DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Strategic Airlift Crews Fight An Exhausting War In Anonymity

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Strategic Airlift Crews Fight An Exhausting War In Anonymity

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - June 22, 2012:  A C-17 lifted out of Ramstein Air Base, Germany, one afternoon last month packed with crates of servicemembers’ household goods up front and explosive munitions stacked on the cargo ramp in back. From there they could be jettisoned in a hurry if a fire broke out.

Minutes after takeoff, the plane’s commander, Lt. Col. John Wiltse, called out “copilot’s aircraft” and turned over the controls. The young officer to his right, Capt. Rick Loesch, acknowledged the command crisply, like Wiltse requires.

Slumping forward until his forehead rested against the instrument panel, Wiltse let out a sigh that deepened into a yawn. He took a long pull from a Monster energy drink, the first of several heavy caffeine doses he would consume during the nine-hour flight to Dover Air Force Base, Del.

For the previous five days, the crew had hopscotched around the Middle East and Europe, carrying food, ammunition, fuel and troops — the materiel and human components of the war in Afghanistan, which has depended on airlift likely more than any other major conflict. Now, after crossing more time zones than they could count and subsisting on precious little sleep, they were in the final stretch of the mission, and would reach home at Joint Base Lewis-McChord., Wash., the next day.

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DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Marjana Simonovska Member Of Scorpions Special Unit In Macedonia's army Part Of NATO Mission Serving In Afghanistan

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Marjana Simonovska Member Of Scorpions Special Unit In Macedonia's army Part Of NATO Mission Serving In Afghanistan

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 30, 2012: Marjana Simonovska stands at a NATO base in Kabul January 19, 2012. Simonovska is a senior sergeant in Macedonia's army and a member of the Scorpions special unit, who spent six months this year serving in Afghanistan as part of the NATO mission. Married with two children, she was part of an operation to secure the alliance's main headquarters in Kabul together with the other 177 Macedonian soldiers serving under NATO. 

Macedonia, a landlocked country with population of 2 million, is a NATO candidate country, but has failed to join the alliance due to Greek objections over the country's name. Burdened by ethnic tensions, frustrations in the small Balkan country are rising over widespread poverty and the slow pace of integration in the European Union and NATO. Greek objections derailed the former Yugoslav republic's bid to join NATO in 2008, and no progress was made during a summit of the Western alliance in Chicago early this week. Picture taken January 19, 2012.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/05/dtn-news-afghan-war-news-nato-strike.html

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: NATO Strike Kills al-Qaeda No. 2 In Afghanistan Near Pakistan Border

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: NATO Strike Kills al-Qaeda No. 2 In Afghanistan Near Pakistan Border

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 30, 2012: Soldier Marjana Simonovska (2nd L) walks with members of her team during an army combat training at an area simulating an Afghan village with the Scorpions special unit in Stip,120 km (75 miles) east from capital Skopje May 27, 2011. Simonovska is a senior sergeant in Macedonia's army and a member of the Scorpions special unit, who spent six months this year serving in Afghanistan as part of the NATO mission. Married with two children, she was part of an operation to secure the alliance's main headquarters in Kabul together with the other 177 Macedonian soldiers serving under NATO.

 Macedonia, a landlocked country with population of 2 million, is a NATO candidate country, but has failed to join the alliance due to Greek objections over the country's name. Burdened by ethnic tensions, frustrations in the small Balkan country are rising over widespread poverty and the slow pace of integration in the European Union and NATO. Greek objections derailed the former Yugoslav republic's bid to join NATO in 2008, and no progress was made during a summit of the Western alliance in Chicago early this week. Picture taken May 27, 2011.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/05/dtn-news-afghan-war-news-nato-strike.html

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Asia's Military Spending To Surpass Europe's For First Time

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Asia's Military Spending To Surpass Europe's For First Time

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 26, 2012: 2012 will be a historic moment in the shift of global power from the West to the East. According to expert estimates and figures on military spending, in 2012 Asia's spending on defense will eclipse Europe's for the first time in the modern era.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies, a UK-based think tank focusing on global military and political research and analysis, released its influential "Military Balance 2012" report back in early March.

