Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 07 Jan 2008 [PDF]
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD Identifies Navy Casualty
• Transcript: DoD News Briefing with Vice Adm. Cosgriff at the Pentagon, Arlington, Va. 07 Jan 2008 -- Presenter: U.S. Naval Forces Command and U.S. 5th Fleet Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff
• Three U.S. Navy Ships Approached by Iranian Boats Navy NewsStand 07 Jan 2008 -- Following a routine transit through the Strait of Hormuz, Jan. 6, three U.S. Navy ships operating in international waters in the Persian Gulf were approached by five Iranian small boats that demonstrated irresponsible confrontational behavior near the U.S. ships.
• Iranian Boats Provoke 'Serious Incident' in Strait of Hormuz AFPS 07 Jan 2008 -- Three U.S. Navy vessels took evasive actions after five Iranian boats buzzed the ships transiting the Straits of Hormuz yesterday, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today.
• Admiral Details Iranian Challenge to U.S. Ships AFPS 07 Jan 2008 -- The commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet in the Middle East today called the behavior of Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats that buzzed three U.S. Navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday "unduly provocative."
• Transcript: DoD News Briefing with Col. Flynn from the Pentagon, Arlington, Va. 07 Jan 2008 -- Presenter: U.S. Army Commander of the 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division Col. Charles Flynn
• Guard's 76th Brigade Mobilizes for Iraq Army News 07 Jan 2008 -- The RCA Dome has crowned five NCAA championships and stood home to the Indianapolis Colts, but on Jan. 2, the dome hosted the largest going away party in Indiana's history.
• Jan. 6 airpower summary: F-16 supports Iraqi missions AFPN 07 Jan 2008
• Airmen design everything from bridges to buildings for Army AFPN 07 Jan 2008 -- Airmen here are helping their Army brethren everyday in different parts of Iraq, improving their quality of life by creating the blueprints for what may be the next place the Soldiers rest.
• Coalition Troops in Iraq Detain 6 Suspects During Raids AFPS 07 Jan 2008 -- Coalition forces detained six suspected terrorists yesterday during operations targeting al Qaeda in Iraq networks along the Tigris River Valley, military officials said.
• Iraqi Soldiers Train With U.S. Marines AFPS 07 Jan 2008 -- Iraqi soldiers are learning to fight and win on the battlefield thanks to the efforts of U.S. Marines here.
• Sheik Meeting Leads to Information on al Qaeda in Iraq AFPS 07 Jan 2008 -- In a vital and encouraging boost to the fight against al Qaeda in Iraq, local sheiks met with coalition forces officials Jan. 4 to discuss future concerned citizen programs.
• Double Bombing in Baghdad Kills 14, Wounds 20 VOA 07 Jan 2008 -- Iraqi police say a double suicide bomb attack in a northern district of Baghdad has killed 14 people and wounded 20 others.
• Afghan National Police Shut Down Bomb-Making Cell AFPS 07 Jan 2008 -- Afghan National Police arrested two suspected bomb makers during a Jan. 5 raid in the Bermel area of Afghanistan's Paktika province, military officials said.
• Afghan Commandos Graduate from Armorer Training Program AFPS 07 Jan 2008 -- Eight Afghan National Army weapons specialists have graduated from the first Commando Armorer Training Program.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Chilean CNO Visits U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, Afloat Training Group Navy NewsStand 07 Jan 2008 -- Vice Adm. Gustavo Jordan, Commander Naval Operations (CNO) of the Chilean Navy, visited Naval Station Mayport Jan. 4 to meet with two local commands for familiarization briefings.
• No Fatalities as Two F/A-18s Crash in Persian Gulf Navy NewsStand 07 Jan 2008 -- Teams from USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) rescued all three aviators after an F/A-18E and an F/A-18F that crashed during operations in the Persian Gulf Jan. 7.
• Princess Cruise Officials Recognizes Ronald Reagan and HS-4 for Successful Medical Evacuation Navy NewsStand 07 Jan 2008 -- Princess Cruises honored the crew of USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) and Helicopter Anti-Submarine Warfare Squadron (HS) 4 during a press conference and recognition ceremony Jan. 6 aboard the cruise ship Dawn Princess.
• TF Marne NCOs Team Up To Build IA's 'Backbone' Army News 07 Jan 2008 -- No one is more professional than I," states the U.S. Army's NCO Creed, and noncommissioned officers at Forward Operating Base Kalsu are gearing up to instill the same pride and professionalism in their Iraqi Army counterparts.
• Brigade Support Battalion Trains for Rainy Day Army News 07 Jan 2008 -- In the world of sports, analogies are frequently made between the games played and battle. What the witty sportscasters and writers don't take into account is a glaring difference.
• New analysis tool boosts AF's wartime mission AFPN 07 Jan 2008 -- The Air Force has developed a new tool for personnelists and functional area managers that provides a complete and accurate accounting of deployment assets.
• B-2 missions take team effort AFPN 07 Jan 2008 -- The B-2 Spirit is a two-person bomber that can strike a target virtually anywhere in the world. But it takes more than just the pair flying the B-2 to make the Spirit soar.
• Wind tunnel helps determine impact of hypersonic speeds AFPN 07 Jan 2008 -- Funding provided by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research has resulted in the world's only quiet hypersonic wind tunnel, which researchers are now using to test the performance of vehicles traveling at hypersonic speeds, or approximately 4,000 mph.
• Commercial flights move servicemembers around Africa AFPN 07 Jan 2008 -- The secretary of defense recently granted a waiver to allow Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa members to partner with a civilian contractor to take American servicemembers from major cities in the area of operation and fly them to smaller, remote locations.
• General Brady offers parting thoughts AFPN 07 Jan 2008 -- To many below the headquarters and major command levels, the title "AF/A1" may not mean much, but it should.
• AMC commander visits Airmen in Southwest Asia AFPN 07 Jan 2008 -- Deployed Airmen need modern aircraft and equipment to continue to effectively prosecute the war on terrorism, the commander of Air Mobility Command said in January during a recent tour of Southwest Asia air bases.
• Humvee egress training increases survival in combat AFPN 07 Jan 2008 -- Airmen from the 379th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron are receiving Humvee egress assistance training to increase their survival in combat.
• New Helmet Sensors to Measure Blast Impact AFPS 07 Jan 2008 -- Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division preparing to deploy to Afghanistan are being issued sensors that attach to their helmets to measure the impact from blasts, roadside bombs and other activities.
• Daily Press Briefing US Dept. of State 07 Jan 2008

