MARZAK, Afghanistan — In the middle of the night on July 23, U.S. Special Forces infiltrated a bowl-shaped valley in Paktika Province in remote eastern Afghanistan. Their target: a major Taliban encampment just outside this, which hadn’t had a government presence in decades. Taliban fighters had been using Marzak as a rest stop on the… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The White House’s newly-minted national security strategy is full of big ideas. But among all these big ideas is a much smaller one that could draw the Pentagon much deeper into the small wars that have defined America’s global counterterrorism campaign. U.S. special operations forces and counterinsurgency specialists returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Navy’s newest Fire Scout drone may also become the Marine Corps newest aerial cargo drone if prime contractor Northrop Grumman has its way. The Marines are currently testing Lockheed Martin’s KMAX aerial drone and Boeing’s A160 Hummingbird as potential candidates for the unmanned airlift mission. Naval Air Systems Command recently decided to stop… Keep reading →

Just before the New Year, the U.S. Air Force finally selected a new Light Air Support plane for ground attack in counterinsurgency, picking the Brazilian Super Tucano over the American AT-6– whose manufacturer, Wichita, Kan.-based Hawker Beechcraft, is filing suit over the decision [update: leading the Air Force to issue a stop-work order on the… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Speculation on how Iran was able to capture the Pentagon’s stealthy RQ-170 unmanned aircraft has consumed defense and intelligence insiders for weeks. But recent reports based on sources in Tehran claim the highly-classified drone was brought down by an Iranian cyberattack. Iranian engineers were allegedly able to hack into the unmanned aircraft’s control systems… Keep reading →

Escalating cyber threats, a struggling economy, the rise of China, and the unpredictable impact of the Arab Spring will dominate the next decade. At least, that’s the best collective guess of a conclave of academic experts, government officials, and military officers from the U.S. and abroad, convened by the United States Army. Their objective: This… Keep reading →

Washington: The Army’s fleet of light tactical vehicles is about to get a lot smaller once a service-wide review wraps up. Army Training and Doctrine Command is fine-tuning a plan to cut a significant number of light armored vehicles and replace them with the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, according to an Army official with knowledge… Keep reading →

Washington: The Army’s strategy to close long-term readiness gaps stemming from its rush to rebuild war-torn equipment is falling woefully short of expectations, leaving service units to come up with their own solutions. The Army’s R3 initiative has been the blueprint for how the service plans to reset, retrograde and redistribute weapons, vehicles and equipment… Keep reading →

Washington: The Marine Corps is done paying for the past sins of the V-22 Osprey, commandant Gen. James Amos said today. The Osprey is now one of the most dependable weapons systems in the Marine Corps arsenal, Amos told attendees during his speech at the Center for Foreign Relations this morning. It has been battle… Keep reading →

Washington: The Marine Corps is eyeing a wide range of systems to augment the service’s radio network, thrown into doubt by the Army’s recent decision to cancel its main ground radio. These potential replacements are based on current communication systems, modified “on the battlefield” by combat units deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, James Craft,… Keep reading →