The report claims that since 2008, financial crises in the West have led to major reductions in defense spending in Europe. Drawdowns in Afghanistan and Iraq will likely contribute to decreasing numbers in the future. Meanwhile, Asia's continued economic growth, and efforts to modernize and build military forces there, have reinforced higher spending. In the IISS calculations, Europe does not include Russia, and Asia does not include the Middle East, but does include Australasia.

While per capita spending in Europe is still higher, press releases form the institute say that "Asian defense spending is likely to exceed that of Europe, in nominal terms, during 2012." The U.S. accounted for nearly half of all worldwide military spending in 2011, a figure which may be in slight decline over the following years due to defense cutbacks.

IISS says that in real terms, declines in defense spending by 16 out of 28 member states of NATO exceeded 10 percent between 2008 and 2010. Asian spending increased almost 3.2 percent in real terms between 2010 to 2011.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/05/dtn-news-defense-news-asias-military.html

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: U.S.-Pakistan Military Negotiations ‘Very Positive’ According Gen. John R. Allen

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: U.S.-Pakistan Military Negotiations ‘Very Positive’ According Gen. John R. Allen

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 23, 2012: Military-to-military talks between the U.S. and Pakistan, which recently resumed after a lapse, are going well, the commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan said today.

Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, International Security Assistance Force commander, acknowledged during a Pentagon press briefing that the issue of reopening Pakistani ground supply routes to NATO is still unresolved. Pakistan closed the routes after a late-November 2011 cross-border attack by NATO forces near a border coordination center in Afghanistan’s Kunar province accidently killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

“I have recently led a team to Islamabad to renew our conversation with the Pakistani military,” Allen said, noting the participants had “a very positive conversation about taking steps and measures necessary to prevent a recurrence of the events of 25 and 26 November.”

He said Lt. Gen. Shir Mohammad Karimi, general staff chief of operations for the Afghan National Army, also traveled to Islamabad for the two-day military talks with Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Pakistani army chief of staff.

“We committed ourselves to recurring meetings … with the idea of creating a constructive long-term relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Allen said.

Allen noted Pakistan has many challenges along its border with Afghanistan. Pakistan’s forces are also fighting an insurgency, he said, and they have taken more casualties in the last two years than the U.S. has in 10 years of combat in Afghanistan.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/05/dtn-news-afghan-war-news-us-pakistan.html

DTN News - NATO SUMMIT IN CHICAGO: Barack Obama Snubs Asif Ali Zardari At NATO

DTN News - NATO SUMMIT IN CHICAGO:  Barack Obama Snubs Asif Ali Zardari At NATO


(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 21, 2012: BARACK Obama has snubbed Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari despite inviting him to a NATO summit in Chicago, as a bitter dispute rages over supply routes that could disrupt the planned US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.


The US President refused to meet Mr Zardari yesterday in the midst of Pakistan's refusal to compromise over increasing the fee for trucks to pass through its territory to 
Afghanistan from $US250 ($253) to $US5000.


Pakistan closed its borders and then demanded the huge price rise for moving US supply trucks through its territory after US air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.


Mr Zardari was invited to the NATO talks at late notice and US officials appear to have hoped a settlement of the transportation issue could have been reached before his arrival.


Instead, the conflict worsened yesterday.


It was made clear that Mr Obama was unwilling to meet Mr Zardari, and the diplomatic task was handed to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.


The dispute with Pakistan has forced unacceptable costs on the US as trucks transporting up to 40 per cent of equipment to and from Afghanistan have been forced to use a longer route through Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.


