March 19th, 2015 By Air Force News Agency - defencetalk.com

When one door closes at the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex regarding aviation modernization, that same door swings open for another opportunity.

In the 562nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, maintainers have completed a complex avionics and weather radar modernization package, referred to as BLOCK 16, with the final C-17 Globemaster set to fly home this month.

This steady program at Robins speaks to the highly-skilled maintainers who have worked on this particular upgrade package since 2007.

When the aircraft is returned to its crew at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, they will basically be getting a brand new transport aircraft, complete with state-of-the-art communications capabilities, navigation upgrades, and weather radar with new color palettes and improved display.

During the last several months, more than 3,000 wires were removed during the upgrade, with more than 7,000 new wires installed — a complex undertaking involving scores of video cables, data transmission cables, power lines, and the like.

“It will be sad to see them go because we’ve gotten so good at working on them,” said Eric Bickett, 562nd AMXS first-line supervisor. “Our maintainers have proven themselves, taking an aircraft that Boeing and the Air Force have sent us, and completely changing what it’s capable of. It truly looks factory (made) when we’re done with it.”

Working on the communications portion was perhaps the most time consuming, according to maintainers, as this involved removing old analog wiring and installing new digital control boxes, headset receptacles, etc.

Satellite communications capabilities through the addition of ports will also allow any of the military services who board the aircraft to set up their own equipment.

“The overall goal is to get all these C-17s to be one specific aircraft so any aircrew can jump from one to the other and everything will be exactly the same,” said Frank Kipa, 562 AMXS aircraft electrician.

“While these particular upgrades are now completed, we still have much work to do with maintenance. With the quality of work we do here, we look forward to any future mods coming our way,” he said.

As this was the last completed BLOCK 16 modification for WR-ALC in a fleet of more than 220 aircraft (several aircraft will be modified at a later date by Boeing’s San Antonio facility), work is ongoing to hit another milestone on BLOCK 17 upgrades, which installs combat lighting inside and outside the aircraft.

“Combat lighting gives the aircrew flexibility in how they illuminate the aircraft whether it’s inside or outside,” said Bickett. “For example, when troops are being medically treated inside, we’re able to provide capabilities that can block light from escaping to the outside. We can also illuminate the exterior using different covert lighting.”

“You can illuminate the flight deck, the cargo bay and outside completely different after this combat lighting upgrade. There’s a lot of flexibility, giving an aircrew plenty of options,” he said.

The final aircraft to receive this upgrade is scheduled to arrive in December, and will return to its customer a year from now in 2016.

The C-17, despite its size, is able to take off and land on short runways, and is constantly carrying out missions all over the world.

The Air Force received its final C-17 from production at Boeing in the fall of 2013, a move that had been expected for some time.

Robins not only maintains the C-17, which first flew in 1991, but is also responsible for sustainment of the aircraft through the C-17 System Program Office, which also plays a crucial role in the modification, maintenance and overall service of the entire fleet.

Bickett said he likes to ask what happens to aircraft once they leave Robins. He recalled looking online last August and recognized a photo of a C-17 that had passed through the complex.

The aircraft had conducted a humanitarian assistance operation to aid Iraqi citizens. At that time, thousands of Yazidis were attempting to escape the advance of Islamic State fighters and had become trapped on Mount Sinjar. An Air Force C-17 had been tasked to provide food and supplies.

“That’s what we do,” he said. “As much as these aircraft are flown with the different missions they do, the wear and tear, the hard landings — they hit the ground like it’s moving. We help keep these flying and in their current state.”

London, 21/03/2015 EEAS ref 150321_02_en

We, the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, together with the EU High Representative, met this afternoon to review progress in the nuclear negotiations with Iran.

We agreed that substantial progress had been made in key areas although there are still important issues on which no agreement has yet been possible. Now is the time for Iran, in particular, to take difficult decisions. Our negotiators, together with those from China and Russia, will resume meetings with Iran next week in Lausanne.

We reaffirmed that we are all equally committed to finding a solution that ensures that Iran’s nuclear programme remains exclusively peaceful in line with its stated commitment. Any solution must be comprehensive, durable and verifiable. None of our countries can subscribe to a deal that does not meet these terms.

These negotiations are a shared effort among the E3+3 coordinated by the EU. Experts in different disciplines from every member of the group are contributing in depth to our coordinated negotiating positions and this coordination, as well as multiple bilateral talks with Iran, will continue to be a vital part of achieving success.

