Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF/OND Casualty Update 15 Aug 2012 [PDF]
• Combined Force Arrests Taliban Weapons, Explosives Dealer AFPS 15 Aug 2012 -- An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban weapons dealer in the Sangin district of Afghanistan's Helmand province today, military officials said.

Defense Policy / Programs

• X-51A flight ends prematurely USAF News Release 15 Aug 2012 -- The X-51A Waverider successfully launched from an Air Force B-52 bomber over Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range Aug. 14 at approximately 11:36 a.m. PST. The X-51 safely separated from the B-52 and the rocket booster fired as planned. However after 16 seconds, a fault was identified with one of the cruiser control fins.
• Department of Defense Certifies Key Energy Investments Support Increased Combat Capability DoD 15 Aug 2012 -- The Department of Defense’s proposed budget supports the military’s operational energy goals according to a report released today titled "Energy Investments for Military Operations: for Fiscal Year 2013."
• Report Details Military's Energy Investments AFPS 15 Aug 2012 -- In the second report of its kind, a top DOD official has certified that the Defense Department's proposed 2013-2017 budget effectively funds initiatives to give troops better energy options.
• SecAF shares AF, DoD energy goals at summit AFNS 15 Aug 2012 -- Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley presented a keynote address on the Department of Defense's energy initiatives at the 2012 National Clean Energy Summit here August 7.
• USFJ commander focuses on bilateral operations AFNS 15 Aug 2012 -- With the Department of Defense's rebalance of military forces to the Asia Pacific region, the focus on bilateral operations is more critical now than ever, said the new U.S. Forces Japan and 5th Air Force commander.
• U.S. Marines, Soldiers Share Tactics With Botswanan Troops AFPS 15 Aug 2012 -- Marine Cpl. Kyle Swanson watched as soldiers from the Botswanan Defense Force engaged targets with rubber balls and 'flash bangs,' high-powered grenades that emit an ear-splitting boom and intense light, but no shrapnel.
• 541st CSSB completes 402nd AFSB support mission Army News 15 Aug 2012 -- The 541st Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 1st Sustainment Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan., completed its mission supporting the 402nd Army Field Support Brigade in August and is now coming home to the United States.
• Army Reserve Center nears completion Army News 15 Aug 2012 -- The California National Guard's Joint Forces Training Base here will soon be home to the 79th Sustainment Support Command's new Army Reserve Center.
• Illinois Army National Guardsmen fuel Southern Accord 2012 Army News 15 Aug 2012 -- In an effort to keep the wheels turning during Southern Accord 2012, petroleum supply specialists from Company A, 405th Brigade Support Battalion, Illinois Army National Guard from Streator, Ill., and their counterparts from the Botswana Defense Force, have been running both static and mobile re-fueling operations at Thebephatswha Air Base, Botswana.
• CVW-1 Conducts Aerial Change of Command NNS 15 Aug 2012 -- Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1 held an aerial change of command ceremony in the skies above the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) Aug. 15.
• US Military Pilot Training Emphasizes Drone Warfare VOA 15 Aug 2012 -- The U.S. military is rushing to train more pilots for remotely piloted aircraft as its reliance on drones grows in places such as Afghanistan and Yemen.
• Flynn: Integrated Intelligence System Provides Advantage AFPS 15 Aug 2012 -- Army Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn has become Defense Intelligence Agency director at a time when 17 intelligence agencies and organizations - an enterprise whose transformation began on 9/11 - are maturing into an integrated community that Flynn calls a strategic advantage for the nation.
• Revamped program eases Airmen's transition to civilian life AFNS 15 Aug 2012 -- A redesigned program will help ease every Airman's transition to civilian life and help them better apply their military experience, Air Force officials said today.
• U.S. Helps Botswana Build Medical Evacuation System AFPS 15 Aug 2012 -- When the Botswana Defense Force set out to build a medevac and aeromedical evacuation capability within its forces, it looked to the U.S. military, which has become the world's expert in evacuating wounded troops from the battlefield.
• Planners evaluate large Vibrant Response exercise Army News 15 Aug 2012 -- More than 9,000 Soldiers and civilians from numerous local, state and federal agencies participated in Vibrant Response 13, along with their equipment - mobile labs, helicopters, heavy equipment and so on - spread out over 5,000 square miles of southern Indiana and northern Kentucky.
• Russia Puts 4th S-400 Air Defense Regiment on Combat Duty RIA Novosti 15 Aug 2012 -- The fourth regiment armed with S-400 Triumf air defense systems will be officially put on combat duty in Russia's Far East on Thursday, a spokesman for the Eastern Military District said on Wednesday.
• HMS Diamond joins forces with USS Enterprise UK MOD 15 Aug 2012 -- HMS Diamond has joined the USS Enterprise to exercise with US Carrier Strike Group 12 in the Middle East and demonstrate the Type 45's outstanding air defence capabilities.
• August 15, 2012 - U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing US Dept. of State 15 Aug 2012
• Press Gaggle aboard the Press Bus en route Davenport, IA The White House 15 Aug 2012

