U S approves final year funding for Lockheed Martin missile system

Economic Times
April 10, 2013

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has told his German and Italian counterparts the Pentagon plans to spend about $310 million to help fund the final year of development of Lockheed Martin’s MEADS missile defense system, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday. …

The funding is subject to a 10 per cent cut because, under a US law aimed at curbing the government’s deficit spending, the Pentagon will actually provide about $310 billion for the final year of development, officials said.

It also is not guaranteed. The US Senate on Tuesday began the process of bringing a bill to the floor that would withdraw funding for the MEADS system.

Lockheed plans to keep working with Italy and Germany on the three-nation missile defense program even after the United States stops participating.

Lockheed says MEADS is significantly cheaper to operate than the Patriot system built by its rival Raytheon Co, and would provide significantly larger coverage areas.

Read in full: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-04-10/news/38434328_1_medium-extended-air-missile-defense-system-meads

Sicily revokes permission for U.S. military satellite station

Yahoo! News (Reuters)
March 29, 2013

The Sicilian regional government in Italy has revoked permission for the United States to build a military satellite station on the island, its governor said on Friday, after protests by residents who said it could pose a health risk.

The planned ground station is part of the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), an ultra high-frequency satellite network aimed at significantly boosting communications capacity for the U.S. military and its allies.

Concerns about the effect the station’s electromagnetic waves could have on the health of residents around the town of Niscemi, including fears that the waves could cause cancer, have provoked protests on the island.

A U.S. military official said the United States hoped to allay any health concerns and would try to reach an agreement with the Italian government to get permission to build the facility.

The regional government of the semi-autonomous island last month delayed construction and called for an independent study into its health and environmental impact.

The Italian government said this month the demonstrations risked compromising operations at Sigonella, a U.S. naval base in Sicily. …

Read on: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/sicily-revokes-permission-u-military-satellite-station-180416673–finance.html

World View — Report: U.S. Military Action in Syria May Be Imminent

Breitbart.com
By John J. Xenakis
March 31, 2013

Debka: U.S., Israel, Turkey, Jordan planning military action in Syria

I try to be cautious about quoting Debka, whose reporters have contacts within intelligence services in a number of countries. On the one hand, they provide insights that are not available elsewhere. But on the other hand, they sometimes get things wrong. In the past few years, they’ve predicted several imminent wars that never occurred. Debka’s weekly subscriber-only newsletter (sent to me by a subscriber) is laying out plans for imminent military action in Syria, to counter the threat of chemical and biological weapons, either by the regime of president Bashar al-Assad, or by al-Qaeda linked terrorists, such as the jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra Brigades. The following is a summary of what Debka is saying. I leave it to you, Dear Reader, to do your own evaluation as to how close we are to full-scale war in Syria: …

Read the summary here: www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/03/30/31-Mar-13-World-View-Report-U-S-military-action-in-Syria-may-be-imminent

China mobilizing troops, jets near Korea

The Washington Free Beacon
By Bill Gertz
April 1, 2013

China has placed military forces on heightened alert in the northeastern part of the country as tensions mount on the Korean peninsula following recent threats by Pyongyang to attack, U.S. officials said.

Reports from the region reveal the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recently increased its military posture in response to the heightened tensions, specifically North Korea’s declaration of a “state of war” and threats to conduct missile attacks against the United States and South Korea.

According to the officials, the PLA has stepped up military mobilization in the border region with North Korea since mid-March, including troop movements and warplane activity.

China’s navy also conducted live-firing naval drills by warships in the Yellow Sea that were set to end Monday near the Korean peninsula, in apparent support of North Korea, which was angered by ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills that are set to continue throughout April.

North Korea, meanwhile, is mobilizing missile forces, including road-mobile short- and medium-range missiles, according to officials familiar with satellite imagery of missile bases.

The missile activity is believed to be North Korea’s response to the ongoing U.S.-South Korean military exercises that last week included highly publicized flights by two B-2 strategic nuclear bombers near North Korean territory as part of annual military exercises.

North Korea’s government announced last week that since March 26 its missile and artillery forces have been placed on the highest alert status. …

Read on: http://freebeacon.com/border-patrol/

US Army accumulates $900 million in useless, obsolete parts

RT
April 02, 2013

The eight-wheeled Stryker armored vehicle, which enjoyed a visible role during the US mission in Iraq, is now the subject of reports of a badly managed maintenance program that is likely to cost taxpayers something around a billion dollars.

According to Washington State’s Tacoma News Tribune, nearly $900 million worth of parts accumulated at an Auburn, Washington warehouse, essentially collecting dust as they were never installed on General Dynamic’s Strykers deployed overseas – if they were ever needed in the first place.

