Total war

Total war is a war limitless in its scope in which a belligerent engages in the mobilization of all their available resources, in order to render beyond use their rival's capacity for resistance.

The practice of total war has been in use for centuries, but it was only in the middle to late 19th century that total war was identified by scholars as a separate class of warfare. In a total war, there is less differentiation between combatants and civilians than in other conflicts, and sometimes no such differentiation at all, as nearly every human resource, civilians and soldiers alike, can be considered to be part of the belligerent effort

Etymology

The phrase can be traced back to the 1936 publication of General Ludendorff’s World War I memoir Der Totale Krieg ("The Total War"). However, the concept extends back as far as Clausewitz’s classic work On War. USAF General Curtis LeMay updated the concept for the nuclear age. He suggested total war in the nuclear age should be conducted by delivering the nuclear arsenal in a single overwhelming blow.

Early history

One of the earliest forms of total war occurred in the Warring States Period, when the State of Qín or Ch'in (778 BC-207 BC) enacted reforms that transformed the nation into a war machine.The population was divided between soldiers who actively fought in the armies and farmers who fed the armies. Industrial development was concentrated on war, resulting in the perfection of bronze weaponry technology: Qin had some of the finest weapons of that era despite using outdated technology (iron had largely replaced bronze in most parts of China). The Qin state's mobilization for total war was a decisive factor in its victory over its rivals and the subsequent unification of China.

An early example of total war, and possibly the first to be fairly well documented, was the Peloponnesian War, described by the historian Thucydides. This war was fought between Athens and Sparta between 431 and 404 BC. Previously, Greek warfare was a limited and ritualized form of conflict. Armies of hoplites would meet on the battlefield and decide the outcome in a single day. During the Peloponnesian War, however, the fighting lasted for years and consumed the economic resources of the participating city-states. Entire populations were executed or sold into slavery, as in the case of the island of Melos (now known as Milos). The aftermath of the war reshaped the Greek world, left much of the region in poverty, and reduced once influential Athens to a weakened state, from which it never completely recovered.

During the Middle Ages, the Mongols in the 13th century practised total war. The military forces of Genghis Khan slaughtered whole populations and destroyed any city that resisted during the invasions of Khwarezmid Empire, Kievan Rus', Baghdad, China, Armenia, Georgia, Poland, Hungary and northern Iran. During the sack of Baghdad in 1258 between 100,000 and 1,000,000 people were killed in the violence. Total war created the Mongol Empire which, by the death of Genghis Khan, would be the largest contiguous empire in history.

Many regions of 16th century Europe were subject to conflicts that could be described as total war. The descent into large scale violence at this time was partly due to population pressures, and partly the product of tensions caused by the Protestant Reformation. The German Peasants War of 1524-25 was an early example; Total warfare was also employed in the French Wars of Religion, with assassins being engaged wantonly by both sides in the conflict. The Elizabethan wars in Ireland, such as the Desmond Wars and the Nine Years War, were extreme examples of what is today known as total war.

The subsequent Thirty Years War may also be considered a total war.This conflict was fought between 1618 and 1648, primarily on the territory of modern Germany. Virtually all of the major European powers were involved, and the economy of each was based on fighting the war. Civilian populations were devastated—"the war nourished the war". Estimates of civilian casualties are approximately 25-30%, with deaths due to a combination of armed conflict, famine, and disease.The size and training of armies also grew dramatically during this period, as did the cost of keeping armies in the field. Plunder was commonly used to pay and feed armies.

After the Thirty Years War and up to the French Revolution most wars in Europe were smaller wars with limited goals, so called Cabinet Wars or Kabinettskriege.

French Revolutionary Wars

The French Revolutionary Wars reintroduced some of the concepts of total war. The fledgling republic found itself threatened by a powerful coalition of European nations. The only solution, in the eyes of the Jacobin government, was to pour the nation's entire resources into an unprecedented war effort—this was the advent of the levée en masse. The following decree of the National Convention on August 23, 1793 clearly demonstrates the immensity of the French war effort:

From this moment until such time as its enemies shall have been driven from the soil of the Republic all Frenchmen are in permanent requisition for the services of the armies. The young men shall fight; the married men shall forge arms and transport provisions; the women shall make tents and clothes and shall serve in the hospitals; the children shall turn linen into lint; the old men shall betake themselves to the public squares in order to arouse the courage of the warriors and preach hatred of kings and the unity of the Republic.

Following the August 23 decree French front line forces grew to some 800,000 with a total of 1.5 million in all services—the first time an army in excess of a million had been mobilized in Western history. Over the coming two decades of almost constant warfare it is estimated that somewhere in the vicinity of five million died—probably about half of them civilians—and France alone counted nearly a million (by some sources in excess of a million) deaths—a considerably higher portion of its population than perished in either of the world wars.

In the Russian campaign of 1812 the Russians resorted to destroying infrastructure and agriculture in their retreat in order to hamper the French and strip them of adequate supplies. In the campaign of 1813 Allied forces in the German theater alone amounted to nearly one million whilst two years later in the Hundred Days a French decree called for the total mobilization of some 2.5 million men (though at most a fifth of this was managed by the time of the French defeat at Waterloo). During the prolonged Peninsular War from 1808–1814 some 300,000 French troops were kept permanently occupied by, in addition to several hundred thousand Spanish, Portuguese and British regulars an enormous and sustained guerrilla insurgency—ultimately French deaths would amount to 300,000 in the Peninsular War alone.

Taiping Rebellion

The Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) was one of the deadliest wars in history, and the first total war in modern China. About 20 million people died, many due to disease and famine.It followed the secession of the Tàipíng Tiānguó (太平天國,T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo), or Heavenly Kingdom of Perfect Peace, from the Qing Empire. Almost every citizen of the Tàipíng Tiānguó was given military training and conscripted into the army to fight against the Imperial forces.

