Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 20 Aug 2008 [PDF]
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
• Coalition Strikes al-Qaida Networks, Finds Weapons Caches AFPS 20 Aug 2008 -- Coalition and Iraqi forces detained suspected terrorists and found weapons caches in operations throughout Iraq in the last three days.
• Iraqi Troops Detain Prominent Sunni Leader's Son VOA 20 Aug 2008 -- The U.S. military says Iraqi troops have detained the son of a prominent Sunni politician.
• Sarkozy Says France Still Committed To Afghanistan RFE/RL 20 Aug 2008 -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy has told French troops in Kabul that a deadly ambush against one of their patrols would not dampen France's commitment to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.
• PRT proving ingenuity is all it takes to make a difference AFPN 20 Aug 2008 -- In a country where the reality is that parents will have to bury one of their children before the age of 5, members of a coalition provincial reconstruction team at Zabul, Afghanistan, are working to reverse this staggering trend.
• Army Emergency Management workshop trains during Hurricane Fay Army News 20 Aug 2008 -- More than 100 emergency disaster preparedness officers and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear preparedness specialists from installations across the Army are meeting this week in Tampa, Fla., just as Hurricane Fay threatened to hit the Gulf Coast and caused trainers to come prepared for a real-life disaster.

Defense Policy / Programs

• First Littoral Combat Ship To Be Commissioned Nov. 8 Navy NewsStand 20 Aug 2008 -- The Navy's newest ship, the future USS Freedom (LCS 1), will be commissioned Nov. 8 at Veteran's Memorial Park in Milwaukee.
• Night-vision initiative sheds light on refueling improvements AFPN 20 Aug 2008 -- Members of the Air Mobility Battlelab here have helped KC-135 Stratotanker aircrews to see in the dark through the KC-135 Exterior Night Vision Imaging System-compatible Lighting initiative.
• Teamwork among depots keeps T-38s flying AFPN 20 Aug 2008 -- Workers from the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center's 76th Maintenance Wing here combined with Air Force Materiel Command's other two depots in a round-the-clock push to make hundreds of levers, helping Air Force officials keep the T-38 Talon training jet flying.
• Academy awarded $285,000 for wave energy research AFPN 20 Aug 2008 -- The next source of alternative energy could come from ocean waves, and Air Force Academy professors have been granted funding to dive into this research.
• Command post keeps gears turning on global mobility AFPN 20 Aug 2008 -- Buried in a building here is a dark room with no windows that is packed with computer and projection screens. Watching these monitors are the disembodied, silhouetted heads of 436th Airlift Wing command post controllers, who work behind the scenes to keep Dover's global airlift mission operational.
• University course teaches principles of information operations AFPN 20 Aug 2008 -- In the midst of the Korean War in the 1950s an American fighter pilot came up with a revolutionary concept that changed tactical, operational and strategic war planning.
• Submarine Development Squadron 5 Changes Hands Navy NewsStand 20 Aug 2008 -- Submarine Development Squadron (DEVRON) 5 welcomed aboard their new commodore during a ceremony on Pier Delta at Naval Base Kitsap, Bremerton Aug. 15.
• USS Halsey Changes Command Navy NewsStand 20 Aug 2008 -- The guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey (DDG 97) held a change of command ceremony Aug. 17 while at anchor off the coast of Victoria.
• Bush: America Must Stay on Offensive to Defeat Terrorism AFPS 20 Aug 2008 -- The United States must remain on the offensive to defeat global terrorism, President Bush told U.S. military veterans in Orlando, Fla., today.
• General Cites Need for Interagency, International Effort AFPS 20 Aug 2008 -- Influencing, countering and ultimately defeating regional threat networks in the greater Middle East will require a "whole-of-many-nations'-governments approach," a U.S. commander said during a conference call yesterday with military bloggers and online journalists.
• CNO Visits USS George Washington Navy NewsStand 20 Aug 2008 -- Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Gary Roughead, visited USS George Washington (CVN 73) at Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, Aug. 19, to address the crew and take questions as the ship prepares to get underway for Yokosuka, Japan.
• Poland, US Sign Missile Agreement VOA 20 Aug 2008 -- The United States and Poland formally sign deal to deploy American missiles in the east European nation.
• Moscow's NATO envoy says cooperation still on track RIA Novosti 20 Aug 2008 -- Russia-NATO cooperation is not at risk and it would be wrong to scale down the strategic partnership between Russia and the West.
• Ukraine to let Russian ships return to Sevastopol base RIA Novosti 20 Aug 2008 -- Ukraine will not prevent Russian Black Sea Fleet ships involved in a operation in Georgia from returning to base.
• Panamax Exercise Emphasizes Combined, Interagency Cooperation AFPS 20 Aug 2008 -- The scenario: A fictional terrorist group planted mines at approaches to the Panama Canal and threatened to cut off access to the waterway.
• Syria says ready to consider Russian air defense deal - paper RIA Novosti 20 Aug 2008 -- Syria ready to discuss missile-defense systems on its territory, but it has not received proposals from Russia.
• Press Gaggle by Gordon Johndroe and Paul Conway, Chief of Staff to Gulf Coast Coordinator The White House 20 Aug 2008

