As foot soldiers are in increased demand in the harsh terrain of Afghanistan while IEDs have created new types of vulnerabilities, individual protective gear for the infantryman keeps evolving and improving to address new kinds of challenges. USMC Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur J. Pasagian, Program manager, Infantry Combat Equipment (ICE), explains such…
Night video footage of a coordinated rescue operation of USCG and USN services on January 3 off Cape Hatteras, N.C.
Afghanistan previewed how the war on terror would be fought. It was a war where searching for an elusive and shadowy enemy was a central tactic and “intelligence was the primary U.S. weapon.” For this fight, the Harrier proved to be of great value, mainly because Marine pilots train extensively…
The Obama Administration seeks to apply firm-fixed price contracting in a number of sectors, including defense. The past is often a good predictor of the future so we may learn valuable lessons from it. As a young government employee working in several program offices in the late 80's I got…
There are three broad categories of cost - development, procurement and sustainment; each of which is driven by a different set of factors. While development and procurement costs attract the most attention from the media and from Congress, they account for just 40% of total weapons system cost.
Logistics to support the Harrier squadron in Afghanistan had been a major concern. To facilitate expeditionary aircraft maintenance, VMA-513 brought a Marine Corps-developed Remote Expeditionary Support Package a mini-maintenance department pack-up, van loaded for rapid deployment that gave VMA-513 a robust maintenance capability and a large degree of self-sufficiency despite…
Despite being tucked away at the bottom of the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh and its primary port, Chittagong, remain a piracy hotspot. Even with a reduction in armed robberies two years ago, the five-year trend reveals that it is business as usual in Bangladesh.
The cost for deployed soldier in Afghanistan will be multiples higher than for the deployed soldier in Iraq. Dependent on which analyst is doing the assessment, the number ranges from 2 to 4 times higher
