Navy League: Obama on path to 240-ship fleet - MarineCorpsTimes.com

Navy League: Obama on path to 240-ship fleet - MarineCorpsTimes.com: "The Obama administration has quietly ditched the Navy’s former goal of building a fleet of at least 300 ships and is now on course to field a fleet of only 240, the head of the Navy League has charged.
In a January message to members, Navy League president Daniel Branch said that during the 2008 campaign, then-Sen. Barack Obama’s team responded to the Navy League’s questions about fleet size by saying “the current force structure is adequate to support the Navy’s missions,” referring to the fleet at the time of about 283 ships.
“Every president since World War I has made it clear that a Navy of more than 300 ships is essential to keep the peace, defend our shores and safeguard America’s global interests,” Branch wrote. “Clarification is needed from the current administration regarding its support for this important issue.”"

UPDATE 1-Lockheed says F-35 program not in trouble | Reuters

UPDATE 1-Lockheed says F-35 program not in trouble Reuters: "Lockheed Martin on Wednesday said it was continuing work to sharply reduce the costs of the F-35 fighter and did not believe the program was in trouble despite a report that the Pentagon will cut production of 122 airplanes through 2015.
Lockheed spokesman Chris Geisel said the company was running about four to six months late on finishing the final four of 19 developmental aircraft, which in turn prevented completion of all the flight tests planned by the end of 2009.
But he said the gap was narrowing between Pentagon and Lockheed projections about the cost and time required to complete the development program and the company was continuing its drive to lower overall costs on the program."

Gates orders delay in buying Lockheed's F-35 fighter jets | Business | Star-Telegram.com

Gates orders delay in buying Lockheed's F-35 fighter jets Business Star-Telegram.com: "Defense Secretary Robert Gates has directed Pentagon planners to delay purchases of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet to provide additional funding for development and testing.
Gates’ directive would cut planned purchases by 10 jets in fiscal 2011 and a total of 122 planes through 2015, according to a budget document. The cuts amount to 25 percent of the 483 planes originally scheduled in those years.
More than $2.8 billion that was previously budgeted to begin equipping the military with F-35s would instead be used to continue development of the next-generation combat jet."

Soldier's combat death in Iraq the first in 43 days - USATODAY.com

Soldier's combat death in Iraq the first in 43 days - USATODAY.com: "The combat death of a U.S. soldier Tuesday in Iraq was the first in 43 days, the longest stretch since the war began.
The soldier's death comes as American forces begin to intensify efforts to withdraw from Iraq. President Obama has said the combat mission in Iraq will cease for U.S. troops at the end of 2010, and all American forces will be withdrawn by the end of 2011. There are 112,000 U.S. troops there now.
Insurgent attacks and U.S. combat fatalities have fallen since mid-2007 after Gen. David Petraeus launched a counterinsurgency strategy backed by tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops."

BATS helps ID insurgents, hostages

BATS helps ID insurgents, hostages: "Like technology from the latest spy movie, a system using finger prints and retina scans helps Soldiers tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys in Iraq.

The Biometrics Automated Toolset System, otherwise known as BATS, is a database which assists in finding insurgents and other wanted individuals.

The system takes finger prints and retina scans and stores them with information like names, pictures and background information to form an individual profile. The profile provides information about an individual's past records, if the person has been previously detained, where they've worked or whether or not they are wanted for illegal activity.

BATS also can be used to help identify friendly forces."

Army to increase medevac support, add new CAB, more UAVs

Army to increase medevac support, add new CAB, more UAVs: "The Army's top operations officer said yesterday that not only will the Army add a new combat aviation brigade to the warfight, it will also increase the number of aircraft in medical evacuation companies.

Speaking at the annual Association of the U.S. Army Aviation Symposium and Exhibition here, Lt. Gen. James D. Thurman, G-3/5/7, told members and contractors that no force-wide transformational change to the aviation force was more important or consequential than the decision to increase aircraft in medevac companies from 12 to 15."