During this conflict both sides tried to deprive each other of the resources to continue the war and it became standard practice to destroy agricultural areas, butcher the population of cities and in general exact a brutal price from captured enemy lands in order to drastically weaken the opposition's war effort. This war truly was total in that civilians on both sides participated to a significant extent in the war effort and in that armies on both sides waged war on the civilian population as well as military forces.
Roundhouse in Atlanta, Georgia following extensive damage from the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War

American Civil War

During the American Civil War, U.S. Army General Phillip Sheridan's stripping of the Shenandoah Valley, beginning on September 21, 1864 and continuing for two weeks, was considered "total war". Its purpose was to eliminate foodstuffs and supplies vital to the South's military operations, as well as to strike a blow at Southern civilian morale. Sheridan took the opportunity when he realized opposing forces had become too weak to resist his army.

Union Army General William Tecumseh Sherman's 'March to the Sea' in November/December 1864 destroyed the resources required for the South to make war. Sherman is considered one of the first military commanders to deliberately and consciously use total war as a military strategy. General Ulysses S. Grant and President Abraham Lincoln initially opposed the plan until Sherman convinced them of its necessity.


World War I

Almost the whole of Europe mobilized to wage World War I. Young men were removed from production jobs to serve in military roles, and were replaced on the production line by women. Rationing occurred on the home fronts. Bulgaria went so far as to mobilize a quarter of its population or 800,000 people, a greater share of its population than any other country during the war.

One of the features of Total War in Britain was the use of government propaganda posters to divert all attention to the war on the home front. Posters were used to influence public opinion about what to eat and what occupations to take, and to change the attitude of support towards the war effort. Even the Music Hall was used as propaganda, with propaganda songs aimed at recruitment and portrayed in the play and film Oh, What A Lovely War!

After the failure of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, the large British offensive in March 1915, the British Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal John French blamed the lack of progress on insufficient and poor-quality artillery shells. This led to the Shell Crisis of 1915 which brought down the Liberal government of Premiership of H. H. Asquith. He formed a new coalition government dominated by Liberals and appointed David Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions. It was a recognition that the whole economy would have to be geared for war if the Allies were to prevail on the Western Front.

As young men left the farms for the front, domestic food production in Britain and Germany fell. In Britain the response was to import more food, which was done despite the German introduction of unrestricted submarine warfare, and to introduce rationing. The Royal Navy's blockade of German ports prevented Germany from importing food and hastened German capitulation by creating a food crisis in Germany.
Founding Ceremony of the Hakkō ichiu Monument, promoting the unification of «the 8 corners of the world under one roof»

World War II

The Second World War can be considered the quintessential total war of modernity. The level of national mobilization of resources on all sides of the conflict, the battlespace being contested, the scale of the armies, navies, and air forces raised through conscription, the active targeting of civilians (and civilian property), the general disregard for collateral damage, and the unrestricted aims of the belligerents marked total war on a multicontinental scale.

Shōwa Japan

During the first part of the Shōwa era, the governments of Imperial Japan launched a string of policies to promote total war effort against China or occidental powers and increase industrial production. Among these were the National Spiritual Mobilization Movement, the Imperial Rule Assistance Association.

The National Mobilization Law had fifty clauses, which provided for government controls over civilian organizations (including labor unions), nationalization of strategic industries, price controls and rationing, and nationalized the news media.The laws gave the government the authority to use unlimited budgets to subsidize war production, and to compensate manufacturers for losses caused by war-time mobilization. Eighteen of the fifty articles outlined penalties for violators.

To improve its production, Shōwa Japan used millions of slave labourers and pressed more than 18 million people in Far East Asia.


United Kingdom

Before the onset of the Second World War, the United Kingdom drew on its First World War experience to prepare legislation that would allow immediate mobilization of the economy for war, should future hostilities break out.

Rationing of most goods and services was introduced, not only for consumers but also for manufacturers. This meant that factories manufacturing products that were irrelevant to the war effort had more appropriate tasks imposed. All artificial light was subject to legal blackouts.

"..There is another more obvious difference from 1914. The whole of the warring nations are engaged, not only soldiers, but the entire population, men, women and children. The fronts are everywhere to be seen. The trenches are dug in the towns and streets. Every village is fortified. Every road is barred. The front line runs through the factories. The workmen are soldiers with different weapons but the same courage."
Winston Churchill on the radio, June 18 ; and House of Commons 20 August 1940

Not only were men conscripted into the armed forces from the beginning of the war (something which had not happened until the middle of World War I), but women were also conscripted as Land Girls to aid farmers and the Bevin Boys were conscripted to work down the coal mines.

Enormous casualties were expected in bombing raids, so children were evacuated from London and other cities en masse to the countryside for compulsory billeting in households. In the long term this was one of the most profound and longer-lasting social consequences of the whole war for Britain. This is because it mixed up children with the adults of other classes. Not only did the middle and upper classes become familiar with the urban squalor suffered by working class children from the slums, but the children got a chance to see animals and the countryside, often for the first time, and experience rural life.

The use of statistical analysis, by a branch of science which has become known as Operational Research to influence military tactics was a departure from anything previously attempted. It was a very powerful tool but it further dehumanised war particularly when it suggested strategies which were counter intuitive. Examples where statistical analysis directly influenced tactics include the work done by Patrick Blackett's team on the optimum size and speed of convoys and the introduction of bomber streams by the Royal Air Force to counter the night fighter defences of the Kammhuber Line.

Germany

In contrast, Germany started the war under the concept of Blitzkrieg. Officially, it did not accept that it was in a total war until Joseph Goebbels' Sportpalast speech of 18 February 1943. For example, women were not conscripted into the armed forces or allowed to work in factories. The Nazi party adhered to the policy that a woman's place was in the home, and did not change this even as its opponents began moving women into important roles in production.