For example, a suspension issue that existed between 2007 and 2009 called for 15 replacement gears called pinions, though the Army ultimately purchased 9,179 of the parts, with the extras amounting to $572,000 in unneeded spending.

Another equally puzzling purchase came in the form of 7,568 units of gear netting — while the Army kept purchasing more units, costing a total of $892,896, there never existed a need for the parts as replacements. …

Read on: http://rt.com/usa/us-parts-million-obsolete-192/

Overseas U.S. military drones to be tracked from Philadelphia Air National Guard base

GIMBY (Blog)
By Julia Bergman
April 1, 2013

By the end of this year a new high-tech mission involving drones will be playing out just beyond Philadelphia’s borders.

The National Guard Bureau has authorized the Pennsylvania Air National Guard’s 111th Fighter Wing to establish a ground control-station for the MQ-9 Reaper at Horsham Air Guard Base effective Oct. 1, 2013.

The new mission will fill a void left behind by the phasing out of A-10 Thunderbolt planes in 2005.

“This is great news for Pennsylvania, especially when you consider the government cutbacks nationwide,” Major General Wesley Craig, National Guard adjutant general for Pennsylvania, said in a press release.

The MQ-9 Reaper is a remotely piloted aircraft used primarily to destroy military targets, and secondarily as an information collector. The aircraft is 36 feet in length, has a wingspan of 66 feet and weighs 4,900 pounds when empty. The aircraft will be physically located overseas and will be operated and monitored from the Horsham base, according to Theresa Katalinas in Hatsboro-Horsham Patch. Remote piloting uses a video hookup that allows the on-the-ground pilot to direct the craft’s movements, launch missiles, and track individuals and vehicles for long periods of time. This practice is presently in use at other military facilities around the U.S. …

The overseas use of drones by the U.S. military is controversial both inside and outside of official Washington, D.C. The Obama administration has increasingly used drones to find and kill military targets overseas. Critics point to the high risk of civilian casualties when using drone aircraft, and the unease expressed by many throughout the country is also being felt locally. …

Read in full: http://gimby.org/blogs/gimby-philadelphia/20130401/overseas-us-military-drones-be-tracked-philadelphia-air-national

The New US Plans for Missile Defense: Enough to Reinvigorate US-Russian Arms Control?

CNS (Center for Nonproliferation Studies)
By Nikolai Sokov and Miles Pomper
March 19, 2013

A decision to cancel a controversial interceptor is unlikely to overcome the missile defense obstacles that have stalled US-Russian arms control.

The Obama administration’s March 15 decision to abandon development of a controversial missile defense interceptor that had angered Moscow had, for a moment, renewed hopes in Washington for a new round of US-Russia arms control negotiations. However, lingering Russian technical and political concerns about the nature and direction of the revised US missile defense plans mean that this optimism may be misplaced.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced the decision to abandon the so-called “Block IIB” interceptor as part of an overall restructuring of the missile defense program. He cited development problems with the interceptor and the need to direct limited funds to focus specifically against the North Korean threat.

“The Fourth Phase of Missile Defense”

These interceptors, intended to protect the United States against a potential Iranian intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), were to be based in Poland and possibly Romania, and were to be deployed early in the next decade.

This fourth phase of missile defense was to replace the Bush-era plans for high-speed interceptors with radars based in the Czech Republic, a proposed deployment pattern that Russia believed was oriented more toward their missiles rather than Iranian ones. Obama’s plans for slower interceptors, more suited for Iran’s medium-range missiles, were initially welcomed by Russia.

Still, Russia had continued to express concern that Obama’s fourth phase would feature a new missile defense interceptor, the SM-3 Block IIB, which Russia said would be capable of targeting its ICBMS as well. It continued to argue that the US should agree to legal limits on the scale and locations of the planned interceptors in order to make sure the overall capability of the defense system would remain limited and not affect the Russian deterrence capability vis-à-vis the United States. The Obama administration, under pressure from Republicans in Congress determined to avoid such limits, had refused to concede to the Russian demand. At the same time, the United States insists that the interceptors do not threaten Russia.