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DTN News - NATO SUMMIT IN CHICAGO: ISAF Nations To Decide On Next Transition Milestone / NATO Leaders Paying Honour With Respect To The Brave And Fallen Soldiers In Afghanistan

DTN News - NATO SUMMIT IN CHICAGO: ISAF Nations To Decide On Next Transition Milestone / NATO Leaders Paying Honour With Respect To The Brave And Fallen Soldiers In Afghanistan

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 21, 2012: British Prime Minister David Cameron, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, U.S. President Barack Obama and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen observe a NATO color guard before a moment of silence honoring service members killed or wounded in Afghanistan at the NATO summit in Chicago, May 20, 2012. DOD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley

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DTN News - NATO SUMMIT IN CHICAGO: NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen Speaks In A Forum Before The Start Of Nato Summit

DTN News - NATO SUMMIT IN CHICAGO: NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen Speaks In A Forum Before The Start Of Nato Summit

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 21, 2012: NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen speaks to a group of men and women from the Young Atlanticist Program before the start of a NATO summit in Chicago May 19, 2012. 

The two-day summit which starts May 20 will draw representatives from some 50 countries, including leaders of the 28 members of the military alliance. (Photo - Reuters)

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DTN News - NATO SUMMIT IN CHICAGO: World Leaders Pose For Family Photo At NATO Summit In Chicago

DTN News - NATO SUMMIT IN CHICAGO: World Leaders Pose For Family Photo At NATO Summit  In Chicago

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 20, 2012:  World leaders pose for the family photo at the NATO summit at McCormick Place on May 20, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. 

As sixty heads of state converge for the two day summit that will address the situation in Afghanistan, among other global defense issues, thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets to protest. (Photo - Getty)

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DTN News - NATO NEWS: NATO Invites Pakistan To Chicago Summit

DTN News - NATO NEWS: NATO Invites Pakistan To Chicago Summit


(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 16, 2012: NATO said on Tuesday it had invited Pakistan to a summit in Chicago next week, lifting a veiled threat that it might exclude the country from the talks on the future of Afghanistan.


"Allies decided to invite President (Asif Ali) Zardari of Pakistan to Chicago to the meeting on Afghanistan," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in a statement.


"This meeting will underline the strong commitment of the international community to the people of Afghanistan and to its future. Pakistan has an important role to play in that future."


NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen suggested on Friday that Pakistan could be excluded from the May 20-21 summit if it failed to reopen the supply routes to Afghanistan that it closed after 24 of its soldiers were killed by a NATO cross-border air attack last November.


Rasmussen noted that other countries providing supply routes to NATO had been invited to the summit, which will map out a future for Afghanistan after most foreign combat troops are withdrawn at the end of 2014.


President Zardari's spokesman said he was considering whether to attend the Chicago summit and that the invitation was "unconditional and not linked to the opening of ground lines of communication for NATO or to any other issue."


Pakistan has demanded a formal apology from the United States for the attack before it reopens the supply routes, and has also called for an end to U.S. drone strikes on its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.


Pakistan boycotted an international conference on Afghanistan in Bonn in December in protest against the NATO air strikes.


http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/05/dtn-news-nato-news-nato-invites.html

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Defense Spending Bill Includes Provision To Keep Air Guard Jets

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Defense Spending Bill Includes Provision To Keep Air Guard Jets

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 14, 2012: A defense spending bill proposed Monday in the U.S. House would block the Air Force from eliminating F-16 aircraft at the 132nd Fighter Wing in Des Moines until a cost-benefit analysis can be completed.

U.S. Rep. Tom Latham said the legislation would freeze the proposed retirement of Air Force aircraft, including the Iowa Air National Guard’s F-16s. The bill would require the Air Force to finish the cost-benefit study by October, with a review by the nonpartisan General Accounting Office within 120 days of its completion.

The bill is sponsored by the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee, on which Latham serves. The Iowa Republican said he believes a review will ultimately show the 132nd Fighter Wing operates cost-effectively and should continue flying F-16 combat aircraft over the long term. He called Monday’s action a major step forward.

“This is a great victory, and we are going to fight to save the 132nd Fighter Wing,” Latham said in a phone interview from Washington, D.C.

The Air Force has proposed budget cuts that include eliminating all 21 of the Iowa unit’s F-16 aircraft, replacing them with a smaller unit based in Des Moines that would remotely control unmanned aircraft that would be flown elsewhere, such as Afghanistan.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/05/dtn-news-defense-news-defense-spending.html

DTN News - NATO SUMMIT IN CHICAGO: Summit Will Deal With Range Of Issues, NATO General Says

DTN News - NATO SUMMIT IN CHICAGO: Summit Will Deal With Range Of Issues, NATO General Says

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 9, 2012: Afghanistan will dominate the NATO summit in Chicago later this month, but alliance leaders will deal with other issues as well, a senior NATO commander said here yesterday.

