US Army

Sujet: US Army Mer 9 Jan 2008 - 18:32

Rappel du premier message :

Citation :: « J'aime les USA, et je combats pour elle», c'est ainsi que Lamia Lahlou commente son adhésion à l'armée américaine, et sa participation à la guerre contre l'iraq- depuis déjà 8 mois-. Née au Maroc en 1986, Lamia Lahlou rejoint l'armée américaine 3 ans après les attentats du 11 septembre 2001.

Tempérée par sa propre volonté, «la marocaine», ne mâche pas ses mots pour affirmer que ce pas emboité s'inscrit dans le cadre d'un «vrai Jihad». Rapporte une idéo diffusée largement sur Internet (Voir ci-aprés).

Choquée par la mort de sa meilleure amie, Lamia croit dur comme fer que l'adhésion à l'armée américaine est le seul et unique moyen susceptible de calmer le feu de sa vengeance.

A noter que les USA continuent à «renforcer » son armée via le recrutement des marocains, à l'heure où ALQIADIA ciblent d'autres recrues du Maroc vers la Hollande et la Belgique, tout en passant par la Syrie, l'Espagne et l'Iraq.

source: emarrakech.info

Rafi

Citation :: Publiée le 14 déc. 2013

Paratroopers conducted a unique "tailgate" jump, donning the complete arctic over-white winter uniform with ski equipment and the arctic sustainment packing list as a rehearsal for upcoming airborne operations in northern Alaska next year. Available in High Definition.

Citation :: US Army Sends Troops to South Sudan, Gear to African Union

WASHINGTON — In the midst of worsening violence in the South Sudan, the Obama administration informed Congress Thursday evening that it deployed soldiers from the US Army’s East Africa Response Force to the capital of Juba to help evacuate American citizens and ensure the safety of embassy personnel there.

The 45 combat-ready soldiers are part of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division based in Fort Riley, Kansas. They are currently on a year-long deployment in the Army’s Regionally Aligned Forces program, which marries brigade combat teams with combatant commands around the world to thicken their ranks.

The AFRICOM command is the first to receive a brigade, and soldiers began deploying in April of this year. The soldiers who comprise the East Africa Response Force are based at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti.

Given the worsening fighting in South Sudan — which broke off from Sudan after years of bloody fighting in 2011 — the State Department declared that all non-essential staffers would be flown out of the country on US C-130 aircraft. The US soldiers deployed there are overseeing their evacuation, while protecting staff still at the embassy in Juba.

In the letter to the Speaker of the House and the President Pro tempore of the Senate on Dec. 19, President Barack Obama said that the soldiers are “equipped for combat,” but that “this force was deployed for the purpose of protecting U.S. citizens and property. This force will remain in South Sudan until the security situation becomes such that it is no longer needed.”

In keeping with the War Powers resolution, the president wrote that “this action has been directed consistent with my responsibility to protect U.S. citizens both at home and abroad, and in furtherance of U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct U.S. foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive.”

The announcement came on the same day the White House announced it was sending $101 million to assist the African Union and French troops attempting to instill order in the Central African Republic, which has been wracked by fighting between Muslim and Christian groups.

That $101 million includes providing three C-17 aircraft to ferry Burundian troops to the Central African Republic, as well as non-lethal supplies like trucks, ambulances, and shelters.

On Dec. 10, the White House gave the Secretary of State the power to draw up to $60 million in defense equipment for France, the African Union, Republic of Congo, Chad, Cameroon, Gabon, Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda, and other countries who currently make up the African Union’s peacekeeping effort in the Central African Republic.

But so far “the only DoD stocks drawn down have been C-17 flights to move Burundian troops into Bangui. We expect to move 850 Burundian troops into Bangui by Friday, Dec. 20” said Pentagon spokesman US Air Force Maj. Rob Firman.

US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power and other American officials flew to the Central African Republic this week to speak with leaders there to try and find a way to end the fighting, which has already drawn in about 6,000 African Union and 1,600 French peacekeepers.

The US troops arrived in Juba just before the key town of Bor fell to anti-government rebels on Thursday evening, and while fighting was breaking out between militias near the airport there. It is being estimated at more than 400 people have been killed in South Sudan this week.

Reports coming out of the oil-rich nation say that there is fighting in six of the country's 10 states, and three Indian peacekeepers were killed earlier this week when a UN compound was overrun by a group of armed men.

http://www.defensenews.com

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Citation :: Boeing to deliver 28 Chinooks to US Army

Boeing will build six new CH-47F heavy-lift helicopters and remanufacture 22 more for the US Army in Fiscal 2014 under a contract announced on 26 December worth $618 million.

The contract signed with the Army Contracting Command includes funds for long-lead items to remanufacture 13 more Chinooks to the F-model standard in Fiscal 2015.

Boeing is in the second year of a five-year agreement to build 155 CH-47F helicopters.

The programme includes building new CH-47Fs, and replacing the fuselages and rotor systems of CH-47Ds and remanufacturing them to F-model standard.

The CH-47F adds a digital cockpit and a new airframe with reduced vibration. Honeywell is delivering more powerful T55-GA-714A turbofshaft engines for the CH-47F helicopters.

The army plans to continue operating the tandem-rotor Chinook until 2038.

Boeing builds the CH-47F in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

www.flightglobal.co

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Sujet: Re: US Army Lun 6 Jan 2014 - 20:01

Sujet: Re: US Army Mar 7 Jan 2014 - 12:49

Citation :: Majority of US MRAPs To Be Scrapped or Stored

WASHINGTON — The US Army estimates it will need to spend $1.7 billion in supplemental wartime dollars over the next several years to modernize and retain 8,585 mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles, while divesting itself of another 7,456 MRAPs it no longer needs.

But the majority of those the service will keep will be mothballed in prepositioned stocks, according to an internal Army document.

