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Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• DoD News: DoD Identifies Army Casualties
• Feb. 12 airpower summary: C-130s sustain transport missions AFNS 13 Feb 2009 -- Coalition airpower integrated with coalition ground forces in Iraq and ISAF in Afghanistan.
• Iraqi, U.S. Forces Find Bomb, Seize Weapons AFPS 13 Feb 2009 -- Iraqi and U.S. forces foiled a bomb attack and seized stockpiles of weapons.
• Airmen help Iraqi aircrew perform night-vision missions AFNS 13 Feb 2009 -- Initiative in the works since August 2008 now a realization as the Iraqi air force continued their quest toward night-vision operations.
• At Least 30 Killed in Suicide Blast Targeting Iraqi Pilgrims VOA 13 Feb 2009 -- Iraqi police say a female suicide bomber has killed at least 32 people in an attack on Shi'ite pilgrims south of Baghdad.
• UK costs of Iraq, Afghan wars soar IRNA 13 Feb 2009 -- The cost of Britain's military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq soared by more than 50 per cent according to the latest official figures.
• Russia: Collective security pact, only way to ensure Persian Gulf security IRNA 13 Feb 2009 -- Russian deputy foreign minister: Persian Gulf security only through cooperation among region, Russia and the US.
• Afghan Commandos Liberate Hostages, Detain Militants, Destroy Bomb AFPS 13 Feb 2009 -- Afghan commandos liberated 3 Taliban hostages, detained 6 armed militants and destroyed a roadside bomb.
• U.S. to transit non-military cargo to Afghanistan via Russia RIA Novosti 13 Feb 2009 -- US will transit a consignment of non-military supplies to Afghanistan via Russian territory in the next few days.
• Kyrgyz Politician Says U.S. Forces Might Stay At Manas RFE/RL 13 Feb 2009 -- Leader of the Social Democratic faction: US forces will most likely remain at Manas, despite a government decision to close it.
• Top US Envoy Meets Afghan Officials in Kabul VOA 13 Feb 2009 -- The new U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan has begun his first round of meetings with top Afghan officials in the capital, Kabul.
• Decision Pending on Status of Suspected Somali Pirates AFPS 13 Feb 2009 -- The 16 suspected pirates captured by American ships have been transferred to the USNS Lewis and Clark.
• Rights Group Questions US Deal to Send Pirates to Kenya VOA 13 Feb 2009 -- The US Navy holding 16 suspected pirates aboard a warship while awaiting orders to move the suspects to Kenya for prosecution.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Transcript: DoD News Briefing with Geoff Morrell from the Pentagon Briefing Room, Arlington, Va. DoD 13 Feb 2009 --Presenter: Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell
• Senior Leaders Examine 2010 Defense Budget Choices AFPS 13 Feb 2009 -- Senior defense leaders are taking a serious and critical look at the president’s fiscal 2010 defense budget request.
• Obama Intel Chief: North Korea Unlikely to Use Nuclear Weapons VOA 13 Feb 2009 -- President Obama's national intelligence director: N Korea probably would not use nukes unless on the verge of military defeat.
• Economic Crisis Is Top U.S. Security Concern RFE/RL 13 Feb 2009 -- Director of national intelligence Blair: Global economic crisis is now the top US security concern, not terrorism.
• NAVSEA Puts Cost-Saving Initiatives to Work Navy NewsStand 13 Feb 2009 -- The Navy announced five major cost-saving initiatives by the Cumbersome Work Practices Task Force (CWP-TF) have been implemented by the four Naval Shipyards (NSYs) Feb. 10 in Washington.
• Deployed Seabees Accomplish Public Works Projects Navy NewsStand 13 Feb 2009 -- Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 4 have been tasked with many types of construction projects in various countries in East Africa, while deployed to the Horn of Africa (HOA) including the public works projects on board Camp Lemonier.
