, the better the system can function."

Those contributions may take the form of sensors, interceptors or land for sites, he said.

"The assets we're deploying ... would be the U.S. national contribution to the missile defense of Europe," Plumb said. "As with any other NATO mission, individual nations voluntarily contribute assets, and [all] would work under a NATO command structure."

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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.

USAF To Launch Second Orbital Test Vehicle

USAF To Launch Second Orbital Test Vehicle: "Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office officials announced the launch of the second X-37B March 4 with a back-up launch opportunity March 5.

AFRCO is leading the Defense Department's orbital test vehicle initiative, by direction of the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics and the secretary of the Air Force.

For the first X-37B OTV mission, Air Force officials focused on testing and evaluating the performance capabilities of the vehicle.
This second mission will build upon the OTV-1 on-orbit demonstration, validate and replicate initial testing and fine tune the technical parameters of the vehicle tests."
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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.

Second Successful PAC-3 MSE Intercept Flight Test

Second Successful PAC-3 MSE Intercept Flight Test: "Lockheed Martin's enhanced version of the combat-proven PAC-3 Missile, the PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE), successfully intercepted a threat representative tactical ballistic missile target in the MSE battlespace at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.

The PAC-3 MSE Missile provides increased performance, greater altitude and range than the PAC-3 Cost Reduction Initiative (CRI) Missile. The PAC-3 MSE Missile variant incorporates threat-driven and techno
logy-enabled hardware and software upgrades to defend against the advancing threat set. The PAC-3 Missile is the only Patriot missile that utilizes hit-to-kill technology to engage incoming targets.

'We continue to test the PAC-3 MSE Missile at higher altitudes and against more challenging targets, and it continues to meet expectations,' said Richard McDaniel, director of PAC-3 Missile Programs at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. 'We look forward to delivering this important enhanced capability to the warfighter in the near future.'"
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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.