Wednesday, 10 August 2011
U.S. Air Force
Morning Report
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
NUCLEAR ENTERPRISE
NSTR
WIN TODAY’S FIGHT
AF Times: Military launches Chinook crash investigation (1)
AP: NATO rejects criticism of Libyan TV bombing (4)
CARING FOR AIRMEN
AP: With dignity and respect, Obama honors the fallen (5)
AFP: US officers oppose releasing names of dead troops (9)
MODERNIZATION
Aviation Week: U.S. EW Threatened By Budget Cutting (11)
ACQUISITION EXCELLENCE
NSTR
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT
Defpro: Russia developing new air defense systems (13)
UPI: Israel 'seeks 20 more F-35 stealth jets' (15)
OF INTEREST
AP: Afghan employees stonewalled in U.S. visa quest (19)
AF Times: Murray named co-chair of ‘super’ committee (24)
CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN THE NUCLEAR ENTERPRISE
NSTR
PARTNER WITH JOINT AND COALITION TEAM TO WIN TODAY’S FIGHT
1. Military launches Chinook crash investigation
(Air Force Times, 9 Aug 11) … Michael Hoffman
U.S. Central Command assigned Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Colt, the 101st Airborne Division’s deputy
commanding general, to conduct the investigation into the Aug. 6 crash of the CH-47 Chinook
helicopter carrying 38 people including 30 U.S. troops in Wardak province, Afghanistan.
2. U.S. welcomes Libyan rebel leadership reshuffle
(AP, 9 Aug 11) … Matthew Lee
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Tuesday welcomed a decision by Libya’s rebels to
reorganize their leadership in the aftermath of the killing of their military chief despite concerns it
showed disunity in their ranks.
3. Air Force holds exercise with Russia, Canada
(AP, 9 Aug 11) … Unattributed
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Air Force is again holding joint exercises with Russia and Canada in
Alaska’s airspace.
4. NATO rejects criticism of Libyan TV bombing
(AP, 9 Aug 11) … Slobodan Lekic
BRUSSELS — NATO has rejected growing international criticism of its airstrike on Libyan television
last month, saying Tuesday it has no evidence the attack caused any casualties.
DEVELOP AND CARE FOR AIRMEN AND THEIR FAMILIES
5. With dignity and respect, Obama honors the fallen
(AP, 9 Aug 11) … Ben Feller
WASHINGTON -- The fallen come home here with such dignity that every American flag on every
case of remains is inspected for the tiniest smudge. The dead are treated with reverence by
everyone. Including their commander in chief.
6. Remains of troops come home shrouded in secrecy
Officials debate whether to release names of 30 troops killed in Chinook crash
(AP, 9 Aug 11) … Pauline Jelinek
WASHINGTON — Troops killed in the deadliest incident of the Afghan war came home Tuesday —
traveling in death much the same way they did in life — shrouded in secrecy.
7. Blog: Air Force's use of Christian messages extends to ROTC
(CNN, 9 Aug 11) … Jennifer Rizzo
Washington - The Air Force’s use of Christian religious messages goes beyond those used in
briefings for missile launch officers, as reported by CNN last week, and extends to training for ROTC
cadets.
8. Children of Fallen Special Forces Offered Free College
(WUSF News, 9 Aug 11) … Bobbie O'Brien
TAMPA - The remains of the 30 Special Operations forces killed this weekend in Afghanistan came
home Tuesday to the U.S. Their families, fellow service members and President Barack Obama were
at Dover Air Force Base to pay tribute to the fallen.
9. US officers oppose releasing names of dead troops
(Agence France-Presse, 9 Aug 11) … Dan De Luce
WASHINGTON — The chief of the secretive US special operations command has lobbied against the
release of names of American commandos killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, officials said
Tuesday.
10. Obama salutes Navy SEALs killed in Afghan helicopter crash
(Washington Post, 9 Aug 11) … Eli Saslow and David Nakamura
President Obama had made this exact trip before, flying in secret from the White House to Dover Air
Force Base in Delaware to stand on the tarmac and salute the dead. He was a new president back
then, in the fall of 2009, and he was weighing a decision to send more U.S. troops to fight in
Afghanistan.
MODERNIZE OUR AGING AIR AND SPACE INVENTORIES
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11. U.S. EW Threatened By Budget Cutting
(Aviation Week, 9 Aug 11) … David A. Fulghum
A clash between the complexity of threats facing the U.S. and the nation’s shrinking resources is
under way, but the Pentagon is losing the battle due to the growing cost of equipment and personnel.
12. Blog: Aggresive Plan Needed For U.S. Electronic Offense
(Aviation Week, 9 Aug 11) … David A. Fulghum
Plans to put the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter may come to naught
due to high cost, unavailability of aircraft for specialized electronic attack missions and advances in
penetrating unmanned aircraft.
RECAPTURE ACQUISITION EXCELLENCE
NSTR
GLOBAL AIR, SPACE, and CYBERSPACE ENVIRONMENT
13. Russia developing new air defense systems
(Defence Professionals, 9 Aug 11) … Unattributed
MOSCOW | Russia is developing two air defense systems as part of future multilayered aerospace
defense network, Air Force Commander Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin said on Tuesday, according to
RIA Novosti.
14. 26 JF-17 Thunder jets developed: Pak Air Force
(ZeeNews, 9 Aug 11) ... Unattributed
Islamabad: The Pakistan Air Force has completed the production of 26 JF-17 Thunder combat jets in
collaboration with China during a period of two years, an official said Tuesday.
15. Israel 'seeks 20 more F-35 stealth jets'
(UPI, 9 Aug 11) … Unattributed
TEL AVIV, Israel -- The Israeli air force reportedly plans to buy another 20 Lockheed Martin F-35
Joint Strike Fighters under a multiyear procurement plan under review by military chiefs.
16. Russia to build gen next AWACS aircraft by 2016
(ZeeNews, 9 Aug 11) … Unattributed
Moscow: Russia is planning to develop new generation airborne warning and control system
(AWACS) aircraft by 2016 as part of an ambitious modernisation plan for its armed forces, the
Russian Air Chief today said.
17. Italian Austerity Likely To Hit Aerospace
(Aviation Week, 9 Aug 11) … Andy Nativi
GENOA, Italy — Italian defense spending and other public allocations backing aerospace are
expected to face a difficult future under Rome’s newly minted fiscal reform package aimed at soothing
market fears over its ability to repay its debt.
ITEMS OF INTEREST
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18. Aircraft set to reach 20 times the speed of sound in test flight
(Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug 11) … Unattributed
An experimental, arrowhead-shaped aircraft that could reach blistering speeds of 13,000 mph above
the Pacific Ocean is set to blast off Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Santa
Barbara.
19. Afghan employees stonewalled in U.S. visa quest
The delays suggest a worry among U.S. officials over retaining hard-to-replace Afghan employees.
(AP, 9 Aug 11) … Heidi Vogt
KABUL, Afghanistan — Ahmad Taki is desperate to get out of Afghanistan, fearing for his life after
receiving death threats in midnight phone calls because he works for the Americans. Nine months
after applying for a visa to the U.S. designed for cases like his, he’s heard nothing and feels
abandoned by the people for whom he’s risked his life.
20. Vets help to rebuild World Trade Center
(USA Today, 9 Aug 11) … Gregg Zoroya
NEW YORK — The battered desert combat boots that iron worker Richard Farrell Mohamed wears
on the job at the site of the destroyed World Trade Center are not the usual footwear here.
21. Anti-American cleric warns U.S. to leave Iraq
(AP, 9 Aug 11) … Sameer N. Yacoub
BAGHDAD — A powerful anti-American Shiite cleric called Tuesday on U.S. troops in Iraq to leave
the country and go back to their families or risk more attacks.
22. Large solar flare likely disrupted radio systems in the Mideast
(NextGov, 9 Aug 11) … Bob Brewin
The largest solar flare of the current sun weather cycle erupted in a blast of energy Tuesday that
probably knocked out high-frequency radio communications systems in the Mideast, according to Joe
Kunches, a space scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space
Weather Prediction Centerin Boulder, Colo.
23. USAREUR commander says European mission is still vital
(Stars and Stripes, 9 Aug 11) … Nancy Montgomery
HEIDELBERG, Germany – U.S. Army Europe’s annual cost to American taxpayers: $1.2 billion;
benefit provided to taxpayers: “Priceless,” according to USAREUR commander Lt. Gen. Mark
Hertling.
24. Murray named co-chair of ‘super’ committee
Wa. senator has championed efforts to improve military and veteran benefits
(Air Force Times, 9 Aug 11) … Rick Maze
A guardian of military and veterans’ benefits has been named as one of the two co-chairs of the
special congressional panel making recommendations about debt and deficit reduction.
25. Pakistani intelligence officials: U.S. drone strike kills 20 militants near Afghan border
(AP, 10 Aug 11) … Unattributed
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — American-fired missiles killed 20 Islamist militants in northwest Pakistan on
Wednesday, most of them members of a powerful insurgent network fighting the U.S. presence in
Afghanistan, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
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HEADLINES
CNN at 0530
Fugitive siblings reportedly seen in Colorado
London riots: Before and after
Reid appoints 3 to ‘super committee’
FOX News at 0530
WH to Call for Syria’s Assad to Resign
Police Calm London, but Riots Flare Across U.K.
GOP Readier for Renewed Battle Against ‘ObamaCare’
NPR at 0530
Economic Turmoil Rattles Unsettled Housing Market
Debt Downgrade: A Spark For Political Compromise?
Police Calm London, But Riots Flare Across UK
USA Today at 0530
Protein-packed breakfasts make a difference
Bond yields touch record lows
Britons want show of force
Washington Post at 0530
Stocks rally as Fed pledges low rates
Same ritual, a changed president
Democrats fail to take Wis. Senate
FULL TEXT
CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN THE NUCLEAR ENTERPRISE
NSTR
RETURN
PARTNER WITH JOINT AND COALITION TEAM TO WIN TODAY’S FIGHT
P1
Military launches Chinook crash investigation
(Air Force Times, 9 Aug 11) … Michael Hoffman
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/08/dn-military-launches-chinook-crash-investigation-080911/
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U.S. Central Command assigned Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Colt, the 101st Airborne Division’s deputy
commanding general, to conduct the investigation into the Aug. 6 crash of the CH-47 Chinook
helicopter carrying 38 people including 30 U.S. troops in Wardak province, Afghanistan.