"I ask you: Do you want total war? If necessary, do you want a war more total and radical than anything that we can even imagine today?"
Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, 18 February 1943, in his Sportpalast speech

The commitment to the doctrine of the short war was a continuing handicap for the Germans; neither plans nor state of mind were adjusted to the idea of a long war until the failure of the operation Barbarossa. A major strategical defeat in the Battle of Moscow forced Albert Speer, who was appointed as Germany's armament minister in early 1942, to nationalize German war production and eliminate the worst inefficiencies.

Under his direction a threefold increase in armament production occurred and did not reach its peak until late 1944. To do this during the damage caused by the growing strategic Allied bomber offensive, is an indication of the degree of industrial under-mobilization in the earlier years. It was because the German economy through most of the war was substantially under-mobilized that it was resilient under air attack. Civilian consumption was high during the early years of the war and inventories both in industry and in consumers' possession were high. These helped cushion the economy from the effects of bombing.

Plant and machinery were plentiful and incompletely used, thus it was comparatively easy to substitute unused or partly used machinery for that which was destroyed. Foreign labour, both slave labour and labour from neighbouring countries who joined the Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany, was used to augment German industrial labour which was under pressure by conscription into the Wehrmacht (Armed Forces).

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union (USSR) was a command economy which already had an economic and legal system allowing the economy and society to be redirected into fighting a total war. The transportation of factories and whole labour forces east of the Urals as the Germans advanced across the USSR in 1941 was an impressive feat of planning. Only those factories which were useful for war production were moved because of the total war commitment of the Soviet government.

The Eastern Front of the European Theatre of World War II encompassed the conflict in central and eastern Europe from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945. It was the largest theatre of war in history in terms of numbers of soldiers, equipment and casualties and was notorious for its unprecedented ferocity, destruction, and immense loss of life. The fighting involved millions of German and Soviet troops along a broad front hundreds of kilometres long. It was by far the deadliest single theatre of World War II. Scholars now believe that at most 27 million Soviet citizens died during the war, including some 8.7 million soldiers who fell in battle against Hitler's armies or died in POW camps. Millions of civilians died from starvation, exposure, atrocities, and massacres.The Axis lost some 5.2 million soldiers in the east as well as many thousands of civilians

During the battle of Stalingrad, newly-built T-34 tanks were driven—unpainted because of a paint shortage—from the factory floor straight to the front. This came to symbolise the USSR's commitment to the Great Patriotic War and demonstrated the government's total war policy.

To encourage the Russian people to work harder, the communist government, controlled by Stalin, encouraged the people's love of the Motherland and even allowed the reopening of Russian Orthodox Churches as it was thought this would help the war effort.

United States

The United States underwent an unprecedented mobilization of national resources for the Second World War. Conditions on the home front were not as strained as they were in the United Kingdom or as desperate as they were in the Soviet Union, but the United States greatly curtailed nearly all non-essential activities in its prosecution of the Second World War and redirected nearly all available national resources to the conflict, including reaching the point of diminishing returns by late 1944, where the U.S. military was unable to find any more males of the correct military age to draft into service.

The strategists of the U.S. military looked abroad at the storms brewing on the horizon in Europe and Asia, and began quietly making contingency plans as early as the mid-1930s; new weapons and weapons platforms were designed, and made ready. Following the outbreak of war in Europe, and the metastasis of the ongoing aggression in Asia, efforts were stepped up significantly. The collapse of France and the airborne aggression directed at Great Britain unsettled the Americans, who had close relations with both nations, and a peacetime draft was instituted, along with Lend-Lease programs to aid the British, and covert aid was passed to the Chinese as well.

American public opinion was still opposed to involvement in the problems of Europe and Asia, however. In 1941, the Soviet Union became the latest nation to be invaded, and the U.S. gave her aid as well. American ships began defending aid convoys to the Allied nations against submarine attacks, and a total trade embargo against the Empire of Japan was instituted to deny its military the raw materials its factories and military forces required to continue its offensive actions in China.

In late 1941, Japan's Army-dominated government decided to seize by military force the strategic resources of South-East Asia and Indonesia since the Western powers would not give Japan these goods by trade. Planning for this action included surprise attacks on American and British forces in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaya, and the U.S. naval base and warships at Pearl Harbor. In response to these attacks, the U.K. and U.S. declared war on the Empire of Japan the next day. Nazi Germany declared war on the U.S. a few days later, along with Fascist Italy; the U.S., consequently declaring war on both, found itself fully involved in a second world war.
"It's a ticklish sort of job making a thing for a thing-ummy-bob
Especially when you don't know what it's for
But it's the girl that makes the thing that drills the hole
that holds the spring that works the thing-ummy-bob
that makes the engines roar.

And it's the girl that makes the thing that holds the oil
that oils the ring that works the thing-ummy-bob
that's going to win the war."
"The Thing-Ummy Bob", A British song made popular in the US by Gracie Fields

As the United States began to gear up for a major war, information and propaganda efforts were set in motion. Civilians (including children) were encouraged to take part in fat, grease, and scrap metal collection drives. Many factories making non-essential goods retooled for war production. Levels of industrial productivity previously unheard of were attained during the war; multi-thousand-ton convoy ships were routinely built in a month-and-a-half, and tanks poured out of the former automobile factories. Within a few years of the U.S. entry into the Second World War, nearly every man fit for service, between 18 and 30, had been conscripted into the military "for the duration" of the conflict. Strict systems of rationing of consumer staples were introduced to redirect productive capacity to war needs.

Previously untouched sections of the nation mobilized for the war effort. Academics became technocrats; home-makers became bomb-makers (massive numbers of women worked in heavy industry during the war); union leaders and businessmen became commanders in the massive armies of production. The great scientific communities of the United States were mobilized as never before, and mathematicians, doctors, engineers, and chemists turned their minds to the problems ahead of them.

