This Week in the Blackwater Tactical Weekly…

Weekly Security Developments

• Afghanistan War: Marjah Battle as Tough as Fallujah
• Hired Guns Secure Ships, Stir Controversy
• Pune Bakery Bombing Places India on High Alert
• Drug Cartels Tighten Grip; Mexico Becoming 'Narco-State'

U.S. Defense News

• Airborne Laser Shoots Down Missile in Mid-Flight
• Marines Roll Out New Gear for Helmand Fight
• Mine-Busting ‘Breachers’ Join Marjah Assault
• Sharpshooter’s Dream Rifle: Nighthawk Tactical .308 Rifle
• Kaman Corp. And Lockheed Martin Say They Have Developed Unmanned Helicopter
• Warrior ER/MP: An Enhanced Predator for the Army

International Military News

• Iran Develops Air Defense System Comparable to Russia’s S-300
• Russia’s New Military Doctrine
• India’s Defexpo 2010 Attracts 650 Companies
• Iran Says It Will Build 10 Nuclear Plants, Beef Up Military

Afghanistan–Pakistan Developments

• Troops Face Gunfights and Minefields in Offensive Against Taliban in Afghanistan
• Surprise Tactic in Afghanistan Offensive Befuddles Taliban
• Afghan Taliban Claim to Debut New Bomb ‘Omar’
• IEDs: The Big Marjah Challenge
• G.I.s Slain in Pakistan: Psyop Sergeant, Two Nation-Builders
• Officials Claim Pakistani Taliban Leader Hakimullah Mehsud is Dead

Homeland Security–First Responder

• DHS Is Monitoring Social Media and Web Sites for Terror and Disaster Info/li>
• Terror Talk Growing Louder on the Web

From Our Friends at Total Intelligence Solutions
Bumper Sticker
Frank's Review
Chaplain's Corner
Blackwater Pro Shop - On Sale This Week
Job Opportunities

Please continue to submit your questions, suggestions, and feedback to btw@ustraining.com

If you are having trouble viewing this please Click Here
To subscribe to the Blackwater Tactical Weekly, Click Here

“After all is said and done, more is said than done.”

Afghanistan War: Marjah Battle as Tough as Fallujahn

Christian Science Monitor

Thousands of US and Afghan troops ground their way towards the center of the Taliban stronghold of Marjah today despite encountering fierce sniper fire and even greater numbers of home-made bombs, booby traps, and minefields than anticipated. US Marines raised an Afghan flag inside the town limits but pockets of Taliban militants dug in, with some veterans comparing the intensity of the fighting to that encountered when they stormed the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2005. "In Fallujah, it was just as intense. But there, we started from the north and worked down to the south. In Marjah, we're coming in from different locations and working toward the centre, so we're taking fire from all angles," Captain Ryan Sparks told Reuters.

Full Story

Airborne Laser Shoots Down Missile in Mid-Flight

Christian Science Monitor

Last night, the military officially entered the age of airborne laser weapons. A large laser mounted to the front of a modified 747 jet successfully detected and shot down a ballistic missile while both were in mid-flight.   The airborne laser program – part Star Wars (the sci-fi flick) and part Star Wars (the Strategic Defense Initiative) – has taken years of work and billions of dollars it get here. But the Pentagon can now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station.  "While ballistic missiles like the one [the Airborne Laser Testbed] destroyed move at speeds of about 4,000 miles per hour, they are no match for a super-heated, high-energy laser beam racing towards it at 670 million mph," says defense contractor Northrop Grumman in a release after announcing the successful test Friday.

Marines Roll Out New Gear for Helmand Fight

Ares Defense Blog

In December, the Marine Corps rolled out two new major pieces of equipment during Operation Cobra’s Anger in the Now Zad valley—the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor and the Assault Breecher Vehicle—both of which had previously been untested in combat. I blogged about both platforms a few weeks back, and now a longer, more detailed piece about the Osprey and the ABV that was in the February issue of DTI is online.