The crash caused the largest single loss of life since the U.S. first invaded Afghanistan in 2001.
Twenty-two of the 30 U.S. troops killed were Navy SEALs assigned to the same special mission unit
as the team that killed al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden. A civilian interpreter and seven Afghan
commandos were also killed in the crash.
U.S. commanders in Afghanistan reportedly sent the CH-47 packed with troops to Wardak to aid a
group of U.S. soldiers in a firefight with Taliban militants. A Pentagon spokesman warned against
second guessing the decision to fly a CH-47 to the firefight.
“I’m not about to second-guess decisions of commanders on the battlefield,” said Col. Dave Lapan, a
Defense Department spokesman.
U.S. military leaders joined President Obama at Dover Air Force Base, Del., to mark the return of the
bodies of the troops killed in the crash to U.S. soil.
No timeline has been set for when Colt will submit his report.
RETURN
P2
U.S. welcomes Libyan rebel leadership reshuffle
(AP, 9 Aug 11) … Matthew Lee
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/08/ap-libya-rebel-leadership-reshuffle-080911/
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Tuesday welcomed a decision by Libya’s rebels to
reorganize their leadership in the aftermath of the killing of their military chief despite concerns it
showed disunity in their ranks.
The State Department said the move was a sign the Transitional National Council, which the U.S. and
others recognize as Libya’s legitimate government, is using last month’s slaying of commander
Abdel-Fattah Youn as an opportunity for “reflection” and “renewal” by firing its executive committee.
“What we see is an effort by the TNC to take a hard look at itself and to make an important step
forward that can reassure Libyans that in reshuffling the government, that they have a truly
democratic and a truly transparent leadership group,” department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told
reporters.
“So, frankly, while the killing was an awful event, the fact that the TNC has not just stood pat but has
really taken this as an opportunity for internal reflection, for renewal, we are optimistic about that,” she
said.
Nuland added that no action on the part of the council would have been worrying.
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“Rather than doing that, they are looking hard at what they have to do to ensure that there is a
democratic, transparent leadership in which their people can have confidence, that the international
community can have confidence in it,” she said.
On Monday the rebels sacked their executive committee, which serves as a sort of government
cabinet, in a move aimed at easing tensions over Younis’ killing. His death shook both the rebels’
leadership and its Western allies, who have heavily backed the rebels controlling most of eastern
Libya.
RETURN
P3
Air Force holds exercise with Russia, Canada
(AP, 9 Aug 11) … Unattributed
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/08/ap-air-force-holds-exercise-with-russia-canada-080911/
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Air Force is again holding joint exercises with Russia and Canada in
Alaska’s airspace.
KTUU-TV said Tuesday that this is the second year for Exercise Vigilant Eagle.
This year’s scenario is of an American passenger jetliner flying over Alaska that is not responding to
air traffic controllers and no one on the ground knows what’s happening on board.
Under the drill, the Air Force scrambles F-15 Eagles to pull alongside the airliner to make visual
contact with the pilot and hijackers to get control of the situation. Once the exercise is finished, the
forces practice their response on a Russian airliner.
RETURN
P4
NATO rejects criticism of Libyan TV bombing
(AP, 9 Aug 11) … Slobodan Lekic
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/08/ap-nato-rejects-criticism-libya-tv-bombing-080911/
BRUSSELS — NATO has rejected growing international criticism of its airstrike on Libyan television
last month, saying Tuesday it has no evidence the attack caused any casualties.
Libyan officials have said the July 31 airstrike on the state television's satellite dishes killed three
journalists and injured 15 others.
But NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero said the alliance had not deliberately targeted journalists
and disputed the claim that anyone had been hurt.
"NATO targeted equipment that had been used to incite attacks against civilians," she said. "We are
unaware of any evidence of casualties associated with this strike in these dishes."
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The British military has said its warplanes had used Brimstone anti-tank missiles against the TV
installation. The Brimstone — equipped with a small explosive warhead — has been used often
during the Libyan campaign to avoid harming civilians.
Photos of the target show that the plastic dishes had been melted or blown apart, but the metal
fairings to which they were attached appeared undamaged.
International journalists' groups immediately condemned the airstrikes, saying they violated a 2006
U.N. measure that specifically bans attacks on the media in wartime.
U.N. Security Council resolution 1738, adopted in 2006, condemns acts of violence against journalists
and media personnel in conflict situations.
On Monday, the head of the U.N.'s cultural and educational body echoed that criticism, saying the
attack also violated the Geneva Conventions.
"I deplore the NATO strike on (Libyan TV) and its installations," said Irina Bokova, director-general of
the Paris-based body.
"Media outlets should not be targeted in military actions," she said. "Silencing the media is never a
solution."
UNESCO — which sees itself as a defender of freedom of expression — is scheduled to discuss the
airstrike at an upcoming conference in September.
RETURN
DEVELOP AND CARE FOR AIRMEN AND THEIR FAMILIES
D1
With dignity and respect, Obama honors the fallen
(AP, 9 Aug 11) … Ben Feller
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/08/09/general-us-obama-fallen-soldiers_8611012.html
WASHINGTON -- The fallen come home here with such dignity that every American flag on every
case of remains is inspected for the tiniest smudge. The dead are treated with reverence by
everyone. Including their commander in chief.
For the second time in his presidency, Barack Obama was on the tarmac at Dover on Tuesday,
saluting troops who died on his watch.
Sadness hung everywhere. For Obama, it was a day to deal with the nation's single deadliest day of
the decade-long war in Afghanistan. For the families of the 30 Americans who were killed, it was a
time to remember the dreams their loved ones had lived, not the ambitions that died with them.
Obama solemnly climbed aboard the two C-17 cargo planes carrying the fallen home from
Afghanistan. Their helicopter apparently had been hit by an insurgent's rocket-propelled grenade.
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Later, the president consoled their grieving families..
The country didn't see it.
There will be no lasting, gripping images this time of Obama assuming his office's grimmest role. No
family could give permission for media coverage, the military said, because no individual bodies had
been identified yet.
The helicopter crash in Afghanistan on Saturday was that horrific.
The troops who died had been flying on a mission to help fellow forces under fire. An insurgent shot
the helicopter down.
For Americans with no sons, daughters, other relatives or friends in the military, this punch seemed to
blindside everyone. The war is supposed to winding down, and the face behind it, Sept. 11
mastermind Osama bin Laden, was killed months ago by elite U.S. forces.
Saturday's blow claimed 22 Navy SEALs from the same special forces team that pulled off the
remarkable mission in Pakistan that ended bin Laden. None of those killed on the helicopter were part
of the bin Laden raid, but the connection, along with the size of the loss, was deeply felt.
The troops who died were described as intensely patriotic, talented and passionate about the risks
and responsibilities that came with their jobs.
Some were married with children. One wanted to be an astronaut. Another was going to propose to
his girlfriend when he got home.
Three were from some the same Army reserve unit in Kansas: Bravo Company, 7th Battalion, 158th
Aviation Regiment.
Seven Afghan commandos and one Afghan interpreter were killed, too, when the helicopter crashed
in the Tangi Valley.
Thirty cases came off the planes draped in American flags; eight were covered in Afghan flags.
Obama was driven to a building on base where about 250 family members and fellow servicemen
and women of the dead had gathered, the White House said. He spent about 70 minutes with family
members, offering his condolences and gratitude for their sacrifice and service.
The president flew by helicopter to Dover. The trip was kept private by the White House until he
landed as a measure of security, although expectations of his presence were high from shortly after
the 30 troops died.
Upon arriving, Obama boarded one plane carrying remains to pay respects, then did so again on the
second plane.
He spent about 70 minutes with family members. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs
Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen joined in.
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The formal process of honoring the troops, known as a dignified transfer, rolled on across the
afternoon. Reporters were kept out of sight in a nearby building.
Officials frown on calling the events a ceremony to avoid any connotation of celebration.
As described to reporters, the president and the rest of the official party, including military leaders,
board the cargo planes. Then a prayer from a chaplain. Then the party comes back onto the tarmac
as the remains are carried out.
The words "coffins" and "caskets" are never used. Instead, the fallen come home in transfer cases.
Teams on site ensure the cases come off the plane in perfect shape. They are carried down by
personnel from each fallen member's service - and not just any troops but those specially chosen for
the high honor.
Three days after the downing of the aircraft, the Defense Department has not released the troops'
names. Officials say it is taking time because there were so many killed. Others say privately there is
hesitancy to release the names because the majority were from sensitive special operations forces.
For these troops and so many others over the months and years, Dover personnel eventually return
the bodies, if possible, to their loved ones in whatever clothing the family choses. It could be military
dress. Or jeans, a T-shirt and cowboy boots.
And always, with reverence.
"It is a very big source of pride, and a sense of duty and honor that we give to the fallen service
members," said Dover mortuary affairs spokesman Van Williams. "We represent the nation. And a
grateful nation at that."
The military has launched an investigation into the helicopter crash. The probe will address a host of
questions, including the decision to send a Chinook helicopter packed with Navy and Air Force
special operations forces to a firefight to assist troops on the ground.
Associated Press writers Pauline Jelinek and Julie Pace contributed to this report.
RETURN
D2
Remains of troops come home shrouded in secrecy
Officials debate whether to release names of 30 troops killed in Chinook crash
(AP, 9 Aug 11) … Pauline Jelinek
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/08/09/general-us-us-afghanistan_8610141.html
WASHINGTON — Troops killed in the deadliest incident of the Afghan war came home Tuesday —
traveling in death much the same way they did in life — shrouded in secrecy.
Two C-17 aircraft carrying the remains of 30 killed in a weekend helicopter crash arrived late in the
morning at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the Pentagon said.
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But three days after the downing of the aircraft by insurgents, Defense Department leaders were still
debating whether to release their names, several senior officials said on condition of anonymity due
to the sensitivity of the issue.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan declined to say why identities of the dead hadn’t been made
public, though some of their families have publicly named their loved ones and spoken openly about
the deaths.
But several officials said privately there is hesitancy to release the names because the majority were
from secretive special operations forces, including 22 Navy SEAL personnel.
This debate continued, they said, despite the fact that it is department policy to release such names
when the troops are killed.
The press also has been banned from a ceremony at Dover, expected to be attended by the top
Pentagon civilians and military leaders.
The caskets that arrived Tuesday contained the dead from Saturday’s crash in the Tangi Valley, a
dangerous area of Wardak province on the doorstep of the Afghan capital. The 30 U.S. troops, seven
Afghan commandos and an Afghan interpreter who died were taking part in one of thousands of
nighttime operations being conducted annually across the nation.