Defense Industry

• DoD News: Contracts for August 20, 2008
• General Dynamics Awarded Contract for Stryker Mobile Gun Systems General Dynamics 20 Aug 2008 -- The U.S. Army TACOM Lifecycle Management Command has awarded General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), a contract for the production of 62 Stryker Mobile Gun System (MGS) variant vehicles.
• SYSTEMS INTEGRATION LABS FOR PRESIDENTIAL HELICOPTER PROGRAM NOW ONLINE AT U.S. NAVY BASE IN MARYLAND Lockheed Martin 20 Aug 2008 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has brought online a full-scale cockpit and cabin mockup of the VH-71 presidential helicopter as part of the systems integration laboratory in the Navy's Presidential Helicopter Support Facility at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD.
• Lockheed Martin Awarded $5.8M Contract to Maintain Pentagon Electronic Messaging System Lockheed Martin 20 Aug 2008 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has been selected to operate and maintain the message routing infrastructure for the Pentagon's command messaging systems in support of the Pentagon Telecommunications Center, an organization of the Army Information Technology Agency
• Northrop Grumman Aircraft Carriers Reach Significant Milestones Northrop Grumman 20 Aug 2008 -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) reached significant milestones in the lives of two aircraft carriers at the company's Shipbuilding sector.
• Northrop Grumman's MQ-8B Fire Scout Completes First Flight Test With Payload and Integrated Tactical Common Data Link Northrop Grumman 20 Aug 2008 -- The U.S. Navy is moving closer to conducting Technical Evaluation with its Northrop Grumman Corporation-developed (NYSE:NOC) MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV).
• India places dlrs 2 billion Brahmos missile order: report IRNA 20 Aug 2008 -- India has placed orders for missiles worth two billion dollars with Russian-Indian military joint venture Brahmos.

