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Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 25 Jun 2008 [PDF]
• MND-B Soldier attacked by EFP (Baghdad)
• MND-N Soldiers attacked by IED (Ninewah Province)
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• PRESS CONFERENCE: Operational Update: Maj. Gen. Askari, June 25, 2008 MNF-I 25 Jun 2008 -- Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari, Spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, provides an Operational Update
• June 24 airpower summary: F-15Es strike enemy AFPN 25 Jun 2008
• Troops Kill 21 Enemy Fighters, Detain 22 in Iraq AFPS 25 Jun 2008 -- Coalition forces in Iraq killed 21 enemy fighters and detained 22 terrorism suspects in recent Iraq operations, military officials said.
• U.S. Airmen Train Iraqi Maintainers AFPS 25 Jun 2008 -- While Iraqi air force pilots continue flying sorties to aid stability in their nation, Iraqi maintainers on the ground here have achieved important benchmarks to keep their fleet in the air.
• Bombings in Iraq Kill 16 People, Including 7 Americans VOA 25 Jun 2008 -- The U.S. military says bomb attacks in Baghdad and northern Iraq on Tuesday killed at least 16 people, including seven Americans
• Machine gunner lands new job USMC News 25 Jun 2008 -- Marines, or “Warlords” as they are nicknamed, with Task Force 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5 have recently been conducting proficiency-firing ranges at forward operating bases all over western al-Anbar province, Iraq
• Fallujah badges key to the city USMC News 25 Jun 2008 -- Marines with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1 and Iraqi Police (IP) in southwest Fallujah set up a remote identification badge operation June 23-25, providing badge issuing services to more than 700 outlying residents of the city.
• CLB-6 top leaders survey their AO USMC News 25 Jun 2008 -- Combat Logistics Battalion 6’s top leaders visited seven of the locations across al-Anbar province that they support for Multi-National Force-West, June 25-27.
• CME brings medicine to locals USMC News 25 Jun 2008 -- With the combined efforts of Marines, soldiers, airmen and American civilian doctors, two cooperative medical engagements provided medical care to more than 870 locals here, June 24 and 25.
• Coalition Forces Disrupt Militant Networks in Afghanistan AFPS 25 Jun 2008 -- Coalition aircrews killed about 22 militants who were attacking district centers in Paktika province yesterday, as Coalition forces continue to disrupt militant networks in Afghanistan, officials said.
• Reserve C-130s called in to fight California wildfires AFPN 25 Jun 2008 -- The Air Force Reserve Command's 302nd Airlift Wing here is scheduled to deploy two firefighting C-130 Hercules aircraft June 25 to battle raging wildfires in California.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Successful Missile Defense Intercept Test Takes Place off Hawaii Missile Defence Agency 25 Jun 2008 -- Lieutenant General Henry “Trey” Obering, Missile Defense Agency director, announced today the completion of a successful “hit to kill” intercept in partnership with the U.S. Army for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense test element at the Pacific Missile Range Facility off the island of Kauai in Hawaii
• Transcript: DoD News Briefing with Geoff Morrell from the Pentagon, Arlington, Va. 25 Jun 2008 -- Presenter: Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell
• Pentagon Officials Testify on Chinese Military Buildup AFPS 25 Jun 2008 -- Though the Defense Department doesn’t see China as a strategic adversary, the country’s military buildup and lack of openness in how it’s going about it has officials wondering about Chinese leaders’ intentions, senior Pentagon officials told the House Armed Services Committee today.
• Defense, Education Departments Sign Pact on Military Children AFPS 25 Jun 2008 -- Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England and Deputy Education Secretary Raymond Simon signed a memorandum of understanding between their agencies at the Pentagon today that addresses the quality of education and the unique challenges faced by children of military families.
• Thousands of Ghanaians benefit from Shared Accord humanitarian assistance USMC News 25 Jun 2008 -- In a focused effort soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines came together to conduct numerous humanitarian assistance projects here in concert with exercise Shared Accord held June 10-26.
