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Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION (AIR ASSAULT) RECEIVES DEPLOYMENT ORDERS 06 Feb 2003 -- The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and associated units stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, have received orders to deploy to the U.S. Central Command area of operations (AOR) to support possible future operations in the global war on terrorism. The specifics of any such operations are not known at this time.
• Navy cargo ships find new home Military Sealift Command 06 Feb 2003 -- Philadelphia, Corpus Christi, Texas, and Violet, La., will be home for five U.S. Navy Military Sealift Command cargo ships when they are not at sea. Three new contracts for the operational berths for five large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships, called LMSRs, were announced Jan. 29.
• Fast sealift ships find new home Military Sealift Command 06 Feb 2003 -- Military Sealift Command awarded two contracts to companies in Norfolk, Va., and Marrero, La., for the berths for four U.S. Navy cargo ships when they are not at sea. The three-year, firm, fixed-price contracts with two, one-year options total more than $6.9 million were announced Jan. 29.
• Carl Vinson visits the Aloha State CVN 70 06 Feb 2003 -- USS Carl Vinson is again underway in the Pacific Ocean following a five-day port visit to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
• AFGHAN/PEACEKEEPERS VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- The commander of the multinational force in Afghanistan says the peacekeepers must stay in Kabul for two or three more years to ensure security in the city.
• U.S. Central Command Build-up Continues AFPS 06 Feb 2003 -- The U.S. military build-up in the U.S. Central Command area of operations continues, with more than 100,000 troops now serving in the region, DoD officials said.
• Commandant visits 24th MEU (SOC) in Bahrain USMC 06 Feb 2003 -- As the USS Nassau pulled into port to give its crew and the Marines aboard some time off, the Marines and Sailors of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) were paid a visit by some very special guests - the Commandant, First Lady and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps.
• HMM-263 overcomes challenges, keeps aircraft mission ready USMC 06 Feb 2003 -- The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. The shorter the line, the quicker you can travel from one end to the other. Marines working in the aircraft maintenance sections of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263 (HMM-263), the Aviation Combat Element (ACE) for the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), are currently enjoying the benefits of a shorter, straighter line to their source for maintenance-essential parts.
• Through the Suez - Marines and Sailors man battle stations USMC 06 Feb 2003 -- Marines and sailors manned their posts and battle stations recently when the 7 ships transporting the 2d Marine Expeditionary Brigade navigated through the Suez Canal as part of the MEB's deployment to Central Command?s area of responsibility.
• 4th MAW calls up last 26 USMC 06 Feb 2003 -- The last twenty-six reserve Marines with Headquarters, 4th Marine Aircraft Wing have been activated in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
• National Guard assists in search for shuttle debris Army News 06 Feb 2003 -- National Guard airmen and soldiers joined the grim and painstaking search for debris from the ill-fated Space Shuttle Columbia soon after it disintegrated over Texas the morning of Feb. 1.

Defense Policy / Programs

• White House Daily Briefing White House 06 Feb 2003
• Kunsan hosts first exercise evacuation with Yokota aircraft PACAFNS 06 Feb 2003 -- A C-9 aircraft from Yokota Air Base, Japan, helped troops from the 8th Medical Group train on air-evacuating medical patients Wednesday.
• Rumsfeld Asks $15 Billion Increase in 2004 Defense Budget Washington File 06 Feb 2003 -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld presented his fiscal year 2004 (FY 04) defense budget to Congress February 5 asking for $379.9 billion - a $15.3 billion increase over last year - "to set in motion a process of continuing transformation" and to establish a culture which "will keep the United States several steps ahead of any adversaries."
• Ramstein cargo hub handling work increase AFPN 06 Feb 2003 -- The number of cargo aircraft that pass through this base shot up by 60 percent in the past year, and there is no slowdown in sight.
• Rumsfeld to Visit Italy, Germany AFPN 06 Feb 2003 -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld will leave today for Europe to consult with allies and meet American troops, DoD officials announced Feb. 6.
• Commentary: Military mourns cohorts lost on shuttle Army News 06 Feb 2003 -- Six Army astronauts are mourning their colleagues of the space shuttle Columbia that disintegrated over Texas Feb. 1.
• I MEF Marines face uncertainty as flow to Kuwait continues USMC 06 Feb 2003 -- The mission is not top secret and the destination is anything but unknown, but the final part of the familiar cadence is accurate for the leathernecks with I Marine Expeditionary Force. They don't know when they'll be coming home.
• The Marines have landed: MAG-11 and MWHS-3 arrive, unite with MWSS-373 USMC 06 Feb 2003 -- More than 100 Marines from Marine Aircraft Group 11 headquarters and Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 3 stepped off a DC-10 and arrived here Jan. 25, as part of Amphibious Task Force West and in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
• 86 AES trains on the Herc USAFENS 06 Feb 2003 -- Anywhere, anytime, on any aircraft - the 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron here stands "always ready" to provide medical evacuation. This was proof positive during a training exercise recently aboard a 37th Airlift Squadron C-130 Hercules aircraft.
• Corps integrates four commands USMC 06 Feb 2003 -- As Operation Enduring Freedom continues, four separate Marine Corps commands were called upon during the Christmas holidays to complete a critical task that became more challenging as the days went by.
• EOD looking for a proud few USMC 06 Feb 2003 -- Explosive Ordnance Disposal is not the easiest military occupational skill to get into.
• Navy 'Super Hornets' train at MCAS Yuma USMC 06 Feb 2003 -- Strike Fighter Squadron-102 from Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif., recently arrived here for a two-week training session.
• Workers fortify Yuma rifle range for safety USMC 06 Feb 2003 -- Permanent marksmanship training unit personnel and Marines spending a week on the rifle range for mandatory training will be able to complete their mission in a safer environment.
• Text: NATO to Escort Non-Military Vessels in Straits of Gibraltar Washington File 06 Feb 2003 -- NATO has decided to allow Alliance naval forces to escort designated Allied commercial and civilian ships traveling through the Straits of Gibraltar. This is an extension of Operation Active Endeavour, which was started in October 2001 to monitor shipping in the eastern Mediterranean in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
• PENTAGON/GUANTANAMO VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- There has been yet another suicide attempt by one of the terrorist detainees held at the U-S Navy Base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. U-S military officials are concerned by the sudden rise in efforts by prisoners to kill themselves.

