Friday 11 September - by EATC

Dutch Air Chief laid the foundation stone for the new EATC building on 10th September 2015.

On the occasion of its steering-board meeting on 10th September 2015, the EATC is also celebrating the construction of its future permanent building at Eindhoven Air Base.

Dutch Air Chief General Schnitger and Mr Job Dura, CEO of construction company Dura Vermeer, laid the foundation stone of the new EATC building. Expected to be ready for use by Summer 2016, this building will host the seven Participating Nations of the EATC, thus a total of over 220 personnel from the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Italy and Spain.

With the construction of the new building NLD has fulfilled the Host Nation’s offer made in 2007 to accommodate the EATC in an infrastructure tailored to its needs. The success of the EATC will be reflected in this new building : it offers the space for the new Participating Nations, Spain and Italy, that joined EATC last year.  

Established in September 2010, the EATC is today at the finish of its 5th year and has successfully developed into the leading organization within Europe for military Air Transport, Air-to-Air Refuelling and Aeromedical Evacuation.

For an overview of the achievements but also the way ahead of the EATC, click on the here:

14.09.2015 par Philippe Chapleau - Lignes de Défense

La société américaine Fluor Corporation, l'un des trois firmes (avec DynCorp et KBR) retenues dans le cadre du LOGCAP IV (le Logistic Civil Augmentation Program), a annoncé qu'elle avait été choisie pour assurer le soutien des opérations de l'AFRICOM en Afrique, de l'Union africaine et des organisations régionales de sécurité d'Afrique. Lire le communiqué ici.

Fluor assurera le même type de missions au profit du SOUTHCOM (Caraïbes, Amériques centrale et latine).

Au siège de ces deux commandements (Stuttgart pour l'AFRICOM et Miami pour le SOUTHCOM), Fluor va détacher un responsable de la planification.

Pour en savoir plus sur Fluor et son rôle dans les contingency operations, cliquer ici.

Fluor fait aussi partie des huit firmes retenues dans le cadre de l'Air Force Contract Augmentation Program IV (AFCAP IV); ce programme de 6 ans débute le 1er octobre prochain.

14 September 2015 defenceWeb (Reuters)

West Africa's ECOWAS regional bloc on Saturday extended a security force in Guinea-Bissau into 2016 to help protect state institutions amid a political crisis that has left the country without a government.

Senegal President Macky Sall, who heads the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), called the extraordinary summit to discuss a political crisis in coup-prone Guinea-Bissau sparked when President Jose Mario Vaz dismissed the prime minister a month ago.

He later replaced him with a new premier but a Supreme Court ruling this week deemed the new appointment unconstitutional and cabinet was dissolved.

"Given the fragility of the political situation in the country, the conference decided to extend the mandate of ECOMIB for six months from January to June 2016," ECOWAS said in a statement, referring to its 600-strong force. Mediation efforts by the bloc will continue, it added.

The former Portuguese colony has suffered nine coups or attempted coups since 1980. But after a peaceful election in 2014, former prime minister Domingos Simoes Pereira helped convince donors to pledge over 1 billion euros (£0.73 billion)in financial assistance to the poor cashew exporter.

"The new prospects opened by the March 2015 (donors') conference are seriously threatened by the crisis," Kadré Désiré Ouedraogo, president of the ECOWAS commission, told reporters at the summit, which was attended by 8 heads of state including Guinea Bissau's Vaz.

October presidential elections scheduled in Guinea, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast were also discussed and ECOWAS underscored the need for free, credible, transparent and peaceful polls.

14 September 2015 by defenceWeb

SAS Protea (A324), the South African Navy’s hydrographic vessel, will be the lead South African platform in the upcoming Exercise Oxide later this month.

She, along with the offshore patrol vessel SAS Isaac Dyobha (P1565) and the Type 209 submarine SAS Queen Modjadji (S103) make up the South African complement for the exercise starting in Richards Bay on September 21.

The French light surveillance frigate, FNS Floreal (F730), part of the French naval force stationed at La Reunion, will be the sole French vessel taking part in this year’s exercise. The previous Exercise Oxide took place off the Mozambican port of Maputo.

This year’s exercise will again emphasise the search and rescue aspect of naval operations and will also include a high value target extraction, giving French Commandos and South African maritime reaction squadron members and Special Forces the opportunity to hone their particular skills.

Other French forces taking part will be a seaborne Commando group and an infantry section aboard a CASA CN235.

Other South African military elements to be deployed for the exercise, which ends on October 2, include a 28 Squadron C-130BZ, a 35 Squadron C-47TP and possibly a Super Lynx maritime helicopter (22 Squadron) as well as Special Forces comprising a submarine team, a submarine parachute action group and an airborne team. SA Military Health Services (SAMHS) will have task teams ashore and aboard with an operational emergency care practitioner on each of the SA Navy platforms taking part.