Officials say they believe their Chinook helicopter was hit by an insurgent rocket-propelled grenade
as it tried to land to reinforce an earlier party of U.S. troops that had called for reinforcements.
Lapan said the reason the press is not allowed at the military’s “dignified transfer” ceremony at Dover
is because the badly damaged remains are mingled and not all identified.
Usually, the families of the deceased are allowed to determine whether there will be press coverage.
But the Pentagon said in a statement this week that that “due to the catastrophic nature of the crash,
the remains of our fallen service members will be returned ... in ‘unidentified’ status until they can be
positively identified by the Armed Forces Mortuary Affairs Office at Dover. Because the remains are
unidentified at this point, next-of-kin are not in a position to grant approval for media access to the
dignified transfer.”
It appeared likely that remains of Afghans killed in the crash also arrived at Dover, since Lapan said
that an attempt was not made to separate the remains of Afghans killed in the crash.
The ceremony was expected to take several hours due to the number of caskets, which are taken off
the plane individually in a slow, somber ceremony with honors guards.
An 18-year ban on media coverage of the returns at Dover was lifted in 2009 by then-Defense
Secretary Robert Gates, leaving the decision to the families of the war dead.
Several news organizations have protested the Pentagon decision to prohibit coverage Tuesday.
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D3
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Blog: Air Force's use of Christian messages extends to ROTC
(CNN, 9 Aug 11) … Jennifer Rizzo
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/09/air-forces-use-of-christian-messages-extends-to-rotc/
Washington - The Air Force’s use of Christian religious messages goes beyond those used in
briefings for missile launch officers, as reported by CNN last week, and extends to training for ROTC
cadets.
In a lesson designed to teach the Air Force’s core values to ROTC cadets, Christian beliefs such as
the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Golden Rule are used as examples of
ethical values, CNN has learned.
Slides go on to explain what each of them are, for example listing 7 of the Ten Commandments.
An Air Force ROTC instructor came forward with the slides to the Military Religious Freedom
Foundation, a watchdog group which tries to ensure religious freedom among the troops, after seeing
a CNN report last Wednesday on Christian biblical references and saints’ pictures included in ethics
briefings for missile launch officers.
“I felt extremely uncomfortable briefing some of these slides, deleted them, and added what I felt
were more relevant examples,” the instructor said in an email to Mikey Weinstein, the foundation’s
president.
The instructor, who wishes to not be named due to fear of backlash from the military, claims the
lesson was provided by the Air Education and Training Command (AETC), the same unit that
oversees the training of the missile launch officers.
David Smith, a spokesman for the Air Force's Air Education and Training Command, verified the
ROTC ethics briefing and said a comprehensive review is underway "of training materials that
address morals, ethics, core values and related character development issues to ensure appropriate
and balanced use of all religious and secular source material."
Smith added the teaching of ethical issues must be done "in a religiously neutral way that assures we
comply with the Constitution's Establishment Clause."
Last week, the Air Force suspended its ethics briefing for new missile launch officers after concerns
were raised about the briefing's heavy focus on religion.
The Air Force says headquarters officials were not aware of the religious component of the ethics
course, despite it being taught for nearly two decades by chaplains. The matter came to their
attention they said when they received an inquiry by Truthout.org, an online publication that initially
reported the story
The briefings for missile launch officers, taught for nearly 20 years by military chaplains at
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, are intended to train Air Force personnel to consider the
ethics and morality of launching nuclear weapons – the ultimate doomsday machine.
Many of the slides in the 43 page presentation use a Christian justification for war, displaying pictures
of saints like Saint Augustine and using biblical references.
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"Abraham organized an Army to rescue Lot," one slide read, referring to the story of the Hebrew
patriarch and his nephew found in the book of Genesis.
"Revelation 19:11 Jesus Christ is the mighty warrior," another slide read.
At least group is not happy with the briefing’s suspension, and wants it re-instated.
“I can testify that there is absolutely nothing in the Constitution of the United States that disqualifies a
presentation of St. Augustine's ‘just war theory,’ and related biblical references,” Bill Donohue,
president of The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, wrote to the AETC Commander Gen.
Edward Rice.
“ ‘Just war theory’ is taught at state institutions all across the nation-explicitly citing Augustine's
contribution-and never has it been an issue," Donohue's letter continued. "Moreover, biblical
passages are often cited when referencing the work of Rev. Martin Luther King. Should we similarly
censor them?”
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D4
Children of Fallen Special Forces Offered Free College
(WUSF News, 9 Aug 11) … Bobbie O'Brien
http://www.wusf.usf.edu/news/2011/08/09/children_of_fallen_special_forces_offered_free_college
TAMPA - The remains of the 30 Special Operations forces killed this weekend in Afghanistan came
home Tuesday to the U.S. Their families, fellow service members and President Barack Obama were
at Dover Air Force Base to pay tribute to the fallen.
In the next few months, the Tampa based Special Operations Warrior Foundation will also offer its
help – a free college education for the children of those killed.
The Special Operations Warrior Foundation was founded in 1980 by fellow warriors who wanted to
make sure the children of special forces killed in training or action could go to college.
Melinda Petrignani was 8 months old when her father, an Army Ranger, was killed. The Warrior
Foundation helped her graduate from DePaul University in 2008. But, Petrignani said they provided
more than financial assistance.
“We’re an extended family to all these children,” said Petrignani who started working for the
organization about a year ago. “I’m there as a mentor to them, as a friend, as someone they can talk
to when they might not be able to talk to their parents.”
So far, nearly 200 children have graduated, 140 are in college and there are commitments by the
Special Forces Warriors Foundation to 600 more children who are not yet college age. And that same
offer will be made to the children of those just lost.
You can learn more about the four-star rated charity on their web site: SpecialOps.org.
RETURN
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D5
US officers oppose releasing names of dead troops
(Agence France-Presse, 9 Aug 11) … Dan De Luce
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iKua3_FNs-ftdbqbiqmO7QnFZxrg?docId=CNG.9e214cd05d006bc55e2b5fc33bdea0f3.e71
WASHINGTON — The chief of the secretive US special operations command has lobbied against the
release of names of American commandos killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, officials said
Tuesday.
Thirty US troops were killed on Friday when their Chinook helicopter was shot out of the sky in a
remote Afghan valley, but in a break with Pentagon practice, the identities of the dead service
members have not been released.
The dead included 22 members of the elite Navy SEAL commandos and three Air Force special
operators, and senior officers overseeing the special forces are reluctant to publicly identify the slain
troops, officials said.
"There were concerns expressed by the SOCOM (US Special Operations Command) commander
about the safety of the members of the unit and their families and the families of the fallen," a senior
military officer told AFP.
"He's raised concerns and senior leaders are looking at it right now," the officer added, requesting
anonymity.
But officials noted that the names of dead service members are not classified as secret under US law.
Since the loss of the chopper, several families have come forward and publicly identified their loved
ones in television interviews.
Admiral Eric Olson, who formally stepped down as SOCOM chief on Monday, has spoken previously
about the need to uphold secrecy to protect the safety of servicemen and their families.
Under the Pentagon's rules, the identities of dead service members are released publicly 24 hours
after families are notified about the death of their loved ones.
The remains of the 30 US service members killed in the helicopter crash were returned to the United
States on Tuesday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. But despite requests from news
organizations, a solemn transfer ceremony at Dover attended by President Barack Obama and other
top officials was closed to the media.
The military said the fallen troops could not be identified "due to the catastrophic nature of the crash,"
and that next-of-kin were not in a position to grant approval for media access to the transfer
ceremony.
Obama lifted a blanket ban on media coverage of the return of flag-draped caskets in 2009, allowing
families of fallen troops to decide whether to permit cameras.
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Documenting the return of troops killed on the battlefield has long been a sensitive political issue and
Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, was accused of trying to hide images of caskets arriving at
Dover from the public.
In Afghanistan, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force has said the CH-47 Chinook
was sent in after US ground forces asked for reinforcements in the Tangi valley of Wardak province,
southeast of Kabul.
The dead also included five US Army aviators who served as the helicopter crew, seven Afghan
commandos and an interpreter.
US Central Command meanwhile named a senior officer to head up an investigation into the incident.
General Jeffrey Colt, deputy commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division, will "conduct an
investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash," Central Command said in a statement.
The military says the crash has not prompted any changes in tactics and downplayed the potential
threat posed to Chinooks or other aircraft in the NATO-led force.
RETURN
D6
Obama salutes Navy SEALs killed in Afghan helicopter crash
(Washington Post, 9 Aug 11) … Eli Saslow and David Nakamura
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/in-dover-obama-salutes-troops-killed-in-afghan-helicopter-crash/2011/08/09/gIQAZ47O5I_story.html?hpid=z1
President Obama had made this exact trip before, flying in secret from the White House to Dover Air
Force Base in Delaware to stand on the tarmac and salute the dead. He was a new president back
then, in the fall of 2009, and he was weighing a decision to send more U.S. troops to fight in
Afghanistan.
Almost two years later, after so many decisions and so many consequences, Obama arrived at Dover
again Tuesday afternoon. Nothing about his presidency felt new anymore; he looked tired, solemn
and gray as he stepped onto the tarmac. Since his last trip, 874 more Americans have died in
Afghanistan, and Obama has signed 874 handwritten condolence letters. The war is fully his now.
This time, he went to Dover to greet the charred and dismembered remains of Americans he had
ordered to Afghanistan himself.
There were 30 of them — including 22 Navy SEALs — who died last week when their helicopter was
hit by a rocket in the deadliest single incident in the history of the war. Obama and others went to
Dover to watch the transfer of their remains, which unfolded with a ritual exactness made familiar by a
decade-long war: Each transportation case was draped with a flag, prayed over by a chaplain and
carried out of the belly of a cargo plane by six troops who wore military fatigues and white gloves.
But for those who attended, nothing about this transfer felt routine. More than 75 family members of
the victims traveled to Delaware from across the country, even though the crash was so violent that
none of the victims have been formally identified. Leaders from every branch of the military saluted
the cases of mingled remains on the tarmac. Obama and his staff canceled a talk on fuel efficiency in
Springfield, Va., left behind the developing economic disaster and made hurried plans to go to Dover,
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recognizing that the event marked a definitive moment not only in the war but also in Obama’s
presidency.