• Bataan Welcomes New CMC Just in Time for COMPTUEX Navy NewsStand 13 Feb 2009 -- The crew of multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) welcomed a new command master chief (CMC)prior to Bataan's departure Feb. 3 for Composite Unit Training Exercise (COMPTUEX).
• Clinton Deputy Sees Positive Path for North Korea in Nuclear Talks VOA 13 Feb 2009 -- Deputy Secretary of State Steinberg: N Korea has a positive path ahead if it adheres to disarmament agreements.
• South Korea on Alert as Clinton Prepares Trip to Region VOA 13 Feb 2009 -- South Korean anti-missile defense systems are on alert, bracing for a possible North Korean missile test.
• Missile Defense: A 'Virtual' Issue That Could Get Real Results RFE/RL 13 Feb 2009 -- Supporters of US missile defense say the initiative is needed to make the world a safer place.
• U.S. Offers Moscow Concession On Missile Shield RFE/RL 13 Feb 2009 -- US ready to look at remodeling missile-defense plans to include Moscow.
• US Signals Flexibility With Moscow on Missile Defense VOA 13 Feb 2009 -- State department official: US open to reconfiguring a European missile-defense program that has generated Russian concerns.
• U.S. Must Prepare for 'Hybrid' Warfare, General Says AFPS 13 Feb 2009 -- The US military boasts dominant nuclear and conventional capabilities, but must improve its capacity to fight irregular wars.
• Record Inactivation for Norfolk Naval Shipyard Navy NewsStand 13 Feb 2009 -- Norfolk Naval Shipyard completed in record time Los Angeles-class inactivation at the decommissioning for USS Augusta.
• USS Bunker Hill Completes Sea Trials Navy NewsStand 13 Feb 2009 -- USS Bunker Hill successfully completed sea trials off the coast of San Diego to test and validate its recently installed combat systems.
• When pigs fly... with ospreys AFNS 13 Feb 2009 -- For the first time, the tilt-rotor CV-22 Osprey and the fixed-wing A-10 Thunderbolt II, often nicknamed the Warthog, teamed up for some high-flying training recently.
• Air Forces Africa Works to Boost Nigerian Air Safety AFPS 13 Feb 2009 -- Advances in technology, stringent maintenance and rigorous training for aircrews contributed to safe aerial environment in most of the world.
• APS Completes Work in Senegal, Sails for Ghana Navy NewsStand 13 Feb 2009 -- The Africa Partnership Station Nashville team departed first African port after team building events, seminars and training evolutions.
• India to fire 5,000 km range Agni missile by December 2010 IRNA 13 Feb 2009 -- India is likely to fire its Agni-V ballistic missile with a range of 5,000 km by the end of 2010.
• India, Russia enter into $ 600 million JV to develop new aircraft IRNA 13 Feb 2009 -- India and Russia would establish a fifty-fifty Joint Venture to develop a multi-role transport aircraft.
• Russia offers India 320 combat helicopters RIA Novosti 13 Feb 2009 -- Russia ready to provide India with 320 military helicopters and hopes to expand cooperation.
• Russia, Armenia to set up joint air defense network RIA Novosti 13 Feb 2009 -- Russia and Armenia will set up an integrated air defense network similar to recently announced Russian-Belarusian air defenses.
• Russian destroyer escorting 4 ships through Gulf of Aden RIA Novosti 13 Feb 2009 -- Russia's Admiral Vinogradov destroyer escorting 4 vessels through waters off the Horn of Africa.
• Russian warship detains 3 pirate vessels off Horn of Africa RIA Novosti 13 Feb 2009 -- Russia's Pyotr Veliky missile cruiser has detained three pirate vessels off the coast of Somalia.
• Press Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs The White House 13 Feb 2009