The search and rescue component will be co-ordinated by the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Cape Town and the Maritime Rescue Sub-regional Centre on La Reunion. It will centre round a distressed passenger liner scenario about 20 kilometres offshore from Richards Bay and will see all Exercise Oxide forces involved as well as the Richards Bay Port Authority and other government departments and agencies.

Military operations to be exercised include establishing an airhead either at Mtubatuba or Richards Bay airport, moving to Naval Island for the simulated high value extraction. Combat swimmers, attack divers, kayaks, inflatables, and delta boats will be utilised by Special Forces and the Maritime Reaction Squadron detachment.

The first week of sea operations coincide with World Maritime Day on September 24 and a number of events are planned for Richards Bay to mark the day.

14 Sept. 2015 by Pacific Sentinel

Land 2072 Phase 2B heralds next generation of networking for Australian Defence Force

BRISBANE, Australia, Sept. 10, 2015 – Boeing [NYSE: BA] will provide the next-generation communications system for land-based Australian Defence Forces (ADF) deployed around the world. Developed by an industry team led by Boeing Defence Australia (BDA), the Land 2072 Phase 2B system will provide secure wideband voice, data and video services over wireless and wired infrastructure between deployed forces and headquarters.

Acting BDA vice president and managing director Bill Madley said the system will be based on an agile, modular network design that improves communications capacity, flexibility and responsiveness. “After successfully delivering a number of the ADF’s most complex communication and information systems to date we are ready to deliver this critical new capability to the Commonwealth,” he said.

Under terms of the $665.7 million AU contract, BDA will provide the communications system and initial support services.

Defence’s Director General of Communication Systems, Myra Sefton, said that Defence's new Integrated Battlefield Telecommunications Network represents a generational transformation in the deployed communications capability of the Australian Defence Force.

“It will provide the infrastructure to handle the increasing data requirements of our modern defence force as they face a complex and dynamic battlespace,” Ms. Sefton said.

“The capability being developed by Boeing Defence Australia and its partners will be a force multiplier that will significantly enhance the effectiveness of our forces on deployed operations."

The Boeing solution is designed to be interoperable, scalable and able to evolve and grow with the needs of Australia’s modern army.

Boeing

14.09.2015 45eNord.ca (AFP)
 

La police et l’armée égyptiennes ont tué dimanche 12 personnes, des touristes mexicains et des Égyptiens, en prenant pour cible par erreur leurs voitures alors qu’elles pourchassaient des djihadistes dans l’ouest de l’Égypte, a annoncé le ministère de l’Intérieur.

Le désert de l’Ouest, très prisé par les touristes, est aussi l’un des repaires de groupes jihadistes, dont la branche égyptienne de l’Etat islamique (EI), qui y avait décapité en août un jeune Croate travaillant pour une compagnie française et commet de nombreux attentats contre les forces de sécurité dans tout le pays.

« Les forces conjointes de la police et de l’armée, qui pourchassaient des terroristes à Wahat, dans le désert occidental, ont ouvert le feu par erreur sur quatre pick-up qui transportaient des touristes mexicains », lit-on dans un communiqué du ministère de l’Intérieur.

« Douze personnes ont été tuées et 10 blessées parmi les touristes mexicains et des Egyptiens » qui les accompagnaient, poursuit le ministère, assurant que les victimes « se trouvaient dans une zone qui n’était pas autorisée aux touristes ».

Le ministère ne précise pas le nombre de Mexicains tués, ni si les voitures ont été atteintes par des tirs d’armes automatiques, d’artillerie ou des bombardements aériens.

Dans l’après-midi, l’EI en Egypte avait affirmé dans un communiqué qu’il avait « résisté à une opération de l’armée dans le désert occidental » dimanche, et « mis en fuite des éléments de l’armée », sans plus de précisions.

Les groupes jihadistes, dont au moins deux assurent être des branches égyptiennes de l’EI –l’Etat islamique en Egypte et Province du Sinaï de l’Etat islamique– revendiquent régulièrement des attentats meurtriers visant les forces de l’ordre, en particulier dans la péninsule désertique du Sinaï, dans l’est, leur principal bastion.

Ces attaques se sont multipliées –y compris en plein coeur du Caire– depuis que l’armée a destitué et arrêté le président islamiste élu Mohamed Morsi le 3 juillet 2013 et que le nouveau pouvoir du président Abdel Fattah al-Sissi réprime dans le sang les partisans du chef de l’Etat déchu.