• U.S. Navy Ships Arrive On Station To Support Armed Forces of the Philippines Navy NewsStand 25 Jun 2008 -- USS Ronald Reagan and other U.S. Navy ships arrived on station near the central Philippine island of Panay June 25 to join the humanitarian assistance mission being led by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the wake of damage caused by Typhoon Fengshen.
• Steering Committee completes 10 Family Action issues Army News 25 Jun 2008 -- Dental care for retirees overseas, more carryover leave for Soldiers, and earlier retired pay for deployed reserve-component Soldiers were three of the 10 issues listed as completed by the General Officer Steering Committee for the Army Family Action Plan at its conference June 5.
• Pan-American UNITAS Naval Force Renovates Peruvian School Navy NewsStand 25 Jun 2008 -- Sailors from the guided-missile destroyers USS Forrest Sherman (DDG-98), USS Farragut (DDG 99) and the guided-missile frigate USS Kauffman (FFG 59) joined members of the Chilean, Colombian, Ecuadorian and Peruvian navies to refurbish a public school in the countryside of Peru June 22.
• UNITAS Begins in Peru Navy NewsStand 25 Jun 2008 -- UNITAS 49-08, an annual multinational exercise conducted to enhance interoperability and mutual cooperation between navies, began off the coast of Callao, June 21.
• Destroyer Squadron 40, Peruvian Navy Unite in Anti-Submarine Exercise Navy NewsStand 25 Jun 2008 -- Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 40 joined forces with the Peruvian Navy for a six-day anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training exercise off the coast of Lima, Peru, ending June 18.
• NMCB 3 Seabees Learn About Heat Casualty Prevention Navy NewsStand 25 Jun 2008 -- Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 3 learned the importance of staying hydrated during a heat casualty training class at Camp Taqaddum, Iraq.
• Unit becomes Cyberspace Technical Center of Excellence AFPN 25 Jun 2008 -- The Air Force Institute of Technology and the Center for Cyberspace Research here were designated as the Air Force's Cyberspace Technical Center of Excellence June 19 by the secretary and chief of staff of the Air Force.
• Reserve pilots utilize A-10s in support of Total Force Integration AFPN 25 Jun 2008 -- Air Force Reserve Command pilots recently took flight in an A-10 Thunderbolt II here in support of an Air Force-wide initiative designed to integrate reservists, guardsmen and civilians with active-duty Airmen.
• Program helps deployed Airmen with career decisions AFPN 25 Jun 2008 -- Expeditionary Top IV members here are helping Airmen to make major career decisions while deployed, and far away from career advisors and other personnel specifically trained to help.
• Whiteman Airmen make first all-air Guard B-2 flight AFPN 25 Jun 2008 -- Airmen of the 131st Bomb Wing here completed the first B-2 Spirit sortie flown and launched by Missouri Air National Guard members June 18 at Whiteman Air Force Base.
• Official Praises Proposed Education Benefits AFPS 25 Jun 2008 -- Bill allowing servicemembers to transfer their education benefits to family members passed the first round of congressional voting.
• Defense Department Celebrates 35 Years of All-Volunteer Force AFPS 25 Jun 2008 -- On July 1, the nation will mark 35 years of an armed military made up soley of volunteers.
• Defense, Education Departments To Sign Historic Agreement 25 Jun 2008 -- Senior leaders in the Department of Defense and Department of Education signed a formal memorandum today at the Pentagon, agreeing to work collaboratively to ease the challenges of transitions for military dependent students
• Surface Warfare Enterprise Leaders to Boost Warfighting Readiness Navy NewsStand 25 Jun 2008 -- The Surface Warfare Enterprise (SWE) Board of Directors (BoD) and its supporting teams started their two-day annual Strategic Planning Conference (SPC) June 25, at the Coronado Club on Naval Base Coronado.
• Airmen to have more choices for death gratuity benefit AFPN 25 Jun 2008 -- Airmen will be able to select one or more persons of their choosing to receive death gratuity benefits beginning July 1.
• Servicemembers begin medical mission in Peru AFPN 25 Jun 2008 -- American servicemembers kicked-off medical mission New Horizons-Peru 2008, a U.S. and Peruvian humanitarian initiative scheduled through Aug. 31 to provide relief to underprivileged Peruvians.