Defense Industry

• Boeing Delays Next Delta IV Launch Boeing 06 Feb 2003 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] and U.S. Air Force officials have postponed the Feb. 10 launch of the Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) spacecraft, DSCS III A3, aboard a Delta IV Medium launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
• ORBITAL SUCCESSFULLY CARRIES OUT FIRST LAUNCH OF MISSILE DEFENSE BOOST VEHICLE Orbital Sciences Corp. 06 Feb 2003 -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) announced today that it successfully launched the first prototype of the interceptor boost vehicle the company is developing and manufacturing for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system under a contract from The Boeing Company.
• EADS: German Army’s Combat Training Centre fully operational EADS 06 Feb 2003 -- The world’s most advanced Combat Training Centre (CTC) of the German armed forces is now fully operational. Following extensive testing, the Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement accepted the facility near Magdeburg built by a consortium including EADS Dornier GmbH, Diehl Stiftung & Co and STN ATLAS Elektronik.
• General Dynamics Awarded $9 Million Contract for Guided Rocket Development General Dynamics 06 Feb 2003 -- General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), was awarded the initial $9 million increment of a $53.8 million contract for Block I development of the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama. The contract period of performance extends through July 31, 2005.
• Northrop Grumman Begins Construction on 50th Destroyer Northrop Grumman 06 Feb 2003 -- Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) Ship Systems sector has begun construction of DDG 100, the 50th ship in the DDG 51-class of Aegis destroyers.

Other Conflicts

• DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL United Nations 06 Feb 2003
• POWELL / MIDEAST VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- U-S Secretary of State Colin Powell told U-S lawmakers that President Bush is prepared to take on a more active role to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
• ISRAEL /PALESTINIANS VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- Two Israelis and at least four Palestinians were killed in overnight violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

• DRC: Interview with MLC leader Jean-Pierre Bemba IRIN 06 Feb 2003 -- Investigators of the rebel Mouvement de liberation du Congo have delivered to their leader, Jean-Pierre Bemba, the report resulting from their inquiry into acts of cannibalism and other violations of human rights reported to have been perpetrated by MLC fighters in Mambasa, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo [DRC]. The inquiry failed to verify any acts of cannibalism, but has confirmed that MLC fighters did indeed perpetrate a number of other violations.
• DRC: Momentum for Ituri Pacification Commission continues, says UN IRIN 06 Feb 2003 -- Efforts to establish the Ituri Pacification Commission (IPC) would continue, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the DRC, Amos Namanga Ngongi, said on Wednesday, noting that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, whom he met on 1 February, had pledged to work with the parties concerned, namely Angola and the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), known as MONUC.
• DRC: Niasse sees transitional government by late March, early April IRIN 06 Feb 2003 -- Moustapha Niasse, the special envoy of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the peace process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has said a transitional national government could be in place between the end of March and early April.
• IVORY COAST VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- Ivory Coast's government says it is investigating reports of killings by pro-government death squads during the country's nearly five-month-old rebel war. The announcement comes as President Laurent Gbagbo faces mounting international pressure to start implementing a peace accord with rebels.
• SUDAN / PEACE TALKS VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- The mediator trying to end Sudan's 20 year civil war says the end of the war is near. He was speaking at the adjournment of the third round of talks between the warring parties.
• SOMALIA: Interview with TNG Foreign Minister Yusuf Hassan Ibrahim IRIN 06 Feb 2003 -- Interview with Yusuf Hassan Ibrahim, foreign minister of the Transitional National Government (TNG) in Somalia. During the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, he spoke to IRIN about Somalia's relations with Ethiopia, the Eldoret peace talks and what the future holds for the war-ravaged country.
• BURUNDI: Amnesty International urges deployment of ceasefire monitors IRIN 06 Feb 2003 -- Signatories to a ceasefire agreement between the transitional government of Burundi and the Conseil National pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie should take immediate action to prevent human rights abuses by their forces as the African Union (AU) prepares to send ceasefire monitoring troops to the country, according to Amnesty International (AI).
• GUINEA: Focus on population influx from Cote d'Ivoire IRIN 06 Feb 2003 -- The population displacement caused by a four-month-old conflict in Cote d'Ivoire is putting to the test the absorption capacity of neighbouring Guinea, which already hosted some 92,536 refugees before September 2002, about 55 percent of them Liberian and 45 percent Sierra Leonean.
• ANGOLA: UNITA officials accuse govt supporters of intimidation IRIN 06 Feb 2003 -- Angola's UNITA opposition on Thursday called on the government to guarantee the safety of its members following reports that party officials had been prevented from setting up offices in parts of the country.