Defense Industry

• DoD News: Contracts for August 15, 2012

Other Conflicts

• 15 August 2012 - Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General United Nations 15 Aug 2012
• Analysis: Armed groups should not be a law unto themselves IRIN 15 Aug 2012 -- The vast majority of conflicts involve one or more armed groups - in 2011 there were at least 48 non-international armed conflicts involving about 170 armed groups - and while some seek to conform to international humanitarian and human rights law, others wear their complete disrespect for the laws of war as a badge of honour.
• UN Security Council: 'Impossible Mission' Awaits Peace Envoy to Syria VOA 15 Aug 2012 -- A senior United Nations official said Wednesday that Kofi Annan's replacement as the U.N.-Arab League peace envoy for Syria faces an impossible job. But French Ambassador Gerard Araud, who is president of the Security Council this month, noted that the United Nations can serve as a neutral channel for possible negotiations.
• Panetta Plays Down Syria No-Fly Zone Option RFE/RL 15 Aug 2012 -- U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has suggested the Pentagon is not seriously considering a no-fly zone in Syria.
• Air Strike Kills At Least 20 In Northern Syria; Blast Rocks Damascus RFE/RL 15 Aug 2012 -- The Syrian opposition says at least 20 people have been killed in a government air strike on a rebel bastion in northern Syria.
• Syrian Government, opposition forces responsible for war crimes – UN rights panel UN News Centre 15 Aug 2012 -- Syrian Government and opposition forces have perpetrated war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to a new report by the United Nations independent panel probing abuses committed during the country's ongoing conflict.
• VOA Reporter: Scores Wounded, Dead in Syrian Bombardment VOA 15 Aug 2012 -- A Syrian warplane bombarded the rebel-controlled northern border town of Azaz on Wednesday, leaving scores wounded and several dozen dead, according to a VOA reporter on the scene.
• China Slams Western Involvement in S. China Sea Issue VOA 15 Aug 2012 -- China is responding to accusations that it scuttled Southeast Asian unity over the South China Sea by lashing out at what it calls Western meddling among rival claimants. The Obama administration, though, says China should not pursue a 'divide-and-conquer' strategy in the maritime standoff.
• Taiwan rules out cooperation with China on Tiaoyutai issue CNA 15 Aug 2012 -- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) flatly rejected Wednesday a proposal by some activists that Taipei should cooperate with Beijing in asserting its sovereignty over the disputed Tiaoyutai Islands in the East China Sea.
• Taiwan supplies food to HK boat heading to Tiaoyutais CNA 15 Aug 2012 -- Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) provided food supplies Wednesday to a Hong Kong vessel on its way to the disputed Tiaoyutai Islands in the East China Sea, Premier Sean Chen said.
• Protests in Taipei, Beijing following Yasukuni Shrine visit CNA 15 Aug 2012 -- Activists in Taipei and Beijing launched protests Wednesday against Japan's territorial claims over the Tiaoyutai Islands and a visit made by Japanese ministers to honor war dead at the Yasukuni Shrine the same day.
• Ma's East China Sea initiative receives positive response: MOFA CNA 15 Aug 2012 -- President Ma Ying-jeou's East China Sea Peace Initiative to help resolve the dispute over the Tiaoyutai Islands has received positive responses from Japan and the United States, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Wednesday.
• UN food aid agency drops life-saving supplies for refugees in South Sudan UN News Centre 15 Aug 2012 -- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) carried out the first in a series of airdrops to replenish rapidly diminishing food stocks for more than 100,000 people in South Sudan who have fled fighting in Sudan.
• Security Council condemns attack on UN-African Union peacekeepers in Darfur UN News Centre 15 Aug 2012 -- The members of the Security Council strongly condemned the attack that killed a United Nations peacekeeper and injured another while they were protecting civilians in Nyala, South Darfur.
• DRC Hails 'Diplomatic Turnaround' on Rwanda Aid VOA 15 Aug 2012 -- The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) information minister says his country is at last being heard after 15 years of being ignored. Minister Lambert Mende was referring Tuesday to recent announcements by several countries that they are freezing aid to Rwanda over suspicions that it is supporting rebels in Congo, a move the DRC government has long been calling for.
• SOMALIA: Next stop Kismayo IRIN 15 Aug 2012 -- Even before it kicks off in earnest, the assault on Kismayo is causing jitters.
• Ban praises Timor-Leste's progress and consolidation of its security sector UN News Centre 15 Aug 2012 -- Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today praised the people of Timor-Leste for the progress they have made ten years after the country's restoration of independence, commending the Government for consolidating a security sector that will be able to protect the country as the United Nations peacekeeping mission prepares to leave at the end of the year.
• Mali Army Rejects Parts of ECOWAS Plan VOA 15 Aug 2012 -- Mali's army chief is rejecting parts of a regional military plan to retake the north from Islamist militants.