• Press Briefing by Dana Perino The White House 25 Jun 2008
• Daily Press Briefing US Dept. of State 25 Jun 2008

Defense Industry

• Public Version of the Final Boeing Bid Protest Decision GAO B-311344 [PDF]
• DoD News: Contracts for June 25, 2008
• Boeing Statement on Government Accountability Office Tanker Protest Report Boeing 25 Jun 2008 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] today responded to the public release of the full redacted Government Accountability Office (GAO) report sustaining the company's protest of the U.S. Air Force's award of a $35 billion contract to Northrop Grumman/EADS to supply the service with its next-generation aerial refueling aircraft.
• General Dynamics Awarded $23 Million Contract for 155mm M795 Metal Parts Ammunition Production General Dynamics 25 Jun 2008 -- The U.S. Army Joint Munitions & Lethality Life Cycle Management Command (JM&L LCMC) at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., has awarded General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems a $23.8 million contract for the first year of a multiple year contract with a total potential value of $151.8 million for the production of M795 projectile metal parts
• LOCKHEED MARTIN TO DEVELOP COLLABORATIVE MANNED / UNMANNED MISSION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR U.S. NAVY MINEHUNTING Lockhed Martin 25 Jun 2008 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has received a $3 million contract from the Office of Naval Research to develop and demonstrate a mission management system that will enable U.S. Navy ships, helicopters and unmanned vehicles to collaborate as a team when mine hunting in shallow coastal waters.
• Northrop Grumman Stands Ready to Support Air Force Tanker Decision Northrop Grumman 25 Jun 2008 -- GAO Analysis Does Not Alter the Air Force Finding that the KC-45 is the Superior Tanker
• Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Wins $2.2 Million Contract Option for Solar Thermal Propulsion Rocket Engine Pratt & Whitney 25 Jun 2008 -- The United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne a $2.2 million contract for the fabrication and ground test of a Solar Thermal Propulsion rocket engine
• Lockheed Martin Receives $107 Million From the U.S. Air Force for Joint Air-To-Surface Standoff Missile Production Lockheed Martin 25 Jun 2008 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has received a U.S. Air Force contract valued at $107 million for a seventh production lot of the JASSM™ cruise missile
• SECOND VH-71 PRESIDENTIAL HELICOPTER BEGINS MISSION SYSTEMS INTEGRATION Lockheed Martin 25 Jun 2008 -- Lockheed Martin is integrating sophisticated mission systems aboard a second VH-71 test vehicle at the Presidential Helicopter Integration Facility in Owego, NY.
• Russian Expo Arms 2008 to showcase 500 companies RIA Novosti 25 Jun 2008 -- About 500 domestic and foreign arms manufacturers will participate in an international arms exhibition to be held in the Urals Region next month, a local government official said on Wednesday.

Other Conflicts

• Central African Republic: Ban says political and security situation is ‘fragile’ UN News Centre 25 Jun 2008 -- The overall political, security and economic situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) remains fragile and is characterized by widespread poverty, insecurity and a disturbing cycle of human rights violations and impunity, according to the latest report submitted by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the Security Council.
• UN-African Union mission chief in Darfur warns of mission shortfalls UN News Centre 25 Jun 2008 -- The United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has serious troop and equipment shortfalls, six months after coming into being, and local support for the operation is being stretched thin, the mission chief warned today.
• Security Council hopeful about progress on issues pending since 1990 Gulf war UN News Centre 25 Jun 2008 -- The Security Council today said that recent identifications of human remains provided reason to hope for further progress in determining the fate of Kuwaitis and other nationals missing since Iraq’s 1990 invasion, but lamented the lack of progress in finding the Kuwaiti national archive.
• UN-supported initiative aims to reintegrate 180,000 Sudanese ex-combatants UN News Centre 25 Jun 2008 -- The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will be supporting the reintegration of 180,000 Sudanese ex-combatants as they return to civilian life under an agreement signed today with the Government of National Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan.