We are at an important moment in the negotiations. If we are able to resolve all the main issues, technical work will follow to convert a framework into a detailed text.

We will all continue to work together with unity of purpose to secure a successful outcome.

March 21, 2015 By Katharine Lackey, USA TODAY – Defense News

U.S. troops were evacuating a southern Yemen air base Saturday after al-Qaeda seized a nearby town amid growing violence in the war-torn nation, multiple media outlets reported.

Military forces, including Special Forces commandoes, were leaving the Al Anad air base near the southern city of al-Houta, the Associated Press and CNN reported citing unnamed officials. About 100 American troops and Special Forces members are stationed there.

The troops are the last American forces stationed in Yemen, CNN reported. Al-Qaeda's Yemen branch — considered the terror organization's most dangerous — seized al-Houta on Friday.

The evacuation comes amid growing sectarian violence in the mostly Sunni nation under assault from Shiite rebels known as the Houthis, who are the sworn enemies of the Sunni al-Qaeda terrorists.

On Saturday, the Houthis called for rebels to battle forces loyal to the nation's president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, AP reported. Hadi fled to a southern port city of Aden last month after being placed under house arrest by the Houthis and remains the country's internationally recognized president.

The call to arms came shortly after Hadi gave a defiant speech, where he declared Aden a "temporary capital" and challenged the rebels to stop tricking the nation's residents in his first address since he fled, AP reported.

The Houthis, backed by Iran's Shiite government, took over the capital in September. The rebels control at least nine of Yemen's 21 provinces. They've seized parts of the U.S.-backed government, threatening a key American anti-terrorism partner in the region.

The Pentagon has targeted members of al-Qaeda's Yemen branch with drone strikes and supported Yemen's armed forces in their fight against the militants. The base being evacuated Saturday houses American and European military advisors, AP reported.

Diplomats from the United States and several European nations fled Yemen in February amid embassy closures resulting from deteriorating security conditions.

In the past week, violence in the country has only grown. On Friday, 137 were killed and 357 were wounded after four suicide bombers targeted two Shiite mosques in Yemen's capital of Sanaa, located more than 200 miles north of al-Houta. It was one of the deadliest attacks in the nation's history.

A group claiming to be a Yemeni branch of the Islamic State, composed of Sunni extremists who are rivals of al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for Friday's bombings. The claim could not be verified, but would mark the first attack by the group in Yemen if confirmed.

However, officials in Washington raised doubts as to whether the Islamic State even has the operational capability to carry out such an attack in the country.

Fighting in southern Yemen has also ticked up. The international airport in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden was forced to close Thursday when forces loyal to Yemen's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, waged a gunbattle with security forces loyal to Hadi. That incident left 13 people dead.

On Friday, the State Department condemned the violence, including airstrikes that targeted the presidential palace in Aden.

"We call upon all Yemeni parties to return in good faith to a political dialogue to resolve their differences," State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said in a statement. "Political instability threatens the well-being of all Yemenis and denies them the opportunity to live in safety, peace and prosperity."

21 March 2015 Pacific Sentinel

Australia first F-35A pilot, Squadron Leader Andrew Jackson, yesterday [AEST] took his first flight in an F-35A aircraft at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, United States.

The flight was on the morning of Wednesday 17 March (US CST) in a United States Air Force F-35A aircraft, as the Australian F-35A aircraft are currently located at Luke Air Force Base, in anticipation of the opening of the international pilot training centre in mid 2015. SQNLDR Jackson will continue his intensive training program over the coming months.

The F-35A (commonly known as the Joint Strike Fighter) will meet Australia’s future air combat and strike needs, providing a networked force-multiplier effect in terms of situational awareness and combat effectiveness.

The F-35A’s combination of stealth, advanced sensors, networking and data fusion capabilities, when integrated with other defence systems, will enable the RAAF to maintain an air combat edge.

The first F-35A aircraft will arrive in Australia at the end of 2018 with the first operational squadron to be established by 2020. The F-35A will replace the aging F/A-18A/B Hornets at RAAF Bases Williamtown (NSW) and Tindal (NT).

AUS DoD

GREENVILLE, S.C., Mar. 18, 2015— Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin delivered [Mar. 18, 2015] a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) P-3 Orion aircraft 37 days ahead of schedule.

This is the 12th of 14 aircraft in the program to receive Mid-Life Upgrade (MLU) modifications and phased depot maintenance. The MLU replaces the outer wings, center wing, horizontal stabilizer and horizontal stabilizer leading edges. All necessary fatigue life-limiting structures are replaced, leading to significantly reduced maintenance and sustainment costs. 

