• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 5 Feb 2009 [PDF]
• Feb. 4 airpower summary: C-130s support vital airlift missions AFNS 05 Feb 2009 -- Coalition airpower integrated with coalition ground forces in Iraq and ISAF in Afghanistan during operations.
• Suicide Bombing Targets Diyala as Iraq Awaits Poll Results VOA 05 Feb 2009 -- Officials in Iraq say a suicide bomber has killed at least 12 people in the northeastern province of Diyala.
• Obama Studies Afghanistan Troop Increase Now, New Strategy Later VOA 05 Feb 2009 -- President Obama is expected to formally approve the deployment of 7,000 additional US combat troops to Afghanistan.
• Afghan Defense Chief Says More Foreign Troops Will Curb Civilian Deaths RFE/RL 05 Feb 2009 -- Defense Minister General Wardak: Increase in foreign troops in Afghanistan will reduce civilian casualties.
• Taliban Strategy Aims To Cut NATO Logistics, Undermine Elections RFE/RL 05 Feb 2009 -- It has become a rite of spring during the last three decades in Afghanistan.
• Clinton: Kyrgyzstan Decision to End US Access to Airbase 'Regrettable' VOA 05 Feb 2009 -- Secretary of State Clinton: Decision by Kyrgyzstan to end US access to airbase is regrettable, but not a major setback.
• US Looks to Uzbekistan for Alternate Afghan Supply Route VOA 05 Feb 2009 -- Diplomatic and defense sources say US is considering a military deal with Uzbekistan for an alternative supply route for Afghanistan.
• Manas members continue to support coalition operations AFNS 05 Feb 2009 -- Coalition personnel continue to perform their daily air mobility and aerial refueling missions at Manas Air Base, Kyrgyzstan.
• Kyrgyz parliament to decide on U.S. base closure next week RIA Novosti 05 Feb 2009 -- Kyrgyzstan's parliament could vote on the closure of a U.S. military base next week.
• Vella Gulf Assumes Duties as Counterpiracy Task Force Flagship Navy NewsStand 05 Feb 2009 -- On Feb. 4, USS Vella Gulf became the flagship of Combined Task Force 151.
• Kentucky Guard Delivers Meals, Water to Storm Victims AFPS 05 Feb 2009 -- Kentucky National Guard troops delivering record numbers of meals and bottled water as part of ice storm relief effort.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Stout Shines in COMPUTEX Navy NewsStand 05 Feb 2009 -- Holding true to its motto 'Tough, Rugged, Fast and Ready,' the USS Stout (DDG 55) successfully completed a composite unit training exercise (COMPUTEX) with the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, held from Jan. 8-26, and returned to its Norfolk home port Jan. 28.
• MSC Ships, Personnel Deliver in Exercise Cobra Gold 2009 Navy NewsStand 05 Feb 2009 -- Two Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships delivered hundreds of pieces of U.S. Marine Corps equipment and containerized supplies to Thai ports in late January as preparations ramped up for Exercise Cobra Gold 2009, the major multinational exercise scheduled for Feb. 4-17 in Thailand.
• USS Florida Welcomes New Captain Navy NewsStand 05 Feb 2009 -- USS Florida (SSGN 728) (Blue) held a change of command ceremony in Diego Garcia Feb. 3.
• Southwest Asia Region Disestablished Navy NewsStand 05 Feb 2009 -- Commander Navy Region Europe, Naples, Italy, assumed operational and administrative control of Navy Region Southwest Asia, headquartered aboard US Naval Support Activity Bahrain as well as remote bases and installations within its area of responsibility.
• Joint basing efforts under way at 3 AMC bases AFNS 05 Feb 2009 -- Three Air Mobility Command bases are in the process of merging with two Army posts and a Naval Air Station.
• Intelligence Lab Tests Best Practices, Emerging Concepts AFPS 05 Feb 2009 -- Laboratory at USJFC's Joint Warfighting Center here will enable analysts and warfighters alike to "step into" data fields.
• Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team Sets Sights on Mission Navy NewsStand 05 Feb 2009 -- Marine Corps Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team, Central Command plays vital role in supporting both fleet and fighter.
• NMCB 11 Retraces Its Historic Steps Navy NewsStand 05 Feb 2009 -- The re-established Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 11 is in the movement stage of its deployment.
• Georgia Says Russian Occupation Makes Joining NATO Challenging RFE/RL 05 Feb 2009 -- Georgian state minister for Euroatlantic Integration: Alliance reiterated its pledge that Georgia will join NATO.
• Taiwan needs to minimize China threat: president CNA 05 Feb 2009 -- President Ma reiterated Thursday that Taiwan needs to minimize the threat posed by China in order to uphold the country's best interests.
• China Supports Stability on Korean Peninsula VOA 05 Feb 2009 -- China says the aid it provides to North Korea is aimed at helping the North Korean people.
• Daily Press Briefing US Dept. of State 05 Feb 2009
• Press Briefing_2-5-2009 The White House 05 Feb 2009

