BattlelandWeapons
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU1ukWWOFqg]
So we’ve got up to four AGM-114 Hellfire missiles hanging from a pair of Predators now flying over Libya. The advantage to piggybacking these missiles on drones is that they can loiter over hostile territory for hours, often without people on the ground aware that they’re circling …
BattlelandPentagon
The U.S. military has shied away from enemy body counts during wartime since Vietnam. Enemy attrition, not so much (attrition, noun — a wearing down or weakening of resistance, especially as a result of continuous pressure or harassment). So Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, rolled out this new preferred …
BattlelandWeapons
Those of you of a certain vintage will recall how the U.S. military dumped dioxin-laced Agent Orange defoliant all over Vietnam in hopes of an instant autumn — stripping leaves from the jungle so the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese couldn’t hide. But the cost of chemical defoliation was so high, and so tragic, that an electronic …
BattlelandWeapons
David Ignatius, the hard-core foreign-affairs columnist for the Washington Post, doesn’t think much of Thursday’s announcement that the Obama Administration has approved sending armed Predator drones to attack targets in Libya.
His bottom line:
My quick reaction, as a journalist who has chronicled the growing use of drones, is that
…
BattlelandNational Security
Scored a hat trick today on Battleland: had a left-leaner (Gordon Adams, Pentagon czar at OMB during Clinton I) commenting on Mackenzie Eaglen‘s post (she’s from the rightward Heritage Foundation, and before that with quasi-GOPer Susan Collins, senator of Maine), topped off by Nick Schwellenbach, defense pro at the stridently …
BattlelandWeapons
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that armed U.S. Predator drones have begun flying missions over Libya. It’s a small bump in U.S. military capability in hopes of blunting the expanding political problem caused by Muammar Gaddafi’s continued attacks on civilians despite a U.N. resolution calling for their protection. The …
BattlelandNational Security
Moving at the speed of sludge, the CIA this week declared it has finally declassified its oldest still-secret documents it has: spy documents from World War I. One outlines the chemicals and techniques necessary for developing certain types of secret writing ink and a method for opening sealed letters without detection. Another …
BattlelandPentagon
Usually when Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, talks, it’s reported as “commenting” or “remarks.” But Wednesday he let the Pakistani military and its Inter-Services Intelligence unit know that their cozy relationship with the Haqqani terrorist network threatens relations between the two countries. The local …
BattlelandNational Security
Time colleague Bobby Ghosh recalls his friend, Chris Hondros, on our Global Spin blog. Chris was killed Wednesday in Misrata, Libya, along with Tim Hetherington. Brave war reporters like Bobby are nothing compared to the guys who go in to make the pictures of conflict around the world that we rely on to try to come to grips with such …
BattlelandWeapons
For the first time in history, a Russian submarine will be engaging in war games with NATO subs next month. “Apart from honing their skills, the naval rescuers on the games will certainly contribute to mutual confidence between the sides,” Russian analyst Vladimir Yevseyev tells The Voice of Russia news service. “This, in turn, …
BattlelandNational Security
Time photo editor Paul Moakley reflects on the death Wednesday of Restrepo director Tim Hetherington in Misrata, Libya.
BattlelandTroops
Four of every five young U.S. military officers who hang up their uniforms say the best officers are bailing from the military’s ranks. And it isn’t about the money, according to a new study. The report, by two graduate students at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, asked 250 young officers to list their reasons for …
BattlelandNational Security
The New York Times is reporting Thursday morning that the Libyan war – launched by Americans with their fingers crossed – will likely have “no quick and easy end.” It’s hard to recall those days in early March when the rebels were on the move and U.S.-led air attacks, later joined by NATO, were viewed as little more than a armed …