The completion of the aircraft significantly ahead of schedule allows for a quicker return of the aircraft to the CBP P-3 fleet supporting homeland security and drug interdiction missions. The MLU will enable the P-3 Orion to support operators for 20-25 more years.

About Lockheed Martin:

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 112,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation’s net sales for 2014 were $45.6 billion.

Harris Corporation's Falcon III radios will soon be equipped with secure GPS receivers from Rockwell Collins. Photo: Harris Corporation

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, March 19 By Richard Tomkins  (UPI)

Secure, jam-resistant GPS receivers for tactical radios are being provided to Harris Corporation by Rockkwell Collins. Rockwell Collins said Harris has ordered 5,000 of its MicroGRAM system, the largest annual purchase it has received for the system. The Micrograms are being delivered over a period of three years. "MicroGRAM enables Harris Corporation to meet military customer demands for embedded, secure GPS," said Mike Jones, vice president and general manager of Communication and Navigation Products for Rockwell Collins. "MicroGRAM protects warfighters from the growing jamming and spoofing threats on the battlefield, while enhancing survivability and mission success."

Read more

March 20, 2015: Strategy Page

The United States recently sent Lebanon 72 M198 155mm howitzers and 25 million rounds of ammunition (mostly for rifles, but also thousands of mortar and 155mm shells). The U.S. valued the shipment at $25 million but that was being generous. The Americans began replacing their 1980s vintage M198s with M777s in 2007. Thus the United States has lots of M198s that were going to be scrapped or put in storage (and eventually scrapped). Artillery is much less in demand since the 1990s because of the development of cheaper and more accurate guided rockets and artillery shells. That said, the Lebanese were grateful for the American howitzers since these are still useful and Lebanon received them as a gift.

Until recently the M198 was the standard towed 155mm howitzer for the United States and many NATO counties. Each one weighs eight tons, and can fire conventional rounds as far as 22.4 kilometers. For rocket-assisted projectiles the range is 30 kilometers. These unguided shells land anywhere within a 200 meter circle. That's at 25 kilometers range. Accuracy gets worse at longer ranges. It takes 12 minutes for the M198 to be ready to fire after the truck towing it stops. It can pack up and move again in about 4 minutes. Using GPS the M198 can be in position to fire in less than ten minutes and shift to another target in about 8 minutes.

The M198 has been replaced by the M777A1 lightweight 155mm howitzers. The M777s cost $1.9 million each and the U.S. has bought 800 of them so far, for use by the army and marines (who are getting 377 of them). The manufacturer, BAE, has also received a contract to refurbish 33 M777s that returned from service in Afghanistan. This cost $91,000 per howitzer. The British designed howitzer is also used by Canada and Britain. The U.S. Army uses M777s in airborne and Stryker brigades. A five ton truck is used to tow the guns, but a special, 4.5 ton LWPM (Lightweight Prime Mover) is available to do that as well.

The five ton M777A1 is 40 percent lighter than the weapon it replaces, the M198. This is because the M777A1 makes extensive use of titanium, and new design techniques. It fires shells with a maximum range of 40 kilometers (using RAP, or rocket assisted projectile, ammo). A crew of five operates the gun, which can be ready to fire in under three minutes, and ready to move in under two minutes. The M777A1 is light enough to be moved (via a sling) by CH-53E and CH-47D helicopters. Its sustained rate of fire is two rounds a minute, with four rounds a minute for short periods.

What will really makes the M77A1 (and the M198) useful is the new GPS guided Excalibur shell which entered service in 2007. The Excalibur shell falls within a ten meter circle (the middle of that circle being the "aim point") at any range compared to the unguided shell that lands within a 200 meter (or larger) circle depending on range. The Excalibur shell is essential, because ten 155mm shells (of any type, with their propellant and packaging) weigh about a ton. Ammo supply has always been a major problem with artillery, and Excalibur is the solution making one shell where previously ten or more unguided ones were needed.

For users like Lebanon ammo supply is less of a problem because the howitsers will be operating within tiny Lebanon and never that far from a port or airbase were new supplies of ammo will arrive. Besides the U.S. isn’t giving any of the expensive Excalibur shells away.

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2015 – By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.-  DoD News

 Challenges caused by limited resources, fiscal uncertainty and the changing nature of threats have forced the military’s special operations forces to operate creatively, the Defense Department’s top special operations officials told Congress yesterday.

