EU military headquarters to open soon: sources: A controversial European Union military headquarters to coordinate the bloc's overseas security operations will open in the coming months, EU diplomatic sources said Friday.
Brexit and doubts about US President Donald Trump's commitment to European security have given fresh impetus to EU ambitions to step up military cooperation, with France and Germany taking the lead.
"This is a big leap forward. It is supposed to start working initially in March and fully in June," one of the sources said.
EU foreign and defence ministers meeting Monday in Brussels will approve what is known as a Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC) unit, the sources said.
It will oversee the European Union's "non-executive" operations -- those that do not use force -- such as civil-military training missions in Mali, the Central African Republic and Somalia.
The EU also runs Operation Sophia in the central Mediterranean, which can use force to stop migrant smugglers, and Atalanta, part of international anti-piracy forces off the Horn of Africa.
These "executive" operations have their own command centres which will remain separate
Saturday, March 4, 2017
Friday, March 3, 2017
MV Liberty Passion Joins US MSP Fleet
MV Liberty Passion Joins US MSP Fleet: The Liberty Passion, built in 2016, adds more than 165,000 square feet of militarily useful deck area into U.S. sealift service. It has the capacity to transport up to approximately 6,500 cars on 12 decks, as well as military wheeled and containerized equipment such as M-ATVs, HUMVEEs, MRAPs, armored personnel carriers, tanks, helicopters and unit equipment. Together with Liberty’s other two MSP vessels – the Liberty Pride and Liberty Promise – the three ships add nearly 400,000 square feet to the MSP fleet, with the capability of transporting hundreds of combat and support vehicles.
Legislators Call For US-Flag LNG Carriers
Legislators Call For US-Flag LNG Carriers: New legislation proposed this week would require up to 30 percent of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to travel on U.S.-flagged vessels.
The U.S. is expected to continue ramping up its LNG exports in the coming years and become a net exporter by 2020, yet there are currently no U.S.-flag carriers to carry the cargo.
“We’re the most powerful nation in the world, but 99 percent of our trade travels on foreign-flagged ships,” said Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, Davis, Yuba City), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, who introduced the bill (H.R. 1240 “Energizing American Maritime Act”) this week.
“We need to right this ship and grow America’s maritime sector,” Garamendi said.
Garamendi contends that requiring a percentage of energy American exports to be carried on U.S. ships would strengthen the nation’s economy as well as national security.
“We can’t rely on foreign-flagged vessels to provide the necessary movement of strategic materials in a time of war. Requiring even a minority of strategic energy asset exports to be carried on U.S.-flagged ships will compel us to rebuild the technical skill to man these vessels—and with that comes good, high-paying, maritime jobs.”
The proposed rule would require a new fleet of U.S.-built LNG carriers, which have not been constructed domestically since before 1980. There are currently no LNG carriers registered under the U.S. flag.
The U.S. is expected to continue ramping up its LNG exports in the coming years and become a net exporter by 2020, yet there are currently no U.S.-flag carriers to carry the cargo.
“We’re the most powerful nation in the world, but 99 percent of our trade travels on foreign-flagged ships,” said Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, Davis, Yuba City), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, who introduced the bill (H.R. 1240 “Energizing American Maritime Act”) this week.
“We need to right this ship and grow America’s maritime sector,” Garamendi said.
Garamendi contends that requiring a percentage of energy American exports to be carried on U.S. ships would strengthen the nation’s economy as well as national security.
“We can’t rely on foreign-flagged vessels to provide the necessary movement of strategic materials in a time of war. Requiring even a minority of strategic energy asset exports to be carried on U.S.-flagged ships will compel us to rebuild the technical skill to man these vessels—and with that comes good, high-paying, maritime jobs.”
The proposed rule would require a new fleet of U.S.-built LNG carriers, which have not been constructed domestically since before 1980. There are currently no LNG carriers registered under the U.S. flag.
Donald Trump rapped for inattention, lack of funding for Coast Guard: 'Nonsensical' - Washington Times
Donald Trump rapped for inattention, lack of funding for Coast Guard: 'Nonsensical' - Washington Times: President Trump’s pledge Tuesday night in an address to Congress to rebuild the military did not include the armed services’ fifth branch — the U.S. Coast Guard.
In fact, some of the $54 billion in added Defense Department spending for the Navy, Air Force, Army and Marine Corps is being stripped from the Coast Guard’s budget.
“It’s nonsensical to pursue a policy of rebuilding the armed forces while proposing large reductions to the U.S. Coast Guard budget,” Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican, said Thursday in a letter to the president.
Guidance from the White House Office of Management and Budget calls for cutting $1.3 billion from the Coast Guard’s $10 billion fiscal 2017 budget.
The cut comes at a time when some in Congress, led by Mr. Hunter, are calling for increased spending as Vladimir Putin’s Russia continues a military buildup in the Arctic. Mr. Putin is reopening air bases and deploying ground groups, complemented by nearly 40 icebreakers. The Coast Guard deploys just two. Its last “heavy” icebreaker was launched in the 1970s.
Mr. Hunter told Mr. Trump that the budget reduction would leave the nation less safe.
In fact, some of the $54 billion in added Defense Department spending for the Navy, Air Force, Army and Marine Corps is being stripped from the Coast Guard’s budget.
“It’s nonsensical to pursue a policy of rebuilding the armed forces while proposing large reductions to the U.S. Coast Guard budget,” Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican, said Thursday in a letter to the president.
Guidance from the White House Office of Management and Budget calls for cutting $1.3 billion from the Coast Guard’s $10 billion fiscal 2017 budget.