By the war's end a multitude of advances had been made in medicine, physics, engineering, and the other sciences. Even the theoretical physicists, whose theories were not believed to have military applications (at the time), were sent far into the Western deserts to work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory on the Manhattan Project that culminated in the Trinity nuclear test and changed the course of history.

In the war, the United States lost many soldiers, but had managed to avoid the extensive level of damage to civilian and industrial infrastructure that other participants suffered. The U.S. emerged as one of the two superpowers after the war.

Unconditional surrender

"Actually Dresden was a mass of munitions works, an intact government centre, and a key transportation point to the East. It is now none of these things."
Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris, in a memo to the Air Ministry on 29 March 1945:

After the United States entered World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt declared at Casablanca conference to the other Allies and the press that unconditional surrender was the objective of the war against the Axis Powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan. Prior to this declaration, the individual regimes of the Axis Powers could have negotiated an armistice similar to that at the end of World War I and then a conditional surrender when they perceived that the war was lost.

The unconditional surrender of the major Axis powers caused a legal problem at the post-war Nuremberg Trials, because the trials appeared to be in conflict with Articles 63 and 64 of the Geneva Convention of 1929. Usually if such trials are held, they would be held under the auspices of the defeated power's own legal system as happened with some of the minor Axis powers, for example in the post World War II Romanian People's Tribunals. To circumvent this, the Allies argued that the major war criminals were captured after the end of the war, so they were not prisoners of war and the Geneva Conventions did not cover them. Further, the collapse of the Axis regimes created a legal condition of total defeat (debellatio) so the provisions of the 1907 Hague Conventions over military occupation were not applicable

Postwar era

Since the end of World War II, no industrial nations have fought such a large, decisive war. This is likely due to the availability of nuclear weapons, whose destructive power would offset any advantage victory might bring. Where full mobilization of a country's resources such as in World War II could take years, full mobilization of a nuclear arsenal would take minutes. Such weapons are developed and maintained with relatively modest peace time defense budgets.

By the end of the 1950s, the ideological stand-off of the Cold War between the Western World and the Soviet Union involved thousands of nuclear weapons being aimed at each side by the other. Strategically, the equal balance of destructive power possessed by each side situation came to be known as Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), the idea that a nuclear attack by one superpower would result in nuclear counter-strike by the other. This would result in hundreds of millions of deaths in a world where, in words widely attributed to Nikita Khrushchev, "The living will envy the dead".

During the Cold War, the two superpowers sought to avoid open conflict between their respective forces, as both sides recognized that such a clash could very easily escalate, and quickly involve nuclear weapons. Instead, the superpowers fought each other through their involvement in proxy wars, military buildups, and diplomatic standoffs.

In the case of proxy wars, each superpower supported its respective allies in conflicts with forces aligned with the other superpower, such as in the Korean War and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Sources : wikipedia

Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961

My fellow Americans:

Three days from now, after half a century in the service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor.

This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen.

Like every other citizen, I wish the new President, and all who will labor with him, Godspeed. I pray that the coming years will be blessed with peace and prosperity for all.

Our people expect their President and the Congress to find essential agreement on issues of great moment, the wise resolution of which will better shape the future of the Nation.

My own relations with the Congress, which began on a remote and tenuous basis when, long ago, a member of the Senate appointed me to West Point, have since ranged to the intimate during the war and immediate post-war period, and, finally, to the mutually interdependent during these past eight years.

In this final relationship, the Congress and the Administration have, on most vital issues, cooperated well, to serve the national good rather than mere partisanship, and so have assured that the business of the Nation should go forward. So, my official relationship with the Congress ends in a feeling, on my part, of gratitude that we have been able to do so much together.

II.

We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite these holocausts America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.

III.

Throughout America's adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the peace; to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among people and among nations. To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. Any failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad.

Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. We face a hostile ideology -- global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger is poses promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle -- with liberty the stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward permanent peace and human betterment.

Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in newer elements of our defense; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research -- these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel.

But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs -- balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage -- balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration.

The record of many decades stands as proof that our people and their government have, in the main, understood these truths and have responded to them well, in the face of stress and threat. But threats, new in kind or degree, constantly arise. I mention two only.

IV.

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.

Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.

In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.

The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present

* and is gravely to be regarded.

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite.

It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system -- ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.

V.

Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

VI.

Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.

Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield.

Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent I confess that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war -- as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years -- I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight.

Happily, I can say that war has been avoided. Steady progress toward our ultimate goal has been made. But, so much remains to be done. As a private citizen, I shall never cease to do what little I can to help the world advance along that road.

VII.

So -- in this my last good night to you as your President -- I thank you for the many opportunities you have given me for public service in war and peace. I trust that in that service you find some things worthy; as for the rest of it, I know you will find ways to improve performance in the future.

You and I -- my fellow citizens -- need to be strong in our faith that all nations, under God, will reach the goal of peace with justice. May we be ever unswerving in devotion to principle, confident but humble with power, diligent in pursuit of the Nation's great goals.

To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America's prayerful and continuing aspiration:

We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.

Freedom for Sulemanshazi as Insurgents Run Scared

http://ukforcesafghanistan.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/2-scots-troops-enter-sulemanshazi-but-face-no.jpg?w=600&h=450

The increasingly-weakened state of the Taleban insurgency in Helmand has been demonstrated once again, as British and Afghan troops cleared and secured a town with no resistance.

Evidently scared off by the Afghan and British forces presence and the force shown in previous strikes, insurgents who had been terrorising the community of Sulemanshazi and using it as a base for their activities fled without even putting up a fight.


Now progress in the area is moving forward at pace, with soldiers from The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 SCOTS), supporting their Afghan counterparts in ensuring long-term security in the town, just south of Babaji.

A new Afghan National Police checkpoint is up and running and a main road – known to the Brits as Route Ayrshire – has been cleared of improvised explosive devices and made more resistant to future ones being laid, rendering it safe for local people to use once again.

