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Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• AFGHANISTAN US VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- Six U-S Air Force personnel in Afghanistan were killed late Sunday when their helicopter crashed while on a humanitarian mission. The accident is the worst air crash suffered by the U-S military since coalition forces entered Afghanistan more than a year ago.
• Six Airmen Die in Afghan Mercy Mission Crash; Valiant Strike Continues AFPS 24 Mar 2003 -- An Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter crashed near Ghazni, Afghanistan, March 23, killing all aboard, said Combined Joint Task Force-180 officials in Bagram.
• Military Weather Forecasting VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- U.S. troops in Iraq will rely on accurate weather forecasts for every mission they attempt. Their information will come mainly from halfway around the world: the 28th Operational Weather Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base, in South Carolina. The squadron is part of a sophisticated new weather prediction system put in place after the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
• AFGHANISTAN: IOM steps up IDP returns from Herat IRIN 24 Mar 2003 -- With the return of some 1,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from displacement camps in the western Afghan city of Herat to the neighbouring northwestern province of Badghis, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is stepping up its efforts to return thousands of displaced families to their places of origin.

Defense Policy / Programs

• ARMY NAMED EXECUTIVE AGENT FOR COMBATING IRAQ OIL FIRES 24 Mar 2003 -- The Department of Defense has designated the Army as Executive Agent for implementing plans to extinguish oil well fires and to assess the damage to oil facilities during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• White House Press Briefing White House 24 Mar 2003
• Transcript: Background Briefing on Budget Supplemental 25 Mar 2003 -- "We are about to release to Congress a supplemental request, and we are going to really push for prompt and full congressional passage."
• Hurry and wait AFPN 24 Mar 2003 -- More than 250 soldiers from the 720th Military Police Battalion based at Fort Hood, Texas, relax at the tent city here during a stop on their way to support contingency operations.
• Pilots face increasing ground threats AFPN 24 Mar 2003 -- Coalition pilots have not yet had to face the intense air defenses over Iraq they had to deal with during the Gulf War.
• Air Force offers special war news Web site AFPN 24 Mar 2003 -- The Air Force has a special Operation Iraqi Freedom Web site highlighting the service news and photos from forward-deployed locations covering Air Force support of the war in Iraq.
• Supplemental Calls for $62.6 Billion for Defense AFPS 25 Mar 2003 -- The defense portion of the fiscal 2003 emergency supplemental budget request is set at $62.6 billion.
• "Ringmasters" Net Fourth Drug Bust Navy NewStand 24 Mar 2003 -- In late January, Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light (HSL) 48 Detachment 2, the "Ringmasters," operating from USS John L. Hall (FFG 32), participated in their fourth counter narcotics bust.
• Stealth fighters use new munitions to hit Baghdad ACCNS 24 Mar 2003 --U. S. Air Force F-117 stealth fighters struck five strategic targets in Baghdad March 21 using a new precision-guided munition, the EGBU-27, as Coalition forces turned the Operation Iraqi Freedom air campaign into high gear.
• Nepali special forces team bolsters security ACCNS 24 Mar 2003 -- Security at this forward deployed location has taken on a formidable new dimension. After adding layers of concertina wire, K-9s and four contingents of law enforcement, officials at the British installation have added a regiment nothing short of legendary.
• 2/3 Marines become cold-weather warriors USMC News 24 Mar 2003 -- Capt. Jason Perry is familiar with snow. Growing up as a kid he built snowmen from the small amounts that would fall during the winter months in his hometown of Flat Rock, N.C.
• 'New and improved' Marines jump from SASSY to STRATIS USMC News 24 Mar 2003 -- We are always looking for ways to improve things. We are constantly bombarded with "new and improved" things as well. And, much to the marketers delight, we buy the "new and improved" stuff in hopes that it will make our lives a little bit better and our work a little bit easier.
• Jungle hide-and-seek Marines learn tracking skills USMC News 24 Mar 2003 -- The art of tracking is a skill man has used for many years. The Jungle Warfare Training Center began a new course recently to train servicemembers how to use this ancient skill to their advantage.
• CJTF-HOA Commander and Djiboutian armed forces Commander discuss counterterrorism USMC News 24 Mar 2003 -- A group of American and coalition military officials, including Maj. Gen. John F. Sattler, the commander of Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa, and Maj. Gen. Fathi Ahmed Hussein, the commander of Djibouti's armed forces, gathered together March 17 to discuss ways to improve counterterrorism measures in the Horn of Africa.
• Taking down a town USMC News 24 Mar 2003 -- Marines cluster in groups of two and three filling magazines with rounds. Grenades are passed out and hung from gear along with green, red, and yellow smoke grenades. Splattered paint speckles flak jackets, canteen covers and even exposed skin - the relic of past battles.
• Vandenberg security forces respond to protesters AFSPC 24 Mar 2003 -- Security forces here responded to nearly 50 protesters at a base gate March 22 and arrested three. Another group of military supporters gathered at the gate to lend their encouragement to the base and its people.

