DTN News - OSHKOSH DEFENSE NEWS: U.S. Army Orders More Oshkosh FMTVs

DTN News - OSHKOSH DEFENSE NEWS: U.S. Army Orders More Oshkosh FMTVs

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 28, 2012: Oshkosh Defense, a division of Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK), will produce more than 2,500 additional Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles(FMTV) trucks and trailers for the U.S. Army following an order from the U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC). The Army has now ordered more than 29,000 FMTV trucks and trailers from Oshkosh.

“Over the first three years of this five-year contract, we have delivered superior-quality trucks and trailers for soldiers for their combat operations, relief efforts and unit-resupply missions at home and abroad,” said Mike Ivy, vice president and general manager of Army Programs for Oshkosh Defense. “We will continue to offer fleet improvements by developing prototypes with upgraded technology, such as our TAK-4® independent suspension system that improves off-road mobility, ride quality and protection capabilities.”

Oshkosh Defense’s rigorous production and quality processes ensure on-time delivery of high-quality trucks and trailers. The FMTV is a series of 17 models ranging from 2.5-ton to 10-ton payloads. Vehicles have a parts commonality of more than 80 percent, resulting in streamlined maintenance, training, sustainment and overall cost efficiency.

This is the latest order under the five-year FMTV contract awarded to Oshkosh Defense for the production of trucks and trailers, as well as support services and training, through calendar year 2015. The order is valued at more than $294 million and deliveries are scheduled to be completed in February 2014.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/03/dtn-news-oshkosh-defense-news-us-army.html

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Afghan Soldiers And U.S. Soldier On High Alert Following Shooting In Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Afghan Soldiers And U.S. Soldier On High Alert Following Shooting In Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 11, 2012: Afghan soldiers, left, walk past a U.S. Army soldier outside of a military base in Panjwai, Kandahar province south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, March 11, 2012. 

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says a U.S. service member has killed more than a dozen people in a shooting including nine children and three women. Karzai called the attack Sunday "an assassination" and demanded an explanation from the United States. 

He says several people were also wounded in the attack on two villages near a U.S. base in the southern province of Kandahar. (Photo - AP)

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: US Soldiers On Guard At Military Base Following Shooting In Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: US Soldiers On Guard At Military Base Following Shooting In Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 11, 2012: US soldiers keep watch at the entrance of a military base near Alkozai village following the shooting of Afghan civilians allegedly committed by a rogue US soldier in Panjwayi district, Kandahar province on March 11, 2012. 

An AFP reporter counted 16 bodies -- including women and children -- in three Afghan houses after a rogue US soldier walked out of his base and began shooting civilians early Sunday. 

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it had arrested a soldier 'in connection to an incident that resulted in Afghan casualties in Kandahar province', without giving a figure for the dead or wounded. (Photo - Getty)

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: U.S-Afghan Military Joint "Route Clearing Patrol" In Nangarhar Province, Eastern Afghanistan

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: U.S-Afghan Military Joint "Route Clearing Patrol" In Nangarhar Province, Eastern Afghanistan

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 9, 2012:  A convoy of joint U.S-Afghan military that conducted a two-day "Route Clearing Patrol", finding and removing roadside bombs on roads, return to Forward Operating Base Connolly overlooking snowcapped mountains in Nangarhar province, eastern Afghanistan March 9, 2012.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/2012/03/dtn-news-afghan-war-news-us-afghan.html

DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Pakistani Religious Group Rally To Condemn Quarns Burning At Bagram Airbase In Afghanistan

DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Pakistani Religious Group Rally To Condemn Quarns Burning At Bagram Airbase In Afghanistan

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 8, 2012: Supporters of a Pakistani religious group Tanzeem-e-Islami hold a rally to condemn the disposal last week of a number of Qurans at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, in Karachi, Pakistan, Saturday, March 3, 2012. (Photo - AP)

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: U.S. Soldiers At Forward Operating Base Connolly In Nangarhar Province, Eastern Afghanistan

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS:  U.S. Soldiers At Forward Operating Base Connolly In Nangarhar Province, Eastern Afghanistan

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 4, 2012: U.S. soldiers from Comanche Troop, 3rd Squadron 4th Cavalry congratulate three fellow soldiers from their unit after a military re-enlistment ceremony at Forward Operating Base Connolly in Nangarhar province, eastern Afghanistan March 4, 2012.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Taliban’s Murder Tactics Show Their Weakness Says Panetta

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Taliban’s Murder Tactics Show Their Weakness Says Panetta

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 2, 2012: The Taliban’s adoption of murder tactics is a sign of their weakness, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said here today.

There have been a number of so-called “green on blue” incidents, in which members of the Afghan army and police killed NATO International Security Assistance Force troops, since the accidental burning of Qurans at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan.

These incidents are being taken seriously, but the United States and NATO will not change its strategy in response, Panetta told 101st Airborne Division soldiers.

The secretary said he discussed these incidents with Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

Panetta said Allen told him “the Taliban are going to resort to these kinds of criminal acts against our guys because, frankly, they are failing in everything else.They haven’t been able to organize themselves; they haven’t been able to retake any of the areas that we have taken. This is the one way they can get some attention,.”

The military will continue with the strategy in place to work with the Afghan security forces and train them to assume the security load, Panetta said. NATO will fully transition the security responsibility to the Afghans by the end of 2014. Today, the Afghan security forces have responsibility for the security of more than half the population.

The fact that members of the Taliban are trying a new tactic will not dissuade NATO and the Afghan government from continuing with the strategy, he said.