Here were remains of troops who died as part of Obama’s surge in Afghanistan, even as he begins to
execute plans for a withdrawal.
Here were Navy SEALs, teammates of the men who killed Osama bin Laden in May — a unit that
provided Obama with one of his most triumphant moments and, on Tuesday, one of his most
devastating.
Obama arrived at Dover with his staff in four helicopters, leaving from Fort McNair in the late morning
and flying 45 minutes to Delaware. He landed a few minutes after noon, rode down the tarmac in a
motorcade and then walked 100 yards to greet the remains.
The remains arrived at Dover in two C-17s, flying first from Afghanistan to Germany, and then from
Germany to Delaware. The troops aboard had died when their Chinook helicopter crashed during a
rescue mission in the remote Tangi Valley of eastern Afghanistan. Now they were grouped together in
transportation cases instead of separated into individual cases because, a Dover official said, “the
crash was so horrific and the state of remains such that there was no easy way to see this was this
person or this was that person.”
Obama and other officials boarded both planes to pay their respects while the chaplain prayed over
the cases — 20 on one plane and 18 on the other; 30 draped with American flags and eight with
Afghan flags. Then, case by case, the remains were carried from the plane into seven vans, which
drove to a mortuary on the base where experts planned to spend three days identifying the victims
using DNA, dental records and fingerprints.
Before the transfer was completed, Obama met in a nearby community room with family members of
the victims. He spoke with them in private for more than an hour with no prepared remarks, walking
around the room and shaking hands. He has said that this is what he considers the most difficult task
for any president: to tour a room of grieving people and offer both his gratitude and his condolences.
Each step of Tuesday’s trip mirrored Obama’s first visit to Dover, even if so much else about his
presidency has changed in the 22 months since. Back in October 2009, Obama flew to Delaware in
the middle of the night to view the arriving cases of 18 Americans who had died in Afghanistan. He
walked into the belly of the C-17. He listened to the chaplain’s prayer. He stood in formation. He
saluted. He met with families of the victims.
That trip was part of Obama’s effort to better understand what it meant to be a commander in chief as
he debated sending more troops to Afghanistan. He also assembled 25 religious leaders to converse
with him about the morality of combat, read books about what went wrong in Vietnam, and
researched opinions on war by Winston Churchill, Saint Thomas Aquinas and Reinhold Niebuhr.
But it was the trip to Dover that stuck with him most of all. When Obama finally decided in December
2009 to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, he referenced that night.
“I see firsthand the terrible wages of war,” he said. “I do not make this decision lightly.”
One decision — and its consequences — has shaped so much for Obama and the country in the
nearly two years since. Bin Laden is dead; the United States faces a record debt, partly because of
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two expensive wars; Republicans and Democrats are historically divided; a presidential election will
soon render its verdict on Obama based in part on that one choice.
Another consequence came Tuesday: a second trip to Dover, and more cases of remains waiting on
the tarmac.
RETURN
MODERNIZE OUR AGING AIR AND SPACE INVENTORIES
M1
U.S. EW Threatened By Budget Cutting
(Aviation Week, 9 Aug 11) … David A. Fulghum
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/awst/2011/08/08/AW_08_08_2011_p31-354894.xml&headline=U.S. EW
Budget Cutting&channel=defense
Threatened By
A clash between the complexity of threats facing the U.S. and the nation’s shrinking resources is
under way, but the Pentagon is losing the battle due to the growing cost of equipment and personnel.
A congressionally driven, debt-reduction compromise—which could trigger defense cuts of as much
as $800 billion over a decade—may slow down the military’s upgrading of its electronic warfare,
cyberattack, directed-energy and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems, say
congressional and military analysts, just as foreign advances in the field are testing the U.S.’s ability
to cope.
Traditionally, in times of funding slowdown, “electronic warfare is the first thing we cut,” says Rep.
Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), who chairs the House electronic warfare working group. But that template
may change because international threats from electronic, directed-energy, information and cyber
operations—all now mixed in the electronic warfare (EW) realm—are growing at lightning speed.
While electronic and cybercombat may dominate future battles, funding is not keeping pace.
Moreover, the military is wearing out its assets, particularly in airborne electronic attack, which could
lead to a considerable EW shortfall, Washington-based analysts contend.
Already, the Air Force has no dedicated high-performance EW platform like the Navy’s EA-18G
Growler, points out Daniel Goure, vice president of the Lexington Institute. And whether the F-35
Joint Strike Fighter will carry the capability is in question with the anticipated defense budget decline,
he says.
The need to transform Air Force electronic attack systems while at the same time spending to
upgrade aging EW systems is presenting a huge financial burden.
“The Air Force cannot sustain systems whose effectiveness does not justify the cost of ownership,”
says Col. Joseph Skaja, chief of Air Combat Command’s combat enabler division for requirements.
“Legacy systems struggle to evolve to meet the challenge,” he says. “[The combat air forces] will
spend almost $3 billion to sustain EW systems. The B-52 systems alone will account for $884 million
and the F-15 will soak up a further $603 million.”
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Part of the solution will be changes in what the Pentagon buys, says Jacques Gansler, professor in
the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy and former undersecretary of defense for
acquisition, technology and logistics.
“Unit cost must be a design requirement,” Gansler says. He points to the Joint Direct Attack Munition
as one of the few programs where that policy applied and notes that cost dropped to $17,000 each
from $40,000. The Pentagon also must stop buying ships, airplanes, tanks and other 20th-century
weapons and shift to intelligence, information, unmanned, anti-missile and networked systems, he
says.
“An integrated [network-centric] system will include distributed sensors and shooters, rather than
requiring every weapon to be self-sufficient and therefore extremely complex and expensive,” Gansler
says. “The lower cost of individual elements will enable far larger numbers to be acquired.”
The plan to get out from under legacy cost involves focusing investments in the airborne electronic
attack (EA) system of systems, Skaja says. One element is the counter communications electronic
attack pod for communications jamming. The MQ-9 Block 5 Reaper is the platform for testing.
Another advance will be the upgrading of existing EA pods for the F-16 and A-10 using digital radio
frequency memory to replace obsolete parts. The EC-130 Compass Call fleet will be upgraded and
enlarged with additional airframes. It will begin functioning within the Distributed Mission Operations
Network. The final component of the upgrading will be introduction of the Miniature Air-Launched
Decoy and Jammer (MALD and MALD-J). The MALD-J provides stand-in jamming in heavily
defended areas. It can degrade and deny the use of radars. An Increment II improvement is designed
to increase the basic jammer payload by a factor of 10. It also will be the vehicle for high-power
microwave attacks to damage enemy electronics.
However, more could be accomplished if the Pentagon and industry cooperate to ensure new
investments, including private funding for EW, and if flag officers in each service are appointed to
head EW development and its associated capabilities and represent the discipline at the highest
levels of military and government decision-making, Larsen says.
The U.S. Army also is trying to move quickly to shore up gaps in its EW capabilities, says Maj.
Richard Savageau of Army Headquarters’ EW division. A total of 29 gaps are being addressed.
Among the improvements planned are linkages to a Joint EW system of systems and the introduction
of directed-energy weapon systems to target improvised explosive devices, unmanned aircraft data
links and vehicle electronics. The jewel in the crown of Army efforts is the Multi-Function EW system
that will generate both offensive and defensive effects against command-and-control
communications, indirect fire, radar, electro-optics, infrared equipment and infrastructure electronics.
Raytheon officials have provided some details about how directed energy—in this case light,
inexpensive lasers—can be introduced to the battlefield.
The services need a cheap, lightweight laser system that operates at slow speeds and low altitudes
for helicopters and unmanned aircraft. Raytheon has integrated a wide range of laser and missilewarning systems to empirically assess anti-missile capabilities. Company researchers are refining a
system that combines fiber lasers and a seeker from the AIM-9X air-to-air missile.
“This has been pooh-poohed as immature technology,” says Mike Booen, Raytheon’s vice president
of advanced security and directed energy. “It’s not. Part of our preparation is a program with the Air
Force that is called the Quiet Eyes Laser Turret assembly . . . that marries the quantum cascade laser
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with the turret. We’ve tested it against real targets . . . through rain and fog and other adverse
conditions.”
The scheme to cut costs involves reusing hardware coming off existing production lines and lasers
that are being used for applications in the commercial world. The goal is to offer lightweight, highreliability hardware to the Army, Air Force and Navy for new, smaller classes of airborne platforms.
Since unmanned air vehicles, light helicopters and light attack aircraft operating in an ISR or EW role
will be within the threat rings of anti-aircraft missiles, there is interest in lasers that would provide
these smaller platforms maximum operational flexibility and self protection in a lightweight payload.
RETURN
M2
Blog: Aggresive Plan Needed For U.S. Electronic Offense
(Aviation Week, 9 Aug 11) … David A. Fulghum
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a3f7b5af7-5a84-4a31-8d6ea48616a6ea16&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest
Plans to put the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter may come to naught
due to high cost, unavailability of aircraft for specialized electronic attack missions and advances in
penetrating unmanned aircraft.
Foes are making rapid advances with non-kinetic weapons, networked command-and-control and
cyber intrusions—using cheap, commercially available electronics—that are proving expensive for the
U.S. to counter, say electronic warfare specialists.
Part of the answer, say defense specialists, is to turn away from designing new, specialized, air,
ground and ship platforms and shift the available funding to networked and readily upgradable
systems that use existing or cheap unmanned designs.
The Navy’s NGJ system is being designed to attack enemy electronics with jamming, pulses of highpower microwaves, and packets of algorithms to infiltrate enemy networks. It will likely migrate to both
large and small, penetrating, unmanned aircraft. These new designs—now being referred to as
adjunct platforms—will have roll-on, roll-off payloads that allow them to perform specialized missions
with a minimum of transformation time.
“AEA provided by the Growler is central to the continued war-fighting success of Navy aviation and
the rest of the military,” says Richard Gilpin, deputy assistant Navy secretary for air programs. “While
NGJ is not the only program of note in the AEA system of systems, it is clearly the most important.”
Navy officials with the most insight into the NGJ program predict there will be a lot of challenges, but
they intend to make it affordable, interoperable and upgradable enough to get the maximum capability
out of it for as much as 40-50 years.
Another issue is that all corners of the electromagnetic spectrum are now being exploited. Dominating
what is called the “spectrum high-ground” will demand that the U.S. adopt an aggressive, offensive
program of electronic and anti-electronic operations.