Full Story

Mine-Busting ‘Breachers’ Join Marjah Assault

Associated Press

That's the nickname given by the crew to one of the 72-ton, 40-foot-long Assault Breacher Vehicles. Fitted with a plow and nearly 7,000 pounds of explosives, the Breachers, as they are commonly known, are the Marine Corps' answer to the deadliest threat facing NATO troops in Afghanistan: thousands of land mines and roadside bombs, or improvised explosive devices, that litter the Afghan landscape. The Breachers, metal monsters that look like a tank with a cannon, carry a 15-foot-wide plow supported by metallic skis that glide on the dirt, digging a safety lane through the numerous minefields laid by the Taliban. If there are too many mines, the Breachers can fire rockets carrying high-grade C-4 explosive up to 150 yards forward, detonating the hidden bombs at a safe distance so that troops and vehicles can pass through safely.

Full Story

Sharpshooter’s Dream Rifle: Nighthawk Tactical .308 Rifle

Tactical Life

Many rifles are manufactured yearly around the world, but only a fraction will send projectiles into a target area the size of 1-MOA (minute of angle) on a regular basis. That kind of accuracy is critical to a sniper and sharpshooter tasked with hitting a target at long ranges.  So, where does one obtain such rifles? One place is Nighthawk Tactical. Their Tactical Rifle is equipped with a Nightforce scope, and weighs about 15.75 pounds unloaded before adding a sling and Harris bipod, but it is accurate. Humping it around the Gunsite Ranch at 4,400 feet elevation from FFP (Final Firing Position) to FFP while testing how it performed in the Precision Rifle 7 course was a chore, but I found it would put rounds exactly where desired out to 1,000 yards if the wind dope was right.

Kaman Corp. And Lockheed Martin Say They Have Developed Unmanned Helicopter

Hartford Courant

Kaman Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. said they have developed an unmanned helicopter and proved to the U.S. Marine Corps that it works.  In a series of tests last week, the companies demonstrated an unmanned K-MAX at an Army proving ground in Utah. The helicopter can be programmed to fly itself and can also be remotely controlled.  "You tell it where to go and what to drop and it goes off and does it," said Eric Remington, vice president for investor relations at Bloomfield-based Kaman.

Warrior ER/MP: An Enhanced Predator for the Army

Defense Industry Daily

In August 2005, “Team Warrior” leader General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. in San Diego, CA won a $214.4 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) of the Extended Range/ Multi Purpose Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System (ER/MP UAS). The Warrior was designed to fill both surveillance and attack roles, and the MQ-1C Sky Warrior derived from General Atomics’ famous MQ-1 Predator beat the Hunter II system offered by Northrop Grumman, Aurora Flight Systems, and IAI.

Iran Develops Air Defense System Comparable to Russia’s S-300

Defense Talk

Iran has developed its own air defense system comparable to and even more sophisticated than the Russian S-300 system, the IRNA news agency said Monday, citing an Iranian military official.  Russia signed a contract with Iran on the supply of at least five S-300 air defense systems to Tehran in December 2005. However, there have been no official reports on the start of the contract's implementation.  "In the near future, a new domestically-made air defense system will be unveiled by the country's experts and scientists which is as powerful as the S-300 system, or even stronger," IRNA quoted Heshmatollah Kassiri.

Russia’s New Military Doctrine

Defense Talk

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has approved the country's new military doctrine which includes the option of using nuclear strikes against potential aggressors.  According to Russian officials, the adjustment of the country's military doctrine was prompted by real threats and challenges facing Russia.

India's Defexpo 2010 Attracts 650 Companies

Defense News

The United States, represented by 25 companies, will be the biggest exhibitor at Defexpo 2010, the biannual exhibition of Land and Naval systems to be held here Feb. 15-18.  Israel, which has emerged as a leading supplier of weaponry and equipment to the Indian defense forces since 1999, will occupy the largest exhibit space at 1,248 square meters.  Defexpo 2010 is the 6th Land and Naval Defence Systems exhibition organized by the Indian Defence Ministry, and will cover nearly twice the exhibit space - 30,100 square meters - compared with the 17,200 square meters in the 2008 show.

