Pentagon
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Alassane Ouattara\'s, President in waiting in the Ivory Coast has declared an overnight curfew in the main city of Abidjan from now until Sunday. A Ouattara spokesman says the curfew was needed \"for security reasons\" and would run from nine o\'clock in the evening through to six o\'clock in the morning each day. Ouattara is locked in a bitter dispute over the Presidency in that war-torn country with incumbent Laurent Bagbo. Ouattara won the election but has not been able to assume the office.
April 19, 2011 -
A rise in the number of troops wounded from buried bombs in Afghanistan has the Pentagon experimenting with new forms of protection.
April 19, 2011 -
In a memo outlining DOD plans for dealing with the threatened government shutdown, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn explains who gets paid and when.
April 08, 2011 -
Military members would continue to earn wages in the event of an April 8 shutdown of the federal government, but they\'d have to wait to collect them until Congress agrees on a budget, a senior administration official said.
April 07, 2011 -
The Pentagon is finalizing a new cyber warfighting strategy that will create a framework for training and equipping forces.
March 30, 2011 -
NATO has taken over command of the No-Fly zone and other military efforts to stop Libyan leader Muamar Gadhafi\'s military and help the rebels gain steam. A U.s. intelligence source says the British and French have troops on the ground and supply guidance to the rebels while the a wealthy Middle Eastern government is bank rolling the effort to supply weapons to the rebels. As that effort continues, there are major concerns about possibly arming the rebels.
March 29, 2011 -
Muammar Gaddafi\'s army hasn\'t thrown in the towel yet. They set back the momentum of the rebels troops who were headed toward Tripoli. In the meantime Admiral James Stravridis, the U.S. head of NATO said there \"flickers\" of Al Qaida in Libya, waiting to fill the void left behind by Gadhafi, if he\'s ousted. But Stavridis added the is no evidence of a significant presence. The NATO-led aerial bombardment of Libyan forces is expected to continue until Gaddafi gives up or is defeated.
March 29, 2011 -
You can expect gradual movement of U.S. ships out of the Mediterranean. NATO is taking command of the international military campaign in Libya and is in charge of air strikes, an arms blockade and no-fly zone put in place to protect Libyan civilians from Muamar Ghadafi. The U.S. will still have a role, but it will not be leading the effort. At one point 11 U.S. vessels were stationed in the Mediterranean, including three submarines, two guided-missile destroyers and two amphibious assault ships
March 29, 2011 -
Two Virginia-based ships are being credited with thwarting a pirate attack on a Philippine-flagged merchant vessel in the Arabian Sea. The Pentagon says the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and the guided missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf responded Thursday to the Falcon Trader II after the ship reported pirates in a skiff were attempting to board the vessel. The ships dispatched two helicopters to the Philippine vessel, and they fired warning shots. Men were seen jumping from the ship and speeding away in their skiff.
March 29, 2011 -
The Pentagon is stopping work on an new engine for the Air Force F-35 fighter jet. This engine was designed to be a back-up. The reason is because of money. The stoppage is expected to last for 90 days. There was no money included in President Obama\'s budget proposal for the next fiscal year for the project. But budget deliberations continue. Congress is split on the project. Some like, some don\'t. GE and Rolls Royce are the contractors.
March 29, 2011 -
The AP\'s Donna Cassata writes, \"As of Tuesday, the coalition had fired at least 162 sea-launched Tomahawk missiles priced at $1 million to $1.5 million apiece and dispatched B-2 stealth bombers - round-trip from Missouri - to drop 2,000-pound bombs on Libyan sites. Total flying time: 25 hours. Operating cost for one hour: at least $10,000.\" And that\'s only a part of the cost.
March 29, 2011 -
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and others said the U.S. military\'s role will lessen in coming days as other countries take on more missions and the need declines for large-scale offensive action. Tomahawk cruise missiles fired by U.S. ships and submarines off Libya\'s coast were a part of that action. Senior Defense officials the attacks thus far had reduced Libya\'s air defense capabilities by more than 50 percent.
March 29, 2011 -
After weeks of being grounded the three late model F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter test jets have been cleared to fly.
March 28, 2011 -
More than 260 service members were discharged under the Pentagon\'s outgoing \"Don\'t Ask, Don\'t Tell\" policy in the 2010 fiscal year.
March 25, 2011 -
Based on new figures, the military expects to spend more than three times what DHS is requesting for cyber operations.
March 25, 2011