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“The Navy will shift its war-fighting EW perspective from low-density, single-platform solutions [for
example, the EA-6B Prowler] to a networked system of systems that acts in a collaborative manner
with software applications that can share data,” says Marine Corps Lt. Col. Jason Schuette, aviation
EW requirements officer for the Navy’s operations staff. “Air-ground spectrum capabilities will provide
combined arms effects and allow the military to keep an offensive stance. Maintaining the
electromagnetic spectrum as maneuver space presents the enemy with [surveillance and
communication] dilemmas.”
While operators are loath to discuss EW and electronic attack (EA) capabilities, there are some hints
from discussions about the anticipated new U.S. capabilities.
“Once an airborne electronic attack pod is turned on to deliver non-kinetic fires, the ground force will
have its own signal-detection devices with which it can immediately garner battle damage
assessment of the effects on enemy systems and to see what the foe is doing in trying to counter
these effects,” Schuette says.
“Hardware and software innovation that drives commercial industry is also driving our adversaries to
devise better ways to exploit or disrupt traditional defenses as well as the command and control of
precision navigation and timing and cyber operations,” Schuette says. “As a result, the [U.S.] does not
have the spectrum high ground. Commercial development is letting the enemy get the best of us. Our
challenge is to develop capabilities that will allow an offensive mind-set. That is what has always
allowed us to stay ahead of our adversaries.”
RETURN
RECAPTURE ACQUISITION EXCELLENCE
NSTR
GLOBAL AIR, SPACE, and CYBERSPACE ENVIRONMENT
G1
Russia developing new air defense systems
(Defence Professionals, 9 Aug 11) … Unattributed
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/26633/?SID=b554e243620325093d454fffa26f8dd9
MOSCOW | Russia is developing two air defense systems as part of future multilayered aerospace
defense network, Air Force Commander Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin said on Tuesday, according to
RIA Novosti.
"The Morfey is a short-range air defense system with effective range of five kilometers," Zelin said. "It
is designed to protect military installations and has both active and passive weapons [launchers and
radars]."
Another system, the Vityaz, is a further development of the S-300 medium-range air defense system,
whose combat capabilities largely surpass those of its predecessor.
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"In fact, it could be considered a brand new system," Zelin said, adding that the Vityaz would have a
launcher with 16 missiles compared to only four on the S-300.
Both systems will complement the S-400 and S-500 air defense systems in the future aerospace
defense network to engage targets at ranges from 5 to 400 kilometers, and at altitudes from 5 meters
to near space.
The Morfey, the Vityaz and the S-500 are expected to enter service with the Russian Air Force in
2015, while the S-400 has been in service since 2007.
Zelin said the Russian Air Force would receive two more regiments of S-400 Triumf air defense
systems by the end of 2011 in addition to two regiments already deployed in the Moscow Region.
The S-400 (SA-21 Growler) system can engage targets at a maximum range of up to 400 kilometers
at altitudes of up to 50,000 meters.
The system uses a range of missiles optimized for intercepting ballistic and cruise missiles. It can
simultaneously track up to 300 targets and engage 36 of them.
An S-400 air defense regiment consists of two or three battalions equipped with four systems each.
Russia is planning to arm 56 battalions with S-400 systems by 2020. (RIA Novosti)
RETURN
G2
26 JF-17 Thunder jets developed: Pak Air Force
(ZeeNews, 9 Aug 11) ... Unattributed
http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/26-jf-17-thunder-jets-developed-pak-air-force_725311.html
Islamabad: The Pakistan Air Force has completed the production of 26 JF-17 Thunder combat jets in
collaboration with China during a period of two years, an official said Tuesday.
The senior PAF official, who was briefing the Public Accounts Committee of parliament, said while
replying to a query that the air force had achieved the target set for producing the JF-17 jets in the
country.
The parliamentary panel was informed that Pakistan began the serial production of the jet in
collaboration with China two years ago.
The JF-17 was jointly developed by Pakistan and China.
The PAF plans to induct 250 JF-17s in the coming years.
Defence Production Secretary Shahid Iqbal told the parliamentary committee that two P-3C Orion
anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft were destroyed in a recent terrorist attack on a
naval airbase in Karachi and efforts were being made to replace them.
The committee raised some objections to the audit reports of the Defence Ministry for 1998-1999,
2002-2003 and 2003-04 and directed authorities to submit reports on this issue within a month.
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RETURN
G3
Israel 'seeks 20 more F-35 stealth jets'
(UPI, 9 Aug 11) … Unattributed
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2011/08/09/Israel-seeks-20-more-F-35-stealth-jets/UPI-57401312911310/
TEL AVIV, Israel -- The Israeli air force reportedly plans to buy another 20 Lockheed Martin F-35
Joint Strike Fighters under a multiyear procurement plan under review by military chiefs.
Last October, Israel purchased 20 of the stealth jets, considered the most advanced combat aircraft
in existence, for $2.75 billion.
If the second tranche is approved, amid competing demands for such big-ticket weapons as more
warships and missile defense systems, Israel could have 40 F-35s operational by the end of the
decade, depending on when contract for the second batch is signed.
That would allow Israel's air force, the most powerful in the region, to maintain its supremacy at a time
when Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are upgrading their air
power with massive arms deals with the United States, largely to counter an expansionist Iran.
Even Iraq, striving to rebuild its military forces as U.S. troops withdraw from the country eight years
after invading, announced July 30 it plans to buy 36 Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 52 interceptor jets.
That deal, double the number of aircraft that Baghdad had initially planned to order, is worth around
$4.3 billion, with deliveries expected to begin 2013.
The Jerusalem Post, reporting the anticipated F-35 order by the Israel air force, observed that the
Iraqi F-16 program "raised some eyebrows in Israel."
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has declared that Baghdad's acquisition of the F-16s is purely for
self-defense, although how far that goes to easing the concerns of Iraq's neighbors who were twice
invaded by Saddam Hussein's forces between 1980 and 1990 is questionable.
Israel appears determined to acquire as many F-35s as it can, as quickly as it can, amid unremitting
hostility with Iran as it allegedly seeks to acquire nuclear weapons while building the ballistic missiles
to carry them.
The Israeli air force's strike capability as it is currently constituted consists of 324 F-16s and 87
Boeing F-15s, spearheaded by 25 F-15I Ra'am and 101 F-16I Sufa models custom-built to Israeli
specifications.
Apart from the F-35's radar-evading capabilities, the uniqueness of the fifth-generation fighter lies in
its integrated sensor suite that gives pilots unprecedented situational awareness and informationsharing between aircraft.
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The air force plans to send pilots to the United States for F-35 training in 2016, about the time that the
U.S. Air Force will be receiving the stealth fighter.
"This way, when the planes are delivered to Israel later that year or at the beginning of 2017, the
(Israeli air force) will be able to use them fairly quickly in operations," Post military correspondent
Yaakov Katz reported.
Two Israeli air force officers have been sent to the United States to work with the Pentagon and
Lockheed Martin on integrating Israeli technology into the aircraft.
The F-35 program has been plagued by problems and cost overruns and development has been put
back by two years, which has dismayed the Israelis as they face off with Iran.
Under the 2010 deal, the Israeli air force expected to start taking delivery of the first 20 aircraft,
powered by Pratt and Whitney's F135 engine, by 2015. But that's not now likely to happen until 2017
because of the program setbacks.
If there's further slippage on delivery, the Israelis have said they might consider buying additional
Boeing F-15Is as a stopgap to maintain operational air strength.
That prospect appeared to gain credence with reports Saturday that F-35 flight testing has been
suspended for the third time in the last year after an integrated power package, which provides power
to start the engine and generates cooling for the aircraft, failed during a ground test.
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the tribulations of the F-35 is reawakening Israeli memories of
the ill-fated Lavi fighter, a delta-wing combat jet designed by state-owned Israel Aircraft Industries,
now Israel Aerospace Industries.
The prestigious, cutting-edge project, aimed at producing Israel's first indigenous fighter, crashed
after the Americans, who were putting up 40 percent of the funding, decided they weren't prepared to
finance a project that would compete with the emergent F-16.
Lavi was canceled by Israel's government Aug. 30, 1987. It was a major blow for the country's
defense industry but the technological advances achieved helped catapult IAI and other companies
into the high-tech age.
RETURN
G4
Russia to build gen next AWACS aircraft by 2016
(ZeeNews, 9 Aug 11) … Unattributed
http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/russia-to-build-gen-next-awacs-aircraft-by-2016_725284.html
Moscow: Russia is planning to develop new generation airborne warning and control system
(AWACS) aircraft by 2016 as part of an ambitious modernisation plan for its armed forces, the
Russian Air Chief today said.
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"We are expecting to receive the A-100 AWACS on the Ilyushin Il-476 platform powered by the PS-90
engine for extended flight range," Colonel General Alexander Zelin announced at a news conference
here.
Unlike the present A-50 AWACS on Ilyushin Il-76 platform, the new aircraft will have advanced active
phased array radar capable of detecting and tracking multiple airborne and land-based targets.
The Russian Air Force has around 20 A-50 mainstay AWACS planes equipped with the large Liana
surveillance radar with its antenna in an over-fuselage rotodome and can control up to ten fighter
aircraft for either air-to-air intercept or air-to-ground attack missions.
"We will have the Il-476 platform by 2013-2014 and should be able to build this plane by 2016," Gen
Zelin was quoted as saying by Interfax, the Russian non-governmental news agency.
India has acquired three A-50 AWACS fitted with Israeli Phalcon radar under a trilateral deal with
Russia and Israel.
India received the first A-50EI plane in May 2009 and the second in March 2010.
It is expected that the third aircraft will be delivered by the end of the year and could acquire two more
aircraft in addition to the initial deal signed in 2004.
RETURN
G5
Italian Austerity Likely To Hit Aerospace
(Aviation Week, 9 Aug 11) … Andy Nativi
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=aerospacedaily&id=news/asd/2011/08/09/01.xml&headline=Italian%20Austerity%2
0Likely%20To%20Hit%20Aerospace
GENOA, Italy — Italian defense spending and other public allocations backing aerospace are
expected to face a difficult future under Rome’s newly minted fiscal reform package aimed at soothing
market fears over its ability to repay its debt.
The effect on the individual ministerial line items has not yet been decided, but the accelerated move
to a balanced budget and other reform commitments make cuts to spending on aerospace, defense
and security inevitable. The goal of the reform package – which also includes welfare cuts and tax
increases that could trigger labor turmoil – is to bring the ratio of public debt to GDP to a more
sustainable level.