The decisive operation came earlier this month when Afghan and British soldiers were inserted by helicopter to investigate suspected insurgent locations in the area, close to the Helmand River. Searches were conducted but nothing was found and locals stated that earlier strikes, as well as a perception of growing strength of the Afghan National Police in the area, had scared the insurgents away.

The police checkpoint was established in the aftermath, with the ANP selecting a location on an arterial route to provide permanent security and a visible government presence for the area. The clearance of Route Ayrshire, for which soldiers from 2 SCOTS and the Afghan National Army worked in conjunction with the UK Counter-IED Task Force, began at the same time.

Now options for further development of Sulemanshazi are being considered, in conjunction with the local population, including further road improvement works, the building of a school, and job creation and training schemes to boost the economy.

Captain James Collinge, of 2 SCOTS, said:

“Our hard work has paid dividends with more than 200 local people moving back into the area and a real sense of community spirit emerging. The insurgents are rapidly running out of safe havens and we are causing major disruption to their evil activities.”

Second Lieutenant Matt Alder, of 2 SCOTS, added:

“The locals around the new checkpoint are exceptionally happy to have the ANP and us providing security in the area. We sit with them daily to discuss local issues and how we can best improve the future of the area. It has been unbelievably rewarding and I can’t wait to see the next phase of development here, which will bring even more happiness to the locals who have suffered so much in the past.”

One local man in Sulemanshazi said of the new police checkpoint:

“This is great for the local area. It shows that the local police care about our security and are working hard to improve it. It is also nice to see that, more and more, Afghans instead of foreign faces are providing the security for our region.”

Calling for Restraint, Pentagon Faces Test of Influence With Ally

The officer corps of Egypt’s powerful military has been educated at defense colleges in the United States for 30 years. The Egyptian armed forces have about 1,000 American M1A1 Abrams tanks, which the United States allows to be built on Egyptian soil. Egypt permits the American military to stage major operations from its bases, and has always guaranteed the Americans passage through the Suez Canal.
The relationship between the Egyptian and American militaries is, in fact, so close that it was no surprise on Friday to find two dozen senior Egyptian military officials at the Pentagon, halfway through an annual week of meetings, lunches and dinners with their American counterparts.

By the afternoon, the Egyptians had cut short the talks to return to Cairo, but not before a top Defense Department official, Alexander Vershbow, had urged them to exercise “restraint,” the Pentagon said.

It remained unclear on Saturday, as the Egyptian Army was deployed on the streets of Cairo for the first time in decades, to what degree the military would remain loyal to the embattled president, Hosni Mubarak.

The crisis has left the Obama administration to try to navigate a peaceful outcome and remain close to an important ally, and the military relationship could be crucial in that effort.

One fear was the possibility that, despite the Egyptian Army’s seemingly passive stance on Saturday, the soldiers would begin firing on the protesters — an action that would probably be seen as leading to an end to the army’s legitimacy.

“If they shoot on the crowd, they could win tomorrow, and then there will be a revolt that will sweep them away,” said Bruce O. Riedel, an expert on the Middle East and Asia at the Brookings Institution, who predicted that in any event Mr. Mubarak would step down.

A possible successor — and a sign of how closely the military is intertwined with the ruling party — is Omar Suleiman, the intelligence chief and a former general, who was sworn in as the new vice president. Mr. Suleiman is considered Mr. Mubarak’s closest confidant and a hard-liner, although Obama administration officials say they consider him someone they can work with. In meetings with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, they say, he has shown substance and an ability to deliver on promises.

Mr. Riedel, who was an Egypt analyst at the C.I.A. when President Anwar el-Sadat was assassinated in 1981 and has since tracked the rise of Islamic extremism in that country, said that the Egyptian military would be a critical player in any deal to remove Mr. Mubarak from power.

Unlike the feared Egyptian police forces, which had mostly withdrawn from central Cairo on Saturday, the army is considered professional and a stable force in the country’s politics. Egyptian men all serve in the army, which for the most part enjoys popular support.

Mr. Obama met Saturday afternoon with his national security team at the White House about the uprising, but the officials would not say what, if any, decisions had been reached or whether the administration was trying to negotiate a safe exit for Mr. Mubarak.

One former United States official who is close to the Obama administration, Martin S. Indyk, said that it was time for Mr. Mubarak to go, and that the Egyptian military could serve as a crucial transition power.

“What we have to focus on now is getting the military into a position where they can hold the ring for a moderate and legitimate political leadership to emerge,” said Mr. Indyk, a Middle East peace negotiator in the Clinton administration.


Mr. Suleiman could announce that he would take control as president and hold elections within six months, Mr. Indyk said.

At the Pentagon on Saturday morning, American military officials said that the Egyptian Army was acting professionally and that they had no indications that it was swinging over en masse to the side of the uprising. At the same time, the officials noted, the army had not cracked down on the protests.

“They certainly haven’t inflicted any harm on protesters,” said Capt. John Kirby, a spokesman for Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “They’re focused mainly on protecting the institutions of government, as they should be.”

United States military officials said there was no formal line of communication between the Joint Chiefs and the Egyptian military, although they held out that possibility if the crisis deepened. Admiral Mullen had been scheduled to meet on Monday with Lt. Gen. Sami Hafez Enan, who is Egypt’s defense chief and chief of staff of the Egyptian Army. But General Enan was the leader of the delegation of senior Egyptian officials that left abruptly for Cairo on Friday night.

For the Pentagon, the question is how much a military that the United States in large part pays for will be receptive to American influence. Since the 1978 Camp David accords, the United States has given Egypt $35 billion in military aid, making it the largest recipient of conventional American military and economic aid after Israel.

“Is it a force that will listen to us if there is a military takeover and we want them to move to a democratically elected government as soon as possible?” said Anthony H. Cordesman, an expert on the Egyptian military at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “They will listen. But this is a very proud group of people. The fact that they will listen doesn’t mean we can in any way leverage them.”