Michael D. Lumpkin, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, and Army Gen. Joseph L. Votel, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, appeared before the House Armed Services Committee’s emerging threats and capabilities subcommittee to discuss Socom’s fiscal year 2016 budget request.

Fiscal uncertainty requires creativity in bridging gaps between resources and national security objectives, Lumpkin said. Meanwhile, he added, the changing nature of threats demands the attention and engagement of special operations forces through agile authorities that enable the force to remain ahead of adversaries.

Read more

20 mars 2015 Romandie.com (AFP)

Bruxelles - Les dirigeants allemand Angela Merkel, français François Hollande, britannique David Cameron et la chef de la diplomatie européenne Federica Mogherini se sont brièvement concertés sur les négociations avec l'Iran sur son programme nucléaire controversé, vendredi matin en marge d'un sommet à Bruxelles.

Cette réunion d'environ quarante minutes a permis de faire un point pour avoir une position européenne coordonnée parce que les jours avancent jusqu'au 31 mars, date-butoir fixée pour trouver un accord dit politique avant un accord final complet attendu pour le 30 juin/1er juillet, a-t-on indiqué dans l'entourage de la Haute représentante de l'UE.

C'était important d'avoir les trois (dirigeants) dans la même salle pour avoir une position ferme, coordonnée, a-t-on ajouté.

Le secrétaire d'Etat américain John Kerry et son homologue iranien Mohammad Javad Zarif ont vanté jeudi les avancées de leurs tractations à Lausanne (Suisse), mais un négociateur européen s'est montré réticent, estimant qu'on est loin d'un accord politique historique à l'approche de la date-butoir fin mars.

Les grandes puissances du groupe 5+1 (Etats-Unis, Russie, Chine, France, Royaume-Uni et Allemagne) et Téhéran mènent depuis lundi à Lausanne une course contre la montre pour sceller un accord dit politique avant le 31 mars, voire d'ici au Nouvel an iranien du 21 mars. Un tel document, très général, garantirait que l'Iran ne fabrique jamais la bombe atomique, en échange d'une levée des sanctions internationales.

L'Elysée a décrit, sans plus de précisions, une réunion efficace de concertation et de consultation informelle entre Européens à Bruxelles, alors que les pourparlers entre MM. Kerry et Zarif doivent reprendre vendredi à Lausanne.

Le ministre français des Affaires étrangères Laurent Fabius n'avait pas hésité à souligner il y a deux semaines les divergences dans les négociations. Lundi, il a insisté sur l'indépendance de la France par rapport aux Etats-Unis.

Nous souhaitons un accord, mais simplement si l'accord est vraiment solide. Il y a eu des avancées mais il reste des points importants qui ne sont pas réglés et on va voir si on peut avancer, avait-il commenté lundi juste avant une réunion au niveau des ministres des Affaires étrangères conviée par Mme Mogherini à Bruxelles.

A Washington, le président Barack Obama a appelé jeudi Téhéran à saisir l'opportunité historique de sceller un accord sur son programme nucléaire controversé qui bénéficierait à l'ensemble de la communauté internationale pendant de nombreuses années.

Les jours et les semaines à venir seront cruciaux. Les négociations ont progressé mais des différences demeurent, a souligné M. Obama dans un message vidéo, sous-titré en farsi, diffusé à l'occasion de la fête du Norouz, le nouvel iranien.

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2015 – By Jim Garamone - DoD News

Thirteen months after Russia began its occupation of Crimea, the United States and its European allies must remain steadfast against the threat such actions pose, the commander of U.S. Army Europe said here this week.

Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges told the Defense Writers Group at a March 17 breakfast that the Russian action of illegally annexing Crimea from Ukraine and its continuing threat to the eastern part of Ukraine is a game-changer on the continent.

Read more

March 19, 2015: Strategy Page

The U.S. Department of Defense was recently given permission to hire 3,000 Internet and software engineers without going through the standard screening process for such civilian specialists. While the top pay was not great ($143,000 a year) the big thing was people with real software and Internet skills could be hired. There was also apparently an understanding that some types of youthful indiscretions (black hat hacking) could be overlooked. All this leeway was allowed, which is rare, because the Department of Defense is the largest user of networks and computers on the planet. Since it was Department of Defense research (and money) that developed the Internet it has also the most vulnerable to attack. Unfortunately the attackers (spies, mercenary hackers or just very skilled and bored but talented hackers) have a lot more skills than the people the Department of Defense currently has playing defense. In effect there is a Cyber War and the Department of Defense finds itself outnumbered and outgunned. Desperate measures are required.