Defense Industry

• DoD News: Contracts for February 05, 2009
• BAE SYSTEMS RECEIVES $43.7 MILLION CONTRACT FOR IMPROVED OUTER TACTICAL VESTS BAE Systems 05 Feb 2009 -- BAE Systems has received a $43.7 million contract to produce and deliver 75,000 Improved Outer Tactical Vests (IOTV) for the U.S. Army
• Boeing Receives Contract to Add Virtual Radar to US Navy T-45 Training System Boeing 05 Feb 2009 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] received a $28.3 million contract on Jan. 21 for two Virtual Mission Training System (VMTS) retrofit kits that will integrate low-cost, realistic radar training into the U.S. Navy's T-45 Training System for undergraduate military flight officers (UMFO).
• AFRL Picks Industry Team as Phase II Integrator for Automated Aerial Refueling Boeing 05 Feb 2009 -- The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has awarded an industry team led by Boeing [NYSE: BA] a four-year contract worth $49 million to continue developing technology that will enable an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) to autonomously rendezvous with a tanker aircraft and refuel.
• EADS North America receives U.S. Army contract for five additional UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopters EADS 05 Feb 2009 -- The U.S. Army awarded EADS North America a contract for five additional UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopters (LUH) Jan. 15, 2009, bringing the total number of aircraft on contract to 128.
• Pratt & Whitney’s F135 STOVL Engine Cleared for Powered Lift Operations Pratt & Whitney 05 Feb 2009 -- Pratt & Whitney’s F135 engine program achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first engine to receive a Statement of Qualification for F-35 Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) full powered lift operations.
• U.S. Army Awards Simulation and Training Omnibus Contract to SAIC SAIC 05 Feb 2009 -- Company to Provide Next-Generation Simulation and Training Devices
• Boeing SBSS System Progressing Toward 1st Launch Boeing 05 Feb 2009 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has successfully completed initial satellite testing and has demonstrated end-to-end mission functionality of the ground and space systems of the integrated Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) system.

Other Conflicts

• DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL United Nations 05 Feb 2009
• Hamas negotiators leave Egypt with no agreement on Israeli truce RIA Novosti 05 Feb 2009 -- Hamas left the latest round of talks in Cairo on a lasting Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire with no agreement in place.
• Israeli special forces kill Jihad commander in West Bank RIA Novosti 05 Feb 2009 -- Israeli special forces killed a 21-year-old Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander at his home in the West Bank.
• Israel Intercepts Arab Boat Trying to Break Gaza Blockade VOA 05 Feb 2009 -- In a continuation of recent tensions, Israeli gunboats intercepted a Lebanese ship trying to break the blockade on Gaza.
• Rebel group withdraws from South Darfur, says UN UN News Centre 05 Feb 2009 -- The leader of an armed group involved in recent combat in the South Darfur region of Sudan has pulled his militia out of the conflict zone.
• Sudan Envoy: UN Peacekeepers Will Be Safe if ICC Issues Warrant Against Bashir VOA 05 Feb 2009 -- Senior Sudanese diplomat: Safety of UN peacekeepers will not be in jeopardy if ICC grants a request for an arrest warrant for President al-Bashir.
• Doctors' Group Decries Lack of UN Response to Congo Attacks VOA 05 Feb 2009 -- The aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières: UN peacekeepers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo not doing enough to protect civilians.
• DRC: Protect civilians in northeast from rebels - MSF IRIN 05 Feb 2009 -- The Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army is deliberately targeting civilians and hindering humanitarian access in northeastern DRC.
• Over 200 children pulled from armed groups in DR Congo, UN says UN News Centre 05 Feb 2009 -- More than 220 children have been separated from armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo within the past week.
• Sri Lankan Army Captures Key Tamil Rebel Sea Base VOA 05 Feb 2009 -- The Sri Lankan military says it is one step closer to ending a 25-year uprising by ethnic Tamil militants fighting for a separate homeland in this Indian Ocean island's northern tip.
• Colombo rejects a US-led call for talks with LTTE IRNA 05 Feb 2009 -- The Sri Lankan government has rejected a US-led call to negotiate terms of surrender by the Tamil Tiger rebels.
• Civilians Flee Sri Lanka War Zone VOA 05 Feb 2009 -- Sri Lanka's military says more than 700 civilians have fled to a government-controlled safe zone to escape fighting in the north.
• Colombian Rebels Free Former Lawmaker VOA 05 Feb 2009 -- Colombia's FARC rebels have freed a former lawmaker they held captive for more than six years.
• Liberia's Truth Commission Member Denies Being a Rebel Supporter VOA 05 Feb 2009 -- A member of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has been accused of being a member of one of the many rebel factions that waged the country's civil war from 1989 to 2003.
• LEBANON: Funding struggle slowing cluster bomb clearance in south IRIN 05 Feb 2009 -- Waning international interest and funding is harming efforts to rid southern Lebanon of its hundreds of thousands of remaining cluster bomblets, posing a continuing threat to farmers and children, according to mine clearance organisations.
• CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC-CHAD: Thousands of CAR refugees await aid IRIN 05 Feb 2009 -- Some 10,000 people from the Central African Republic (CAR) - mostly women and children - are stranded in a remote area of southern Chad, having fled renewed fighting in northern CAR, local authorities have told the UN.
• Georgia: UN mission in 'precarious' position UN News Centre 05 Feb 2009 -- Although the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia continues patrolling, it is in a "precarious" position which could quickly become untenable.