Other Conflicts

• DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL United Nations 20 Aug 2008
• U.S. Will Continue to Support Georgia's Democracy, Bush Says AFPS 20 Aug 2008 -- The United States remains steadfast in its support of the former Soviet republic of Georgia, President Bush pledged to U.S. military veterans gathered in Orlando, Fla., today.
• U.S. Official Says No 'Carte Blanche' For Russian Peacekeepers RFE/RL 20 Aug 2008 -- The terms of the cease-fire between Russia and Georgia do not give Moscow a free hand to maintain an indefinite military presence on Georgian territory outside South Ossetia and Abkhazia, a senior U.S. diplomat has told RFE/RL.
• Russian Troops To Stay In Georgia Buffer Zone RFE/RL 20 Aug 2008 -- Russia has said its troops will remain in a "buffer zone" on the Georgian side of South Ossetia's border as long as Moscow deems it necessary.
• What Could Replace Russian Peacekeepers In Georgia's Breakaway Regions? RFE/RL 20 Aug 2008 -- Although the Georgian government has for several years actively lobbied the international community for support its demands that the Russian peacekeepers deployed in Abkhazia and South Ossetia be replaced by an international contingent, its arguments for doing so have been overwhelmingly political, rather than practical.
• Top U.S. Envoy Says Russia Will Pay A 'Serious Cost' RFE/RL 20 Aug 2008 -- The Bush administration's top envoy to the Caucasus has just returned from Georgia, where he says he received dozens of reports of serious human rights abuses throughout the region.
• Russia Rejects UN Security Council Resolution RFE/RL 20 Aug 2008 -- The UN Security Council has failed for the second time this week to agree on a draft resolution on the crisis in Georgia.
• Conflict Leaves Georgia Picking Up Pieces Of Economy RFE/RL 20 Aug 2008 -- In recent years Georgia has won international praise for its efforts to turn around the economy.
• Abkhazia To Ask Russia To Recognize Independence RFE/RL 20 Aug 2008 -- Abkhaz lawmakers have approved the text of an independence appeal submitted by the unrecognized republic's de facto president, Sergei Bagapsh.
• The Real Balkan Lessons In Georgia Conflict RFE/RL 20 Aug 2008 -- This was supposed to be a dull August with the Olympics in Beijing dominating news around the world, Iraq on autopilot, and most Europeans away on vacation
• Why Moscow Went Into Georgia RFE/RL 20 Aug 2008 -- The geopolitical consequences of the Russia-Georgia conflict remain unclear both to the participants themselves and to the outside world
• Georgia Crisis Highlights Kazakhstan's Balancing Act RFE/RL 20 Aug 2008 -- Two major Russia-related events have occurred literally one after another this month
• International Criminal Court monitoring events in Georgia, Prosecutor says UN News Centre 20 Aug 2008 -- The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court confirmed today that his Office is analysing information related to alleged crimes committed in Georgia in recent weeks that fall under the Court's jurisdiction.
• S.Ossetia says almost 1,500 locals killed in Georgia's attack RIA Novosti 20 Aug 2008 -- Authorities in South Ossetia said on Wednesday that 1,492 of the province's residents were killed in Georgia's military offensive.
• Russia Rejects New UN Draft on Georgia VOA 20 Aug 2008 -- Russia's UN ambassador will not support a French-sponsored draft resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from Georgia.
• Russian troops continue Georgia pull out - General Staff RIA Novosti 20 Aug 2008 -- Russia continues to withdraw its troops from Georgia despite the tense situation in South Ossetia.
• Russian Forces Reportedly Withdrawing From Georgian Town AFPS 20 Aug 2008 -- Unofficial reports indicate that Russian troops began to withdraw from the Georgian town of Gori last evening.
• Russian Military Trucks Leave Georgia, But No Major Pullout VOA 20 Aug 2008 -- Witnesses say Russian military trucks have begun crossing back into Russia, but no evidence of the large-scale withdrawal.
• Senior Russian officer accused of spying for Georgia RIA Novosti 20 Aug 2008 -- A senior Russian military officer has been detained in Russia on suspicion of spying for Georgia.
• ISRAEL-OPT: Rocket attack throws Gaza crossing plan into jeopardy IRIN 20 Aug 2008 -- Israel closed all crossing points to the Gaza Strip after militants in the enclave fired a rocket into Israel.
• UN human rights expert welcomes Somali accord UN News Centre 20 Aug 2008 -- The United Nations Independent Expert on human rights in Somalia has welcomed Monday's signing of a peace agreement between the country's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and an opposition group, calling it "a hopeful sign" in the war-torn nation.
• DR Congo: UN peacekeepers deployed to east after rebel attacks UN News Centre 20 Aug 2008 -- United Nations peacekeepers and soldiers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been jointly deployed in the eastern provinces of Ituri and Orientale to protect civilians after attacks by the rebel group known as the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
• SOMALIA: Peacekeeping mission extended as parties sign Djibouti peace accord IRIN 20 Aug 2008 -- After months talks, representatives of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and a faction of an Eritrea-based opposition alliance signed an agreement.
• Uganda's LRA Rebel Leader Says He's Ready Again for Peace Talks VOA 20 Aug 2008 -- Rebel leader Joseph Kong to meet with negotiating team for consultation way forward in negotiations with the Ugandan government.
• Lankan Prez declares war will continue until last Tiger is killed IRNA 20 Aug 2008 -- Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa: Military campaign against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam will continue 'until the last rebel is killed'.
• 40 injured in fresh violence in Jammu IRNA 20 Aug 2008 -- Forty people, including nine policemen were injured as fresh violence erupted in India's Jammu and Kashmir state.
• PHILIPPINES: "Worrying humanitarian situation" in Mindanao after fighting IRIN 20 Aug 2008 -- Call for major humanitarian relief assistance on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao and government troops to crush Muslim separatist rebels.

News Reports

• Gap in PML-N, PPP can widen over judges issue: Iqbal Cheema IRNA 20 Aug 2008 -- Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema: Gap between the two ruling parties could be widened if they failed to find a solution on judges issue.