Over the last year, Russia’s objections to the Polish deployment won technical support from US experts, including a 2012 report from the National Research Council. That report concluded that an interceptor deployed in Poland would have to be so fast to intercept a future Iranian ICBM that it could also threaten Russian missiles. Instead, the report argued for the deployment of a third missile defense site in the Eastern United States to counter the Iranian threat, along with existing North Korea-oriented sites in Alaska and California. Congress had also passed legislation calling for studying such a third US site. In his remarks, Hagel announced that, following Congress’s direction, the administration would be conducting environmental impact studies of three potential sites—two on the East Coast and one on the West Coast—but had not yet decided whether such a site was needed. …

Read on: http://cns.miis.edu/stories/130319_us_russia_missile_defense_arms_control.htm

US military awards USD 5.7 mln contracts for missile defense base in Romania, stalled US-Russia talks re-start

RomaniaInsider.com
By Liam Lever
March 26, 2013

The US military has awarded a further contract for support services at the missile defense base in Deveselu, Romania. The 31-month Base Operations and Services Support (BOSS) contract has gone to to US company Exelis Systems Corporation and is worth some USD 5.7 million, according to the the US Naval Facility Engineering Command (NAVFAC) in Naples, Italy, which granted the contract.

Under the terms agreed, Exelis will provide accommodation, food services, fuel storage and dispensing, supply services, and maintenance including plumbing, electrical services, water and sewage treatment. The contract was awarded on March 19, according to the US Embassy in Romania.

The deal follows an earlier agreement worth USD 3.3 million with a local firm, SC Glacial PROD SRL, headquartered in Ilfov County. The Romanian company was contracted by the US Army Corps of Engineers Europe District to build temporary facilities for the US Ballistic Missile Defense System at the Deveselu Base, according to information published by the US Embassy in Romania.

News broke yesterday (March 25 ) that talks would restart between the US and Russia over the missile defense program, which has been a cause of friction between the two countries. Russia has opposed the plan to put interceptor missiles at various site in Eastern Europe, including Romania …

Read on: www.romania-insider.com/us-military-awards-usd-5-7-mln-contracts-for-missile-defense-base-in-romania-stalled-us-russia-talks-re-start/

North Korea threatens to attack US military bases in Pacific if provoked

The Guardian
March 21, 2013

Kim Jong-un oversees mock drone strike as North Korea threatens military bases in Japan and on Guam

Link to video: North Korea threatens US airbases in Japan

North Korea has said it will attack US military bases on Japan and the Pacific island of Guam if provoked, a day after its leader, Kim Jong-un, oversaw a mock drone strike on South Korea.

The North also held an air raid drill on Thursday after accusing the United States of preparing a military strike using bombers that have overflown the Korean peninsula as part of drills between South Korean and US forces.

North Korea has stepped up its rhetoric in response to what it calls “hostile” drills between South Korea and the United States. It has also been angered by the imposition of fresh UN sanctions that followed its nuclear test on 12 February.

Separately, South Korea said a hacking attack on the servers of local broadcasters and banks on Wednesday originated from an IP address in China, raising suspicions that the intrusion came from North Korea.

“The United States is advised not to forget that our precision target tools have within their range the Anderson air force base on Guam where the B-52 takes off, as well as the Japanese mainland where nuclear powered submarines are deployed and the navy bases on Okinawa,” the North’s supreme military command spokesman was quoted as saying by the KCNA news agency. …

Read on: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/21/north-korea-threatens-attack-us

Commander Of U.S. Pacific Forces Warns Climate Change Is Greatest Threat To Security

CleanTechnica
March 21, 2013

The top American military officer in the Pacific, in charge of watching over the region containing China, North Korea, and Russia, has warned that the greatest long-term threat to security in the region isn’t any of those countries, it’s climate change.

In an interview with the Boston Globe, Navy Admiral Samuel J. Locklear III recently stated that climate change “is probably the most likely thing that is going to happen . . . that will cripple the security environment, probably more likely than the other scenarios we all often talk about.”

“People are surprised sometimes,” he continued. “You have the real potential here in the not-too-distant future of nations displaced by rising sea level. Certainly weather patterns are more severe than they have been in the past. We are on super typhoon 27 or 28 this year in the Western Pacific. The average is about 17.”

The displacement of entire nations will cause significant upheaval in the region, the admiral noted. The creation of large numbers of “climate refugees” will be one of the most significant effects of future climate change, leading to further conflict, food insecurity, environmental destruction, and an increased likelihood of a pandemic.

Military agencies tend to be considerably more pragmatic than political groups, as many of the Navy’s recent actions and statements have demonstrated, and in contrast to the deadlock in American politics with regards to climate change. The Navy has already begun changing the way that it operates, and also the way that it interacts with the countries in the Pacific region.

Read on: http://cleantechnica.com/2013/03/21/commander-of-u-s-pacific-forces-warns-climate-change-is-greatest-threat-to-security/

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