News Reports

• Iran dismisses British PM Bulgaria terror charge IRNA 15 Aug 2012 -- Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast on Wednesday dismissed British Prime Minister David Cameron's Bulgaria terror charge against Iran.
• Berlin reaffirms need for diplomatic solution of Iran's nuclear row IRNA 15 Aug 2012 -- Germany remains committed to a diplomatic settlement of Iran's nuclear dispute, foreign ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke told media representatives here Wednesday.
• Taiwan VP US Trip Tests Diplomatic Truce VOA 15 Aug 2012 -- Taiwan's vice president is spending an unusually long four days in the United States this month, a move that would once have drawn formal protests from China. Vice President Wu Den-yih stopped in New York for private meetings on his way to visit allied nations in Latin America, and will stay in Los Angeles on the way home. Taiwan's diplomatic truce with China helps smooth passages to North America while keeping a three-way peace.
• Japanese Ministers Visit Controversial War Shrine VOA 15 Aug 2012 -- Two Japanese cabinet ministers have visited a controversial war shrine seen by many as a symbol of Tokyo's imperialist past, in a move likely to anger neighboring China and South Korea.
• Ukraine Puts Tymoshenko Release at $7bln RIA Novosti 15 Aug 2012 -- The Ukrainian authorities offered to release opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko for a $7-billion 'ransom,' Oleh Rybachuk, former presidential chief of staff, was quoted by the Kommentarii news portal as saying.
• Europe's ATV-3 Spacecraft to Readjust ISS Orbit by 7.7 Km. RIA Novosti 15 Aug 2012 -- Engines of European Space Agency's ATV-3 space freighter will be switched on Wednesday to readjust the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS), the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said.
• Russian Space Official Resigns After Satellite Failure RIA Novosti 15 Aug 2012 -- The head of a top Russian rocket company handed in his notice on Wednesday, a day after Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev reprimanded space officials over a failed satellite launch last month, a government source said.