Even with thousands of vehicles sitting in warehouses awaiting the next conflict, the MRAPs that will remain in the force represent only one third of the 25,000the Pentagon bought since 2007, costing $50 billion.

Since it was a rapid acquisition program, the Defense Department had no long-term plans for the platform, and the Army and Marine Corps have been wrestling with what to do with the 25 variants in their fleets.

Saddled with so many expensive, hulking vehicles bought solely as a wartime contingency, the services are getting rid of as many MRAPs as possible — even going so far as to shred thousands in Afghanistan instead of sending them home. The military is selling the shredded metal parts to local Afghans for scrap.

But the MRAPs the service is keeping won’t come home cheaply. In addition to the $1.7 billion in overseas contingency operations (OCO) funds to be spent by the end of 2016, the Army anticipates it will require $17.6 million in base funding in fiscal 2016 and 2017 to complete the work, according to service briefing slides obtained by Defense News.

Dated Dec. 2, the slides outline Army thinking about what will be required in fiscal 2016-2020 to fund its programs of record. Army officials said they were unable to comment on the documents by press time.

The documents are part of the annual weapons systems review that all programs endure when officials put together the program objective memorandum budgets that look out five years.

As such, the numbers in the documents are not set in stone and will likely change as budgets and priorities shift in subsequent years. But they do provide a good snapshot of the current thinking in the Pentagon, and offer clues as to where managers are trying to drive their programs after absorbing guidance from Army leaders.

The documents show that if OCO funding ends before its expected expiration date of fiscal 2016, MRAP modernization activities will have to be shifted to the base budget, “which may result in the program, in its current status, becoming unaffordable.”

The defense bill passed by Congress in December includes $80 billion for the Afghanistan war, which includes $321 million for MRAP reset. While the 2015 OCO request hasn’t been made public yet, the slides reveal that the Army will request $304 million more in wartime funding in 2015 to fix up MRAPs.

Though the OCO account will decrease along with US forces in Afghanistan this year and beyond, there should be plenty of money for the Army to finish its MRAP refurbishment, said Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

“I don’t think getting $1.7 billion in funding through OCO will be a problem,” he said. “DoD is getting some $80 billion in OCO funding this year — nearly as much as last year but with half as many troops deployed. I think they will continue to receive robust OCO funding in 2015 and 2016, so resetting MRAPs should not be an issue for the Army.”

So, what will the Army get for that money?

A full 5,036 of the 8,585 MRAPs the Army plans to keep will be stored in prepositioned stocks all over the world, with another 1,073 assigned for training activities. The remainder will be spread among the active force.

The Army will keep 5,651 Oshkosh-produced MRAP all-terrain vehicles (M-ATVs) out of the 8,700 DoD has bought since 2009, along with 2,633 Navistar-made MaxxPro Dash vehicles and 301 MaxxPro ambulances.

The M-ATV is smaller and more maneuverable than the original MRAP variants and was rapidly fielded once the Pentagon’s focus shifted to Afghanistan in 2009. The dirt roads, narrow mountain passes and weak bridges could not handle the size and weight of most MRAPs, leading to a quick fix that ended up being the variant the Army most wants to keep.

The Army is getting rid of thousands of Cougars developed by General Dynamics/Force Protection, some MaxxPro models from Navistar Defense, and several Caiman models from BAE Systems.

And the price to reset the vehicles isn’t cheap. The service estimates spending about $150,000 to reset each vehicle at the Red River Army Depot in Texas, and about $87,000 per vehicle at Livorno, Italy — the two depots that will see the majority of the work over the next three years.

Other recent Army estimates of the costs to bring MRAPs home from Afghanistan and repair them have hovered closer to the $250,000 to $300,000 mark.

An Army spokesman said the remaining MRAPs will be made available for use to other US government agencies and posted for Foreign Military Sales opportunities. If there are no takers, “the vehicles will be de-militarized and the raw materials recycled.”

It costs $12,000 to demilitarize each MRAP in Afghanistan before shipping it out of the country, so even if there are no buyers, the US will still have to pay tens of millions of dollars to clean and ship all the of the 11,000 MRAPs that it has deployed there.

As Defense News reported Dec. 4, the US has put about 2,000 MRAPs in Afghanistan up for auction on the international market instead of sending them home or destroying them in place — provided the foreign buyers pay to ship the trucks out of the country.

Overall, the US military is destroying about $7 billion worth of material in Afghanistan as US troops head for the exits, including the MRAPs.

A Pentagon spokesman said several foreign countries have expressed interest in buying the MRAPs in Afghanistan but no final agreements have been signed.

Now that the Army has a few thousand MRAPs in its formations going forward — using a vehicle that didn’t exist anywhere in its long-range plans six years ago — the critical question, as CSBA’s Harrison said, is “how many MRAPS do they need to keep and for what purpose? How do 8,000-plus MRAPs fit into DoD’s strategy for fighting wars in the future?”

http://www.defensenews.com

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Sujet: Re: US Army Mer 8 Jan 2014 - 21:37

