Army

UPDATED: Petraeus Photo MOVED in Pentagon Hallway

By Marcus Weisgerber in Army, DoD, Intercepts, Petraeus

This picture of retired Army Gen. David Petraeus in a hallway outside of the Pentagon press office has been removed.

This picture of retired Army Gen. David Petraeus in a hallway outside of the Pentagon press office has been moved. (Defense News photo of a DoD photo)

UPDATE: We’re told this afternoon that the picture of retired Army Gen. David Petraeus is still hanging in the Pentagon, just in a different spot of the press corridor hallway.

The photo was moved from a spot in a hallway outside of the Pentagon Press office and replaced with a picture of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

The Petraeus picture and other photos depicting current or former senior Pentagon officials were shuffled late last week or early this week. It appears the pictures were rotated out and replaced with newer photos of DoD officials, a practice that is typical throughout Pentagon hallways.

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A Look at the US Army’s New Capabilities in Korea

By Paul McLeary in Army, DoD, Intercepts, Operations

American soldiers training in South Korea

With the heat on the Korean Peninsula increasing daily as the North Korean regime continues to shut down hotlines with the government in the South, while threatening the United States with rocket and missile strikes, it might be time to re-up a story Defense News ran a few months back about U.S. Army modernizations plans in South Korea.

Last fall, American commanders began a rapid modernization effort for the 2nd Infantry Division, 8th Army stationed in South Korea – a plan that included MRAPs, upgraded Bradley fighting vehicles, and state of the art networking equipment.

As we reported in August, the 2nd Infantry Division

“…was the first unit to receive the latest survivability upgrades to the Bradley fighting vehicle, as well as the first — even before those in Afghanistan — to be issued the new Force Battle Command Brigade-and-Below/Blue Force Tracking equipment. About 1,000 vehicles will be outfitted with the new capability, which gives soldiers greater situational awareness and network connectivity. The division also has been issued Abrams M1A2 Systems Enhancement Program tanks and has been upgrading about 300 Humvees.

It’s also significant that the 2nd ID will be the first non-Afghanistan fielded unit to receive the Army’s much-touted Capability Set 13, a suite of the latest communication, situational awareness and vehicle-mounted networking gear. They are all tied together by a new network that allows dismounted soldiers to push data to higher headquarters while on the move. More

David Petraeus Gets His Mea Culpa On, Kicks Off Comeback Tour

By John T. Bennett in Army, DoD, Intercepts, International, Operations, Petraeus, Policy, Video Tags: , , ,

Well, that didn’t take long. David Petraeus, the revered soldier-scholar who became CIA director before stepping down due to an extramarital affair, is embarking on a new path that is quintessentially American: The comeback tour.

Speaking to what appears a friendly audience at an annual University of Southern California event honoring members of the military, Petraeus went all mea culpa. The comeback tour has begun, and only about five months since Petraeus was forced to resign after his affair with his biographer became public. But when will the retired Army four-star counterinsurgency expert be all the way back? More

Army’s AMPV Wish List Changes Just a Bit

By Paul McLeary in Acquisition, Army, Budget, Industry, Intercepts

The Army released the long-awaited draft version of its Request for Proposals for the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) program on the evening of March 21st, announcing plans to award an engineering, manufacturing, and development (EMD) contract to one bidder in the 4th quarter of fiscal 2014.

Plans for the replacement to the 50 year-old M113 infantry carrier have been in the works for several years but have been coming along slowly as the service juggles two other vehicle replacement programs, the Ground Combat Vehicle and the Joint Light Tactical vehicle, and while it finished an analysis of alternatives study.

With the study in their pocket and an upcoming funding line in the fiscal year 2014 budget, it appears the service is ready to start the bidding.

While the AMPV is coming along at the same time as those two other big-ticket developmental vehicle programs, the Army isn’t looking at taking years to develop a brand new piece of kit with the AMPV – it wants bidders to submit mature technologies and systems that can be relatively quickly manufactured and put into the field.