Air Force holds off on retiring famed reconnaissance plane | Stars and Stripes

Air Force holds off on retiring famed reconnaissance plane Stars and Stripes: "the high-altitude U-2 reconnaissance plane is so valued for its intelligence-gathering capabilities that, even in an age of high-tech unmanned drones, the old spy plane has found a whole new mission over the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq.
The U-2 reconnaissance plane’s mission is changing. The new mission amounts to a landmark shift in how the venerable aircraft can be used: The U-2 now gives direct support to ground operations, including assisting troops in firefights.
Unmanned drones can “look” — get pictures of the battlefield. But so far, they can’t “listen” — eavesdrop electronically.
The U-2 does both."

Suicide Bombing Puts a Rare Face on C.I.A.’s Work - NYTimes.com

Suicide Bombing Puts a Rare Face on C.I.A.’s Work - NYTimes.com: "suicide bombing at a C.I.A. base in the remote mountains of Afghanistan.
In the days since the attack, details of the lives of the victims — five men and two women, including two C.I.A. contractors from the firm formerly known as Blackwater — have begun to trickle out, despite the secretive nature of their work. What emerges is a rare public glimpse of a closed society, a peek into one sliver of the spy agency as it operates more than eight years after the C.I.A. was pushed to the front lines of war.
Their deaths were a significant blow to the agency, crippling a team responsible for collecting information about militant networks in Afghanistan and Pakistan and plotting missions to kill the networks’ top leaders. And in one sign of how the once male-dominated bastion of the C.I.A. has changed in recent years, the suicide bombing revealed that a woman had been in charge of the base that was attacked, Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost Province."

Navy Non-Kinetic Air Power for OEF

Navy Non-Kinetic Air Power for OEF: "Carrier Air Wing 11 employs non-kinetic force to support troops on the ground in Afghanistan, minimizing the potential for civilian casualties. Non-kinetic force is intended not to cause any physical damage.

The EA-6B Prowlers assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 135 deploy daily from the flight deck of the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) jamming electronic signals in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).

'Our main focus of effort is to dominate the electromagnetic spectrum. That means we preserve it for coalition forces, and we deny its use to Afghan insurgents. If we can successfully do that, many times the ground commander may not need a bomb,'"

Revolutionary Ship Readies for Commissioning

Revolutionary Ship Readies for Commissioning: "Pre-Commissioning Unit Independence (LCS 2) will be commissioned Jan. 16.

Advanced technology, unique manning, and a very recognizable tri-hull – at first glance, nearly everything about Independence's steep angles, high bridge, and aluminum construction appears to be the first of its kind. That impression continues inside, where a spacious mission module bay is reached by stairs instead of shin-banging ladders, and down below, where four water jets compliment two diesel and two gas turbine engines."

US tactics ill-suited for Afghan troops - The Boston Globe

US tactics ill-suited for Afghan troops - The Boston Globe: "I visited a camp for training a new Afghan National Army, which then numbered some 10,000 strong. The goal was to mold Pashtuns, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Tajiks, and the rest into a truly national force, even though Tajiks of the Northern Alliance dominated the government then as now. There was worry that the Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group and the backbone of the Taliban, felt underrepresented in Kabul.
Talking to American officers involved in building a modern army out of the ashes of a long civil war, I remembered a scene in a camp along the Pakistani border nearly 20 years before. Then Americans were supporting the resistance to the Soviet occupation, but the training of the “holy warriors’’ was very different. I was shown how an innocent-looking piece of pipe could be smuggled into Soviet-occupied Kabul and be fitted to another innocent-looking pipe, smuggled in separately, and then filled with explosives."

U.S. Forces-Iraq stands up in Baghdad

U.S. Forces-Iraq stands up in Baghdad: "A New Year's Day ceremony here marked another evolution of Operation Iraqi Freedom, as several major command groups merged into a single headquarters command, U.S. Forces-Iraq.

'This ceremony marks another significant transition here in Iraq,' said Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command. 'It represents another important milestone in the continued drawdown of American forces.'"