Defense Industry

• DoD News: Contracts for January 07, 2008
• Boeing Submits HH-47 Combat Search and Rescue Proposal to U.S. Air Force Boeing 07 Jan 2008 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today submitted its revised HH-47 Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) helicopter proposal to the U.S. Air Force in response to Amendment Five of the service's original request for proposals.
• Boeing Responds to Missile Defense Agency's GMD Information Request Boeing 07 Jan 2008 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has responded to a U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) request for industry feedback on the follow-on Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program.
• LOCKHEED MARTIN SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES PRELIMINARY DESIGN REVIEW FOR NEW SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH MINI-SUB Lockheed Martin 07 Jan 2008 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] recently completed a Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for the Replacement Human Occupied Vehicle (RHOV), a next generation three-person Deep Submergence Vehicle (DSV) that will be used by the U.S. scientific community.
• Lockheed Martin Receives $29 Million for Combat-Proven HELLFIRE II Missiles Lockheed Martin 07 Jan 2008 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has received a $29 million production order from the U.S. Army for the combat-proven precision-strike HELLFIRE® II air-to-ground missile
• Navy MQ-8B Fire Scout Flight Test Initiated by Northrop Grumman Using New Ship Control Segment Northrop Grumman 07 Jan 2008 -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) initiated the next phase of the Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) MQ-8B Fire Scout development program with the first flight test using a Test and Training Control Segment
• Berlin mulls "sanctions" against EADS for A400 M delays IRNA 07 Jan 2008 -- The German government is seriously contemplating "sanctions" against the European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Company (EADS) for delaying the delivery of its Airbus A400M aircraft.
• Subsidiary of Rheinmetall and Diehl concludes procurement contract for SMArt munition with British and Australian armed forces Rheinmetall Defence 07 Jan 2008 -- Intelligent artillery munition SMArt 155 valued at more than 120 MioEUR was ordered by the armed forces of Great Britain and Australia at GIWS mbH, a joint subsidiary of Rheinmetall AG, Düsseldorf and Diehl Stiftung & Co. KG, Nürnberg. Production and integration is carried out by Diehl and Rheinmetall, both 50% shareholders of GIWS.