To raise funding, Rome also may be forced to sell its stake in some industrial “crown jewels.” Even
disposal of part of its 30% stake in Finmeccanica is not being ruled out; a potential option is to reduce
the involvement to a mere golden share to protect the company from foreign takeover. However, that
move is seen as unlikely.
Finmeccanica’s share price has fallen sharply in recent days, owing to a combination of factors
including disappointing earnings, slow progress in streamlining the business and broader concerns
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over the Italian market. Any disposal is unlikely until the share price recovers to make the sale
financially attractive.
The increased budget pressure also is expected to hit the ministries of economic development,
research and public instruction, and transportation. The first pays for research and development, as
well as procurement of many major platforms – including Eurofighter Typhoon fighters, navy Fremm
frigates, army wheeled combat vehicles and military satellites. The research and public instruction
ministry provides the Italian space agency’s funding resources and the transportation ministry
finances the bulk of the coast guard.
The squeeze has been on aerospace for some time. Prior to the latest move, the government cut €5
billion ($7.1 billion) from public spending under the 2012-14 budget plan, with €250 million taken from
defense in 2012 and another €413 million in 2013, More cuts in 2014 were planned. The ministry of
economic development was to surrender a total of €2 billion, although only a small fraction would
have hit aerospace and defense activities. The ministry currently is looking to obligate €400 million to
support R&D programs, money which was approved but has not been earmarked.
The defense ministry still has to detail how it will cope with the budget crunch, and a communication
on that strategy could be submitted to parliament by the end of September. That deadline may slide if
the new spending adjustments have to be built into that plan.
So far, the defense ministry has tried to absorb spending cuts without sacrificing major procurement
activities or cutting personnel. However, with operations and maintenance accounts already
stretched, curtailing modernization funding may emerge as the ministry’s only tool to decrease
spending, especially if there is continuing political pressure not to cut uniformed or civilian personnel.
Operational reductions have been made. In its commitment to the NATO mission against Libya, Italy
will replace its aircraft carrier with a smaller amphibious platform (its navy Harriers are no longer in
action), while the air force has added the AMX to the F-16s, Typhoons and Tornado it is flying. Those
steps will help shrink operational outlays for the full year below the €1.8-2 billion forecast.
RETURN
ITEMS OF INTEREST
I1
Aircraft set to reach 20 times the speed of sound in test flight
(Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug 11) … Unattributed
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/08/vandenberg-launch-hypersonic-technology-vehicle-falcon.html
An experimental, arrowhead-shaped aircraft that could reach blistering speeds of 13,000 mph above
the Pacific Ocean is set to blast off Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Santa
Barbara.
The flight is slated to test new technology that would provide the Pentagon a lightning-fast vehicle,
capable of delivering a military strike anywhere in the world in less than an hour.
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The unmanned aircraft, dubbed Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, is scheduled to be
launched at 7 a.m. PDT into the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere aboard an eight-story
Minotaur IV rocket, made by Orbital Sciences Corp.
The aircraft will then separate, screech back toward Earth, level out and glide above the Pacific at 20
times the speed of sound, or Mach 20.
To give you an idea of how fast that is: an aircraft at that speed would zip from Los Angeles to New
York in less than 12 minutes.
The aircraft will splash down about half an hour later and sink near Kwajalein Atoll, about 4,000 miles
from Vandenberg.
The launch Wednesday will be the second flight of the Falcon. The first flight, which took place in
April 2010, ended prematurely with only 9 minutes of flight time.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is funding the program, said the first
flight was "used to improve aerodynamic models and to optimize the vehicle design and trajectory for
flight two."
Sustaining hypersonic flight, or speeds beyond Mach 5, has been extremely difficult for aeronautical
engineers to perfect over the years.
In June, the U.S. Air Force had to prematurely end a test flight of its experimental X-51 WaveRider
plane when a lapse in airflow to the jet engine caused a shutdown.
The second flight of the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, which is built by Lockheed Martin
Corp., is set to be its last -- unless the government provides more funding. And unlike many rocket
launches these days, it not set to be webcast.
RETURN
I2
Afghan employees stonewalled in U.S. visa quest
The delays suggest a worry among U.S. officials over retaining hard-to-replace Afghan employees.
(AP, 9 Aug 11) … Heidi Vogt
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/08/ap-afghan-employees-struggle-obtain-us-visas-080911/
KABUL, Afghanistan — Ahmad Taki is desperate to get out of Afghanistan, fearing for his life after
receiving death threats in midnight phone calls because he works for the Americans. Nine months
after applying for a visa to the U.S. designed for cases like his, he’s heard nothing and feels
abandoned by the people for whom he’s risked his life.
Taki is one of about 2,300 Afghans who have applied to a special program that awards U.S. visas to
Afghans who have worked for the U.S. government for at least a year and are in danger because of
this work.
But since the Afghan Allies program began in 2009, not a single visa has been handed out.
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A document obtained by The Associated Press suggests the delays may not be a matter of
bureaucracy but reflect a worry among U.S. officials over holding on to hard-to-replace employees.
“This act could drain this country of our very best civilian and military partners: our Afghan
employees,” former Ambassador Karl Eikenberry wrote in a February 2010 cable to Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton.
“If we are not careful the SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) program will have a significant deleterious
impact on staffing and morale, as well as undermining our overall mission in Afghanistan. Local staff
are not easily replenished in a society at 28 percent literacy,” wrote Eikenberry, who finished his tour
in July.
Eikenberry said the strictest criteria should be applied to determine if employees are in danger. He
also proposed changing the Afghan Allies legislation so its visas are only issued “in those rare
instances where there is clear and convincing evidence of a serious threat.” That’s more limited that
the “ongoing serious threat” stated in the current law.
American officials declined to comment directly on the cable but said Ryan Crocker, the new
ambassador, is committed to speeding up the process and that processing time has been reduced by
months.
“Ambassador Crocker has resolved to make appropriate Special Immigrant Visa processing a mission
priority and we are moving forward,” said Megan Ellis, an embassy spokeswoman. She said this did
not represent a change from Eikenberry’s approach.
The Afghan Allies program is supposed to award up to 1,500 visas each year through 2013. So far,
only two applications have been vetted. One was denied, and the other was approved and is going
through processing, Ellis said. The application form for the program says a response should be
expected within eight weeks.
David Pearce, the embassy’s assistant mission chief, said the program started slowly because of the
need to establish a procedure for verifying threats, and that delays were not intentional.
“This is not an easy place to do security assessments,” he said. “We’re going to break the logjam and
move this.”
Thousands of Afghans are employed by the U.S. military, State Department and USAID, filling a vital
role as advisers, technicians, translators and support staff.
But Eikenberry’s letter underlines a central dilemma. The U.S. needs qualified Afghan staff to
accomplish its mission. On the other hand, the Taliban and other insurgents have directly threatened
Afghans working for the U.S. as “traitors” and “collaborators” and — as in Iraq — Washington is under
pressure to give asylum to those who helped it. In his memo, Eikenberry warned that 80 percent of
the U.S. Embassy’s Afghan staffers could potentially seek visas.
Taki began working for the Americans in 2006, at age 17, as an interpreter for U.S. forces in Kabul.
Now, as a human resources manager at an international military base in the capital, he recruits
Afghans.
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He has received phone calls from strangers in the middle of the night saying that they are after him.
He worries because so many people have his number and know he works for the international forces.
So he wants out.
“I’ve risked my life. It’s been more than four years, and now I can’t apply for other jobs,” because
private companies are reluctant to hire people who have worked for the international forces because
they’re treated as spies, he said.
In 2008, Taki applied to an older program that awards 50 U.S. visas a year to Afghan interpreters. As
of mid-July, 379 Afghans had received visas through that program, Ellis said.
But the interpreter program already had a backlog, so Taki applied for the Afghan Allies visa in
January. He received a letter saying he should wait to hear about an interview. Thinking that his
departure was imminent, he did something he now admits was a little stupid — he quit his part-time
studies for a business administration degree, hoping to save money for a new life in the United
States.
“I’m still hoping to receive something, but to be honest I’m really frustrated,” he said.
There have also been delays in Iraq in an interpreters visa program because of a sharp tightening of
security checks for entry to the United States — imposed after a former insurgent entered the U.S. as
a refugee and then attempted to send weapons and money to al-Qaida.
Some Afghan visa applicants have banded together to make their plight known. Last month, dozens
of anonymous visa applicants sent two open letters to media and U.S. officials protesting the delays.
Afghan applicants worry insurgents will make good on the threats before they ever see a visa. U.S.
officials say any immediate security threats should be addressed with supervisors. But some Afghans
say their bosses have brushed aside their reports of threats.
One man who works in psychological operations at a Kabul military base said he went to his
superiors after insurgents took his picture and said they were going to kill him. The man, who spoke
anonymously to protect his job and his visa application, said he was told that it was up to him to
defuse the tension and just act friendly next time.
This man said he lies to his relatives about where he works and can no longer go to his hometown, in
an insurgent-held part of eastern Afghanistan. He applied for an Afghan Allies visa in January and
has heard nothing back.
Some Afghans have given up on the wait for a visa and decided to migrate illegally.
Rafi Hottak, a 25-year-old who worked for the American and British militaries since 2006, waited four
years for an interpreter visa. Finally, he paid a trafficker about $15,000 to smuggle him to Britain. He
made it to London about two months ago and has applied for asylum.
“There was intimidation and threats against me and my family,” he said in a phone interview from
London. “I had to take a decision and get away.”
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I3
Vets help to rebuild World Trade Center
(USA Today, 9 Aug 11) … Gregg Zoroya
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/08/gannett-vets-help-rebuild-world-trade-center-080911/
NEW YORK — The battered desert combat boots that iron worker Richard Farrell Mohamed wears
on the job at the site of the destroyed World Trade Center are not the usual footwear here.
Mohamed, 28 — who grew up a tough kid of Egyptian, Russian and Irish descent from Rockaway,
N.Y. — wore the boots when he went to war in Iraq after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
On that clear day, he watched the Twin Towers fall on television while he was in English class at the
Lindenhurst High School Alternative Learning Center in Long Island. On this day nearly a decade
later, he was helping to rebuild what al-Qaida destroyed in an act he says determined the course of
his life.
“You grow up here; 9/11 happens. You join (the National Guard). You go to war.; you come home.
And then you’re rebuilding,” he says. “You’re like a full part of this whole thing.”