Upgraded Aegis Tracks Sophisticated Missile Targets

Upgraded Aegis Tracks Sophisticated Missile Targets: "The second generation of Lockheed Martin's Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system, BMD 4.0.1, successfully detected, tracked and conducted simulated engagements against a variety of different ballistic missile targets during a series of tracking exercises in the Pacific.
The key feature of the new system is a new integrated signal processor designed to improve the system's discrimination capability to defeat sophisticated ballistic missiles and their countermeasures."

Lynn says fight against IEDs remains priority

Lynn says fight against IEDs remains priority: "Defeating the terrorists' weapon of choice is and will remain a priority for the Defense Department, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said here Dec. 30.

Mr. Lynn spoke during a Pentagon ceremony where Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz stepped down as director of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization and Army Lt. Gen. Michael Oates took up the charge.

The organization looks for ways to defeat terrorists using car bombs, roadside bombs, as well as suicide vests, all examples of improvised explosive devices. The bombs are the biggest killers of American servicemembers in Iraq and Afghanistan."

MC-12 arrives, heralds activation of 4th ERS

MC-12 arrives, heralds activation of 4th ERS: "The newest aircraft to the Air Force's inventory arrived Dec. 27, 2009, to Bagram Airfield. The MC-12 aircraft, tail number 090623, was the first of an undisclosed number of aircraft for the new 4th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron here.

Following the MC-12's arrival, the 4th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron was activated to carry out MC-12 operations in the Afghan theater of operations."

DOD leaders look at long-term effects of burn pits

DOD leaders look at long-term effects of burn pits: "Defense Department leaders have launched a study on the possible long-term effects of the smoke emitted from burn pits used in overseas locations such as Iraq.

Armed services medical officials are conducting studies on the health outcomes of individuals that have been deployed to identify any health conditions associated with smoke exposure.

Burn pit smoke can cause some acute health effects in some people, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Dec. 28. These can include eye irritation, upper respiratory ailments and coughing.

'To date, we don't have any information on any longer-term health risks that may be associated with burn pit smoke inhalation,' Mr. Whitman said.

This is the second study of the effects inhaling burn pit smoke may have."

U.S. wants Pakistan to pursue Taliban-allied group -- latimes.com

U.S. wants Pakistan to pursue Taliban-allied group -- latimes.com: "As Pakistan forges ahead with its bid to uproot Taliban fighters from tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan, its troops are bypassing an enemy that the Obama administration desperately wants confronted.

Rather than expand on its gains in South Waziristan and drive into North Waziristan to tackle the Haqqani network -- a wing of the Taliban that views U.S. and NATO-led troops in Afghanistan as its principal target -- the Pakistani military is now focusing its attention on driving Taliban militants from their strongholds in the surrounding tribal regions of Kurram, Orakzai and Khyber."

Logistics planners converge on Kuwait to coordinate next phase of Iraq drawdown

Logistics planners converge on Kuwait to coordinate next phase of Iraq drawdown: "Logistics planners laid out their December 2009 to August 2010 drawdown strategies to senior Department of Defense officials during the Third Army and 1st Theater Sustainment Command co-hosted a 'rehearsal of concept,' or ROC drill. The lengthy process included briefings and discussions on a variety of topics ranging from weather predictions, threat trends, and customs operations, to the withdrawal timelines of specific units, classified plans for ammunition, and Army and Air Force Exchange Service store closures in Iraq."

U.S. troops testing British-style camo | Stars and Stripes

U.S. troops testing British-style camo Stars and Stripes: "British and American soldiers soon could be hard to tell apart if the U.S. Army adopts a camouflage pattern similar to one that the British have already picked out to conceal their troops in Afghanistan.
U.S. soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment in eastern Afghanistan are wearing new uniforms featuring the 'MultiCam' camouflage pattern"

Maritime - Austal Commences JHSV Construction

Maritime - Austal Commences JHSV Construction: "Austal has received authorization from the U.S. Navy to commence construction on the first of up to ten 338-ft Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSV).

After Austal successfully completed the Production Readiness Review (PRR) and necessary DoD approvals were obtained, the Navy authorized Austal’s Mobile, Ala. facility to immediately begin construction of Fortitude (JHSV 1)."