Gen. Stephane Abrial of the French air force told the Defense Writers Group the nations’ leaders also will deal with partnership capability, “smart defense” and other matters. Abrial is commander of NATO’s transformation command.

“On partnership, there will be a reaffirmation that NATO does not operate in isolation,” the general said. The alliance is keen to work more closely with all kinds of partners from other nations to international institutions to no-governmental organizations, he added.

The NATO-led actions in Libya are an example of the alliance working with non-NATO partners, such as the United Arab Emirates and the Arab League. NATO also works with the European Union to ensure that the two institutions work together smoothly, when needed.

How to work together with these disparate groups is part and parcel of the Allied Command Transformation mission, Abrial said.

On capabilities, the leaders will discuss the progress on decisions made at NATO’s 2010 summit in Lisbon, Portugal, including the smart defense initiative. Smart defense is about how the alliance will continue to develop and maintain the capabilities needed to fulfill its missions despite the new era of austerity.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/05/dtn-news-nato-summit-in-chicago-summit.html

DTN News - OBAMA BACK FROM AFGHANISTAN: US President Barack Returns To The White House From A Surprise Trip To Afghanistan And Signed A Strategic Partnership Agreement With President Hamid Karzai

DTN News - OBAMA BACK FROM AFGHANISTAN: US President Barack Returns To The White House From A Surprise Trip To Afghanistan And Signed A Strategic Partnership Agreement With President Hamid Karzai

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 2, 2012: US President Barack Obama walks from Marine One to the White House May 2, 2012 in Washington, DC. 

President Obama was returning from a surprise trip to Afghanistan where he signed a strategic partnership agreement with President Hamid Karzai, visited troops and addressed Americans from Bagram Air Base.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/05/dtn-news-obama-in-afghanistan-obamas.html

DTN News - OBAMA IN AFGHANISTAN: President Barack Obama With Afghan President Hamid Karzai Signed Strategic Partnership Agreement In Kabul

DTN News - OBAMA IN AFGHANISTAN: President Barack Obama With Afghan President Hamid Karzai Signed Strategic Partnership Agreement In Kabul

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 2, 2012: US President Barack Obama (CL) attends a meeting with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai (CR), on May 2, 2012 in Kabul, Afghanistan. The US and Afghan Presidents signed a long-term strategic partnership outlining their cooperation following the 2014 withdrawal of NATO and allied forces. 

Obama made the secret visit to the country on the anniversary of Osama Bin Laden's death and made a primetime tv address to the American people from Bagram Air Base in Kabul.

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DTN News - OBAMA IN AFGHANISTAN: Obama’s Afghanistan Plan - Echoes of Vietnam In The U.S. Exit Strategy

DTN News - OBAMA IN AFGHANISTAN: Obama’s Afghanistan Plan - Echoes of Vietnam In The U.S. Exit Strategy

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 2, 2012: To understand the historical significance of President Barack Obama’s visit to Afghanistan on Tuesday, imagine that President Richard Nixon had, in the spring of 1972, flown to Saigon to signal American voters that the Vietnam war was coming to an end — and to ink a deal with President Nguyen Van Thieu codifying a long-term U.S. relationship with the Republic of South Vietnam, which would shortly be left responsible for its own security. 

“Today, I signed a historic agreement between the United States and Afghanistan that defines a new kind of relationship between our countries – a future in which Afghans are responsible for the security of their nation, and we build an equal partnership between two sovereign states; a future in which the war ends, and a new chapter begins,” Obama said Tuesday.  Nixon might have said something similar on that imaginary 1972 visit. Except, of course, everyone knew that Vietnam’s future would not be defined by an agreement between Washington and Thieu, as much as by the one signed in Paris, two months after Nixon’s reelection, between Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, representing the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (a.k.a. “North Vietnam”). Even that deal collapsed, of course, with the DRV and its supporters in the south finishing off the Thieu regime 19 months after U.S. troops withdrew.