Citation :: Le Pentagone invente le véhicule blindé jetable

En 2004, le Pentagone lançait le développement et la fabrication d’une large famille de camions blindés résistant aux mines : les MRAP. En moins de dix ans, 27.000 ont été fabriqués, pour la modeste somme de cinquante MILLIARDS de dollars… Ces véhicules ont depuis été crédités de plusieurs dizaines de milliers de vies sauvées en Afghanistan et en Irak.
Maintenant que le retrait d’Irak est consommé et celui d’Afghanistan bien engagé, que faire de cette montagne d’acier (plus de 400.000 tonnes de ferraille si l’on compte une moyenne de 16 tonnes par MRAP…) ?
Le Pentagone a tranché : sans réelle utilité en dehors du champ de bataille pour lequel ils ont été conçus, la moitié des MRAP fabriqués, environ 13000 véhicules, sera tout bonnement ferraillée, après seulement cinq ou six ans de service. Les véhicules coûteraient trop chers à ramener aux Etats-Unis puis à réparer et à entretenir. C’est une exercice de comptabilité assez simple : le coût du démantèlement d’un MRAP en Afghanistan est estimé à 12.000 $. Il en faudrait vingt fois plus pour rapatrier ce même camion et le remettre à neuf pour lui faire commencer une deuxième vie.
Déjà plus de 2000 véhicules sévèrement endommagés ou usés ont connu la torche des ferrailleurs afghans.
Le plus délicieux dans cette affaire est que les MRAP encore en bon état ne peuvent pas être donnés aux Afghans car ils sont jugés trop complexes à entretenir, avec trop d’électronique à bord. Les Afghans s’en moquent un peu d’ailleurs, puisqu’ils vont mettre la main sur des montagnes de climatiseurs, de Hummer, de pick-up et autres scoubidous kakis… La vente ou la cession de MRAP à des pays amis un peu plus évolués n’a pas non plus attiré les foules, avec moins de 400 véhicules cédés à ce jour. Car le problème reste bien de faire sortir les camions d’Afghanistan, avec les aléas de la route pakistanaise ou le coût prohibitif du transport par air.

http://forcesoperations.com/2014/01/06/le-pentagone-invente-le-vehicule-blinde-jetable/

Sujet: Re: US Army Mer 8 Jan 2014 - 23:25

Citation :: US Army Sends More Soldiers, Gear to South Korea

In February, the US Army will deploy 800 soldiers from the 1^st Battalion, 12^th Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Hood, Tx. to South Korea on a nine-month deployment as part of a broader plan to rotate forces in and out of critical areas across the globe, the service announced on Jan. 7.
As it stands now, the 19,000 soldiers (part of about 28,000 US troops in South Korea) rotate into the Army’s 2^nd Infantry Division on an individual basis, making train up times for new arrivals an ongoing process that the service says erodes overall readiness.
The idea here, now that the majority of the Army’s brigades are no longer tied up in Iraq and Afghanistan—or preparing to go or resetting after coming back—is to ensure that the units in Korea are trained and equipped to operate as a group.
And it’s also a way to save a little bit of money.
The 1/12, just like the 4^th Squadron, 6^th Cavalry Regiment which deployed to South Korea in October, will deploy with all of their equipment but leave it behind when they rotate home for the next unit to fall in on. This will cut down on the costs of future rotations, while also increasing the permanent hardware that the Army has available on the peninsula at any given time
The 2^nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4^th Infantry Division, which deployed to Kuwait last year, is following a similar script in the CENTOM area of operations.
Sending in the new unit to Korea will add two companies of M1A2 Abrams tanks and two companies of M2A3 Bradley fighting vehicles to the peninsula, or about 40 tank and 40 up armored infantry carriers overall.
Similarly, the 6^th Cavalry Regiment will leave their Kiowa helicopters behind in South Korea.
In remarks made on Jan 7. at the National Press Club, Army chief of staff Gen Ray Odierno explained the rotation of the Cav battalion as a way to “round out the brigade” already stationed in South Korea, which only has two maneuver battalions.
The Army is in the midst of adding a third maneuver battalion to its Brigade Combat Teams to give them more combat punch, while at the same time reducing the overall number of brigades it fields and cutting back the headquarters staffing that it needs to fill as part of its push to get down to 490,000 soldiers by 2015.
The Army currently has about 527,000 soldiers in its formations, down from a wartime high of 570,000. It should be down to a little over 500,000 soldiers by the end of this year, Odierno said.
By adding the third battalion to the Korean brigade, “it allows us to make sure we’re consistent as we apply the resources of our Army not on in Korea but in other areas of the world,” the general added.
After meeting with Republic of Korea Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se in Washington on Jan. 7, Secretary of State John Kerry also reaffirmed the commitment of the two countries to defend against any possible North Korea aggression.
Kerry said that the United States is “fully committed to the defense of the Republic of Korea, including through extended deterrents and putting the full range of U.S. military capabilities in place. We will continue to modernize our capabilities so that we are prepared to face any threat.”
In 2012 the Army sent several dozen MRAPs to its forces in South Korea to see if the troops there had any use for them. After months of testing in the hilly terrain, leadership sent the MRAPs back home, opting instead for the Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Humvees that they were already using.
Still, a spokesman for the 2^nd Infantry Division, which is permanently stationed in South Korea, told Defense News that South Korea may act as a “test bed for a lot of new capabilities,” as the Army shits is focus to the Pacific.
“As we begin to look to the future with the focus being on the Pacific, I think 2nd ID and the 8th Army together are going to be the spearhead for the testing of a lot of these future capabilities,” Army Lt. Col. Joe Scrocca said.
Some of these capabilities include the latest survivability upgrades to the Bradley fighting vehicle, as well as being the first unit — 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.

http://blogs.defensenews.com/intercepts/2014/01/us-army-sends-more-soldiers-gear-to-south-korea/

Sujet: Re: US Army Ven 10 Jan 2014 - 12:02

Citation :: US Army orders inflatable satellite antennas from GATR
10 January 2014

GATR Technologies has received a contract from the US Army Project Manager, Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (PM WIN-T), Product Manager Satellite Communications (PdM SATCOM), Commercial SATCOM Terminal Program (CSTP) Office for supply of its inflatable satellite antennas (ISA).

Under the $440m indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract, the company will supply its wideband global satellites (WGS) certified ISAs, as well as associated hardware, services and support to the US Army, Marine Corps, and other commands and services.

GATR's president Paul Gierow said the contract validates the continued adoption of the company's technology by the warfighter and signifies its evolution as provider of integrated solutions.

''We were extremely fortunate to leverage early small business innovative research contracts and quick reaction funding from the Department of Defense to help us initially field and improve our technology,'' Gierow said.

