Wednesday, 09 March 2011
Written by Editor
New Delhi – Indo-US military ties are expected to be heightened as the Indian Army Chief General VK Singh’s six-day long visit to the US is currently underway. The US visit comes two years after former Indian Army Chief had visited the country. The current Indian delegation includes the Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar.
Among the main highlights of this US visit will be a discussion regarding the procurement of 145 ultra light howitzers (ULHs) which India intends to buy from the US through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route. It may be noted that since the infamous Bofors scam in the 1980s, Indian artillery has not seen the induction of a new gun in the last two decades. Currently, BAE Systems of US is making the M-777 ULH but the process has been disrupted again as trial reports of the howitzer were leaked prompting the Army Headquarters to order a court of inquiry.
During the current visit, the Indian Army Chief General VK Singh would also be discussing the acquisition of ten C-17 heavy lift transport aircraft and the procurement of the Javelin missile system which India plans to acquire through the FMS route as well.
Sunday, 24 July 2011
Written by Editor
WASHINGTON: Retired army general John Shalikashvili, the first foreign-born chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, died early Saturday of complications from a stroke, a military hospital said. He was 75.
Shalikashvili -- known simply as "Shali" -- passed away at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington, Joint Base Lewis-McChord said in a statement. He had previously suffered a severe stroke in 2004.
Shalikashvili is survived by his wife Joan and their son Brant.
A public memorial service is planned for August 6 in Tacoma, to be followed at an undetermined date by a funeral service at Arlington National Cemetery just outside the US capital.
The Polish-born Shalikashvili became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1993, serving under then-president Bill Clinton until he retired in 1997.
"As we mourn his passing, so, too, do we reflect on his contributions to our nation -- the lives he changed, the careers he mentored, the impact he made simply by virtue of his character and commitment," Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen said.
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
Written by Editor
WASHINGTON: The US military has launched an investigation into Saturday's devastating helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan that killed 30 US troops and eight Afghans.
The probe will address a host of questions surrounding the crash, including the decision to send the Chinook "packed with Navy and Air Force special operations forces" to the firefight to assist troops on the ground.
The helicopter was apparently shot down by an insurgent armed with a rocket-propelled grenade. It was the single deadliest loss in the decade-long war.
Gen James Mattis, head of US Central Command, has appointed US Army Brig Gen Jeffrey Colt to spearhead the investigation. Colt is deputy commander of the 101st Airborne Division.
Sunday, 11 September 2011
Written by Editor
JALALABAD, AFGHANISTAN: A suicide bomber driving a truck attacked an advance NATO combat post in central Afghanistan, wounding 89 people including 50 American soldiers, the United States Army said Sunday.
The Taliban claimed responsibility on their Internet site for Saturday's attack, news of which came as the world marked the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that killed almost 3,000 people in the United States.
US Army spokesman Major David Eastburn said: "It happened at 5:15 pm on Saturday.
"It detonated near the entrypoint at a combat outpost, resulting in 89 wounded in action and a 20-foot hole in the wall."
NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement: "A Taliban suicide bomber detonated a large vehicle-borne improvised explosive device at the entrance of Combat Outpost Sayed Abad, Wardak province, yesterday (Saturday)."
Eastburn said 50 American soldiers were among the injured.
Friday, 11 November 2011
Written by Editor
TACOMA, WASHINGTON: A US army sergeant was convicted by court-martial on Thursday of murdering unarmed civilians and cutting fingers from their corpses as ringleader of a rogue platoon in Afghanistan's Kandahar province.
A five-member jury panel returned a guilty verdict on all counts against Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, 26, capping an 18-month investigation of the most egregious case of atrocities US military personnel have been convicted of committing during a decade of war in Afghanistan.
Pentagon officials have said the misconduct exposed by the case, which evolved from a probe of drug abuse within Gibbs' Stryker Brigade infantry unit, damaged the image of the United States around the globe.
Photographs entered as evidence in the case showed Gibbs and other soldiers casually posing with bloodied Afghan corpses, drawing comparisons with the inflammatory Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq in 2004.
The verdict by the jury panel -- two enlisted personnel and three officers -- followed a week and a half of testimony at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma.
Friday, 20 January 2012
Written by Editor
WASHINGTON: Violent sex crimes committed by active US Army soldiers have almost doubled over the past five years, due in part to the trauma of war, according to an Army report released on Thursday.