American military officials said on Friday that they had had no formal discussions with their Egyptian counterparts at the Pentagon about how to handle the uprising. “In other words,” said Gen. James E. Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “we didn’t say anything to them about how they should handle it, and they didn’t tell us about how they were going to handle it.”

But, General Cartwright said, “hallway” discussions did take place, and American military officials said contingency plans had been made should the American Embassy have to be evacuated.

SOURCES : nytimes

New nuke standards include higher test scores

Enlisting in the nuclear Navy — widely seen as a realm for only the Navy’s brightest — just got a little harder.

Faced with continued washouts from demanding nuclear training courses, Navy Recruiting Command issued new standards Jan. 18 calling for better grades, higher test scores and more math skills from applicants. Among the changes, candidates must have had been a C student or better in the last two years of high school and have passed a math class in the last five years, or seek a waiver.

“These changes are intended to increase the quality of nuclear field applicants in order to increase their chances for nuclear field pipeline training and fleet success, and lower academic attrition in the nuclear field training pipeline,” the new instruction states.

Academic problems are the biggest cause of attrition from nuclear training, accounting for 50 percent of dropouts, recruiting command spokesman Jeffrey Nichols wrote in an e-mail. The chances are expected to decrease dropouts by 20 percent. He declined to provide the number of dropouts.

The minimum score on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery for nuclear applicants is 252, which didn’t change. If you scored below that, you will need to take another test, the Navy Advanced Programs Test, and score at least 55 points, up from 50. If you still fall short, you’ll need to seek an academic waiver, referred to as an “academic eligibility determination.”

Math gets renewed attention in the changes. An enlistee’s math proficiency will now be measured on a matrix, to include when he took a math class and the grade. Higher grades and more recent classes get more points. For instance, a candidate who earned an A average in math classes within the past year gets 40 points, while a candidate who took math four years ago and was a C student gets 15 points. More than 50 points are needed to qualify; otherwise, a waiver must be sought.

If you scored well on the NAPT — above 60 points — each point above 60 will be added to your math table score. So if you received 67 points on the NAPT, seven points would be added.

Some of the math classes that qualify are geometry, trigonometry, calculus and pre-calculus, algebra I through III, differential equations, advanced algebra, theoretical math and even number theory, according to the instruction.

Math has always been a top priority for aspiring nukes. As the instruction says, “Enlistment in the [nuclear field] program will be denied to any individual who actively expresses a strong dislike for mathematics and physics.”

Still, getting tougher on academics isn’t the only change in the new instruction. Waivers have always been required for those who’ve been arrested and charged with or convicted of a crime. But now, those who fail to appear for minor traffic violations or are held in contempt of court will need to seek waivers, too.

Egypt general cuts short talks with Pentagon

WASHINGTON — Egypt’s military chief of staff is cutting short annual talks in the Pentagon to deal with growing anti-government protests at home.

U.S. Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright told a Pentagon press conference Friday that Egypt’s Lt. Gen. Sami Hafez Anan is flying home, just two days into a planned week of meetings in Washington.

Anan was in the U.S. for the highest level strategic talks each year between Washington and Cairo.

Repeating the Obama administration’s position on upheaval in Egypt, Cartwright urged the Egyptian government to show restraint in how it deals with protesters.

Battle of Spion Kop

Background

With the beginning of the Siege of Ladysmith in November 1899, British forces in South Africa began moving to relieve the beleaguered city. Guided by General Sir Redvers Buller, they approached the Boer positions along the Tugela River but were defeated by General Louis Botha at the Battle of Colenso in December. Pausing for reinforcements, Buller devised a new plan for January 1900 which called for General Sir Charles Warren to move west and cross the river at Trikhardt's Drift. This movement was to be supported to the east by force under Lieutenant General Neville Lyttelton which would cross at Potgieter's Drift.

Opening Moves

Moving out on January 23, Warren's force marched slowly and in view of the Boer positions. Spotting the British columns, the Boers shifted forces to cover Warren's line of advance. Crossing the river, the British neared the new Boer lines. Scouting ahead, the Earl of Dundonald's cavalry located the Boer right and was in position to pass it and ride on to Ladysmith when Warren recalled it to guard the army's baggage train. Advancing, Warren directed troops on his left to attack the Boer right along the edge of Tabanyama plateau. Pushing forward, Lieutenant General Francis Clery's division was unable to gain ground.

Taking Spion Kop

Surveying the Boer line, Warren decided to make an attempt to capture a large hill known as Spion Kop. Located in the center of the Boer position, its heights dominated the battlefield. That evening, he ordered Major General Edward Woodgate to take the hill with Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Thorneycroft leading the initial assault. Moving forward through a heavy fog, the British succeeded in driving a small Boer force off the crest of the hill. As they attempted to dig in, they found that the summit was largely rock. This precluded the digging of trenches and as a result the British positions were only 16 inches deep.

The Boer Response

As dawn broke on January 24, the British found that they had failed to occupy the highest parts of Spion Kop. Instead, their position consisted of only the lower part of the hilltop while the enemy held superior positions on three sides. Though not overly concerned about the area taken by the enemy, the Boers were worried that the British would capture the two heights of Twin Peaks to the east as the loss of these positions would turn their left flank. In addition, if the British advanced to take nearby Conical Hill and Aloe Knoll, their artillery could move up to strike the Boer positions at Tabanyama (Map).

Beginning a bombardment of the British position, troops under Commandant Hendrik Prinsloo quickly advanced and occupied Conical Hill and Aloe Knoll. Coming under heavy fire, the British were soon assaulted by a force of Boers. Despite heavy fighting, the Boers were unable to dislodge Woodgate's men. As shells continued to fall on the British lines, Woodgate was mortally wounded around 8:30 AM. After several officers were killed or injured, command devolved to Colonel Malby Crofton. Though he signaled for aid, Crofton did little else and Thorneycroft effectively took over atop Spion Kop.

