Defense of the Realm is observing interesting government and media coverage across the pond regarding the progress is Helmand Province in Afghanistan. It seems from Des Brown on down everyone is talking about the various reasons why the situation has improved, except one reason is oddly missing from all this British analysis: The 24th MEU.The USS Lake Erie is set to conduct a ballistic missile test today. A scud missile will be launched from the old Helicopter carrier Tripoli for this test. Great summery and details from the Honolulu Star Bulletin.
Navy Times is keeping an eye on the fallout from the fire on the George Washington. The situation as it stands today is officially unchanged, but the Kitty Hawk is going to hang around Guam while the damage assessment takes place. The fire has widespread effects on schedules and for sailors who are left in limbo, all of which have been working for a precise schedule for turnover. Looks like the Navy will be developing a Plan B.
Danger Room is covering a new RAND report on piracy. The report can be downloaded off this page. We haven't read it yet. Somalia gets all the attention, but in case you didn't know, the highest level of piracy is not off the east African coast, rather the west African coast. If we were doing Vegas odds for places most likely to see US military troops on the ground in the next decade, I'd put the odds of troops near Nigeria higher than any country in the Middle East, the insurgency by MEND there is crippling growth all over west Africa by clogging up the river delta with violence, instead of economic activity.
Lockheed Martin has done exactly the right thing to respond to criticism regarding LCS-1 Freedom, they have put out a press release announcing another milestone achieved. In other words, Tim Colton was right, the schedule has slipped again. Does anyone else remember all the Analysis of Alternatives the Navy was developing? Where are they now?
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