March 27, 2012

11 suicide vests discovered at Afghan military headquarters

http://www.stripes.com/11-suicide-vests-discovered-at-afghan-military-headquarters-1.172771


11 suicide vests discovered at Afghan military headquarters
Stars and Stripes
Published: March 27, 2012

Although an investigation into the discovery is still in the early stages, it is known that 11 buses transporting Afghan army personnel were scheduled to leave the ministry parking lot, the CBS report said. Investigators are theorizing that a bomber was supposed to board each of the buses and they would stage a simultaneous attack, CBS reported.


Making progress, eh?

March 27, 2012

$2.4 Billion Dollar B-2 Bombers To Get a $2 Billion Dollar Upgrade

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/03/27/143206/b-2-bombers-at-whiteman-afb-get.html


B-2 bombers at Whiteman AFB get $2 billion update
Rick Montgomery | The Kansas City Star
Posted on Tuesday, March 27, 2012

~snip~

A challenge similar to that continually faces Whiteman Air Force Base, home to the B-2 stealth bomber. Many aircraft parts made in the 1980s, when the first of 21 B-2s rolled out of a Northrop Grumman Corp. hangar, are as obsolete today as the floppy disk.

Yet the plan is to keep those bat-winged bombers flying, and eluding the latest in radar technology, until 2058.

The Pentagon is moving forward with a $2 billion, 10-year effort to modernize the fleet’s defensive capabilities. Digital equipment will replace analog, antennas will be upgraded, communication systems and pilot displays will be enhanced — all needed to address “emerging and proliferating 21st century ground and airborne threats,” according to an Air Force report last year to Congress.

Col. Rob Spalding of Whiteman’s 509th Bomb Wing called the coming enhancements “the biggest and most complex update of the B-2 in its history.”



unhappycamper comment: We bought 21 of these bad boys and one of them got wet and crashed on Okinawa.

BTW, Winslow Wheeler on military.com (Flying Blind: Most USAF Aircraft Operating Costs Are Unknown; What Is Known Is Misreported) writes:

The B-2A stealth bomber’s CPFH cost has climbed in the last five years from $86,402 in
2006 to $135,182 in 2010.


Ka ching

March 27, 2012

Afghan 'allies' kill 3 more soldiers from U.S.-led coalition

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/03/26/143160/afghan-allies-kill-3-more-soldiers.html


Afghan 'allies' kill 3 more soldiers from U.S.-led coalition
Jon Stephenson | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Monday, March 26, 2012

KABUL, Afghanistan — Three soldiers from the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan — two of them British and the nationality of the third unknown — were killed Monday, apparently by members of the Afghan security forces in two separate incidents, the latest in a series of "green on blue" shootings.

The two British soldiers were shot dead by an Afghan soldier at a coalition base in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province in Afghanistan's south. The third soldier was killed in eastern Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force, the U.S.-led coalition's formal name, said in a statement.

Details of the incident in Helmand were sketchy, but a spokesman for Helmand's governor told McClatchy the attack happened at a gate to the headquarters of the coalition's provincial reconstruction team in Lashkar Gah as Afghan army vehicles were waiting to enter.

"The shooter had come to the base with other (Afghan) soldiers," spokesman Daud Ahmadi said. "He entered through the gate used by local workers at the base and then opened fire."



unhappycamper comment: One thousand twelve hundred eighty eight American service members have been died in Afghanistan since 2009.

Time to get out?

March 27, 2012

It's (almost) Dead, Jim

http://atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/NC28Dj03.html


As drones rise, a manned fighter falls
By Phil Radford
Mar 28, 2012

SYDNEY - The world's biggest international defense project, the United States-designed F-35 strike-fighter aircraft, was put on probation by international partners at a formal meeting held this month in Sydney, Australia.

Responding to the latest in a series of cost increases and delivery delays, representatives from the Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and the United Kingdom have all threatened to pull out of the project unless the Pentagon and lead private contractor Lockheed Martin can deliver the fighter plane more quickly and cheaply.

The trouble started on February 13 when the US Department of Defense's Comptroller released detailed projections of future Pentagon spending which revealed cuts in planned US purchases of the F-35 fighter as well as related cost increases in the fiscal period spanning 2013- 17.

The 2012 price of the US Air Force version of the F-35 aircraft is almost US$197 million, three times the plane's original projected cost. By postponing the ramp up to mass production, the Pentagon in effect confirmed that the F-35 will not be available in the near-term at a cost allies are willing to pay.



unhappycamper comment: I've been posting the cost of this POS at $243 grand per copy for a while now. Any bets the final cost is going to be higher?

