“The US is doing far more than its allies in coming to grips with causing civilian harm,” a human rights NGO representative who has met with Pentagon leaders said. Still, the gap between government estimates and those from groups on the ground is often wide. 

The secretary heads first to CENTCOM to hammer out the details of Operation Sentinel, a plan to monitor and protect shipping from Iran in Persian Gulf.

The Global Hawk was downed after two earlier shots at US drones in the region, and attacks on commercial shipping.

As Israelis celebrated their independence day, sources here told Breaking Defense that at least one of the B-52s deployed to the region passed through our airspace, headed to “one of the Gulf states.”

“The training we have given them we know has paid off,” Mattis said of the Saudis. “We have had pilots in the air who recognize the danger of a specific mission and declined to drop even when they get the authority. We have seen staff procedures that put no-fire areas around areas where there’s hospitals or schools.”

Over 17 years of fighting terrorists and insurgents, “our SIGINT forces mastered the art and science of identifying and tracking individual threats with pinpoint precision,” Lt. Gen. Berrier said. “We now face a significant challenge on a much larger scale.”

Project Maven has made huge strides in its first year, but the key is remaining open to updates from whoever has the best idea for new algorithms, and new code, a military leader says.

AFA: The Defense Innovation Unit experimental (DIUx) is working with airmen and DOD civilian software coders to rapidly change the planning and conduct of air operations, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, commander of Air Forces Central Command, told reporters here Tuesday. Over the past few months, Harrigian said, DIUx has helped develop new software used by the Combined… Keep reading →

ARLINGTON: Against terrorists in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq, US forces are firing smart weapons like Hellfire missiles as fast as industry can build them — or faster. Against a well-armed adversary like Russia or China, we might run out.  That’s why the military is making a major multi-year investment in precision weapons, one that the… Keep reading →

While North Korea threatens to shoot and sink American aircraft carriers and launch nuclear weapons, Pacific Command is running short of precision-guided munitions. And Pacific Command does not have enough surface ships, submarines and antimissile radars to keep up with current and emerging threats, its commander Adm. Harry Harris told the House Armed Services Committee… Keep reading →