“It means that our troops have to be prepared to deal with this,” the secretary said. “We’ve got a training brigade here that will be going over there. They’ve got to make sure these (Afghans) are properly screened, properly trained and they’ve got to watch each other’s backs.”

While the “green on blue” incidents are horrific and tragic, people must remember that more than “99 percent of the Afghan army are doing the right thing – they’re there, they’ve shown over the past few days that they can control these demonstrations and do what they must do.

“I’ve made clear and I will continue to make clear that, regardless of what the enemy tries to do to us, we are not going to alter our strategy in Afghanistan,” Panetta said.

During his visit to Fort Campbell and the “legendary” 101st Airborne Division based there, Panetta met with soldiers preparing to go to Afghanistan to train National Security Forces there. He also visited the Air Assault School and said the 101st already demonstrates the agility and speed the rest of the military needs to adopt.

In addition, the secretary also met with Gold Star families, who lost immediate family members in combat, and with the division’s leaders.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/2012/03/dtn-news-afghan-war-news-talibans.html

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Taliban’s Murder Tactics Show Their Weakness Says Panetta

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Taliban’s Murder Tactics Show Their Weakness Says Panetta

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 2, 2012: The Taliban’s adoption of murder tactics is a sign of their weakness, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said here today.

There have been a number of so-called “green on blue” incidents, in which members of the Afghan army and police killed NATO International Security Assistance Force troops, since the accidental burning of Qurans at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan.

These incidents are being taken seriously, but the United States and NATO will not change its strategy in response, Panetta told 101st Airborne Division soldiers.

The secretary said he discussed these incidents with Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

Panetta said Allen told him “the Taliban are going to resort to these kinds of criminal acts against our guys because, frankly, they are failing in everything else.They haven’t been able to organize themselves; they haven’t been able to retake any of the areas that we have taken. This is the one way they can get some attention,.”

The military will continue with the strategy in place to work with the Afghan security forces and train them to assume the security load, Panetta said. NATO will fully transition the security responsibility to the Afghans by the end of 2014. Today, the Afghan security forces have responsibility for the security of more than half the population.

The fact that members of the Taliban are trying a new tactic will not dissuade NATO and the Afghan government from continuing with the strategy, he said.

“It means that our troops have to be prepared to deal with this,” the secretary said. “We’ve got a training brigade here that will be going over there. They’ve got to make sure these (Afghans) are properly screened, properly trained and they’ve got to watch each other’s backs.”

While the “green on blue” incidents are horrific and tragic, people must remember that more than “99 percent of the Afghan army are doing the right thing – they’re there, they’ve shown over the past few days that they can control these demonstrations and do what they must do.

“I’ve made clear and I will continue to make clear that, regardless of what the enemy tries to do to us, we are not going to alter our strategy in Afghanistan,” Panetta said.

During his visit to Fort Campbell and the “legendary” 101st Airborne Division based there, Panetta met with soldiers preparing to go to Afghanistan to train National Security Forces there. He also visited the Air Assault School and said the 101st already demonstrates the agility and speed the rest of the military needs to adopt.

In addition, the secretary also met with Gold Star families, who lost immediate family members in combat, and with the division’s leaders.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/2012/03/dtn-news-afghan-war-news-talibans.html

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Taliban’s Murder Tactics Show Their Weakness Says Panetta

DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Taliban’s Murder Tactics Show Their Weakness Says Panetta

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 2, 2012: The Taliban’s adoption of murder tactics is a sign of their weakness, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said here today.

There have been a number of so-called “green on blue” incidents, in which members of the Afghan army and police killed NATO International Security Assistance Force troops, since the accidental burning of Qurans at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan.

These incidents are being taken seriously, but the United States and NATO will not change its strategy in response, Panetta told 101st Airborne Division soldiers.

The secretary said he discussed these incidents with Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

Panetta said Allen told him “the Taliban are going to resort to these kinds of criminal acts against our guys because, frankly, they are failing in everything else.They haven’t been able to organize themselves; they haven’t been able to retake any of the areas that we have taken. This is the one way they can get some attention,.”

The military will continue with the strategy in place to work with the Afghan security forces and train them to assume the security load, Panetta said. NATO will fully transition the security responsibility to the Afghans by the end of 2014. Today, the Afghan security forces have responsibility for the security of more than half the population.

The fact that members of the Taliban are trying a new tactic will not dissuade NATO and the Afghan government from continuing with the strategy, he said.

“It means that our troops have to be prepared to deal with this,” the secretary said. “We’ve got a training brigade here that will be going over there. They’ve got to make sure these (Afghans) are properly screened, properly trained and they’ve got to watch each other’s backs.”

While the “green on blue” incidents are horrific and tragic, people must remember that more than “99 percent of the Afghan army are doing the right thing – they’re there, they’ve shown over the past few days that they can control these demonstrations and do what they must do.

“I’ve made clear and I will continue to make clear that, regardless of what the enemy tries to do to us, we are not going to alter our strategy in Afghanistan,” Panetta said.

During his visit to Fort Campbell and the “legendary” 101st Airborne Division based there, Panetta met with soldiers preparing to go to Afghanistan to train National Security Forces there. He also visited the Air Assault School and said the 101st already demonstrates the agility and speed the rest of the military needs to adopt.

In addition, the secretary also met with Gold Star families, who lost immediate family members in combat, and with the division’s leaders.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/2012/03/dtn-news-afghan-war-news-talibans.html