Other Conflicts

• Erlanger: Low Israeli Expectations for Bush Middle East Trip cfr.org 07 Jan 2008
• Analysis: Challenges Cloud Bush Mideast Mission cfr.org 07 Jan 2008 -- This week, U.S. President George W. Bush turns his attention to the search for a comprehensive peace between Arabs and Israelis, flying to the Middle East as his own nation increasingly focuses on the question of who will succeed him
• War crimes trial of former Liberian president resumes in UN-backed court UN News Centre 07 Jan 2008 -- After a delay of more than four months, the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor resumed today at the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL).
• PHILIPPINES: IDPs concentrated in Mindanao Island as clashes continue IRIN 07 Jan 2008 -- The vast majority of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Philippines are in Mindanao Island in the southernmost part of the country.
• SOMALIA: IDPs face eviction from camp IRIN 07 Jan 2008 -- The Somali government is threatening to evict over 1,600 displaced families from the compound of a former technical college in the capital Mogadishu, local sources said.
• DRC: Government and rebel groups meet to discuss peace IRIN 07 Jan 2008 -- An eight-day conference aimed at bringing peace to the troubled Kivus region in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has opened in the North Kivu capital of Goma.
• Sri Lankan opposition accuses government of "war-mongering" IRNA 07 Jan 2008 -- Accusing the government of "war-mongering", Sri Lanka's main opposition party Monday claimed the decision to scarp the ceasefire had benefitted Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) aspirations for a separate state, weakened the country and "disappointed" the international community, including India.
• EU Foresees 'Less Than Total' Independence For Kosovo RFE/RL 07 Jan 2008 -- The European Union is trying to steer Kosovo away from full independence.
• Secretary-General appeals for progress in UN-led Western Sahara talks UN News Centre 07 Jan 2008 -- On the eve of the third round of United Nations-led talks on Western Sahara, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged the parties to use the opportunity to enter into a more intensive and substantive phase of discussions.
• UN-backed peace summit begins in volatile eastern DR Congo UN News Centre 07 Jan 2008 -- A United Nations-supported conference aimed at bringing peace, security and development to the strife-torn eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is underway in North Kivu province, where fighting has uprooted hundreds of thousands of people in the past year.
• Senior UN official arrives in Nepal to visit mission supporting peace accord UN News Centre 07 Jan 2008 -- A senior United Nations political official arrived in Nepal today for a four-day visit to the UN mission supporting the peace process in the South Asian country after a decade-long civil conflict between the Government and Maoists claimed some 13,000 lives.
• New UN Darfur force must reach full deployment as soon as possible, says Ban UN News Centre 07 Jan 2008 -- The current troop level of the new African Union-United Nations hybrid peacekeeping force seeking to end the violence in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur is inadequate, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, appealing for resources to allow for full deployment.

News Reports

• Saakashvili leads with over 51% of vote in Georgia election RIA Novosti 07 Jan 2008 -- Former Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili is leading at the country's presidential elections with over 51% of the vote, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said Monday.
• Russia Protests Irregularities In Georgian Vote RFE/RL 07 Jan 2008 -- As Georgia woke today to a snowy Orthodox Christmas, President Mikheil Saakashvili was granted what he wished for -- an almost certain second presidential term.
• Georgia: Saakashvili Wins, But With Far Weaker Mandate RFE/RL 07 Jan 2008 -- With nearly all the votes counted in Georgia's snap presidential election, official tallies showed Mikheil Saakashvili headed for a second term, but his razor-thin first-round win and his surprising loss among voters in Tbilisi suggest that he returns with a more ambiguous mandate than before.
• Fuller: Despite Apparent Reelection, Saakashvili's Popularity Not High cfr.org 07 Jan 2008
• KENYA-UGANDA: More Kenyan displaced arriving at refugee centres IRIN 07 Jan 2008 -- Post-election violence has decreased in several districts of western Kenya, but displaced civilians have continued to trek across the border to seek refuge in Ugandan border towns, officials said.