Defense Industry

• Lockheed Martin's Guided MLRS Receives U.S. Army Approval to Enter Production Lockheed Martin 24 Mar 2003 -- Lockheed Martin's Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) has received approval from the U.S. Army to enter Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP). The GMLRS program finished a 48-month System Development and Demonstration phase in December 2002 after successfully completing Production Qualification Flight Testing.

Other Conflicts

• DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL United Nations 24 Mar 2003
• Official Cites Lack of African Leadership as Block to Congo Peace Washington File 24 Mar 2003 -- During a March 20 meeting on conflict in the Great Lakes region, a senior U.S. Government official voiced frustration at the inability of African leaders to end the turmoil in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that is slowly but inexorably draining the region of resources and human capital.
• Peace process in Bougainville still needs nurturing - Annan UN News Centre 24 Mar 2003 -- While the peace process in Bougainville is stronger than ever, it still needs nurturing, the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a report issued today on progress made by the United Nations mission to the island in Papua New Guinea.

• Annan strongly condemns 'cowardly massacre' in Kashmir UN News Centre 24 Mar 2003 -- Calling it a "cowardly act of terrorism," United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today strongly condemned yesterday's massacre of 24 people in Kashmir, including women and children.
• KASHMIR KILLINGS VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- In Indian Kashmir, unidentified gunmen have killed 24 Hindus, including 11 women and two children. The attacks come hours after a Muslim separatist leader was murdered. It is the worst outbreak of violence in Kashmir since a new regional government took power six months ago.