''This contract allows conventional forces to take advantage of the same cost savings and lighter profile already benefiting the special operations community, marine corps expeditionary units and other early adopters.''

GATR's antenna is a flexible parabolic dish mounted within an inflatable sphere, lowering the weight and packaged volume by as much as 80%, thereby improving the agility of deployed military and disaster response personnel.

As well as having a lower acquisition cost than the conventional deployable systems, the ISA also has a lightweight design that dramatically reduces transportation expenses.

The larger dish size allows for more efficient use of satellite bandwidth capacity, increasing bandwidth for users, while enabling more users to communicate simultaneously.

More than 300 GATR ISA terminals have been fielded by the US and allied militaries since 2008.

Deliveries under the contract are scheduled to take place over the next five years.

http://www.army-technology.com/news/newsus-army-orders-inflatable-satellite-antennas-from-gatr-4158316

Sujet: Re: US Army Mer 15 Jan 2014 - 13:36

Citation :: US Army orders more BAE missile warning systems

The US Army has signed a $39 million contract to purchase 300 of BAE Systems’ third-generation Common Missile Warning System (CMWS), the defence contractor announced on 14 January. The order, which includes spare units and engineering and technical services, is part of the army’s effort to equip its aircraft with the latest defensive electronics, says BAE.

The CMWS includes five sensors placed around an aircraft, which detect the ultraviolet signatures of heat-seeking missiles. The sensors pass information to an electronic control unit, which evaluates the threat, sends information to the cockpit and can automatically deploy countermeasures, the company says.

BAE says the third-generation system has seven times more processing power than a second-generation missile warning system. And, unlike earlier versions, the newest CMWS also detects small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, the company says.

The CMWS has been operational with the US Army since 2005, and is currently installed on US aircraft operating in Afghanistan, such as Boeing AH-64 Apaches and CH-47 Chinooks, Bell OH-58 Kiowa Warriors, Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks and fixed-wing aircraft, says BAE. The UK also has the system on its Chinooks, Apaches, AgustaWestland Lynxs and Eurocopter Pumas.

“Our Common Missile Warning System has been battle tested, with more than 2,100 systems delivered and integrated on more than 30 different platform types,” BAE says. The system has logged more than 2.3 million flight hours, it adds.

The company expects the US Army will eventually purchase more than 1,300 third-generation CMWS units to be installed on more than 1,000 aircraft during the next two years, at a cost of $496 million.

http://www.flightglobal.com

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Sujet: Re: US Army Sam 18 Jan 2014 - 18:58

Citation :: 18/01/2014

20 UH-72 «Lakota» supplémentaire pour l’US Army !

L’US Army va prochainement passer commande d’un nouveau lot de 20 hélicoptères Airbus Hélicopters (Ex-Eurocopter) UH-72A «Lakota». Ces équiperont l’US Army et la National Guard et seront livrés de septembre à juillet 2015.

L’UH-72A «Lakota» est la version militaire de l’hélicoptère civil EC-145 d’Eurocopter. La dénomination UH (Utility Helicopter) est propre à l’armée américaine. L’EC-145 est, avec la gamme EC-135/635 la nouvelle génération d’hélicoptères de la gamme légère du constructeur européen.

Hélicoptère bimoteur polyvalent, il est utilisé pour une vaste gamme de missions telles que : la sécurité intérieure, la répression des drogues, un soutien logistique et d'évacuation médicale (MEDEVAC).

Pour les ambulances et les missions d'évacuation médicale, la cabine peut accueillir deux civières, plus un chef d'équipe (qui est qualifié pour faire fonctionner le treuil et autres matériels d'équipement aéronautique) et d'un accompagnateur médical.

L'UH-72A dispose d’un système de communications tactiques de type RT-5000 à large bande. L'hélicoptère est motorisé par deux Turbomeca Arriel 1E2, chacun fournissant 550kW de puissance au décollage et 516kW puissance continue.

Photos : UH-72A «Lakota» de l’US Army @ US Army

http://psk.blog.24heures.ch/archive/2014/01/18/20-uh-72-lakota-supplementaire-pour-l-us-army-854913.html

Sujet: Re: US Army Mer 22 Jan 2014 - 11:03

Citation :: Enhanced Missile Warning System to Protect U.S. Army Troops

The U.S. Army has awarded BAE Systems a $39 million contract for more than 300 third-generation (Gen3) Common Missile Warning System (CMWS), a key element in helicopter and aircraft countermeasures systems protecting US aviators in combat theatres; The Army has already acquired 2,100 such systems and has operated them in combat, accumulating more than 2,000,000 combat flight hours. Based on the accumulated experience the Army is upgrading the CMWS into the AN/AAR-57A(V) standard, enabling systems to better respond to evolving threats, a wider range of countermeasures and decoys including laser-based Directed InfraRed Countermeasures (DIRCM). By providing Hostile Fire Indication (HFI) capability, the system combines warning cue and situational awareness for guided and unguided threats to host platform. Furthermore, the system effectively protects against surface and air launched missile threats. Besides providing warning and triggering countermeasures against missile attacks the CMWS Gen3 system also indicates when small arms fire is directed at the protected platform. The system can also record the data throughout the mission for post mission debriefing and threat signal processing.
cmws

Besides providing warning and triggering countermeasures against missile attacks the CMWS Gen3 system also indicates when small arms fire is directed at the protected

platform. Photo: BAE Systems

“The Gen3 enhancements allow us to provide a missile warning, hostile fire indication, and data recording system all in one box. This can immediately make a difference for our troops by improving survivability and increasing situational awareness,” said Bill Staib, director of Threat Management Solutions at BAE Systems.