News Reports

• SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 06 Feb 2003
• SHAPE News Summary Analysis SHAPE 06 Feb 2003
• U.S. Funds Expanded Border Monitoring Mission in Georgia Washington File 07 Feb 2003 -- The United States has budgeted the entire amount needed to equip additional Georgian security guards for an expanded monitoring operation along Georgia's border with Dagestan, U.S. diplomat Douglas A. Davidson told the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna February 6, adding that the money should be available "in the very near future."
• UN / KOSOVO VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- The top U-N envoy to Kosovo told the Security Council today [Thursday] that the future status of the former Yugoslav province of Kosovo, under the administration of the United Nations since 1999, will not be determined this year.
• SERBIA POL VOA 05 Feb 2003 -- The formal end this week (Feb 4) of the Yugoslav federation recasts the political debate in Serbia, where two rival reformersa president and a prime minister--are locked in an increasingly bitter struggle. With the end of Yugoslavia one of the reformers is out of a job while his adversary has gained the upper hand.
• MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- Malaysia and Singapore agreed Thursday to submit a territorial dispute over a strategic island to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, ending weeks of verbal bickering. The agreement brings at least a temporary halt to another irritant in the often-troubled relations between the two neighboring countries.
• CONGO / EBOLA VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- Officials from the World Health Organization are traveling to northern Congo-Brazzaville to investigate reports of an outbreak of the Ebola virus that has killed more than a dozen people.
• ISRAEL /PALESTINIAN / SCHOOL VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- In the Middle East, a region marked with considerable hatred and distrust, there are still some places where lessons in harmony and respect are lived every day. One of them is a school in Jerusalem where Arab and Israeli children learn together.
• UNICEF/ZAMBIA/ERITREA VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- The U-N Childrens Fund is pleading for urgent assistance for millions of people suffering from drought and famine in Zambia and Eritrea. The agency warns of terrible consequences if the international community remains indifferent to the humanitarian crises facing those two countries.
• INDIA/BANGLADESH VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- India says more than 200 people stranded at the border between India and Bangladesh have been taken back by Bangladeshi authorities, ending a six day-standoff. However, it is not clear just where they went.
• INDIA AIRBUS VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin is promoting economic and defense cooperation with India during a three-day visit to the country. He also says France remains committed to preventing a war over the Iraq crisis.
• RUSSIA/PAKISTAN VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, concluding a three-day visit to Moscow, says he hopes Russia can help ease tensions between Pakistan and India.
• E-U/ PALESTINIANS VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- The European Union's anti-fraud office is investigating allegations that some E-U funding to the Palestinian Authority has been misused. However, the European Union's executive commission denies any money has been improperly used, and says it has probed such charges before.
• THAILAND CAMBODIA VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- Thailand will partially reopen its border with Cambodia on Saturday, after anti-Thai rioting in Phnom Penh led to a temporary break in relations between the two neighbors. AThe Thai government is calling the move a humanitarian gesture for the hundreds of Cambodians who need to cross the border to buy food from Thailand.
• ZIMBABWE / POLITICS VOA 06 Feb 2003 -- The defense has begun cross-examination of the state's star witness in the treason trial of Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Two top officials of his Movement for Democratic Change party are also being tried. Testimony was heated on the 4th day of the trial in Harare.
• Transcript: U.S. Welcomes New Union of Serbia and Montenegro Washington File 06 Feb 2003 -- The United States welcomes the measures creating the new union of Serbia and Montenegro from the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, U.S. diplomat Douglas A. Davidson said in a brief statement to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna February 6.
• Transcript: U.S. Supports UN Efforts in Abkhazia Washington File 06 Feb 2003 -- The United States commends the efforts of the United Nations to find a solution to the conflict in Abkhazia and supports an outcome that will be achieved peacefully, in partnership with Georgia, and that fully respects Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, U.S. diplomat Douglas A. Davidson told the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna February 6 after a presentation by Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini, special representative of the UN Secretary General in Georgia.
• Transcript: U.S. Urges Independent Analysis of New Kyrgyz Constitution Washington File 06 Feb 2003 -- The United States is disappointed that the Kyrgyz Republic proceeded with a constitutional referendum February 2 despite objections that the early date precluded sufficient public debate on proposed changes.