News Reports

• CIA Nominee Vows No 'Extraordinary Rendition' VOA 05 Feb 2009 -- President Obama's nominee to run the CIA will not conduct "extraordinary rendition," as was allowed under former President Bush.
• Prime Minister's Bloc Wins In Baghdad, Southern Iraq RFE/RL 05 Feb 2009 -- According to preliminary official results in Iraq's provincial elections, the State of Law alliance of PM al-Maliki is the big winner.
• Iraq Announces Preliminary Results of Provincial Elections VOA 05 Feb 2009 -- Iraq's electoral commission has announced the preliminary results of provincial elections, amid accusations of irregularities and fraud.
• Miliband defends keeping alleged US torture evidence secret IRNA 05 Feb 2009 -- Foreign Secretary Miliband defended the non-disclosure of US intelligence in the case of alleged CIA torture.
• Ukrainians Disillusioned with 'Orange Revolution' VOA 05 Feb 2009 -- Political squabbling and a dire economic situation in Ukraine are a far cry from the heady days of the 2004 "Orange Revolution."
• Pirate Hijacking Resolved Peacefully; U.S. Monitors Situation Navy NewsStand 05 Feb 2009 -- Pirates released the Ukrainian ship Faina, Feb. 5 which they had held for ransom along with its 21-member crew and cargo since hijacking the vessel off the coast of Somalia in September.
• Somali Pirates Release Ship Carrying Controversial Arms Cargo VOA 05 Feb 2009 -- Somali pirates have released a Ukrainian ship carrying 33 tanks and other weapons, after receiving a ransom payment of more than $ 3 million.
• Pirates start leaving hijacked Faina vessel - maritime bulletin RIA Novosti 05 Feb 2009 -- Somali pirates have begun leaving the Faina after receiving a ransom for the Ukrainian cargo ship seized in September.
• Iranian Reformer Says Khatami Could Ease Country's 'Crisis' RFE/RL 05 Feb 2009 -- Former reformist parliamentarian Fatemeh Haghighatjou: Reelection of former President Khatami could help "lessen...crisis."
• Gazprom & Thales Alenia Space signed the contract for manufacturing 2 Yamal-400 comm. satellites Thales 05 Feb 2009 -- Today in Gazprom headquarters, Dmitry Sevastiyanov, Director General of Gazprom Space Systems, and Reynald Seznec, CEO of Thales Alenia Space, signed the contract for manufacturing and delivering two Yamal-400 new generation communications satellites. The ambassador of France to Russia Jean de Gliniasty, and the Chairman of Gazprom Space Systems board, Gazprom board member - Head of Property and Corporate Managing Department Olga Pavlova also participated in the signing ceremony.