A Desperate Battle

In response to Crofton's signal, Warren ordered Major General J. Talbot Coke's brigade forward and requested that Lyttelton begin a diversionary attack. As Coke's men moved out, Warren sent a runner to Thorneycroft officially placing him in command of the British position. Atop the hill, Thorneycroft was forced to intervene to prevent the surrender of part of the Lancashire Fusiliers. As he waved back the advancing Boers, the lead elements of Coke's men arrived on the scene to bolster his command. Opening fire, a tense fight ensued on the hilltop.

Though the British situation on Spion Kop was desperate, the Boer position was little better. Having taken heavy losses, only volunteers could be persuaded to climb the heights to continue the fight. On the hill, Thorneycroft sent Warren requests for reinforcements and water. Though his brigade was engaged, Coke remained behind the lines and did little to assist. As the afternoon passed, the British right began to waver but held after the arrival of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). With the British line stabilized, the fight on Spion Kop became a stalemate.

Missed Opportunity

Earlier in the day, in response to a request from Warren for reinforcements, Lyttelton had pushed two battalions forward towards Spion Kop. Around 5:00 PM, one of these succeeded in capturing Twin Peaks. Shattered by the loss of these positions, the Boers prepared to withdraw that night until Botha arrived and convinced them to stay. Having heard nothing from Warren and unaware that the battle had been effectively won, Thorneycroft withdrew his men down the hill that night citing a lack of artillery support, water, and ammunition. With this retreat, Buller ordered the troops back from Twin Peaks.

Aftermath of Spion Kop

When the sun rose the next day, the Boers were stunned to find that the British had withdrawn from Spion Kop. In the course of the fighting, the British suffered 243 killed and around 1,250 wounded/captured. Boer losses numbered 68 killed and 267 wounded/missing. Withdrawing back over the Tugela, the British regrouped before making another attempt to breakthrough to Ladysmith. Displeased with Buller's handling of the war, London dispatched Field Marshal Lord Roberts to serve as commander-in-chief. Though relieved of these duties, Buller was left in command on the Natal front. Pressing forward again on February 14, he advanced at a crawl. Finally on the 26th, he launched an all-out assault and succeeded in crossing the river and defeated Botha north of Colenso. Driving the retreating Boers before him, he broke through to Ladysmith the next day. On February 28, 1900, the first relief columns arrived in the town, ending the 118-day siege.

Bomber kills governor in southern Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle packed with explosives rammed into a car carrying the deputy governor of Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province on Saturday, killing him and wounding three of his bodyguards, the Interior Ministry said.
The attacker struck as the official, Abdul Latif Ashna, was being driven to work in the provincial capital, said a ministry spokesman, Zemeri Bashary.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. In a text message to reporters, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef said the suicide bomber killed the deputy governor as well as three of his body guards and his driver.
U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, who was traveling in Kandahar, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the assassination.
Kandahar, located in the Taliban’s traditional southern stronghold, has been the scene of several attacks recently. Two weeks ago a bicycle bomb targeting police vehicles near the city center wounded at least 10 people — six civilians and four police. Last month, a suicide car bombing in the city center killed three people and wounded 26 others, most of them police.
“The enemies of Afghanistan cannot stop the Afghan people from development and progress by killing such personalities,” Karzai said in a statement. “There are thousands of other brave Afghans who will stand against the enemy and serve the people.”
Also on Saturday, Karzai expressed his sadness over the deaths of six members of a prominent Afghan family who were killed when a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up Friday at Kabul supermarket frequented by affluent Afghans and foreigners.
In a statement, Karzai said Dr. Massoud Yama, a young doctor at a military hospital, his wife, Hamida Barmaki, a political science professor at Kabul University, and their four children died in the attack. She was an activist and served on the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.
Yama’s mother and Barmaki’s mother-in-law is former Afghan senator Maboba Hoqiqmal, who currently is Karzai’s legal affairs adviser.
Afghan police officials said initially that two or three foreigners were among eight people killed in the bombing. However, the Kabul Police Department released a statement Saturday night saying that no foreigners died in the incident. So far, no foreign embassy has confirmed the death of any foreign victims.
Mohammad Zahir, the chief of criminal investigation for the Kabul police, said one man, one boy and six females — all Afghan — died in the blast. Fifteen other people were injured in the explosion — 10 Afghans and five foreigners, he said.
The Taliban said their target was an official with the U.S.-based Xe security contractor, formerly known as Blackwater. A representative for USTC Holdings, which recently bought the North Carolina-based Xe, said no one associated with the company was killed or wounded in the bombing.
A senior international intelligence official in Kabul said Saturday that the Taliban’s Haqqani network, which has ties to al-Qaida, carried out the attack, but that there was no intelligence to suggest that the security contractor was being targeted. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose the information.
Elsewhere in the capital, more than 200 demonstrators rallied at the Iranian Embassy to protest the execution of Afghans in Iran and call on Tehran to release Afghan political prisoners. Similar protests, all organized by the National Solidarity Party, attracted hundreds of other demonstrators in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan and Herat in the west.
Protesters in Kabul carried signs that said “Death to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,” showed photographs of Afghans held in Iran and depicted blood dripping from the red stripe of the Iranian flag.
Afghan lawmakers have claimed that as many as 45 Afghans had been executed in Iran, but the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that number is exaggerated. The ministry, which has raised the issue with Iranian officials in Tehran, has confirmed the execution of six Afghans in Iran but has not provided details about why they were killed.
“The ones fighting for freedom have been jailed in Iran,” said Mohammad Yama, who helped organize the protest in Kabul. “We are here to show our unity. We wanted to burn down our effigy of Ahmadinejad, but the Afghan police took it away.”
———
Associated Press writers Heidi Vogt in Kandahar and Deb Riechmann and Patrick Quinn in Kabul contributed to this report.