To that end, the two main competitors poised to square off for the work are BAE Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems, who will offer versions of the Bradley fighting vehicle and the Stryker—including a new tracked Stryker variant—respectively. Navistar has also signaled that it might be interested in pursuing a bid in conjunction with an industry partner.

The document estimates that the service is planning on spending a little over $1.4 billion on the program between 2014 and 2020, with the bulk of that funding coming between fiscal years 2018 and 2020 when low rate initial production begins.

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‘Sequestration-palooza’ Week Kicks Off. There Will be Live Tweeting.

By John T. Bennett in Air Force, Army, Budget, Capitol Hill, DoD, Industry, Intercepts, Marine Corps, Navy, New Tech, Operations, Policy, Space Tags: ,

Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter will have a busy week of testimony on Capitol Hill about sequestration. (Defense Department photo)

One might call this week on Capitol Hill “Sequestration-palooza.” That’s because there are three hearings featuring senior Pentagon officials focused on the pending decade-long reduction in planned national defense spending. And other hearings will focus on the nation’s overall budget and economic situation, including sequestration.

First up is a Tuesday Senate Armed Services Committee hearing featuring Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey and all four service chiefs. Expect gloomy predictions of canceled weapon programs, massive layoffs, unmet combatant commander requirements, and more. Your Defense News/Intercepts correspondents will be live-blogging the deliberations. Follow Congressional Reporter John T. Bennnett, Land Warfare Reporter Paul McLeary and Air Warfare Reporter Aaron Mehta for live updates.

How Big Would DoD Budget be Under Sequestration? Historically Big, It Turns Out.

By John T. Bennett in Acquisition, Air Force, Army, Budget, Capitol Hill, DoD, F-35, Industry, Intercepts, International, Marine Corps, Navy, New Tech, Operations, Policy, Shipbuilding, Space Tags: ,

How big would the U.S. defense budget be if sequestration happens? Turns out, despite the sometimes-apocalyptic rhetoric, big. And how would the post-Afghanistan defense budget draw down compare to slowdowns in Pentagon spending that occurred after the Korean, Vietnam and Cold wars? Turns out, it would be smaller.

All of that is according to the work of a study group commissioned by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), released earlier today.

As the above CSIS graph shows, under sequestration, annual Pentagon spending would drop 31 percent from its 2010 peak to its sequester-era low. That compares to a 33 percent decline after Vietnam, and a 36 percent post-Cold War drop. And after the Korean war, yearly Defense Department budgets fell off by 43 percent.

That means after America’s longest war (Afghanistan) ever, Pentagon spending would undergo the smallest post-1952 draw down, according to CSIS. More

Today in Military History: Feb. 8, 1962, U.S. presence in Vietnam

By Blair Tomlinson in Air Force, Army, Intercepts, Today in Military History Tags: , ,

MAIN ENTRANCE TO MACV I HEADQUARTERS LOCATED AT 137 PASTEUR, 1962. (U.S. ARMY PHOTO)

On February 8, 1962, the U.S. Department of Defense reported the creation of the Military Assistance Command in South Vietnam.

Three years later to the day, the U.S. Air Force performs its first retaliatory air strike in North Vietnam. A North American F-100 Super Sabre flew cover for attacking South Vietnamese fighter aircraft, suppressing ground fire in the target area.

Today in Military History: Feb. 6, 1948, V-2 Rocket testing

By Blair Tomlinson in Army, Intercepts, Navy, Today in Military History Tags: , , , ,

V-2 Rocket (Naval Research Laboratory photo)

On February 6, 1948, for the first time, the U.S. Army successfully uses electronic guidance on a V-2 rocket, in a 70-mile ascent at White Sands Proving Ground, N.M.

The V-2 Rocket was natively German but was brought back to the United States after World War II. Research and experimentation on the V-2′s took place at the Army’s installation at White Sands Proving Ground, N.M.

In 1946 the Naval Research Laboratory was invited to take part in the testing. The NRL was ready and willing to assit the Army in upper-atmospheric research. Once the U.S. had depleted it’s German V-2′s the NRL began making their own. 

 

 

 

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