Cyber War has a problem with the fact that many of the most effective Cyber Warriors are criminals. That's because Cyber War operators are basically expert programmers who prefer to hack (find ways to break or misuse software). There is not a lot of demand for these skills on the job market. While most hackers are not criminals, many of the best ones find that there is easy (and safe) money to be made by exploiting hacking skills to steal via the Internet. Many, if not most, of the best hackers are honest folks who make a lot of money fighting the criminal hackers, often as a hobby. But the criminals go where the money is, so the "white hat" (honest) hackers find the highest paying jobs protecting financial institutions and other wealthy corporations. The military and government in general cannot compete (in terms of pay and benefits) for the best people and are further restricted by rules that eliminate a lot of the most talented Internet security people. The top people (working for civilian firms with more realistic hiring practices) can be hired temporarily as consultants but the government has to pay the going rate. Thus the new effort to try and attract some superior Cyber War talent by dispensing with some of the usually red tape.

It has long been realized that eventually, and preferably sooner rather than later, the military would have access to the expensive and capable talent they need. That's because this sort of thing has happened before. The Internet is but the latest new technology to arrive and upset the traditional way of doing things. This sort of thing got going in a big way during the 19th century, when telegraph, steam powered ships, and railroads quickly became key military technologies. The military was almost entirely dependent on civilian experts to use these technologies and it took decades before the military was able to establish its own supply of experts.

Going into the 20th century it was the same problem with the flood of new technologies (radio, flight, still more electronic devices, modern cryptography, and major advances in medical tech). In all these cases the military had to compete with better paying civilian organizations for the people who knew how to use and exploit these technologies.

The Internet is worse because the tech spread faster and farther than anything in the past and had bigger payoffs for criminals who could exploit the web. This led to more talented people coming in to take advantage of high pay offered to Internet security experts. As usual, the government and military were least able to recruit these experts. Some countries, like China, worked with Internet criminals, offering them sanctuary and high pay for obtaining data from other nations. This did not make Chinese Internet users immune from Internet scams, because there were so many Internet gangsters out there and the Chinese government only worked with some of them (who had to restrict their attacks in China to obtain sanctuary).

Most Western nations were slow to appreciate how effective Internet spying could be and how much more vulnerable the industrialized nations were. China, and to a lesser extent Russia, obtained hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of technology and commercial secrets with their Internet espionage (which is still going on). Tremendous quantities of military and government data were taken as well. It will take a decade or more for nations to restore the degree of security they had before the Internet came along.

18 Mars 2015 , par Inès DAJON-LAMARE - Pôle Russie-CEI/Eurasie - Bachelor 3 - ILERI

Etant donné les conditions climatiques et océanologiques extrêmes, l’Arctique a longtemps été délaissé à l’exception d’expéditions scientifiques. Mais, en ce début de XXIème siècle, les effets du changement climatique ainsi que la découverte de ressources naturelles potentiellement importantes bouleversent les équilibres, faisant de cette région l’un des territoires les plus convoités de la planète.

En terme de définition, délimiter la région polaire arctique s’avère complexe du fait de la multitude de définitions. Les géologues, les géographes ou encore les climatologues ont ainsi, chacun une définition différente de ce que l’on peut appeler l’Arctique, et des limites de ce dernier. Eric Canobbio définit l’Arctique, dans son ouvrage Mondes Arctiques, Miroirs de la Mondialisation [1], comme « étant astronomiquement la région bornée par le cercle polaire arctique : 66°33’ de latitude nord. Cette limite commode car stable définit un espace de 21 324 000 km2 « composé, pour les deux tiers de l’Océan Glacial Arctique et pour un tiers, des terres côtières. Cinq pays sont riverains et se disputent la maitrise de cet océan : le Canada, le Danemark (via le Groenland et les Iles Féroé), les Etats-Unis, la Norvège et la Russie.

Suite de l’article

18 March 2015 BBC Africa

The US defence department has confirmed that it has killed an al-Shabab leader, Adan Garar.

The Pentagon says the militant was hit by a drone equipped with Hellfire missiles in southern Somalia last Friday. Garar was a suspect in the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi that left 67 people dead. The US believes Garar was overseeing operations that "target US persons and other Western interests". He was a member of the security and intelligence wing and a "key operative responsible for coordinating al-Shabab's external operations", according to the Pentagon.

Continue reading