• Security Council calls for UN fact-finding team to visit Djibouti-Eritrea border UN News Centre 25 Jun 2008 -- The Security Council has called on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to send a fact-finding mission to the border between Djibouti and Eritrea, where several days of fighting earlier this month led to several deaths and dozens of wounded.
• SENEGAL: Finding incentives for peace in Casamance IRIN 25 Jun 2008 -- Civilians are growing increasingly desperate to return to their villages in Casamance, but with violent incidents continuing and the peace process “still at a stalemate” according to peace negotiators, some see little reason for hope.
• SIERRA LEONE: Former IDPs say feel betrayed IRIN 25 Jun 2008 -- The aid workers who provided food, healthcare and shelter to internally displaced people (IDPs) during Sierra Leone’s civil war are long-gone from this muddy, rubbish-strewn community of tin-roofed lean-to’s and open sewers
• Niger Rebels Say Military Attacks Endanger French Hostages VOA 25 Jun 2008 -- Rebels in Niger say their bases have been bombed in the north of country, endangering four French mining employees they took hostage last week
• DRC: Aid activities suspended after riots in North Kivu IRIN 25 Jun 2008 -- Humanitarian agencies have suspended all travel to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo town of Rutshuru after two days of riots against the UN Mission in the Congo (MONUC), UN sources said.
• Kosovo security force to be partly created by 2009 - NATO RIA Novosti 25 Jun 2008 -- The first phase to build a security force for Kosovo, which unilaterally proclaimed independence on February 17, will be completed by 2009, a NATO spokesman said Wednesday.
• Israel reseals Gaza border after mortar attacks RIA Novosti 25 Jun 2008 -- Israel has closed Gaza border crossings after Palestinian militants launched mortars at the south of the Jewish state, violating the Egypt-sponsored truce deal reached last week, a spokeswoman for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday.
• Political Crisis in Israel Averted, but Gaza Truce Shaky VOA 25 Jun 2008 -- Israel's Prime Minister has avoided a split with a major coalition partner and possible dissolution of his government in a deal that could end his own political career in three months
• Pakistani Taliban kill over 20 pro-govt tribal elders IRNA 25 Jun 2008 -- Pakistani Taliban have shot dead over 20 tribal elders of peace committee in the restive South Waziristan tribal region, witnesses said Wednesday.

News Reports

• Four French Hostages Released After Being Kidnapped in Niger VOA 25 Jun 2008 -- Four French mining employees kidnapped by militants in northern Niger have been released.
• SOUTHERN AFRICA: SADC calls for poll postponment IRIN 25 Jun 2008 -- Zimbabwe’s presidential run-off election scheduled for 27 June should be called off, regional leaders meeting in Swaziland said on Wednesday
• ZIMBABWE: Aid will flow if Mugabe goes IRIN 25 Jun 2008 -- As the sole remaining candidate in Zimbabwe's presidential election run-off on 27 June, Robert Mugabe should win. But then what?
• Bush Calls Zimbabwe Elections a Sham VOA 25 Jun 2008 -- U.S. President George Bush is urging a strong international stand against the government of Zimbabwe, saying the presidential runoff election scheduled for later this week amounts to a sham
• MYANMAR: Cyclone assessment reveals critical food, water shortages IRIN 25 Jun 2008 -- An estimated 46 percent of families in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady delta have less than two days’ worth of food, according to an initial post-disaster assessment.
• Uzbekistan: EU Maintains Strategy, Despite Worsening Rights Situation RFE/RL 25 Jun 2008 -- Norboy Holjigitov, a former oppositionist and human rights activist serving a long sentence in Uzbekistan, has reportedly fallen seriously ill in recent weeks.
• Opposition Leader Tsvangirai Calls for Expanded African Involvement in Zimbabwe VOA 25 Jun 2008 -- Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has called for greater African involvement in Zimbabwe's crises
• Violence continues in Zimbabwe; Many Unaware Opposition Leader has Withdrawn from Presidential Run-off VOA 25 Jun 2008 -- As the political situation in Zimbabwe worsens, many have called for a negotiated settlement between President Mugabe and the opposition MDC party