About a thousand workers are building five office buildings on the World Trade Center site —
including the 1,776-foot centerpiece, WTC 1. For some, the job has a particularly special meaning.
Labor officials estimate that a few dozen or more military combat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan,
like Mohamed, are on construction crews working at the site.
They are here to restore what terrorists destroyed — an attack that prompted a U.S. invasion of
Afghanistan and led these veterans-turned-construction workers to war and then back to the ground
where 2,753 people died.
“It’s not just a job. This is an opportunity for them to address the tragedy,” says Anne Trenkle, New
York state director for the Helmets to Hardhats program that directs veterans, reservists and National
Guard members to local construction jobs. “They feel very strongly about (it).”
Mark Dudenhoffer, 29, was working on a garbage truck on Sept. 11 when Muslim jihadists seeking to
humble American might slammed two hijacked passenger jets into the World Trade Center, turning it
into “Ground Zero” 10 years ago. Later, he was among the workers called in to help recover the
missing and the dead.
Dudenhoffer is the grandson of an ironworker who worked on the original towers when they were built
in the early 1970s. He is also a New York National Guardsman who would ultimately fight in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
“It’s history,” says Dudenhoffer, a combat buddy of Mohamed’s and now a co-worker at the Trade
Center site.
Another worker, John Paul “J.P.” Cespedes, watched the black smoke billowing from the towers from
an apartment building in Queens. A Marine by then, he would go to Iraq in 2003.
“You do get a sense of pride from the creation of a new tower,” he says. “You see the end result. And
you think, ‘Oh, yeah, I worked there. I helped there. I was there when they topped it out.’“
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All three men are now on an 80-member ironworker, or latherers, crew at Tower 3, assembling metal
bars, or rebars, to reinforce poured concrete in a building that will rise 80 stories.
“They were all good guys who served over there in the Middle East,” says their crew boss, Billy
Grogan.
The long-delayed project — ground wasn’t broken on WTC 1 until 2006 — now has 1,000 workers
broken into crews of ironworkers, glaziers, welders, mechanics, carpenters, masons and millworkers.
The five towers are at various stages of construction, from WTC 1, where steel framing has risen to
the 72nd story, to Towers 2 and 3, where only basement core walls are under construction.
With heat and humidity soaring and construction on Tower 3 still not high enough to catch any
breeze, workers are sweltering amid the steal they assemble.
‘This is why we went to war’
“It’s hot as bulls,” Mohamed says of the work.
The job is dirty and the hours long as contractors race to meet construction goals. The black rebars
are oven-hot and the exposed wire ties that hold the bars together are like razors.
Ironwork is dangerous. Men dangle high above Manhattan on a soaring framework, but helmets,
harnesses, and roving inspectors help prevent accidents.
Mohamed says it does not compare to Iraq, where mortar rounds descended like Russian Roulette
during dinner or an unseen sniper would squeeze off a round.
“Over there, you just don’t control when somebody is going to attack,” he says. “It’s just different.”
On a recent morning, as Mohamed hangs from a harness shoving a length of rebar into a towering
mix of rebar over which concrete will be poured, crew boss Grogan shouts over the cacophony of
machinery and worker commands.
“This is called the core,” he says. “This is basically what’s going to support the whole building. ... I
mean, no way a plane’s going to knock this down.”
The new construction is also something more.
“A symbol,” Grogan says. “This is why we went to war. They (the veterans) served their country. And
now they’re serving their country again rebuilding this.”
A debt to the government
Mohamed, who grew up Roman Catholic, chose to serve in the military almost straight out of high
school. Patriotism in response to the terror attacks was one reason. He also wanted to repay a
government that had literally saved him, he says, and he wanted to flee a dysfunctional home life.
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When he was 12, Mohamed says, his heroin addict father died of AIDS contracted from sharing
intravenous drug needles. His mother died of cirrhosis of the liver four years later, so he went to live
with extended family.
He was diagnosed as a teenager with cancer of the lymph nodes; Medicaid paid for the
chemotherapy and the disease went into remission.
“The government saved my life,” Mohamed says. “So I felt like I owed them something.”
He was trained as a medic in the Army and arrived in Iraq in 2004. He would eventually emblazon his
right shoulder with a hand-sized tattoo of his regiment, the Fighting Sixty-Ninth, a garish crest dating
from the Civil War with Irish wolfhounds, red shamrock and the motto: “Gentle When Stroked, Fierce
When Provoked.”
His battalion would see more than 100 casualties in one year, including 19 killed, fighting in Taji and
then taming the most dangerous road in Iraq — a passage known as “Route Irish” that links Baghdad
to its international airport.
One night a series of buried artillery rounds blew up an armored vehicle. The blast killed six Louisiana
National Guard soldiers and Mohamed’s close friend — Spc. Kenneth VonRonn, 20, of
Bloomingburg, N.Y.
Mohamed was among those who had to collect the remains after the explosion.
‘It’s like, amazing’
After he returned home in late 2005, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Quick with his fists, he vented the anger and bitterness from war and childhood by getting into fights
— on the subway, on street corners. The 5-foot-1 former medic always found some remark or a look
or a gesture that begged a response.
“Ricky thinks people are always talking about him,” says his wife, Jennifer, who was Mohamed’s high
school sweetheart . “He can’t talk it out or ignore it or let it go.”
He was arrested several times. Prosecutors often reduced the charges to misdemeanors because of
his military service, he says.
Then came the birth of his son, Alexander Farrell Mohamed. His mom and dad sometimes refer to the
18-month-old boy as “Mr. President” — because they say anything is possible in this country.
With the help of the Helmets to Hardhats program — which funnels combat veterans into construction
jobs — he became a member of the Metal Lathers, Reinforcing Ironworkers Local 46, and he started
work on Tower 3 in May.
“It’s like, amazing,” says Mohamed, who lives in Copiague, on Long Island. “It really is, to be part of
something so huge.”
He says he hasn’t been in a fight for a year, and his wife believes the job has something to do with it.
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“He feels good going to work, and he’s proud,” she says.
Working at the World Trade Center for some people is “just a job,” Mohamed says. “But for us
(veterans) it’s really, really personal. It runs deep.”
RETURN
I4
Anti-American cleric warns U.S. to leave Iraq
(AP, 9 Aug 11) … Sameer N. Yacoub
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/08/ap-anti-american-cleric-warns-us-leave-iraq-080911/
BAGHDAD — A powerful anti-American Shiite cleric called Tuesday on U.S. troops in Iraq to leave
the country and go back to their families or risk more attacks.
Muqtada al-Sadr's comments came in a rare statement translated into English and directed at U.S.
troops in Iraq. The statement was posted on his website.
In it, the Shiite cleric appealed directly to the roughly 46,000 U.S. troops still in the country and said
Iraq does not need their help.
"So, go forth from our holy land and go back to your families who are waiting for you impatiently," alSadr said. The comment appeared to be a nod to the unpopularity of the Iraq war in the U.S. where
many people are frustrated with the length of the war and the heavy burden it has put on American
troops.
Iraqi officials are mulling whether to keep some U.S. troops past their December departure date. But
they're worried about a potential backlash if the U.S. military remains in the country.
Al-Sadr and his militia members have vowed to assault any American force that remains and have
already been attacking American troops with rockets and bombs.
Al-Sadr added that Iraqi security forces are able to handle the country's security challenges without
the help of U.S. troops or trainers.
"Enough of this occupation, terror and abuse. We are not in need of your help. We are able to combat
and defeat terrorism, and achieve unity," he said. "We are not in need of your bases, your
experience."
While the security situation in Iraq has improved over the past few years, attacks are still
commonplace. In June alone, 14 U.S. soldiers were killed in combat, making it the bloodiest month
for the U.S. military in Iraq in two years. Nearly all of them were killed in attacks by Shiite militias, like
those headed by al-Sadr, who are bent on forcing out American troops and portraying themselves as
driving out the "occupier."
RETURN
I5
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Large solar flare likely disrupted radio systems in the Mideast
(NextGov, 9 Aug 11) … Bob Brewin
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20110809_9736.php?oref=topstory
The largest solar flare of the current sun weather cycle erupted in a blast of energy Tuesday that
probably knocked out high-frequency radio communications systems in the Mideast, according to Joe
Kunches, a space scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space
Weather Prediction Centerin Boulder, Colo.
Tuesday's flare followed a coronal mass ejection over the weekend -- described by Kunches as a "big
cloud" of charged particles -- that lasted about nine hours and caused some commercial airlines to
reroute flights that go over the North Pole.
Polar flights cannot access communications satellites, which operate in a geostationary orbit over the
equator, and instead have to rely on HF radio, which can be blacked out by sun-caused magnetic
storms, he said. HF radios are also used by military special forces units and Marine and Air Force
forward air controllers for long-range communications.
NASA, which eyeballed today's solar flare with its Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite, described it
as the largest of the current 11-year solar cycle and three times bigger than the previous large flare
on Feb. 11. Kunches said this was the largest flare since 2006.
The flare and the coronal mass ejection over the weekend foreshadow events to come as the current
solar cycle peaks in 2013, he added. The sun can produce massive geomagnetic storms that can
knock out power grids, as happened in March 1989, when current from the sun knocked out a
transformer in the Hydro-Quebec power grid in Canada, causing a nine-hour blackout.
Radio waves pass through the ionosphere, located about 60 miles above Earth, and Kunches said
magnetic storms distort this layer to such an extent that GPS receivers either report false position
information or black out completely. Solar storms have in in the past knocked out the Wide Area
Augmentation System used by the Federal Aviation Administration to improve the accuracy and
reliability of GPS.
The Space Weather Center uses a number of satellites besides the Solar Dynamics Observatory to
develop its forecasts , including four NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites and
the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, a joint NASA and European Space Agency satellite for
imagery, Kunches said. Space weather forecasters also use supercomputers operated by the
National Weather Service for modeling, he said.
For near-term warning of geomagnetic storms, Kunches said space weather forecasters rely on
NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer satellite, located 1.5 million miles from Earth, to track the
solar wind, which can generate magnetic storms that can cripple communications and power
systems. But that provides only about a one-hour warning.
Michael Hesse, chief of the of Space Weather Lab at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center told a
Space Weather forum this June that these spacecraft allow tracking of "solar storms in three
dimensions as the storms bear down on Earth . . . This sets the stage for actionable space weather
alerts that could preserve power grids and other high-tech assets during extreme periods of solar
activity."