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DTN News - OBAMA IN AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Claims The Attack Was A Response To U.S. President Barack Obama's Surprise Visit To Afghanistan - NATO Forces Investigate At The Scene Of Attack

DTN News - OBAMA IN AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Claims The Attack Was A Response To U.S. President Barack Obama's Surprise Visit To Afghanistan - NATO Forces Investigate At The Scene Of Attack

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 2, 2012: Soldiers part of the NATO forces investigate the scene at the scene of a militant attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 2, 2012. A suicide car bomber and Taliban militants disguised in burqas attacked a compound housing hundreds of foreigners in the Afghan capital on Wednesday, officials and witnesses said. 

The Taliban said the attack was a response to President Barack Obama's surprise visit just hours earlier.

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DTN News - OBAMA IN AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Claims The Attack Was A Response To U.S. President Barack Obama's Surprise Visit To Afghanistan - NATO Soldiers Talk Among Themselves

DTN News - OBAMA IN AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Claims The Attack Was A Response To U.S. President Barack Obama's Surprise Visit To Afghanistan - NATO Soldiers Talk Among Themselves

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 2, 2012: NATO soldiers talk among themselves as smoke comes out of a compound at the scene of militants' attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 2, 2012. 

A suicide car bomber and Taliban militants disguised in burqas attacked the compound housing hundreds of foreigners in the Afghan capital on Wednesday, officials and witnesses said.

The Taliban said the attack was a response to U.S. President Barack Obama's surprise visit just hours earlier.

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DTN News - OBAMA IN AFGHANISTAN: President Barack Obama Greets Troops At Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan

DTN News - OBAMA IN AFGHANISTAN: President Barack Obama Greets Troops At Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 1, 2012:  Secret Service agents stand watch as President Barack Obama greets troops at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 2, 2012. 

President Barack Obama and President Hamid Karzai signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, May 2, 2012. The deal insures American military and financial support for the Afghan people for at least a decade beyond 2014, the deadline for most foreign combat forces to withdraw.

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DTN News - OBAMA IN AFGHANISTAN: President Barack Obama With Afghan President Hamid Karzai Signed Strategic Partnership Agreement In Kabul

DTN News - OBAMA IN AFGHANISTAN: President Barack Obama With Afghan President Hamid Karzai Signed Strategic Partnership Agreement In Kabul

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 1, 2012: U.S. President Barack Obama puts his arm on Afghan President Hamid Karzai after they signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, May 2, 2012. 

The deal insures American military and financial support for the Afghan people for at least a decade beyond 2014, the deadline for most foreign combat forces to withdraw.

(Photo - Reuters)

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DTN News - PAKISTAN DEFENSE NEWS: Nato Aircraft Making Pakistani Airspace unsafe

DTN News - PAKISTAN DEFENSE NEWS: Nato Aircraft Making Pakistani Airspace unsafe

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 22, 2012: The Nato aircraft changing their flying levels without taking orders from the traffic control department during the monsoon season, is creating issues for the other traffic flying on different levels and thus making the airspace near Afghan border area more vulnerable to any collision.

The Green 325 area in Balochistan has no radar coverage for 100 miles despite high air traffic frequency, while no data is available of flights taking off from Afghanistan due to telex problems between the aviation authorities of both the countries, sources said.

“Changing the flying levels by the Nato planes on their own in the monsoon season is the biggest issue CAA is facing currently, because this makes the country’s airspace vulnerable to any disaster in this highly sensitive zone of Pak-Afghan border areas,” sources said.

Sources in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) informed that currently they were facing serious issues in Balochistan and near Afghanistan border areas where the frequency of air traffic was quite high.

“Due to the absence of radar coverage, we are not in a position to monitor the flying activities there and this is a very big security lapse,” sources said, adding that flights taking off from Afghanistan contacted the traffic control system of Pakistan CAA at the eleventh hour, which created complexities of routing the whole traffic and this could result in any untoward situation.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/04/dtn-news-pakistan-defense-news-nato.html