March 26, 2012

WTF: Mefloquine . . . . really?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/25/robert-bales-malaria-drug_n_1378671.html

Robert Bales Charged: Military Scrambles To Limit Malaria Drug Just After Afghanistan Massacre
by Mark Benjamin
Posted: 03/25/2012 11:50 pm

WASHINGTON -- Nine days after a U.S. soldier allegedly massacred 17 civilians in Afghanistan, a top-level Pentagon health official ordered a widespread, emergency review of the military’s use of a notorius anti-malaria drug called mefloquine.

Mefloquine, also called Lariam, has severe psychiatric side effects. Problems include psychotic behavior, paranoia and hallucinations. The drug has been implicated in numerous suicides and homicides, including deaths in the U.S. military. For years the military has used the weekly pill to help prevent malaria among deployed troops.

The U.S. Army nearly dropped use of mefloquine entirely in 2009 because of the dangers, now only using it in limited circumstances, including sometimes in Afghanistan. The 2009 order from the Army said soldiers who have suffered a traumatic brain injury should not be given the drug.

The soldier accused of grisly Afghanistan murders on March 17 of men, women and children, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq in 2010 during his third combat tour. According to New York Times reporting, repeated combat tours also increase the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder.



unhappycamper comment: Why would the DoD use a medication on United States soldiers that is known for "psychotic behavior, paranoia and hallucinations"?

I know you're trying to save a few bucks here and there, but at the risk of our sons and daughters mental health?

Or do you truly not give a fuck?

March 25, 2012

(US) Navy budget pressures forcing tough moves

http://www.dailypress.com/news/military/dp-nws-navy-ships-budget-20120323,0,1283223.story



The aircraft Carrier Gerald R. Ford is under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding on Friday.


Navy budget pressures forcing tough moves
By Hugh Lessig, hlessig@dailypress.com | 757-247-7821
6:47 p.m. EDT, March 23, 2012

The Navy wants to slow down construction of two future aircraft carriers at the Newport News shipyard so it can spread out payments to six years. That in itself "is not the end of the world," said Rep. Randy Forbes.

~snip~

Carrier acquisition cycles have lengthened over the years. This latest request, included in the defense budget introduced last month, would delay delivery of the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy to 2022. The next carrier in the Gerald R. Ford class, as yet unnamed, would be ready in 2027 instead of 2025.

~snip~

The carrier schedule and the early retirement of cruisers are two separate issues, but they fall in the same harsh category. Both represent how the Navy is juggling money and resources to deal with budget pressures.

The Navy has no plans to reduce its fleet of 11 aircraft carriers, and both delayed carriers would remain within required cost caps of $8.1 billion in 2006 dollars, said Capt. Cate Mueller, a Navy spokeswoman. Also, the later deliveries fit better with the Navy's shipbuilding plan. Delivery of the new JFK in 2022 would better match replacement of the USS Nimitz. The same is true for the 2027-delivered carrier, which is destined to replace the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.




unhappycamper comment: Evidently Cate forgot this or is working from another spreadsheet:

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120316/DEFREG02/303160003/U-S-Carrier-Costs-Will-Breach-Cap-Next-Year

Congress in 2008 capped the acquisition cost of the new nuclear aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) at $11.76 billion. The Government Accountability Office, however, has warned that — if uncontrolled — cost growth on the project could reach as much as $1 billion by 2015.

Does this mean the USS Gerald R. Ford is now going to cost (at least) $13 billion dollars?

March 25, 2012

The Twofold Western Dilemma

http://watchingamerica.com/News/149905/the-twofold-western-dilemma/


The Twofold Western Dilemma
By Alberto Negri
Translated By Hourya Herrou
13 March 2012
Edited by Rica Asuncion-Reed

Every war has its turning point. In Bosnia, the Srebrenica massacre forced Americans to intervene. In Kosovo, it was the Racak massacre that triggered the last conflict against Milosevic. The mass murder of Kandahar in Afghanistan and the carnage in Homs in Syria put the following dilemma in front of us: Despite the mistakes made, we cannot leave Kabul, and in Damascus, the West does not move an inch. Moscow and Beijing have repeated that what happened in Libya will not happen in Syria and have prevented any action from being taken, even humanitarian.

The massacre of Homs was announced, although there is still no irrefutable evidence of the regime’s responsibility. However, the video showing tortured women and children is an indescribable horror. The international community and the UN have not concluded anything so far. Neither the government nor the opposition has accepted proposals of a cease-fire or talks. The regime thinks it can stop the revolt, while the rebels hope for help from Arab countries. Instead, they may end up crushed in a civil war the same way Lebanese or Iraqi rebels were. From here, however, we are not able to give a convincing response, whether in Afghanistan or in Syria.