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Kunches declined to predict space weather in 2013 and the effect on the power grid and
communications systems. But he did say that it could end up as a test of the robustness of systems
we usually take for granted.
RETURN
I6
USAREUR commander says European mission is still vital
(Stars and Stripes, 9 Aug 11) … Nancy Montgomery
http://www.stripes.com/news/usareur-commander-says-european-mission-is-still-vital-1.151632
HEIDELBERG, Germany – U.S. Army Europe’s annual cost to American taxpayers: $1.2 billion;
benefit provided to taxpayers: “Priceless,” according to USAREUR commander Lt. Gen. Mark
Hertling.
In an era of budget cuts and debt debates, with an expectation of at least $350 billion in cuts to the
defense budget over the next decade, with critics charging NATO allies are not contributing their fair
share, and with some in Congress clamoring to bring U.S. forces home from Europe, now that the
Soviet threat is long extinct, Hertling has his work as an advocate for U.S. Army Europe cut out for
him.
So, he welcomed last week’s visit from Army Secretary John McHugh, a moderate Republican from
upstate New York appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009.
It was McHugh’s first visit to the command as secretary, and Hertling took him to Grafenwöhr and
Hohenfels, where the first thing McHugh saw was a Bulgarian unit in counter-IED training.
“That surprised him a little bit,” Hertling said.
Then, McHugh saw a Georgian unit training on MRAPs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles).
“He’s like, ‘Holy smokes,’ ” Hertling said.
McHugh, the former ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, had heard about
security cooperation, of course, but seeing it was something else.
“I think it opened his eyes,” Hertling said.
The Army secretary met with the Romanian army chief, who cut short his Italy vacation for the
meeting and went to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, instead of Kosovo because of Kosovo-Serbia
border tensions.
Then McHugh and Hertling hopped over to Ukraine to watch troops from 13 countries jump out of old
Russian aircraft in the Rapid Trident exercise.
“He saw how USAREUR was right in the middle of that, building partner capacity, and the value of its
role in building allied nations’ militaries,” Hertling said.
All in all, a good visit.
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“He told me he firmly believes in our mission over here,” Hertling said. “From a strategic viewpoint,
he’s a fan.”
A spokeswoman for McHugh agreed with that assessment.
“I believe he returned with a better understanding of the outstanding facilities and capabilities
available at the JMTC (Joint Multinational Training Command) as well as a greater appreciation for
our ability to build partnerships and strengthen relationships through combined training with our
European Allies,” Lt. Col. Anne Edgecomb said in an email. “Clearly, a continued U.S. Army presence
in Europe will facilitate engaging our NATO Allies, building relationships with our new partners, and
training our coalition partners for deployment to contingency operations.”
But the concern remains that in an era of budget constraints, retaining a constituency for USAREUR’s
mission might prove difficult. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., for instance, a longtime critic of how much
the U.S. spends on defense and an advocate of pulling more troops out of Europe said Monday on
CBS’ “The Early Show” that curbing defense spending is “going to be my mantra” for the next few
months.
“Can we prove with a cost-benefit analysis what USAREUR is providing?” Hertling said. “No.”
So how does Hertling justify the command’s mission? Let him count the ways:
• 40,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, many of them trained in exercises with USAREUR soldiers and
in Grafenwöhr classes. “They have, in fact, displaced 40,000 U.S. soldiers by playing with us,”
Hertling said. “I personally can’t put a price tag on that.”
• The American presence in Europe for the past 60 years has coincided with the longest period in
European history without a conflict. “Now you can’t put a price tag on that,” he said.
• USAREUR soldiers are closer to current battlefields and potential future fights.
• Building trust with allies before the next fight – “It’s priceless,” Hertling said. “The misunderstanding
of other cultures is significant on the battlefield.”
• NATO isn’t perfect, but it is “the only active alliance we have,” Hertling said. “I think, without U.S.
leadership, NATO would be in significant trouble. We can’t have the secretary of defense tell NATO to
pony up while we’re withdrawing.”
• The facilities are here. “Training centers back in the U.S. are booked. The facilities aren’t available,”
Hertling said.
• Because security threats in the region are routinely downplayed, Hertling said, most Americans
don’t realize that some nations, such as Poland and Georgia, have “fear of their neighbors, and
sometimes, it’s justified.”
• The benefits USAREUR provides, as the lead executive service in Europe, to the Air Force and
Navy, such as medical care and drivers’ licensing. “We spend $1.2 million on servicing trucks that
deliver the mail,” he said.
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“If something happens in Lebanon or Libya, who gets the Americans out?” he said. “We do a lot of
things people don’t know about.”
Hertling took command of USAREUR in March, just before a decision was announced that it would
hold onto three of its four combat brigades — instead of two as had been ordered in a round of
military rebasing, and four that had been recommended by the Pentagon.
“For right now, I think it’s pretty firm,” Hertling said of the decision. But in another five years, he said,
who knows? “In an era of economic restraints, anything can happen.”
Which brigade is set to return by 2015 has still not been announced. “We’ve made a recommendation
to the Department of the Army, and they haven’t approved it,” he said.
He said it wasn’t clear how imminent defense budget cuts would affect USAREUR.
“It will mean we’ll have to take a very hard look at how to do less things, better,” he said. “We have to
take a collective look at contracts, the number of people we employ, the services we offer.”
Because the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down and USAREUR will see far fewer of its
soldiers deployed, Hertling said keeping three brigades – about 37,000 soldiers – was enough to
accomplish the mission.
“I’m saying what we’ll have here is actually perfect,” he said.
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I7
Murray named co-chair of ‘super’ committee
Wa. senator has championed efforts to improve military and veteran benefits
(Air Force Times, 9 Aug 11) … Rick Maze
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/08/military-murray-named-co-chair-of-super-committee-080911/
A guardian of military and veterans’ benefits has been named as one of the two co-chairs of the
special congressional panel making recommendations about debt and deficit reduction.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a member of the Senate leadership and chairwoman of the Senate
Veterans’ Affairs Committee, will be the Senate co-chair of the 12-member bipartisan joint select
committee responsible with making recommendations for a $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion cut in federal
spending by Thankgiving.
Murray and fellow Democratic Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and John Kerry of Massachusetts were
appointed to the panel on Aug. 9 by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
The other nine panel members — three Democrats from the House plus three House and three
Senate Republicans — must be appointed by next week, under terms of the Budget Control Act of
2011 passed by Congress and signed by President Obama on Aug. 1 as an eleventh-hour effort to
avoid a government default.
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The other panel co-chair will be a House Republican, appointed by House Speaker John Boehner of
Ohio, who gets to pick a total of three people. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California
and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky will name the other members.
The 12-member committee is required by law to come up with recommendations by Thanksgiving to
reduce the federal deficit. The panel recommendations must be accepted or rejected as a package,
without amendment, with a final vote coming no later than Dec. 23, under the agreement.
If the panel fails to make recommendations or the recommendations are rejected, automatic, acrossthe-board cuts would be made next year for all federal agencies, including the Defense Department.
Murray, who became the veterans’ committee chairman earlier this year, has championed many
efforts to improve military and veterans’ benefits, especially efforts to improving the veterans’
employment, treatment of disabled veterans and their families, and health care benefits for veterans
and retirees.
The joint selection committee, being called a “super” committee because its recommendations go
directly to a vote and cannot be amended, has the ability to make wide recommendations, including
tax and revenue proposals and cuts in entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
Its primary requirement, however, is to reduce discretionary federal spending, that includes the
Defense Department.
Murray has not made any promises, but on July 21 she was on the Senate floor battling Republican
Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John McCain of Arizona as they were trying to limit eligibility to
veterans’ disability benefits by making Vietnam veterans show proof of disabilities related to exposure
to the herbicide Agent Orange rather than give veterans the benefit of the doubt.
The Coburn-McCain proposal, debated during consideration of the 2012 veterans’ appropriations bill,
would have prevented the VA from awarding disability benefits to veterans with diabetes and heart
disease based on a presumption these disabilities were service-connected. Instead, they wanted
veterans to show a causal relationship between their service and their disability in order to receive
compensation or be eligible for veterans’ health care for the disability.
The Coburn-McCain amendment was blocked on a 69-30 tabling vote, with Murray leading the
charge to block it. The change, she said, “violated the promise we have made to a generation of
veterans.”
Murray said the change, which could end up as a precedent for other veteran’s benefits, was asking
Vietnam veterans “to prove the impossible. They would be asked to prove that they would have never
gotten cancer or heart disease or any other disease or condition if not for Agent Orange,” she said.
In other words, that might be prophetic about how she might work on the debt panel. Murray said it
wasn’t fair to create new hurdles for veterans or to “change the rules midstream.”
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I8
Pakistani intelligence officials: U.S. drone strike kills 20 militants near Afghan border
(AP, 10 Aug 11) … Unattributed
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/pakistani-intelligence-officials-us-drone-strike-kills-4-foreign-militants-near-afghanborder/2011/08/10/gIQAx23m5I_story.html?hpid=z3
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — American-fired missiles killed 20 Islamist militants in northwest Pakistan on
Wednesday, most of them members of a powerful insurgent network fighting the U.S. presence in
Afghanistan, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
Two missiles slammed into a house close to the town of Miran Shah in North Waziristan, a militant
hotspot that lies just across the border from Afghanistan, the officials said on the condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
They said 14 of the dead were Afghan militants belonging to the Haqqani network, a Taliban-linked
militant faction fighting the U.S. in Afghanistan.
Six were Pakistani militants supporting the group, which America regards as one of its deadliest foes
in Afghanistan, they said.
It was not possible to independently confirm the officials’ account of the attack because the region is
too dangerous for independent reporting.
Locals and rights groups say civilians are regularly killed in the drone strikes. There are never public
investigations into those claims.
Washington began the missile program that targets al-Qaeda and the Taliban on the Pakistani side of
the border in 2005, but stepped up the pace in 2008 and again when the Obama administration came
into office. At peak times, there can be as many as three or four strikes per week.
U.S. officials do not publicly talk about the covert, CIA-run program, but privately say it is crucial to
keeping al-Qaeda under pressure in one of its main international sanctuaries, as well weakening
insurgent factions in Afghanistan.
But the program is a source of tension between the U.S. and Pakistan, which protests the strikes,
saying they fuel militancy in the country. Over the last six months, ties between the two nations have
grown increasingly strained, complicating U.S. goals for withdrawing from Afghanistan.
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END OF FULL TEXT
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