The cut comes at a time when some in Congress, led by Mr. Hunter, are calling for increased spending as Vladimir Putin’s Russia continues a military buildup in the Arctic. Mr. Putin is reopening air bases and deploying ground groups, complemented by nearly 40 icebreakers. The Coast Guard deploys just two. Its last “heavy” icebreaker was launched in the 1970s.
Mr. Hunter told Mr. Trump that the budget reduction would leave the nation less safe.
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Army revises functional concept of intelligence
Army revises functional concept of intelligence: The Army is coming to grips with the notion that with a rapidly changing world and threat environment, intelligence must adapt in kind.
The Army is taking direct aim at intelligence practices with major revisions to the publication of Training and Doctrine Command’s “U.S. Army Functional Concept of Intelligence 2020-2040,” dated for February 2017.
The document is a revision to the previous iteration published in 2010 that covered an applicability period from 2016-2028.
“Enemies will employ countermeasures to avoid detection and cloud efforts to develop situational understanding; therefore, Army forces must be prepared to employ multi-disciplinary intelligence, simultaneously through multiple domains, and operate under conditions of uncertainty,” Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, who at the time of the document’s publication was the director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, wrote in the forward. “This concept serves as a foundation for developing future intelligence capabilities and helps Army leaders thinkclearly about future armed conflict, learnabout the future through the Army’s campaign of learning, analyzefuture capability gaps and identify opportunities, and implementinterim solutions to improve current and future force combat effectiveness.”
The Army is taking direct aim at intelligence practices with major revisions to the publication of Training and Doctrine Command’s “U.S. Army Functional Concept of Intelligence 2020-2040,” dated for February 2017.
The document is a revision to the previous iteration published in 2010 that covered an applicability period from 2016-2028.
“Enemies will employ countermeasures to avoid detection and cloud efforts to develop situational understanding; therefore, Army forces must be prepared to employ multi-disciplinary intelligence, simultaneously through multiple domains, and operate under conditions of uncertainty,” Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, who at the time of the document’s publication was the director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, wrote in the forward. “This concept serves as a foundation for developing future intelligence capabilities and helps Army leaders thinkclearly about future armed conflict, learnabout the future through the Army’s campaign of learning, analyzefuture capability gaps and identify opportunities, and implementinterim solutions to improve current and future force combat effectiveness.”
U.S. Navy orders 12 new fighter aircraft from Boeing
U.S. Navy orders 12 new fighter aircraft from Boeing: Boeing received a $678.6 million contract to provide seven Lot 40 EA-18G Growlers and five F/A-18E Super Hornet fighters for the U.S. Navy.
In addition to the aircraft, the contract also includes associated airborne electronic attack kits, which support the Growler's communication jamming capabilities.
The U.S. Department of Defense says work on the contract will be performed at various locations including El Segundo, Calif.; St. Louis, Mo.; Bethpage, N.Y., and others. The work is expected to be complete by February 2019.
In addition to the aircraft, the contract also includes associated airborne electronic attack kits, which support the Growler's communication jamming capabilities.
The U.S. Department of Defense says work on the contract will be performed at various locations including El Segundo, Calif.; St. Louis, Mo.; Bethpage, N.Y., and others. The work is expected to be complete by February 2019.
Army Close to Final Jungle Boot Design | Military.com
Army Close to Final Jungle Boot Design | Military.com
The U.S. Army will soon outfit two brigades of soldiers with a new Jungle Combat Boot billed as more comfortable, faster drying and puncture resistant than the service's long-retired Vietnam-era jungle boot, equipment officials maintain.
Belleville Boot Company and Rocky Boots were selected in December to supply the Army with about 36,700 pairs of newly-designed Jungle Combat Boots as part of a direct requirement effort to select and field jungle boots to infantry soldiers to wear in the hot, tropical terrain of the Pacific theater.
The Army plans to field the 2nd and 3rd Brigade Combat Teams of the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii beginning in March
"We are really, really excited about the jungle boot program," Lt. Col. John Bryan, the product manager for Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, said during an interview with reporters at the base.
"This is important to the Army. It's important to soldiers in a hot, high-humidity, high moisture area, and we are responding as quickly as we possibly can with the best available, immediate capability we can get on soldiers feet quickly and then refine and improve as we go."
The Army and the Marine Corps retired the popular, Vietnam War-era jungle boots in the mid-2000s when both services transitioned to a desert-style combat boot for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The new Jungle Combat Boot looks similar to the Army Hot Weather Boot and feature rough-side out leather and speed laces. But they are radically different than the jungle boots soldiers wore throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
The U.S. Army will soon outfit two brigades of soldiers with a new Jungle Combat Boot billed as more comfortable, faster drying and puncture resistant than the service's long-retired Vietnam-era jungle boot, equipment officials maintain.
Belleville Boot Company and Rocky Boots were selected in December to supply the Army with about 36,700 pairs of newly-designed Jungle Combat Boots as part of a direct requirement effort to select and field jungle boots to infantry soldiers to wear in the hot, tropical terrain of the Pacific theater.
The Army plans to field the 2nd and 3rd Brigade Combat Teams of the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii beginning in March
"We are really, really excited about the jungle boot program," Lt. Col. John Bryan, the product manager for Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, said during an interview with reporters at the base.
"This is important to the Army. It's important to soldiers in a hot, high-humidity, high moisture area, and we are responding as quickly as we possibly can with the best available, immediate capability we can get on soldiers feet quickly and then refine and improve as we go."
The Army and the Marine Corps retired the popular, Vietnam War-era jungle boots in the mid-2000s when both services transitioned to a desert-style combat boot for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The new Jungle Combat Boot looks similar to the Army Hot Weather Boot and feature rough-side out leather and speed laces. But they are radically different than the jungle boots soldiers wore throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
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