Reported violent sex crimes increased by 90 percent over the five-year period from 2006 to 2011. There were 2,811 violent felonies in 2011, nearly half of which were violent felony sex crimes. Most were committed in the United States.
One violent sex crime was committed by a soldier every six hours and 40 minutes in 2011, the Army said, serving as the main driver for an overall increase in violent felony crimes.
Higher rates of violent sex crimes are "likely outcomes" of intentional misconduct, lax discipline, post-combat adrenaline, high levels of stress and behavioral health issues, the report said.
"While we have made tremendous strides over the past decade, there is still much work to be done," Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli said in a statement.
Thursday, 19 April 2012
Written by Editor
SEATTLE: The US Army has denied early release for a soldier who tried to expose a plot to kill Afghan civilians in 2010, only to be convicted in the plot himself.
The clemency bid by former Spc. Adam Winfield was denied earlier this month despite the recommendation of a prosecutor who said he deserved credit for initially trying to stop the killings and for his cooperation in testifying against the plot's ringleader, Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs.
"Certainly, Spc. Winfield does not have completely 'clean hands' when it comes to these events," the prosecutor, Maj. Robert C. Stelle, wrote in a memo. "However, it is also true (and well documented) that he attempted to blow the whistle."
Winfield also confronted Gibbs about his conduct, which led to a series of threats made against him to keep him quiet, the prosecutor said.
Stelle urged the commander of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Maj. General Lloyd Miles, to ``strongly consider granting Spc. Winfield some relief from the remainder of his jail sentence,'' which is set to expire at the end of August.
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Written by Editor
WASHINGTON: A US Army Apache helicopter accidentally dropped an inactive missile over central Texas, forcing dozens of homes to be evacuated, officials said Wednesday.
No one was injured in the incident in which residents in Killeen told police they saw an object falling from an AH-64 attack helicopter into a field late Tuesday, according to a statement from the army's Fort Hood base near Killeen.
"Killeen Police Department responded and located the object which was impaled into the surface of the ground. Officials immediately cordoned off the area," the statement said.
No one was injured in the accident but local media said about 100 homes were evacuated.
An explosive disposal team found an inert M36 missile, a dummy version of a Hellfire missile used for training, officials said.
"The M36 is an inert training device without a warhead or propulsion system and is designed to enable crews to simulate Hellfire missile engagements in the cockpit without launching from the aircraft," the Fort Hood statement said.
Wednesday, 05 January 2011
Written by Editor
[Stratpost]
The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified the US Congress, last week, of its approval for the possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) of radars, weapons and engines in the event of a possible Direct Commercial Sale of 22 AH-64D Block III Apache helicopters to India.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is looking for 22 attack helicopters through a tender, where Boeing’s Apache is up against the Russian Mi-28, and in the event the former is selected, some components of the aircraft will have to be purchased through an FMS.
“This notification is being made in advance so that, in the event that the Boeing- US Army proposal is selected, the United States might move as quickly as possible to implement the sale,” says the the statement issued by the US DSCA.
According to the statement, the FMS components to be supplied along with the direct commercial sale of 22 AH-64D Block III Apache helicopters would include ’50 T700-GE-701D engines, 12 AN/APG-78 Fire Control Radars, 12 AN/APR-48A Radar Frequency Interferometers, 812 AGM-114L-3 Hellfire Longbow missiles, 542 AGM-114R-3 Hellfire II missiles, 245 Stinger Block I-92H missiles, and 23 Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensors’.
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Written by Editor
BAGHDAD: Three American soldiers were killed and one was wounded in two separate incidents in central and northern Iraq on Saturday, the US army said.
The deadliest incident saw two soldiers killed and the one wounded "while conducting operations in northern Iraq," a statement said, without giving further details.
Major Rob Phillips, a US army spokesman, said the incident occurred in the northern city of Mosul, where an Iraqi army officer earlier said two Iraqi soldiers opened fire on their American counterparts at a training centre.
Neither Phillips nor the Iraqi officer linked those deaths to that shooting.
Earlier, the Iraqi told AFP that the shooting, at the Al-Ghazlani training centre in west Mosul, was intentional but that it was unclear what provoked the incident.
He said three US troops had been wounded.
Separately, a third US soldier was killed on Saturday "while conducting operations in central Iraq", a US statement said, without providing details.
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