Iran Says It Will Build 10 Nuclear Plants, Beef Up Military

Los Angeles Times

Iranian officials trumpeted new nuclear and military ambitions Monday in the face of domestic political discord and stepped-up international talk of tightening economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic.  Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, announced that Tehran had informed the United Nations' nuclear watchdog that it intended to launch construction of 10 new nuclear-fuel plants in the Persian calendar year starting March 2010 and begin producing 20%-enriched uranium to provide fuel for a Tehran medical reactor.

Troops Face Gunfights and Minefields in Offensive Against Taliban in Afghanistan

Washington Post

U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers encountered pockets of stiff resistance and extensive minefields as they sought to press into this Taliban sanctuary in southern Afghanistan on Saturday.   Numerous gunfights with insurgents and painstaking efforts to clear roads of makeshift bombs slowed the advance of many coalition units and delayed them from reaching some key destinations in this farming area of 80,000 people. The operation was further complicated by the challenge of fording irrigation canals that ring the area and traversing a landscape covered in knee-deep mud.

Full Story

Surprise Tactic in Afghanistan Offensive Befuddles Taliban

McClatchy

U.S. Marines and Afghan forces were airlifted over the Taliban-laid minefields into the center of town in Marjah Saturday, apparently surprising the insurgents and taking strategic positions from them, according to military officials.  Although billed as a major confrontation between the international coalition and Afghan forces and the Taliban, the first day of the offensive in the southern Helmand province saw only sporadic fighting. Two coalition soldiers were killed, along with about 20 insurgents. It was the biggest assault since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.

Afghan Taliban Claim to Debut New Bomb 'Omar'

Agence-France Presse

The Taliban claimed Tuesday to have developed a new bomb nicknamed Omar after their fugitive leader and which they say is impossible Western mine sweepers to detect.  The biggest killer of Western troops in Afghanistan are home-made bombs, known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs, which the Taliban deploy to wide effect in their eight-year insurgency and detonate by remote control.  Western military intelligence officials have said most foreign troop deaths, which hit a record 520 last year, are caused by IEDs.

IEDs: The Big Marjah Challenge

Wall Street Journal

American soldiers in southern Afghanistan rarely catch more than a faint glimpse of the Taliban fighters they battle: most casualties are inflicted by the blinding, anonymous, flash of home-made bombs buried in the dirt.  So, on a recent evening, excitement bubbled over when the watch post of an isolated American outpost here spotted 16 FAMs – military speak for "fighting-age males" – moving in darkness through nearby grape fields. The commander, Lt. Mark Morrison, called in aircraft to find out whether the men were engaged in an activity that can warrant an instant death sentence: digging.  Improvised explosive devices, usually made of fertilizer, are the Afghan insurgents' great force equalizer, constraining the American troops' ability to move and sometimes destroying even the most sophisticated U.S. armored vehicles.

G.I.s Slain in Pakistan: Psyop Sergeant, Two Nation-Builders

Wired Defense Blog – Danger Room

A psychological operations sergeant and two military nation-builders have been identified as the soldiers killed earlier this week by a roadside bomb in Pakistan  39 year-old Staff Sergeant Mark Alan Stets, Jr. (pictured) was assigned to Alpha Company of the 8th Psychological Operations Battalion out of Fort Bragg, N.C. This was his second deployment to the region, according to U.S. Special Operations Command. He also served in Iraq.