As we had predicted, we ended up in the Afghan trap. The date 2014 to withdraw troops is virtual; we will have to stay, perhaps with military advisers, to prop up Hamid Karzai. Kabul cannot be left to its destiny to repeat the same mistakes of the past. It is necessary to attempt a civil reconstruction; otherwise all that has been done will be to no avail. Here is some information: If in the next 10 years the GDP increase to 12 percent per year, Afghanistan in 2022 will reach the current level of Bangladesh. 30 billion dollars in aid could vanish into thin air. This is a significant amount of money in a country where people live on less than a dollar a day.

The real enemy here, besides the war, is the lack of motivation. This is one of the reasons why some unjustifiable events keep happening, from the offense on corpses by Marines to the burning of the Quran at Bagram Air Base — this last episode being a fit of madness as the commanders know very well, “outpost syndrome” developed due to the isolation, the feeling among those who risk their lives on the field of being disconnected from the reasons that led us to the peaks of the Hindukush. The same happened in recent years in Somalia.

March 23, 2012

Afghanistan and the Roman Empire

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/23-0


Afghanistan and the Roman Empire
by Renee Parsons
Published on Friday, March 23, 2012 by Common Dreams

As Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stepped off the plane in Afghanistan recently, he accurately summed up the evils of war. Arriving to calm Afghani reaction to the massacre of sixteen civilians in their homes by a U.S. soldier, Panetta said that "war is hell." The Secretary went on to predict that these "incidents are going to take place. This is not the first and probably won't be the last."

In other words, as U.S. military tentacles wrap themselves around the world just as the Roman Empire spread its military dominance from Baghdad to Britain, Panetta was serving notice on the American public that the violence and pattern of disturbing behavior on the part of American troops is less than an aberration but represents an endless war culture that may be expected to continue.

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) told Meet the Press host David Gregory last week that the 'Taliban are basically decimated to a larger degree" and that 'we are winning." Unfortunately, there was no followup that if the Taliban are decimated and there are virtually no al Qaeda in Afghanistan, what are we fighting for?

Afghani President Hamid Karzai rejected the latest in a series of U.S. apologies that promised a "full investigation," to hold the perpetrator "fully accountable' and all the usual mea culpas explaining that he was 'at the end of the rope.' The latest setback for the U.S. in Afghanistan came after weeks of drone strikes on civilians and Afghani border guards, the burning of the Koran. urinating on corpses and other 'inadvertent' attacks.



unhappycamper comment: The United States is currently paying $500 million dollars a year for the 'Northern Route' that we must use to get supplies in since we droned Pakistani soldiers: http://www.rferl.org/content/countries_scramble_to_be_natos_exit_route_from_afghan_exit_route/24522872.html

Ka ching

March 22, 2012

War Crimes and the Mythology of 'Bad Apples'

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/22-2



Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, shown in this senior photograph from the Norwood High School 1991 yearbook, is the US soldier accused of murdering 16 Afghan villagers



War Crimes and the Mythology of 'Bad Apples'
by Robert C. Koehler
Published on Thursday, March 22, 2012 by Common Dreams

~snip~

The media obsession with Bales’ individuality — flawed, perhaps, but heart-breakingly all-American as well (“At Home, Asking How ‘Our Bobby’ Became War Crime Suspect,” ran the New York Times headline) — ignores basic systems psychology, which understands that nobody exists in a vacuum. One person’s aberrant behavior releases the pressure building up in the whole system. In this case, the system is the Army. Could there be something for the media to explore here that would be even more productive than talking to Robert Bales’ childhood neighbor or former principal?

Could there be, for instance, something in the dehumanization of the enemy — a process that makes it possible for soldiers to go against their own nature and take human lives — that results in their own dehumanization as well?

In the midst of the outpouring of news about the Afghan massacre, I started thinking about the extraordinary Winter Soldier hearings held outside Washington, D.C., four years ago. There were four days of testimony on the cruelly dysfunctional war on terror. Two panels were devoted to the topic “Racism and War: the Dehumanization of the Enemy.” The panelists talked about how they learned contempt and disgust for all Iraqis and how it manifested on the ground in Iraq, where Robert Bales served three tours.

~snip~

The time has come to challenge the military at the level of its reason for being. The time has come to add up its suicides, its war crimes and the rest of its horrific legacy. How long can it survive and honest accounting?

March 22, 2012

Food fight: More cost overruns, delays and uncertainty for F-35

www.dodbuzz.com/2012/03/20/more-cost-overruns-delays-and-uncertainty-for-f-35/





More cost overruns, delays and uncertainty for F-35
By Philip Ewing Tuesday, March 20th, 2012 6:11 pm

Cost overruns for the first batches of F-35 Lightning IIs total more than $1 billion, Congress’ watchdog agency said Tuesday, in the latest report to detail the woes of the world’s largest defense program.




unhappycamper comment: It appears there's a serious food fight going on at DoD Buzz. Read the comments.

Hell, read everything over there and the comments.

p.s. - That $1 billion they're talking about is for 63, count 'em, 63 F-35s.