In November 2010, U.S. Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base, IL issued 11 cargo sealift contracts under the Regional Domestic Contract (RDC-5) program. The companies involved will provide services between the continental USA and Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico; and from Alaska to Guam. The contracts begin on Dec 1/10, with a [...]
Swiss Pz 87
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Switzerland became a Leopard 2 tank customer under Armament Program 84, with 380 Leopard 2A4 variants delivered as “Pz 87s” from 1987-1993. The Swiss military has been drawing down sharply over the last decade and a half, with many tanks mothballed into storage. With plans for a smaller defense force [...]
Playing the field: Only weeks after the US Congress broke the deadlock on $100 million in military aid to Lebanon, Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri visits Tehran and appeals for closer military cooperation with Iran.
Red flag: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says China is not doing enough to restrain North Korea, calls for “significant penalties” against North.
Scorpion’s [...]AT4 firing -
note backblast
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Sweden’s Saab Bofors Dynamics recently announced a SEK 150 million ($18.6M/ EUR 14M) order for its AT4-CS infantry rockets. This is France’s 4th order for the unguided system, following purchases in 1996, 2000, and 2003. The AT4-CS fills a niche as a lighter version of Giat/Nexter’s 112mm APILAS, which [...]
Jason Ditz, managing news editor at Antiwar.com, discusses the very different newspaper headlines describing the 105-page biannual Pentagon report to Congress on Afghanistan; why the renaming of insurgent attacks to “kinetic events” must have George Carlin spinning in his grave; US forces stuck halfway through clear, build and hold; and the rampant election fraud in [...]Independent journalist Anand Gopal discusses the embarrassing revelation that a Taliban impostor was involved in high-level negotiations with ISAF officials; how constantly-shifting goals and deadlines show the US is clueless in Afghanistan; how the clear, hold and build strategy is degenerating into the collective punishment of civilians and how the failure to peacefully integrate the [...]Becky Akers, columnist at Lewrockwell.com, discusses the Transportation Security Administration’s dual purpose: to give air travelers a good show of security theater and to inure Americans to a police state, why engaging in protest is the only good reason left to visit an airport, the superficial proposals to “privatize” TSA screeners without changing their operating [...]