Javelin Joint Venture Demonstrates Vehicle-Mounted Missile Launch: The Raytheon and Lockheed Martin Javelin Joint Venture recently fired a Javelin missile from a remote weapon station integrated onto a wheeled vehicle at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.
The test demonstrated Javelin's vehicle-launch capability to an international customer that has expressed interest in purchasing vehicles integrated with Javelin.
The Javelin missile launched successfully and hit a T-62 tank target from a range of 1,000 meters.
Immediately after missile launch, the remote weapon station engaged an alternate target with its ballistic weapon, demonstrating a seamless Javelin integration that supports the warfighter's requirement to quickly transition between multiple weapon systems.
"This demonstration highlights the ability to mount Javelin on a vehicle," said Richard Benton, Javelin Joint Venture vice president and Javelin senior manager at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Back to square one
Back to square one
The Iraq and Afghan wars have cost the U.S. taxpayer upwards of $2 trillion thus far -- and the meter is still running in both theaters.
In Afghanistan, after 12 years of combat operations and the costly training and equipping of a 360,000-strong army, and the loss of 2,800 U.S. killed in action, Taliban, the enemy we went in to defeat, is making steady gains around the capital.The Vietnam syndrome is in the air and SIGAR, the U.S. government investigative agency, is reporting abandonment of some U.S.-funded aid projects that can no longer be protected, let alone inspected.This week, SIGAR said the U.S. Defense Department cannot trace over 40 percent of the weapons it turned over to Afghan security forces. Many of them found their way into the black market -- and Taliban's hands.Afghan security forces are under steadily increasing fire around Kabul, the capital, and have sustained heavy casualties. This goes largely unreported.
The Iraq and Afghan wars have cost the U.S. taxpayer upwards of $2 trillion thus far -- and the meter is still running in both theaters.
In Afghanistan, after 12 years of combat operations and the costly training and equipping of a 360,000-strong army, and the loss of 2,800 U.S. killed in action, Taliban, the enemy we went in to defeat, is making steady gains around the capital.The Vietnam syndrome is in the air and SIGAR, the U.S. government investigative agency, is reporting abandonment of some U.S.-funded aid projects that can no longer be protected, let alone inspected.This week, SIGAR said the U.S. Defense Department cannot trace over 40 percent of the weapons it turned over to Afghan security forces. Many of them found their way into the black market -- and Taliban's hands.Afghan security forces are under steadily increasing fire around Kabul, the capital, and have sustained heavy casualties. This goes largely unreported.
Monday, July 28, 2014
U.S. and Europe Agree to Escalate Sanctions on Russia - NYTimes.com
U.S. and Europe Agree to Escalate Sanctions on Russia - NYTimes.com: The United States and Europe put aside their differences and agreed on Monday to sharply escalate economic sanctions against Russia in a set of coordinated actions driven by the conclusion that Moscow has taken a more direct role in the war in Ukraine.
After months in which European leaders were hesitant to go as far as the Americans, the two sides settled on a package of measures that would target Russia’s financial, energy and defense sectors. In some cases, the Europeans may actually leapfrog beyond what the United States has done, forcing Washington to try to catch up.
The agreement came during an unusual five-way video conference between President Obama and his counterparts from Britain, France, Germany and Italy in advance of a European Union meeting scheduled for Tuesday to consider new sanctions against Russia. American and European officials said the leaders agreed that Russia has not only not backed down since the shooting of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet but has also accelerated its involvement in Ukraine’s burgeoning civil war.
After months in which European leaders were hesitant to go as far as the Americans, the two sides settled on a package of measures that would target Russia’s financial, energy and defense sectors. In some cases, the Europeans may actually leapfrog beyond what the United States has done, forcing Washington to try to catch up.
The agreement came during an unusual five-way video conference between President Obama and his counterparts from Britain, France, Germany and Italy in advance of a European Union meeting scheduled for Tuesday to consider new sanctions against Russia. American and European officials said the leaders agreed that Russia has not only not backed down since the shooting of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet but has also accelerated its involvement in Ukraine’s burgeoning civil war.
U.S. Says Russia Tested Cruise Missile in Violation of Treaty - NYTimes.com
U.S. Says Russia Tested Cruise Missile in Violation of Treaty - NYTimes.com
At the heart of the issue is the 1987 treaty that bans medium-range missiles, which are defined as ground-launched ballistic or cruise missiles capable of flying 300 to 3,400 miles. That accord, which was signed by President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail S. Gorbachev, who was then the Soviet leader, helped seal the end of the Cold War and has been regarded as a cornerstone of American and Russian arms control efforts. Obama administration officials concluded by the end of 2011 that the cruise missile test was a compliance concern, officials have said. Rose Gottemoeller, the State Department’s senior arms control official, first raised the violation concern with Russian officials in May 2013.