As a highly automated and tightly integrated infrared countermeasures suite, CMWS locates threats and dispenses countermeasures without requiring pilot intervention. The system features a modular, customizable design that allows for seamless integration with other aircraft and survivability systems. To that end, CMWS has demonstrated its ability to serve as a centralized processing system for Integrated Aircraft Survivability Equipment.

The $39 million order is the first under a proposed $496 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract and increases the total U.S. Army Gen3 procurement to more than 1,300 units. The current contract includes unit spares and engineering and technical services. The Gen3 systems will be fielded to more than 1,000 U.S. Army platforms over the next two years, and has already begun with in-theater installations on the Apache, Kiowa, and Blackhawk aircraft in Afghanistan.

http://defense-update.com

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Sujet: Re: US Army Jeu 23 Jan 2014 - 16:00

Citation :: 10 000 soldats américains en Afghanistan après 2014 ?

Même les pourparlers intenses sont toujours en cours entre Washington et Kaboul, la présence américaine après 2014 semble se dessiner jour après jours. Les États-Unis prévoient ainsi de maintenir 10 000 soldats en Afghanistan pour conserver une force prépositionnement en mesure de parer à toute éventuelle offensive des talibans.
Selon un responsable américain qui s’est exprimé à la presse, ce mandat de présence serait valable pour une période de deux ans. Ce plan a été présenté la semaine dernière à la Maison Blanche par les hauts responsables militaires américains. Selon le Wall Street Journal et le New York Times, une délibération est en cours avant que Barack Obama ne donne son approbation en accord avec le président Karzaï. Ce dernier n’a pas ménagé la diplomatie américaine, au cours de ces dernières semaines, n’hésitant pas à exiger l’arrêt des frappes américaines dans le pays comme condition sine qua non à la signature de cet accord. Ce partenariat stratégique entre les États-Unis et l’Afghanistan sera lui valable 10 ans jusqu’en 2014.
En plus de 10 000 soldats américains, entre 2000 et 3000 autres militaires d’autres pays prenant part à l’OTAN pourraient également prolonger leur présence. Aucun pays n’a chiffré exactement sa présence après 2014, certains ont même accéléré leur retrait à l’instar du Canada et de la Pologne. A l’heure actuelle, 37 500 militaires américains et 19 000 autres sont encore déployés en Afghanistan.

http://www.infosdefense.com/10-000-soldats-americains-en-afghanistan-apres-2014-11269/

Sujet: Re: US Army Jeu 23 Jan 2014 - 16:54

Citation :: Boeing Gets Lifeline for Super Hornet Fighter From U.S. Congress

The U.S. Congress has given Boeing Co. (BA:US)’s Super Hornet fighter jet a lifeline, at least for now.

The omnibus federal spending measure contains a down payment of $75 million for 22 of the fighters that the Navy didn’t request.

The funding, signed into law on Jan. 17, will prod Navy officials to decide this year whether to spend as much as $2 billion for the unplanned planes as a hedge against delays of

the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

http://www.businessweek.com

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Sujet: Re: US Army Mer 29 Jan 2014 - 11:08

Citation :: U.S. Dept of Defense announces the deployment of M/V Cape Ray for Syrian Chemical Weapons Disposal

Today the Department of Defense announced the deployment of M/V Cape Ray from Portsmouth, Va. M/V Cape Ray is the primary contribution of the Department of Defense toward international efforts to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons material program.

Over the last several months, hundreds of government and contract personnel have worked tirelessly to prepare the vessel to neutralize Syrian chemical materials and precursors using proven hydrolysis technology. This achievement could not have been possible without these remarkable contributions.

The United States remains committed to ensuring its neutralization of Syria's chemical materials prioritizes the safety of people, protects the environment, follows verification procedures of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and with applicable standards. All waste from the hydrolysis process on M/V Cape Ray will be safely and properly disposed of at commercial facilities to be determined by the OPCW. No hydrolysis byproducts will be released into the sea or air. M/V Cape Ray will comply with all applicable international laws, regulations, and treaties.

It is the responsibility of the Assad regime to transport the chemical materials safely to facilitate their removal for destruction. The international community is poised to meet the milestones set forth by the OPCW, including the June 30 target date for the total destruction of Syria's chemical weapons materials. The United States joins the OPCW and the United Nations in calling on the Assad regime to intensify its efforts to ensure its international obligations and commitment are met so these materials may be removed from Syria as quickly and safely as possible.

http://www.navyrecognition.com

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US Army - Page 25 Star3

Le Prophéte (saw) a dit: Les Hommes Les meilleurs sont ceux qui sont les plus utiles aux autres US Army - Page 25 Star3

Sujet: Re: US Army Jeu 30 Jan 2014 - 16:21

Citation :: U.S. Army Selects Saab to Supply Wide Area Multilateration System to Enhance Air Surveillance and Safety at Joint Base Lewis – McChord

January 27, 2014 - News

Saab has been selected by the U.S. Army to supply a Wide Area Multilateration (WAM) system at Joint Base Lewis – McChord (JBLM), Fort Lewis, Washington. The WAM system will provide precise surveillance during low level aviation tactical maneuvers during training at JBLM.

JBLM will be the fourth U.S. military installation to utilize Saab WAM for surveillance of flights in Special Use Airspace, joining U.S. Naval Air Station Patuxent River, U.S. Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms and U.S. Army Yuma Proving Grounds.

“Saab WAM is a field-proven surveillance solution for accurate situational awareness of a diverse mixture of aircraft and helicopters operating in challenging airspace,” said Lars Borgwing, President and Chief Executive Officer of Saab Defense and Security USA, LLC (SDAS). “The system at JBLM will provide the military with a reliable method of acquiring airspace situational awareness that will benefit training safety and force readiness.”

