DefenceTalkThis week at Fort Benning, Georgia, defense contractors are competing to provide the latest technologies to defeat IEDs. The Joint IED Defeat Organization partnered with the Army Research Lab and the Maneuver Battle Lab, at the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia, to host a “Culvert Denial Challenge,” which began Sept. 29, and […]https://www.defencetalk.com/jieddo-holds-competition-for-new-counter-ied-systems-60699/

DefenceTalkThe U.S. Army Reserve has fielded the first two M1271 Medium Flail Mine Clearing Vehicles, or MCV, with the 364th Engineer Platoon, located at Fort Smith, Arkansas. The MCV is a manned vehicle designed to clear paths through minefields and provides area clearance using a motorized flail system to detonate mines in a safe manner. […]https://www.defencetalk.com/m1271-medium-flail-clearing-vehicles-enter-us-army-service-60693/

DefenceTalkOperations against the so-called Islamic State continue apace with 334 airstrikes against the terror group, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters at the Pentagon today. Those airstrikes, the admiral added, are causing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant to change its tactics. Kirby briefed on the situation in Iraq […]https://www.defencetalk.com/airstrikes-causing-isil-to-change-tactics-60678/

DefenceTalkGermany has approved new deliveries of weapons to several Arab countries, including Qatar which had been accused of backing jihadists, according to a newspaper report Thursday. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on its website that weapons including tanks and machine guns are to be delivered to countries including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Algeria. […]https://www.defencetalk.com/berlin-approves-arms-exports-to-arab-states-60676/

DefenceTalkPakistan’s military on Friday said it killed 15 insurgents in air strikes in a restive tribal district near the Afghan border, a region where it has been battling Islamist groups for more than a decade. “Three terrorist hideouts were destroyed and 15 terrorists were killed in effective and precise aerial strikes early Friday morning in […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pakistan-air-strikes-kill-15-militants-60665/

DefenceTalkThe U.S. Army Forces Command Counter-IED Integration Cell recently developed and implemented training packages to complement the upcoming Joint Operational Access Exercise held here, Sept. 14-20. Counter-IED, referred to as C-IED, training is a command priority, and is included in U.S. Army Forces Command, known as FORSCOM, regulation 350-1. The training fulfills all pre-deployment requirements; […]https://www.defencetalk.com/82nd-airborne-divisions-fall-joax-includes-counter-ied-scenarios-60646/

DefenceTalkCommandos sneak up on a fortress in southern Poland. Camouflaged behind sandbags, they fire their Kalashnikov rifles to free the hostages. But the fortress is really a school and the machine guns are fake. The bullets are blanks and the hostages are there of their own accord. The participants are all volunteers taking part in […]https://www.defencetalk.com/polish-weekend-warriors-up-in-arms-over-russian-threat-60663/

DefenceTalkThe State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Pakistan for 160 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, spair and repair parts, and training, etc., for an estimated cost of $198 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-to-sell-mine-resistant-ambush-protected-mrap-vehicles-to-pakistan-60628/

DefenceTalkThe Ukrainian government accused Russia on Thursday of massing around 4,000 troops on the border of Russian-annexed Crimea and Ukraine, as multiple Crimean residents also reported seeing troop movements. “According to our information, almost all military units of the Russian Federation stationed in the north of occupied Crimea… were pushed to the administrative border with […]https://www.defencetalk.com/ukraine-says-russia-masses-troops-on-ukraine-border-60612/

DefenceTalkRussia is to reinforce its troop deployments in annexed Crimea and southern Russia because of the worsening crisis in Ukraine and the buildup of foreign forces nearby, the country’s defence minister said on Tuesday. Sergei Shoigu told a meeting of defence ministry top brass it was a “priority” to deploy a “full and self-reliant group […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-to-deploy-reinforcements-to-crimea-area-minister-60599/