Des centaines de policiers et soldats ont été tués dans ces attentats et attaques commandos en plus de deux ans. Les jihadistes assuraient dans un premier temps agir en représailles à l’implacable répression qui s’est abattue sur les partisans de M. Morsi depuis sa destitution par M. Sissi, alors chef de la toute puissante armée.

Les forces de sécurité ont, depuis l’été 2013, tué plus de 1.400 manifestants pro-Morsi. Plus de 15.000 partisans de l’ex-président islamiste, des membres de sa confrérie des Frères musulmans pour l’essentiel, ont été emprisonnés. Des centaines –dont M. Morsi lui-même– ont été condamnés à mort en première instance dans des procès de masse expéditifs qualifiés par l’ONU de « sans précédent dans l’Histoire récente » du monde.

September 13, 2015 defense-aerospace.com (Source: Deutsche Welle German radio)

A group monitoring the conflict in Syria says Russian forces are expanding a major airport in Latakia province. Russia has reiterated its support for the Syrian regime, but denies it is staging a military build-up.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that Russian forces were working to extend an airstrip near a military airport in Latakia province, a stronghold of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his minority Alawite sect.

"Russian forces are building a long runway capable of accommodating large aircraft near the Hemeimeem military airport in Latakia province," the Observatory said, adding that hundreds of Russian technicians and military advisers had been brought to the site.

It also reported that the Russians were "preventing Syrians, whether military or civilian, from entering the area where they are building the runway."

The Hemeimeem airport, which houses a military base, is the second most important government-controlled airport after Damascus airport. It has come under shelling from rebel militants as they advance through the region.

The Observatory's director, Rami Abdurrahman, said sources had also reported that Russia was extending the Hamadiyeh airport in Tartus province, another regime stronghold, where Russia has a naval facility (photo above).

The Observatory bases its reports on a network of civilian, military and medical sources inside Syria.

Washington's fears

The claims come as US officials increasingly voice concerns that Russia is stepping up its military activities within the country, with President Barack Obama warning Moscow against propping up Assad. Washington says Russian aid is helping Assad avoid negotiating a political solution to the conflict.

Moscow, a long-time Assad ally, has freely admitted its support for the Syrian government, but denies any claims of a military build-up in the country, saying it is simply taking part in international efforts to combat the jihadist group "Islamic State" ("IS), which has made large territorial gains in both Syria and Iraq.

Continued Russian help

On Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would continue to back Assad's regime in "its efforts to fight terrorism."

He also criticized the West for refusing to cooperate with Syrian forces in the fight against "IS," calling the government armed forces "the most efficient military force in the country."

Syria has been embroiled for more than four years in a civil conflict that began with anti-government protests in March 2011. More than 250,000 people have been killed in the violence, which has seen the government lose considerable swathes of territory to rebels and various jihadist groups such as "IS."

14/09/2015 - Direction :  DCSSA

14 sept. 2015 Ministère de la Défense

13.09.2015 Armée de Terre

L'exercice BAC KAN 2015 est un exercice aéroporté sur le camp militaire de Caylus, mené par le 17e régiment du génie parachutiste de Montauban. Cet exercice régimentaire de 36 heures permet d'évaluer les différents savoir-faire du soldat, du sapeur et du parachutiste.

Reportage photos

14 Sept. 2015 Pacific Sentinel
 

Seven Australian organisations will receive Australian Government funding of $14.2 million to develop and demonstrate innovative technologies that can enhance defence capability.

The funding is made available under the Capability and Demonstrator Program managed by the Defence Science and Technology Group.

Seven technology proposals from Australian companies, universities and science organisations have been selected this year to demonstrate possible defence application.

These proposals have the potential to advance Defence capability, produce innovative products for Defence and civilian use, and stimulate Australian industry growth.

This year’s successful proposals include:

• a low profile body armour for better soldier protection;

• a miniaturised wide-band, low-noise radio frequency antenna;

• mobile x-ray imagers for use during field deployments and detecting improvised explosive devices;

• a stealthy unmanned surface vessel to track submarines and torpedoes;

• a tactile flight display that improves helicopter safety in poor visibility and threat environments;

• technology to securely transmit three-dimensional geospatial data to ships at sea; and

• a low-cost, high-G centrifuge for simulators used in pilot training.

The successful proposals were submitted by Armor Composite Engineering, CSIRO, Micro-X Pty Ltd, Ocius Technology, University of Canberra, the Bureau of Meteorology and Deakin University.

I congratulate all those involved in putting forward proposals and supporting innovative research and development for defence applications.

Since the Capability and Technology Demonstrator Program began, Defence has invested $270 million in 118 projects, half of them proposed by small-to-medium enterprises.

Of these, 104 projects have successfully demonstrated the feasibility of their technologies.

These are very good results for high risk research and development projects that benefit Defence and Australian industry.

AUS DoD