Defense Industry

• DoD News: Contracts for February 13, 2009
• General Dynamics Awarded $95 Million Contract for U.S. Navy Information Fusion Center General Dynamics 13 Feb 2009 -- Network Centric Systems, St. Petersburg, Fla.; Northrop Grumman Information Technology, Chantilly, Va.; Whitney, Bradley and Brown (WBB), Reston, Va.; New Directions Technologies Inc. (NDTI), Ridgecrest, Calif.; International Association of Virtual Organizations, Research and Scientific (IAVO) , Durham, N.C.; and Advanced Fusion Technologies (AFT), Springfield, Va.
• Orbital-Built NSS-9 Communications Satellite Successfully Launched for SES New Skies Orbital Sciences Corp. 13 Feb 2009 -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), the world's leading manufacturer of smaller-sized geosynchronous (GEO) communications satellites, announced today that the NSS-9 satellite, which is based on the company's STAR-2 platform, was successfully launched into orbit during a mission that took place on Thursday, February 12, 2009

Other Conflicts

• DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL AND THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT United Nations 13 Feb 2009
• ISRAEL-OPT: Hamas providing emergency relief to Gazans IRIN 13 Feb 2009 -- The Hamas government in Gaza has said it is trying to help thousands of Palestinians who lost their homes and/or loved ones in the 22-day Israeli offensive which ended on 18 January. According to deputy minister of social affairs, Sobhi Redwan, Hamas has so far spent an estimated US$50 million on emergency relief assistance, but more aid is needed.
• Violence Persists as Israel, Palestinians Report Near Truce VOA 13 Feb 2009 -- Israelis and Palestinians fought again Friday, raising tension as the two sides try to forge a long-term ceasefire for the Gaza Strip.
• Hamas agrees on long-term truce with Israel RIA Novosti 13 Feb 2009 -- Hamas has accepted a new truce agreement with Israel in return for the lifting of the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
• Hamas, Fatah to discuss unity talks in Egypt RIA Novosti 13 Feb 2009 -- Senior officials from the two main Palestinian factions are discussing resuming Egypt-sponsored reconciliation talks.
• Security Council renews call for greater humanitarian access to Gaza UN News Centre 13 Feb 2009 -- The United Nations Security Council again voiced deep concern today about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and stressed "importance and urgency that more needs to be done."
• CONGO: Purchase of illegal weapons under way IRIN 13 Feb 2009 -- The Congolese government has started an operation to buy 3,000 weapons from ex-combatants and others illegally possessing weapons in the Pool region, southern Congo, an official told IRIN on 11 February.
• DRC-RWANDA: Refugees in DRC opting to go back home IRIN 13 Feb 2009 -- Rwandans who have lived in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since the early 1990s have started returning home following a joint military offensive against the rebels, officials said.
• DR Congo: new developments could pave way for uprooted to return home – UN UN News Centre 13 Feb 2009 -- Recent developments in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – including the arrest of a rebel leader and a large-scale military operation against another militia – have sparked a “new dynamic” that could lead to the start of large numbers of displaced people returning home, the top United Nations relief official said today.
• UN aid reaches Central African refugees in south-eastern Chad UN News Centre 13 Feb 2009 -- A team from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reached thousands of people who fled violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) to a remote area of south-eastern Chad.
• Security Council renews UN Georgia mission for four months, pending revisions UN News Centre 13 Feb 2009 -- The Security Council today unanimously extended the 15-year-old United Nations mission on the ceasefire line between the Government and Abkhaz separatists.
• UN Security Council Set To Extend UNOMIG Mandate RFE/RL 13 Feb 2009 -- Abkhazia does not object to the draft Security Council resolution on extending mandate of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia.
• 39 Tamil Tigers killed by Lankan troops IRNA 13 Feb 2009 -- At least 39 Tamil Tigers were killed in the fierce clashes with the advancing Sri Lankan troops.
• Air Raid Kills Hutu Militia in DRC VOA 13 Feb 2009 -- Army officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo say an air raid has killed more than 40 Rwandan Hutu rebels.
• AU Condemns Somali Insurgent Attacks on AMISIOM Supply Ship VOA 13 Feb 2009 -- The African Union has condemned Islamic insurgent attacks on a ship carrying logistics for its peacekeeping troops in Somalia.
• Report Of Turkish-Mediated Karabakh Conflict Settlement Denied RFE/RL 13 Feb 2009 -- Representatives of the Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Turkish Foreign Ministries separately denied report claiming Turkey had mediated a "partial" settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

News Reports

• UN General Assembly on verge of negotiating Security Council reform UN News Centre 13 Feb 2009 -- On-going work on reshaping the size and membership of the Security Council and making the vital organ of the world body more democratic is finally heading for serious negotiations, the Ambassador to the United Nations for Afghanistan, Zahir Tanin, told the press today.
• UN chief expresses 'sorrow' on fourth anniversary of Hariri murder UN News Centre 13 Feb 2009 -- On the fourth anniversary of the massive car bomb blast that killed Lebanon's former prime minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today expressed his sorrow to the Lebanese people over the tragic loss of a man who stood strongly for the independence and sovereignty of his country.
• ZIMBABWE: Abduction threatens unity government IRIN 13 Feb 2009 -- The future of Zimbabwe's 48-hour-old unity government may hang in the balance after a leading member of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was abducted by police outside the capital, Harare, on 13 February.
• Final Israeli Election Results Bring Political Uncertainty VOA 13 Feb 2009 -- Final results have been announced in Israeli elections.
• Campaigning Under Way Ahead Of IAEA Vote On El-Baradei's Successor RFE/RL 13 Feb 2009 -- Ambassadors to the IAEA declared as candidates to succeed Director-General el-Baradei.
• MDC Minister Roy Bennett Arrested in Harare VOA 13 Feb 2009 -- Roy Bennett, the MDC's choice to become deputy agriculture minister, was reportedly seized at a Harare airport, hours before the ministers in the unity government were to be sworn in.
• Police Open Fire in Southern Madagascar Amid Rioting VOA 13 Feb 2009 -- Police in southern Madagascar opened fire Thursday as a large group young people rioted and threatened to loot businesses.
• Sharmarke Chosen as PM in Somalia's National Unity Government VOA 13 Feb 2009 -- Somalia's President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has chosen a Western-educated son of an assassinated former president to be the country's prime minister.
• Lebanon Provides Fertile Ground for Iranian Influence VOA 13 Feb 2009 -- The 1979 Islamic Revolution not only changed the face of Iran, but was also meant for export.
• Liberian President Says She Was Misled in Supporting Taylor's Rebel Movement VOA 13 Feb 2009 -- Liberian President Sirleaf's long-awaited testimony before the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission finally took place.
• Successful launch of two SPIRALE demonstration satellites for an early warning system Thales 13 Feb 2009 -- Two demonstration satellites for SPIRALE (French acronym for "preliminary infrared warning system") were successfully launched from Kourou, French Guiana, by an Ariane 5 rocket. As prime contractor for this national program, on behalf of the DGA, the French defence procurement agency, EADS Astrium will supply and operate a complete system designed to collect infrared images of terrestrial backgrounds.