Photo of the Day: April 12, 2013

By Zachary Fryer-Biggs in Intercepts, Photo of the Day Tags:

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**WARNING** This video is very graphic, and depicts men under fire at Operation Red Sand in Bala Murghab, Badghis Province, Afghanistan, April 4, 2011. This audio depicts the actual moment Army Sgt. Jeff Sheppard, Pfc Ben Bradley, Air Force Master Sgt. Kevin Wallace, Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Lee, and Navy K9 ‘Valdo’ were wounded by an RPG.  (Photos and Video by USAF Master Sgt. Kevin Wallace)

The video above was produced by USAF Master Sgt. Kevin Wallace, along with his retelling of the events it captures below.

“Today marks two years since a team of 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment scouts, a few Navy augmentees and I fought a well-trained, well-equipped and outnumbering enemy in northern Bala Murghab (BMG), Badghis province.

The reality is any airman, sailor or coastie at any time can be tasked with augmenting the Army or Marine Corps ground forces, and you could find yourself in a situation you’ve never imagined.”

Check out more of Wallace’s account after the break

Photo of the Day: April 11, 2013

By Zachary Fryer-Biggs in Intercepts, Photo of the Day Tags:

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) (L) speaks to the media about balancing the budget as Rep. Luke Messer (R-IN) watches on Capitol Hill April 10, 2013 in Washington, DC. Today was the first day that members of Congress were able to study the proposed budget, which the White House says would cut deficits by a total of $1.8 trillion over a decade. (Allison Shelley/Getty Images)

The budget battle begins.

Check out our coverage of the budget rollout.

On Budget, Congressional Democrats Say Much by Saying Nothing

By John T. Bennett in Budget, Capitol Hill, DoD, Industry, Policy Tags: , , ,

President Barack Obama speaks Wednesday in the White House Rose Garden with Jeffrey Zients, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Congressional Democrats are not getting behind Obama's 2014 budget plan. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Two things are near-certainties on Budget Day: One is likely to have a headache well before noon, and one’s email inbox will be flooded with lawmaker statements. But the latter didn’t occur on Wednesday, at least not with its usual fury.

As one would expect in a two-party political system, the opposition party wasted no time staking out its positions on various parts of President Barack Obama’s 2014 federal budget blueprint. Republican lawmakers’ offices began sending out statements criticizing the spending outline before the plan was formally released. Fair enough. That’s how the American system works.

The Republican statements came in an early wave. Reporters on Capitol Hill scurried to their laptops to write up the opposition party’s take on the budget plan. If one plays Budget Day correctly, by the time one has written up the opposition’s views the second wave — from lawmakers of the sitting president’s party — will have crashed into the inbox.

But that second wave never came. Why? More

Photo of the Day: April 10, 2013

By Zachary Fryer-Biggs in Intercepts, Photo of the Day Tags:

Copies of US President Barack Obama's Fiscal Year 2014 Budget proposal wait to be distributed to Senate staff on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on April 10, 2013. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Oh budget day, oh budget day, how we do love thee.

Check out our coverage of the President’s defense budget at defensenews.com.

Photo of the Day: April 9, 2013

By Zachary Fryer-Biggs in Intercepts, Photo of the Day Tags: ,

A South Korean soldier sets up a barricade on the road connecting South and North Korea at the Unification Bridge on April 9, 2013 in Paju, South Korea. North Korea announced it will withdraw all workers from Kaesong joint industrial complex, five days after unilaterally banning South Korean workers re-entry to Kaesong. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Three Things to Watch as Congress Returns

By John T. Bennett in Budget, Capitol Hill, DoD, Industry, Intercepts, International, Operations, Policy Tags: , ,

Both chambers of Congress return Tuesday to begin the busiest block of legislative months this year. Will the Senate return to 'regular order'? Will lawmakers push the U.S. into war in Syria or North Korea? (John T. Bennett / Defense News)

Congress is back. For better or worse.

With the exception of a Friday or Monday here and a week there, the U.S. House and Senate are scheduled to be in session 13 of the next 17 weeks. Both chambers’ next lengthy recess will be the annual August break.

The immediate legislative focus on Capitol Hill will be on non-defense and -national security issues: gun control and immigration. But there are several things for defense wonks to keep an eye on as the 113th Congress attempts to move beyond the recent partisanship that stalled many bills and left Washington lurching from crisis to crisis. More

HII Shows Off New BMD Ship Concept at Sea-Air-Space (Updated with video!)

By Christopher P. Cavas in Acquisition, Intercepts, Navy, Operations, Video

An interesting ship model was unveiled April 8 by Huntington Ingalls Industries at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space gathering outside Washington: a ship intended primarily for the ballistic missile defense mission.

Using the basic LPD 17 hull designed for the U.S. Navy’s San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships — all of which are built by HII — the BMD ship incorporates an Aegis-type phased array radar atop the superstructure. The aft deck, devoid of much of the topside structure of the LPD 17, is ringed by 18 16-cell vertical launch system launchers, for a total of 288 missile cells. Like the existing Mark 41 and Mark 57 VLS launchers in the fleet, the ship’s VLS would presumably be able to launch a variety of weapons, including SM-2, SM-3 and SM-6 Standard missiles, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and other weapons.

Forward on the ship, HII placed a fairly large rail gun mount, a system now under development by the Navy.  The model features 57mm guns in mounts similar to those on the Littoral Combat Ships and Coast Guard National Security Cutters, but not the Mk 46 30mm mounts fitted to LPD 17s.

On April 9, HII released a video to show off the new ship:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxJIizedUsU&feature=youtu.be
More

Photo of Day: April 8, 2013

By Zachary Fryer-Biggs in Intercepts, Photo of the Day

U.S. Marines with Combat Logistics Regiment 37, Landing Support Company practice transporting a quadcon container, utilizing the MV-22 Osprey attached with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron at Subic Bay, Olongapo, Zambales, Philippines, April 8, 2013, in support of exercise Freedom Banner 2013. (Staff Sgt Robert Dea/USMC)

Flournoy Sticks to Policy Wonk Persona on ‘Meet the Press’

By John T. Bennett in Intercepts

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

If it’s Sunday, as they say, it’s “Meet the Press.” And if it’s Monday, as Washington reporters say, it’s breaking down what was on “Meet the Press.”

On Friday, Intercepts asked whether former Pentagon policy chief Michele Flournoy’s first appearance on the popular Sunday morning political talk show meant she was trying to take on a more political persona. More

Does ‘MTP’ Appearance Signal a Political Turn for Flournoy?

By John T. Bennett in Afghanistan, Budget, Capitol Hill, DoD, International, Operations, Policy Tags: ,

Then-U.S. Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Michele Flournoy at a bilateral meeting with Chinese officials in December 2011. She makes her first "Meet the Press" appearance this Sunday. (Andy Wong-Pool/Getty Images)

Michele Flournoy has achieved a lot of firsts in her career. She was the first Pentagon policy chief, a stint that made her the first senior female U.S. defense official to sit across with leaders in Afghanistan, China and elsewhere. And she was one of the founding leaders of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a Washington think tank.

But she has never appeared on “Meet the Press,” a Sunday morning destination for Washington’s power elite. That will change on Sunday, when Flournoy, who sources said made President Obama’s shortlist for defense secretary earlier this year, sits across from host David Gregory.

MTP Executive Producer Betsy Fischer Martin tweeted the booking Friday afternoon: “Michele Flournoy, the highest-ranking woman in Pentagon history as fmr Under Secretary for Policy, “Meets the Press” for 1st time Sunday.” More

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