• NIGERIA-UNREST VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- More foreign oil facilities are shutting down in Nigeria as a result of continuing ethnic violence in the country's Niger River Delta. The move is further cutting production from Nigeria, the world's sixth-largest producer of oil.
• NIGERIA / UNREST VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- Ethnic fighting in Nigeria has prompted more foreign oil companies to shut down facilities in the Niger river delta.
• NIGERIA: Ethnic militants threaten to blow up oil facilities IRIN 24 Mar 2003 -- Militants from the Ijaw ethnic group in southern Nigeria's Niger Delta region threatened on Monday to blow up oil facilities they have seized if military raids continued against their villages.
• ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Security for demarcation under discussion IRIN 24 Mar 2003 -- Security plans for the impending demarcation of the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea are being drawn up, the head of the UN’s peacekeeping force said on Saturday.
• ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: UN force commander meets US Horn counterpart IRIN 24 Mar 2003 -- The force commander of the UN peacekeeping mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has held talks with the head of the US anti-terror taskforce based in Djibouti.
• COTE D'IVOIRE: UNHCR appeals for US $29 million IRIN 24 Mar 2003 -- The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday appealed to the international community for US $29 million to cover the needs of some 163,000 people liable to be affected by the six-month-old Ivorian crisis in 2003.
• COTE D'IVOIRE: ECOFORCE continues deployment IRIN 24 Mar 2003 -- A buffer force deployed to Cote d'Ivoire by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is scheduled to take up its positions along a 600 km line across Cote d'Ivoire this week, according to its chief of staff.
• LIBERIA: Fighting escalates as government tries to retake Gbarnga IRIN 24 Mar 2003 -- Fighting escalated in central Liberia over the weekend as government forces attempted to retake Gbarnga, provincial capital of Bong County, from the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). Defence minister Daniel Chea had ordered loyalist troops on Friday to observe a 48-hour ceasefire to allow civilians to leave the area.
• LIBERIA: UNHCHR concerned about protection of civilians IRIN 24 Mar 2003 -- The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) on Monday expressed profound concern at the continuing armed conflict in Liberia, its consequences and toll on the civilian population, the UNHCHR reported.
• ACEH REBELS / DISARMAMENT VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- Separatist rebels in Indonesia's northern province of Aceh have agreed to lay down their weapons as part of a peace deal signed with the Indonesian government in December. But guerrillas from the Free Aceh Movement are cautious.
• CHECHNYA / VOTE VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin says the people of Chechnya, by voting in favor of a constitutional referendum on Sunday, have voted in favor of peace. Mr. Putin spoke after partial results released Monday indicated that more than 95 percent of voters approved the new constitution.
• CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: CEMAC asks international community to help CAR IRIN 24 Mar 2003 -- Leaders of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC) have recognised the self-declared president of the Central African Republic (CAR), Francois Bozize, and encouraged him to continue his plans to restore peace to his country.
• DRC-UGANDA: Military will not prolong stay in Ituri, says officer IRIN 24 Mar 2003 -- The Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) are not interested in prolonging their stay in Ituri District, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), since they have achieved their objectives, Kale Kayihura, the military assistant to President Yoweri Museveni, said on Sunday.
• SIERRA LEONE: Further psychiatric evaluation for Sankoh IRIN 24 Mar 2003 -- A Special Court judge on Friday called for further psychiatric examinations for Foday Sankoh, leader of the former rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF). He is one of seven people so far indicted by the Court for bearing the greatest responsibility for crimes against humanity during Sierra Leone's 10-year war.

News Reports

• SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 24 Mar 2003
• SHAPE News Summary Analysis SHAPE 24 Mar 2003
• TURKEY / KURDS VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- In what some analysts see as a blow to Turkey's democratic reform process, the country's constitutional court banned the largest pro-Kurdish party earlier this month, saying it was acting as a front for Kurdish separatist rebels.
• ASIAN PNEUMONIA / PROBE VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- U-S health authorities say a previously unknown virus might be the cause of the Asian pneumonia that has killed 17 people worldwide as of Monday.
• ZIMBABWE / POLITICS VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- Thousands of people gathered in central Harare Monday for a demonstraton organized by by the ruling ZANU-P-F party, against the city's mayor,a member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. The demonstration was the first in more than a year that was not interferred with by police.
• BURMA / U-N ENVOY VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- A U-N human-rights envoy suspended his mission to Burma after finding, what he said was, a bugging device in a room where he was conducting confidential interviews with political prisoners.
• ZIMBABWE: Commonwealth suspension questioned IRIN 24 Mar 2003 -- A row is brewing over Commonwealth secretary-general Don McKinnon's announcement last Sunday that Zimbabwe's suspension from the 54-member body would remain in place until December.
• CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Bozize appoints prime minister IRIN 24 Mar 2003 -- The new leader of the Central African Republic (CAR), Francois Bozize, has appointed Abel Goumba as prime minister of a transitional government.
• SOMALIA: Feature - Continuity or change in Somaliland? IRIN 24 Mar 2003 -- Somaliland President Dahir Riyale Kahin faces a strong opposition challenge in the self-declared republic's first multiparty presidential elections on 14 April. His challengers are Ahmed Muhammad "Silaanyo" of the Kulmiye party and Faisal Ali "Warabe" of the Justice and Welfare party (UCID).
• Lockheed Martin to Provide Life Sciences Support to NASA Lockheed Martin 24 Mar 2003 -- Lockheed Martin Space Operations (LMSO) is a member of the winning team recently selected by NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) to provide astronaut-related medical support and operations, flight hardware development and research services for NASA's Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs. The potential value of this contract to Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) is about $300 million over the expected ten-year life of the contract.