DTI Will Continue Other Project

DT-1 multiple launch rocket system (photo : TAF)

New rocket battalion planned

The army has plans for a new battalion to be equipped with multi-barrel rocket launchers (MBRLs), attached to the existing Lop Buri-based Artillery Division, an army source said.

Under the plan, a large number of MBRLs will be bought from the Defence Technology Institute (DTI), an organisation under the Defence Ministry.

DTI, in collaboration with the army of China, has produced a prototype DTI-1 MBRL, using technology transferred from China.

On Monday, Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon and army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha visited the Artillery Division in Lop Buri where they took receipt of the first of the MBRLs developed by DTI.

MBRL systems are in wide use with the Cambodian military, which has large numbers of them.
The source said the plan ned new battalion has the support of the prime minister, who sees it as a way of boosting the army's capability.
China has transferred WS-1B technology to DTI (photo : Military Today)
At the hand-over ceremony, Gen Prayuth said it has been the army's wish since 1988 to have a rocket company. At present, the defence minister has approved in principle the development of MBRLs and the newly developed weapon has been tested.

Lt-Gen Thitinan Tunyasiri, the DTI director, said the MBRL prototype is very important as its technology can be use to develop a guided missile system to respond to demands from various army units.

In the near future, the DTI will proceed with other projects to build unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), signal jammers, combat auxiliary systems, and amphibious assault vehicles (AAV), to reduce reliance on imports from abroad, he said.


Sources: http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/218093/new-rocket-battalion-planned

AFP Needs P42.1 Billion for Security Program

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ACV-300 of the PAF (photo : Sandy)

MANILA, Philippines - The military needs at least P42.13 billion in the next five years to upgrade its capability and implement security programs.

Military data showed P11.66 billion of the program has been allotted to the Army; P14.36 billion for the Air Force and P14.49 billion has been earmarked for the Navy.

The remaining P1.62 billion has been allocated to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) General Headquarters and various support units.

Senior military officials presented the data before members of the House of Representatives defense committee in a hearing held at Camp Aguinaldo yesterday.

“The P42 billion (for 2012 to 2016) is a practical modest budget... it can still be adjusted,” Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino said during the committee hearing.

AFP vice chief Lt. Gen. Reynaldo Mapagu said the program would involve allotting equipment to 12 Army battalions.

He said this would also entail the creation of three mechanized battalions, which will be equipped with Army fighting vehicles.

Mapagu said they are still determining which battalions would be provided with new equipment.

Mapagu, however, said this might include troops deployed in some areas in Mindanao.

The P42-billion program includes the purchase of 110 units of infantry fighting vehicles, 4,464 units of night fighting system, 8,103 units of assault rifles, 8,103 units of force protection equipment, grenade launchers, trucks, and radios for the Army.

For the Air Force, the items in the shopping list include four units of combat helicopters, four units of surface attack aircraft and lead-in fighter trainers, six units of close air support aircraft, a long-range patrol aircraft and an air surveillance radar.

For the Navy, the program seeks to acquire two offshore patrol vessels, a strategic sealift vessel, a command and control communication system, two units of multi-purpose helicopters, a bases support system, a Coast Guard watch system and an anti-bunker and tank system.

The program also aims to fund, among others, security, mobility, information and weapons systems, communication networks, rehabilitation of military structures and dental and medical equipment.

Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon, chairman of the House defense committee, said they would have to study the AFP medium-term capability program.

“The first thing that we will be doing is (to) identify what equipment should be acquired. Only then can we determine how much is needed to support the acquisition,” Biazon said.

“The next phase is to determine how to provide the funds and define the sources of funding,” he added.

Biazon, however, said the AFP should not include in its proposal the equipment used by civilian agencies to implement developmental projects.

“These items should not be mixed with the modernization (program) because whatever they will acquire should be determined by the requirement of providing national security and defense for the country, not agriculture,” he said.

The AFP is currently implementing Bayanihan, an internal security plan that focuses on development programs designed to attack the roots of rebellion.

Jerusalem Blocking Multi-Million Russia Drone Deal

IAI's Heron, the medium range UAV (photo : Militaryphotos)

Move could scupper plans for joint $200 million UAV factory in Russia

The brakes have been put on talks between Israel Aerospace Industries and Russia over sales and the joint production of unmanned aerial vehicles, according to Israeli defense sources who wish to remain anonymous. They say the parties are negotiating to build a plant in Russia for the pilotless aircraft to the tune of $300 million to $400 million, as well as the outright sale of IAI-built drones to Russia.

Recent news reports have said that IAI and Russia are planning a $200 million UAV factory and that the Israeli company plans to sell Russia an unspecified number of UAVs in the wake of its sale about a year ago of three such aircraft to Moscow for around $50 million.

The sources attribute the current backpedaling to hesitation about the deal in the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Ministry's Office, which have yet to give their approval. Washington has also requested clarifications about the deal, which is considered particularly sensitive.

The sensitive part concerns the transfer of technology to Russia, which despite its attempts has failed to crack the secret of building silent UAVs. While no one is talking about giving the Russians the plans for the most advanced pilotless aircraft in the arsenal of the Israel Defense Forces, a deal would represent a technological advance for the Russians. Neither Jerusalem nor Washington wants the technology to end up in the hands of Israel's enemies.

In the background, raising tensions, are reports of talks between Moscow and Tehran over the potential sale of Russian missiles to Iran. On the other hand, the West has an interest in heightening its strategic ties with Russia in the event of a regional confrontation in the future.

Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow research institute the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, was quoted last week in Western news reports as saying that Russia stands to buy $12 billion worth of arms from European and Israeli firms, including IAI.

Sources: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/military-sources-jerusalem-blocking-multi-million-russia-drone-deal-1.295792