Saab multilateration uses multiple low-maintenance, non-rotating sensors to triangulate aircraft location based on transponder signals. This provides operators with precise aircraft position and identification information regardless of weather conditions. With a higher update rate and greater positional accuracy than traditional radar, multilateration delivers effective surveillance for increased safety, capacity and efficiency of airspace and surface operations. By employing advanced processing techniques, a Saab multilateration system uses the minimal number of sensors for a less complex, lower lifecycle cost solution.

Almost 100 sites worldwide have chosen Saab multilateration to enhance safety, efficiency, capacity and cost savings through airport surface surveillance, wide area surveillance and airport surface management.

Saab Defense and Security USA LLC delivers advanced military technology and systems to United States armed forces and other government agencies. Headquartered in Sterling Virginia, the company has business units and local employees in four states.

http://www.saabsensis.com

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Citation :: American tanks return to Europe after brief leave

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — Less than a year after they left European soil, American tanks have returned to military bases in Germany where they had been a heavy presence since World War II.
In April last year, the last Abrams tanks left Germany, coinciding with a drawdown of U.S. forces that saw the inactivation of two infantry brigades — the 170th and 172nd.
When the 22 M1A1 Abrams departed the continent it was seen as the end of an era, as tanks had been a fixture on American bases in Europe since landing at Omaha Beach in 1944.
Now, it appears that chapter of history may have been closed a bit prematurely.
On Friday, the last of 29 M1A2 SEPv2 Abrams tanks were offloaded at the railhead at the Grafenwöhr training facilities. These heavily armored vehicles are upgraded versions of the older Abrams that left 10 months ago and will become part of what the Joint Multinational Training Command at Grafenwöhr is calling the European Activity Set.
“The EAS is a pre-positioned, battalion-plus-size equipment set with headquarters pieces and command-and-control elements,” said Col. Thomas Matsel, operations officer with the JMTC. “Units that utilize the EAS will have access to the entire breadth of military operations they may have to conduct.”
The Abrams tanks will join 33 M2A3 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and dozens of other heavy support vehicles that will be positioned at Grafenwöhr to be used at the training facilities there, at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center at Hohenfels and at other training areas across Europe.
The concept of the EAS envisions units using the equipment in short stints before turning it over to the next group of troops.
JMTC officials hope the EAS will fill a gap in the capabilities of the training facilities that became apparent when the tanks departed last April.
“We have the best light infantry training facilities, the best medium training area with the Strykers,” Matsel said. “The only thing missing was the heavy piece.”
Several units are already scheduled to use the EAS. The 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, is first and will take temporary ownership of the vehicles, which will accompany them as they take part in three major exercises spanning from France to Latvia later this year.

http://www.stripes.com/american-tanks-return-to-europe-after-brief-leave-1.264910

Citation :: Pentagon selects study sites for possible BMD expansion

Work has begun for studying potential sites to host another US missile defence facility, an effort mandated by Congress but of relatively little interest to Pentagon officials.

"The Missile Defense Agency [MDA] has completed an extensive evaluation of sites" for its study and has selected Camp Ravenna in Ohio, Fort Custer in Michigan, Fort Drum in New York, and Portsmouth SERE Training Area in Maine, according to a 31 January Department of Defense (DoD) statement.
Those potential sites are each over the next two years to undergo an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that evaluates "potential impacts to land use, water resources, air quality, transportation, socioeconomics, and other factors" that the government is required to study.

http://www.janes.com/article/33327/pentagon-selects-study-sites-for-possible-bmd-expansion

Citation :: The Robotic Convoys of the U.S. Army

The U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and Lockheed Martin have demonstrated the ability of fully autonomous convoys to operate in urban environments with multiple vehicles of different models.

The demonstration at Fort Hood, Texas, was part of the Army and Marine Corps’ Autonomous Mobility Applique System (AMAS) program, and marked the completion of the program’s Capabilities Advancement Demonstration (CAD).
According to Space Daily the test involved driverless tactical vehicles navigating hazards and obstacles such as road intersections, oncoming traffic, stalled and passing vehicles, pedestrians and traffic circles in both urban and rural test areas.

The AMAS hardware and software are designed to automate the driving task on current tactical vehicles. The Unmanned Mission Module part of AMAS, which includes a high performance LIDAR sensor, a second GPS receiver and additional algorithms, is installed as a kit and can be used on virtually any military vehicle. In the CAD demonstration, the kit was integrated onto the Army’s M915 trucks and the Palletized Loading System (PLS)

http://i-hls.com/2014/02/robotic-convoys-u-s-army/

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Citation :: Alaska soldiers train with unmanned aircraft