In January, The New York Times reported that American officials had informed the NATO allies that Russia had tested a ground-launched cruise missile, raising serious concerns about Russia’s compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or I.N.F. treaty, as it is commonly called. The State Department said at the time that the issue was under review and that the Obama administration was not yet ready to formally declare it a treaty violation.
In recent months, however, the issue has been taken up by top-level officials, including a meeting this month of the Principals’ Committee, a cabinet-level body that includes Mr. Obama’s national security adviser, the defense secretary, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the secretary of state and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Pentagon Plan Would Help Ukraine Target Rebel Missiles - NYTimes.com
Pentagon Plan Would Help Ukraine Target Rebel Missiles - NYTimes.com
The Pentagon and American intelligence agencies are developing plans that would enable the Obama administration to provide specific locations of surface-to-air missiles controlled by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine so the Ukrainian government could target them for destruction, American officials said.
But the proposal has not yet been debated in the White House, a senior administration official said. It is unclear whether President Obama, who has already approved limited intelligence sharing with Ukraine, will agree to give more precise information about potential military targets, a step that would involve the United States more deeply in the conflict.
Already, the question of what kind of intelligence support to give the Ukrainian government has become part of a larger debate within the administration about how directly to confront President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and how big a role Washington should take in trying to stop Russia’s rapid delivery of powerful weapons to eastern Ukraine.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
U.S. evacuates embassy in Libya, citing militia violence - The Washington Post
U.S. evacuates embassy in Libya, citing militia violence - The Washington Post: The State Department on Saturday evacuated all American personnel from its embassy in Libya after clashes among rival militias in the capital intensified in recent days in the vicinity of the diplomatic mission, officials said.
Traveling in Paris, Secretary of State John F. Kerry cited the threat posed by “freewheeling militia violence” near the embassy in Tripoli. Kerry said some embassy functions will continue from neighboring Tunisia, where diplomats were taken.
“We will return the moment the security situation permits us to,” Kerry said.
The evacuation of diplomats and other government personnel by land lasted five hours and was carried out with U.S. military aircraft providing security from the air, officials said. The decision was not made lightly, the State Department said.
“Security has to come first,” spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement. “Regrettably, we had to take this step because the location of our embassy is in very close proximity to intense fighting and ongoing violence between armed Libyan factions.”
When U.S. diplomats evacuate a diplomatic post, they must smash computers and other sensitive equipment that could be exploited for intelligence purposes.
The State Department also issued a new travel warning for U.S. citizens, advising against all travel to the country and recommending that Americans in Libya leave now.
“The security situation in Libya remains unpredictable and unstable,” the department said in its warning notice. “The Libyan government has not been able to adequately build its military and police forces and improve security following the 2011 revolution.”
Traveling in Paris, Secretary of State John F. Kerry cited the threat posed by “freewheeling militia violence” near the embassy in Tripoli. Kerry said some embassy functions will continue from neighboring Tunisia, where diplomats were taken.
“We will return the moment the security situation permits us to,” Kerry said.
The evacuation of diplomats and other government personnel by land lasted five hours and was carried out with U.S. military aircraft providing security from the air, officials said. The decision was not made lightly, the State Department said.
“Security has to come first,” spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement. “Regrettably, we had to take this step because the location of our embassy is in very close proximity to intense fighting and ongoing violence between armed Libyan factions.”
When U.S. diplomats evacuate a diplomatic post, they must smash computers and other sensitive equipment that could be exploited for intelligence purposes.
The State Department also issued a new travel warning for U.S. citizens, advising against all travel to the country and recommending that Americans in Libya leave now.
“The security situation in Libya remains unpredictable and unstable,” the department said in its warning notice. “The Libyan government has not been able to adequately build its military and police forces and improve security following the 2011 revolution.”
A Syrian Rebel Advance Off the Battlefield: A Longer-Lasting Battery for Missiles - NYTimes.com
A Syrian Rebel Advance Off the Battlefield: A Longer-Lasting Battery for Missiles - NYTimes.com
Rebels in Syria are designing rechargeable batteries for shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles, a development that could make them more lethal against Syrian warplanes but that also carries potential risks to civilian aircraft, according to a rebel behind the new design and to Western analysts who have assessed his work.
The batteries are matched to the SA-7b missile system, or Strela-2, an early variant of heat-seeking missile that originated in a Soviet design bureau in the late 1960s and has been reproduced in several countries, including China, North Korea and Pakistan.
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