Officials Claim Pakistani Taliban Leader Hakimullah Mehsud is Dead

Christian Science Monitor

Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is dead, top Pakistani government officials and Taliban leaders confirmed Wednesday, though some figures in the Al Qaeda-linked network deny the claim.  Rumors have swirled about Mr. Mehsud’s status since he was reported to have died from injuries sustained in a US drone strike in mid-January. If the reports are confirmed, his death would mark the second Pakistani Taliban leader killed by the US in six months. Similar confusion also surrounded the death of the previous commander, Baitullah Mehsud.

DHS Is Monitoring Social Media and Web Sites for Terror and Disaster Info

ABC News

As the winter Olympics begin, the Department of Homeland Security has disclosed that it will be monitoring the comments and posts on websites and social media like Twitter for information on possible terror threats. Among the sites listed in a privacy impact statement filed Friday afternoon by DHS are the Drudge Report, the Huffington Post, Twitter, Google and this web site, the Blotter. The National Operations Center of DHS will watch the web for information, according to the statement, to "provide situational awareness" in the event of natural disaster, an "act of terrorism, or other manmade disaster."

Terror Talk Growing Louder on the Web

CBS News

CBS News has learned that U.S. Intelligence officials are seeing a marked increase in terror-related Internet chatter with a frightening focus: Jihadists bent on finding gaps in airport security - all linked to al Qaeda in Yemen, reports CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian. On one radical website, a writer invites fellow members to post information on how to bypass airport screening.

Full Story

Yemen: AQAP Second in Command Threatens US, Maritime Transport

Highlights

1. AQAP second-in-command, Said Ali al-Shihri issues audio message threatening jihad against US targets, Saudi Arabia
2. Al-Shihri thanks Somali insurgent group, asks for blockade of Red Sea
3. Aggressive statements likely to invoke wrath of Yemeni military, likely to limit group’s ability to attack outside of Arabian Peninsula

The preceding article is part of subscription service created byTotal Intelligence Solutions (TIS). For additional information, please contact Brad Slade at bslade@totalintel.com.

Tactical Equipment Evaluation

Gerber Crucial MultiTool

Years ago a buddy of mine did a review on multi-tools. He compared (and abused) a number of them to determine which one he thought was best. What I learned from his process and his evaluation is that there are some companies who make multi-tools in an attempt to fit a garage’s worth of tools in your pocket. Other manufacturers seem to focus on a few necessity tools built into a tough quality package that will last for a longer time. My first impression of the Gerber Crucial was that it belonged in the latter category. Testing (I believe) proved me right.

Recreational Equipment Review

BLACKHAWK! Sling Pack

I sure didn’t see this one coming. Most of BLACKHAWK!’s packs are specifically designed and built either for military usage or what I would refer to as “high energy” outdoor activities such as rock climbing or endurance sports. This Sling Pack obviously isn’t meant for such activities. My first thought when I saw it was, “Blackhawk is making a bookbag?” In reality that’s almost what it is perfectly designed for although it certainly has many outdoor activity uses as well. Let’s take a look.

GAINING KNOWLEDGE…
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE

Full article can be seen at: http://www.ustraining.com/new/btw/chaplain/021510chaplain.htm

CLEARANCE SALE - Going quick, hurry before they are sold out

Check out our new T-shirt colors – Short Sleeve Sand, Military Green, Long Sleeve-Charcoal Gray

To view the latest contract opportunities at U.S. Training Center, visit our Contract Web Page

To Fill Out An Application And Submit Your Resume Click Here

Questions regarding Security Consulting or Training at USTC (252) 435–2488 or email webmaster@ustraining.com

Editor–in–Chief - N Conley (btw@ustraining.com)
Managing Editor - R Mooney (btw@ustraining.com)
Frank's Review - F Borelli (frank@borelliconsulting.com)
Chaplain's Corner - Chaplain D. R. Staton (chpln1@verizon.net)
Advertising - B Slade (bslade@totalintel.com)
All other inquiries - btw@ustraining.com

Questions regarding US Training (252) 435–2035

To subscribe to the Blackwater Tactical Weekly, Click Here

To view an archived edition of the Blackwater Tactical Weekly, Click Here