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Army is flying a new bird over south central Alaska — and the pilots sit in the back of a Humvee.
Paratroopers with the 425 Brigade Special Troops Battalion on Thursday trained with a RQ7 Shadow unmanned aircraft system. The remotely operated aircraft are designed to provide reconnaissance for troops without putting observers in danger.
The unmanned aircraft provide near real-time video and information from infrared sensors. Operators can’t distinguish individual faces, said Sgt. Brandon Byers, but they can detect heat signatures and vehicle tracks.
“They’re able to distinguish the features and different marks on the ground,” he said.
Byers oversees the maintenance section. Besides the usual repairs, the unit launches the unmanned aircraft from pneumatic catapult launchers mounted on trailers.
The system is made by AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems of Hunt Valley, Md. The last price Byers heard for each aircraft was $1.25 million, but it’s probably more now.
“We’re constantly upgrading payloads,” he said. “Bigger, better things.”
The drones come with two sets of wings. On Thursday, Byers’ crew had outfitted “El Super Beasto II,” an unmanned aircraft painted with eyeballs and a grinning set of choppers, with the shorter 14-foot wings. They hold 44 liters of aviation gas and can fly four to six hours, depending on conditions.
The RQ7 also comes with 20-foot wings that carry 55 liters of fuel and make smoother, better landings, Byers said.
“Those things will go nine hours all day, no matter what the altitude,” he said.
Soldiers for the training session rolled the 12-foot drone up to the bottom of the launcher’s launch rail and into a cradle. They warmed up the engine for about 30 minutes with Super Beasto poised at a roughly 40-degree angle. The engine sounded like a souped-up lawnmower before one last revving. The crew chief, Spec. Josue Montanez, used a handheld device connected to the launcher by cable to fling the drone skyward.
A two-person crew in a heated trailer on the back of a Humvee took over the controls. Sgt. Brian Hardy and Pvt. Bradley Johnson watched computer screens and toggled a joy stick, tracking the drone’s flight and seeing what it saw through its cameras.
In the field, pilots can pass control of a drone to crews set up 30 to 50 kilometers (18.6 miles to 31 miles) away.
“If you have those set up throughout, you can just extend that range,” Byers said.
Super Beasto carried a laser-designation payload for the training Thursday. In a real mission, if coordinates for directing fire were not available, the pilots could deploy the laser on the unmanned aircraft to light up a target and guide a missile fired from an attack helicopter.
“Their missile syncs onto that,” Byers said. “Problem solved.”
The soldiers generally don’t train with the unmanned aircraft when it rains or snows to prevent damage to electronics. Icing is also a threat, Byers said.
To land, the operators give a “return home” command. An automated landing system guides the drone to a touchdown point, Byers said.
Arresting gear — wires stretched perpendicular across the runway — catch a tailhook on the drone the same way an aircraft carrier stops a jet. If the drone misses the pendant lines, a net is the last resort to bring it to a stop.

http://www.suasnews.com/2014/02/27268/alaska-soldiers-train-with-unmanned-aircraft/

Quand les difficultés budgétaires poussent à s’entre-dévorer...

Citation :: Army Would take Apaches from Nat'l Guard
Feb 08, 2014

MORRISVILLE -- Apache Longbow helicopters are lithe, deadly birds. With the kind of training they do out of their headquarters near Raleigh-Durham International Airport, the citizen-soldiers in the N.C. National Guard's 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion can swoop in just above the trees, dive on a target and fire one of three kinds of ammunition with almost no warning.
So skilled is the battalion, part of the 130th Aviation Regiment, that it has deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq since 9/11 without losing a single Apache.
It doesn't want to lose them now.
But it could, under an aviation restructuring plan by the Army that would take all the National Guard's Apaches, just under 200 aircraft from eight attack battalions across the country, including those of the 1-130th at Morrisville. The Army says it needs the helicopters so it can stop using the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior, which it has been updating since the Vietnam War. And in a time of severe budget constraints, taking Apaches from the Guard is the least costly option.
The Army also has said it would take some of the guard's UH-72 Lakota helicopters to use in training. The N.C. Guard has four Lakotas based at Morrisville.
In return, the Army would give the National Guard a smaller number of UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters.
The implications of the proposal go beyond the appearance of an uneven horse trade. While guard leaders say they understand the Army's budget frustrations, they say the grab for their war-fighting machinery suggests that as the U.S. ramps down its military involvement around the world, the active-duty forces may be trying to relegate the reserves to cleaning up after hurricanes and fighting forest fires.
That would be a reversal of the work that has been done to make the National Guard and reserves into a force that, with a few months lead time, can be used interchangeably with active-duty units, as has happened frequently during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. To achieve that, guard and reserve forces have acquired the same equipment, trained to the same standards and served on deployments of the same length as their active-duty counterparts, most of them at part-time pay while working regular full-time jobs.
Some military analysts have said that having a well-trained, combat-ready reserve force kept the country from having to re-institute a draft. At times during the post-9/11 conflicts, the guard has made up 50 percent of deployed troops.
"The National Guard right now is the best led and the best trained it has ever been," said Col. Brian Pierce, commander of the 449th Theater Aviation Brigade, which oversees the 1-130th. "In my opinion, there is no difference between the two organizations now.
"But if we don't look like them, and we don't have the same capability as the active-duty component, how are we going to function as that strategic depth and that combat reserve?"
It's not clear what would happen to the guard's Apache attack battalions if the Army's plan is carried out, which would only happen if it is incorporated into the federal budget. Some members might be transferred to other units, and a few might enter or return to the active-duty force.
Training time
There are more than 400 soldiers in the 1-130th, about 150 of them full-time guard employees. Members of the unit live in the Triangle and across North Carolina, and some in neighboring states.
Many are former active-duty service members, and others have served only in the guard.
Most spend more time at the training and flight facility at RDU in Morrisville than they get paid for, taking courses, putting in time on the flight simulator and getting flight experience in the Apaches.
The helicopters come and go from the facility nearly every night, green-brown birds lifting off the ramp with their two-man crews. They head off in different directions, toward training sites in Butner, Charlotte, Fort Bragg or the Uwharrie Mountains, to practice low-level maneuvers and learn what to do if an engine gets struck by ground fire and fails.
It's more of a challenge than flying a Blackhawk, said Chief Warrant Officer Christopher Wilson, who served in the Air Force and came to the 1-130th to fly Apaches.
"It's not even comparable," he said Thursday night, before boarding an Apache to do an annual evaluation of one of the pilots in the unit. "This is one of the most sophisticated and advanced attack helicopters in the world. Flying this air frame is not like anything else."
Experience lost?
At 45, Wilson has served in the guard for 20 years, and deployed with this unit in the first Gulf War, as well as to Afghanistan and Iraq. He's not the only member of the battalion to have done so.
"We're just going to squander that experience?" said John Goheen, spokesman for the National Guard Association in Washington. "These are some of the most experienced pilots and maintainers in the Army. Basically, we're going to say to them, 'Get out, or we're going to have to retrain you in something else.' Where is the savings there?"
Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said that while pilots and maintenance crews need to train on the aircraft they will fly in combat, communications specialists, logisticians and others could train on Blackhawks or other helicopters and transfer those skills in a combat setting.
The guard also could use Blackhawks in its domestic duties and in humanitarian missions.
A South Carolina congressman, Republican Joe Wilson, has proposed a bill that would forestall the shifting of helicopters and establish a commission to look at the future structure of the Army, a move guard leaders support as both forces determine how best to reduce their numbers in coming years. The guard would like the Army's aviation restructuring to be postponed until a commission can look at the issues.
"They don't want to be in a service that isn't in the fight," Goheen said. "Ours is a force full of people who want to be on their feet, with a rucksack on their back, doing things, getting their hands dirty. If the nation goes to war, they want to contribute. It's not a team you can put on the bench, and I think that's the fear."

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/02/08/army-would-take-apaches-from-natl-guard.html?comp=7000023317843&rank=3

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Citation :: The DARPA and IBM: devices equipped with an auto destruction module
February 07th, 2014 - 03:54 pm ET by Mathieu M.

Early last year, we wrote of an interesting program being undertaken by the DARPA, looking to create IT hardware that could be remotely destroyed. Today, the agency has announced that they have signed a partnership with IBM for the conception of the first chips sets.

darpa-vapr-1DARPA (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency) presented their VAPR program (Vanishing Programmable Resources) last year – a project which is looking at technology devices which will be equipped with an autodestruct module that can be remotely activated.

The idea is to allow military or sensitive hardware to be destroyed automatically so that it doesn’t fall into the enemy’s hands, while also allowing them to get their devices back or highjack their own technology.

The DARPA is working on the principle that it is technically impossible for an army to always remember to take everything with them when they are in an area of conflict, and that a remote order to destroy such hardware would avoid any technology leaks.

A contract worth 3.45 million dollars has been signed with IBM for the conception of these autodestruct modules. The company is studying the use of a glass substance which will break when a metal layer placed over the glass receives a specific radio signal. This type of command will also allow all equipped devices to be disabled, so if they are left behind and the enemy gets their hands on them then they can be disabled from tens of kilometres away.

It will be interesting to see the results, as a benefit to DARPA could also be a weakness if the enemy manages to hack the radio signal and autodestruct the devices when they are still in use.

Other options are also being investigated, like the automatic destruction of a device after a certain time, or after a single use, with some devices possibly only having a few days of life.
Source : arstechnica

us.generation-nt.com

Citation :: Team Apache Sensors Conducts Test Flight of the Modernized Day Sensor Assembly on the AH-64E Apache Attack Helicopter

U.S. Army and Lockheed Martin Bring Enhanced Capability to Apache Cockpit

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Feb. 19, 2014 – Team Apache Sensors, including the U.S. Army Apache Attack Helicopter Project Management Office, the U.S. Army Aviation Flight Test Directorate and Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT], conducted a test flight of the Apache AH-64E Modernized Day Sensor Assembly (M-DSA) during an event at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., yesterday.

The test flight demonstrated the maturity of M-DSA and the enhanced capabilities it brings to the Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/PNVS), the precision targeting and pilotage system for the AH-64D/E Apache helicopter.

“We are looking forward to the reliability and maintainability improvements that this laser will bring to the M-TADS system,” said Lt. Col. Steven Van Riper, U.S. Army Apache Sensors Product Manager. “This system will help to further reduce the burden on our aircrews, and they will be able to reap the benefits of the performance improvements.”

M-DSA increases M-TADS/PNVS designation and ranging capabilities to fully accommodate current weapons and those planned for the future. The upgraded sensor enables Apache pilots to see high-resolution, high-definition near infrared and color imagery on cockpit displays. An additional field of view allows image blending with the M-TADS forward-looking infrared, and enables pilots to see civilian and military lighting on a single display more clearly. M-DSA also provides a new laser pointer marker that improves coordination with ground troops and an updated multi-mode laser with eye-safe lasing capability that supports flight in urban environments and critical training exercises.

http://www.lockheedmartin.com

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Citation :: Raytheon teste le missile Griffin Block III

Le 20/02/2014 à 10:39 | Par Guillaume Steuer

Un hélicoptère Kiowa équipé de lanceurs pour le missile Griffin.

C'est devenu un armement de choix pour les forces spéciales américaines : le mini-missile air-sol Griffin, développé par Raytheon, vient de subir une série de tests concluants dans une nouvelle version baptisée "Block III". Selon le constructeur américain, celle-ci incorpore un capteur semi-actif laser amélioré mais aussi et surtout une nouvelle charge militaire "multi-effets" d'environ 6 kg censée rendre le Griffin capable de traiter efficacement un plus large panel de cibles.

Raytheon souligne que la production du Griffin Block III est déjà en cours et que cette version est appelée à devenir le standard de livraison pour les clients actuels et futurs. Le missile est déjà intégré sur un certain nombre de plateformes, notamment aux Etats-Unis.

C'est par exemple le cas de l'AC-130J "Ghostrider", nouvelle cannonière volante de l'AFSOC (les forces spéciales de l'US Air Force) qui a fait son premier vol le mois dernier. Sur cet appareil, le Griffin est utilisé dans sa version AGM-176A ; celle-ci permet le lancement du missile par l'arrière d'un avion de transport, par exemple depuis sa soute.

Le Griffin est également disponible en version BGM-176B, tirée par l'avant comme un missile traditionnel. Un armement adapté pour l'équipement des drones et autres plateformes légères amenées à intervenir contre des cibles mobiles avec une exigence de dommage collatéraux réduits.

L'engin a également été envisagé pour équiper des hélicoptères Gazelle au titre d'un programme de rénovation baptisé "Naja" et proposé par la société Aerotec pour différents clients potentiels.

La vidéo ci-dessous illustre quelques-unes des applications du Griffin de Raytheon.

http://www.air-cosmos.com/defense/raytheon-teste-le-missile-griffin-block-iii.html

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